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julie_hastings's review against another edition
4.0
All of my reveiws can be found on www.novelthrillsandchillsreview.wordpress.com
Diving into this book, we follow a female character named Meredith and find out that her life is not what she'd hoped it to be. With no mother that she has any recollection of and a boyfriend she split up with, has her now living in a split apartment that she dreads.
One night spent at her dads, going through her old baby stuff in the attic, she stumbles upon a tape with her mothers handwriting that she's never seen. Her father becomes furious that she's found it and now she is left confused. A video she's never seen? Her father furious when she mentions she wants to watch it. What is he trying to hide? "Watch it if you must, just don't believe a word you say."
After watching the secretive tape she reaches out to her ex boyfriend Eliot who works for the police department. She provides him a copy of the tape and asks if he'll look into it. After explaining she believes it's something more than her mother just being a schizophrenic, he agreed and came back with information that was worth more than what she was ready to handle.
Throughout the investigation she learns quickly how secretive people can be and how fast people will pretend to be someone they're not. Meredith knows her dad is hiding secrets to the story behind the video and how her mother disappeared. And now Eliot is coming up with the answers but cannot give her anymore information than what is allowed. Feeling like she needs to help get the right details to find her estranged mother, she goes against her father, against Eliot and against the police department.
August 1984, the death of Cara Travers took place and became a cold case with no witness to talk to other than Meredith's mother herself. Becca gave a statement to free the man who was accused of killing Cara, Christopher Jay. So many questions arise in Meredith now and she has no idea how to process all the information. She keeps asking Eliot for help and answers but cold cases take time and he can never talk about specifics.
Meredith finds herself befriending Cara's ex best friend Isobel and even meeting up with Christopher Jay himself. What would it hurt? To see his reaction of the girl who was the daughter of the lady who in reality got him acquitted? Well for the sake of not spoiling the book, it hurt and made everything worse.
Through the twists and turns of this story along with the different points of view in each chapter, this was a wonderfully well written crime thriller. This was a book I could easily figure out more towards the beginning. I figured out the importance and connections of certain people early on and ended up figuring out who committed the crime the minute they were introduced.
I really enjoyed Meredith's character throughout the novel. She kind of reminded me of myself a little. A little persistent when she doesn't get the answers she knows she deserves. If I were put into her shoes I would believe that I would have done the same things with the same acts. Especially with a loved one apart of the task force. If my mother went missing and nobody knew if she was dead or alive, I would do what I needed to, to find out the truth.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this along my Spring Break trip. It was absorbing, it was challenging to the mind but most of all it left me speechless at how the events unfolded at the end. A very good read that I would recommend and once again a round of applause to Bookouture for another great read to offer on NetGalley.
Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Jess Ryder for allowing me to preview this book early for my honest review.
Make sure you look for this novel scheduled to release on April 19th, 2017.
Diving into this book, we follow a female character named Meredith and find out that her life is not what she'd hoped it to be. With no mother that she has any recollection of and a boyfriend she split up with, has her now living in a split apartment that she dreads.
One night spent at her dads, going through her old baby stuff in the attic, she stumbles upon a tape with her mothers handwriting that she's never seen. Her father becomes furious that she's found it and now she is left confused. A video she's never seen? Her father furious when she mentions she wants to watch it. What is he trying to hide? "Watch it if you must, just don't believe a word you say."
After watching the secretive tape she reaches out to her ex boyfriend Eliot who works for the police department. She provides him a copy of the tape and asks if he'll look into it. After explaining she believes it's something more than her mother just being a schizophrenic, he agreed and came back with information that was worth more than what she was ready to handle.
Throughout the investigation she learns quickly how secretive people can be and how fast people will pretend to be someone they're not. Meredith knows her dad is hiding secrets to the story behind the video and how her mother disappeared. And now Eliot is coming up with the answers but cannot give her anymore information than what is allowed. Feeling like she needs to help get the right details to find her estranged mother, she goes against her father, against Eliot and against the police department.
August 1984, the death of Cara Travers took place and became a cold case with no witness to talk to other than Meredith's mother herself. Becca gave a statement to free the man who was accused of killing Cara, Christopher Jay. So many questions arise in Meredith now and she has no idea how to process all the information. She keeps asking Eliot for help and answers but cold cases take time and he can never talk about specifics.
Meredith finds herself befriending Cara's ex best friend Isobel and even meeting up with Christopher Jay himself. What would it hurt? To see his reaction of the girl who was the daughter of the lady who in reality got him acquitted? Well for the sake of not spoiling the book, it hurt and made everything worse.
Through the twists and turns of this story along with the different points of view in each chapter, this was a wonderfully well written crime thriller. This was a book I could easily figure out more towards the beginning. I figured out the importance and connections of certain people early on and ended up figuring out who committed the crime the minute they were introduced.
I really enjoyed Meredith's character throughout the novel. She kind of reminded me of myself a little. A little persistent when she doesn't get the answers she knows she deserves. If I were put into her shoes I would believe that I would have done the same things with the same acts. Especially with a loved one apart of the task force. If my mother went missing and nobody knew if she was dead or alive, I would do what I needed to, to find out the truth.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this along my Spring Break trip. It was absorbing, it was challenging to the mind but most of all it left me speechless at how the events unfolded at the end. A very good read that I would recommend and once again a round of applause to Bookouture for another great read to offer on NetGalley.
Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Jess Ryder for allowing me to preview this book early for my honest review.
Make sure you look for this novel scheduled to release on April 19th, 2017.
maryannelouise's review
1.0
Just really, really dumb. Completely unsatisfying. Halfway through you think you’ve obviously solved it and then the ending turns out to be even worse than that which makes the whole book feel like a gross waste of time
also managed to squeeze some racist tones in there
also managed to squeeze some racist tones in there
clairereviews's review
4.0
Blog Tour for Lie To Me by Jess Ryder: My Review How can you tell the truth... if all you've ever known is a lie? Three minutes. That’s all it takes for Meredith’s entire world to fall apart when she watches the videotape of her four-year-old self with Becca, the mother who abandoned her. Meredith can’t believe what her eyes have seen. Yet what if her memory has locked away the painful reality of her childhood? Can there be any truth in the strange and dangerous story her mother forced her to tell on camera? The search for answers leads Meredith to Darkwater Pool, the scene of the murder of a young woman, Cara, over 30 years ago. What could possibly be the link between her mother and the victim? To find the truth Meredith must search through a past that is not her own. The problem is, she’s not the only one looking… A dark, compulsive psychological thriller that will keep you up all night. Perfect for fans of Paula Hawkins and Louise Jensen.
My Review:
Lie to Me is a tale told from three different perspectives, with the narrator of each chapter named to avoid any possible confusion. As Meredith tries to uncover more about her mother Becca, following her discovery of the video tape in the present time; we also hear from Cara, the Darkwater Pool murder victim from thirty years ago. We also hear from Christopher Jay, who was Cara's boyfriend at the time of her murder. All this information throws up threads linking the characters together and twists here and there. It was unusual to have the perspective of a murder victim, and I found it interesting getting to know her and find out more about her life and what happened leading up to her death.
There are more than a couple of red herrings here and there and a few twists, but among all the death and lies, Meredith's relationship with her lovely father Graeme shines through. It's a welcome relief! The appearance of the fabulous Isobel is great too. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more and it became much harder to put down. For a debut, this is a very readable novel and one I'd recommend to my fellow crime readers. I'm looking forward to seeing what Jess Ryder comes up with next!
Special thanks to Bookouture, Jess Ryder and Netgalley for providing an ARC in return for my unbiased review.
Lie To Me - Buy it here:-
UK
My Review:
Lie to Me is a tale told from three different perspectives, with the narrator of each chapter named to avoid any possible confusion. As Meredith tries to uncover more about her mother Becca, following her discovery of the video tape in the present time; we also hear from Cara, the Darkwater Pool murder victim from thirty years ago. We also hear from Christopher Jay, who was Cara's boyfriend at the time of her murder. All this information throws up threads linking the characters together and twists here and there. It was unusual to have the perspective of a murder victim, and I found it interesting getting to know her and find out more about her life and what happened leading up to her death.
There are more than a couple of red herrings here and there and a few twists, but among all the death and lies, Meredith's relationship with her lovely father Graeme shines through. It's a welcome relief! The appearance of the fabulous Isobel is great too. I enjoyed the second half of the book much more and it became much harder to put down. For a debut, this is a very readable novel and one I'd recommend to my fellow crime readers. I'm looking forward to seeing what Jess Ryder comes up with next!
Special thanks to Bookouture, Jess Ryder and Netgalley for providing an ARC in return for my unbiased review.
Lie To Me - Buy it here:-
UK
thegeekybibliophile's review
4.0
This is the first book I read by Jess Ryder, and I thought it was a great book!
I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Bookouture via Netgalley.
I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Bookouture via Netgalley.
mrs_george's review
3.0
Pyschological thriller this was not. More like just standard mystery. It was a tad confusing keeping the timelines and characters straight and it all went on for too long. I did like that the killer wasn't completely obvious but I did figure it out ahead of time.
noveldeelights's review
3.0
Meredith hasn't seen her mother for decades. For all she knows, her mother could very well be dead. When she finds a videotape hidden away at the bottom of a box, it raises a lot of questions. Three minutes is all it takes for Meredith's life to be turned upside down. Why is her mother acting so weird? Why is she asking her daughter to say these strange things on camera. What is her father hiding? And who are Cara and Christopher?
Meredith is desperate to find the answers and her search leads her to Darkwater Pool, the scene of a murder some thirty years ago. The chapters switch between Meredith in the present and Cara in the past. This book is quite an interesting character study on how lies can affect people decades down the road.
While I enjoyed this story most of the time, it seemed to drag on a bit sometimes. I felt quite a few things were highly predictable and there's a part I thought was completely unnecessary as it didn't really help move the plot along. I worried that was the direction the story was heading in but luckily it was left behind and soon forgotten. As a whole, I didn't find it as gripping as the cover promises but the character development is fascinating. There is a twist, yes, but when you read a lot of books in this genre, it wasn't all that hard to figure out.
However, I do see the potential in Jess Ryder's writing and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for my advanced copy which I chose to review.
Lie To Me will be published as an ebook on April 19th.
Meredith is desperate to find the answers and her search leads her to Darkwater Pool, the scene of a murder some thirty years ago. The chapters switch between Meredith in the present and Cara in the past. This book is quite an interesting character study on how lies can affect people decades down the road.
While I enjoyed this story most of the time, it seemed to drag on a bit sometimes. I felt quite a few things were highly predictable and there's a part I thought was completely unnecessary as it didn't really help move the plot along. I worried that was the direction the story was heading in but luckily it was left behind and soon forgotten. As a whole, I didn't find it as gripping as the cover promises but the character development is fascinating. There is a twist, yes, but when you read a lot of books in this genre, it wasn't all that hard to figure out.
However, I do see the potential in Jess Ryder's writing and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for my advanced copy which I chose to review.
Lie To Me will be published as an ebook on April 19th.
lynnedf's review
2.0
I can say that this was definitely not one of my favourite reads in the mystery/suspense/thriller genre. Based on the back blurb, I assumed that this book would be more about Meredith and the search for her mother and the events that caused her to walk away from her four year old daughter.
Told in alternating points of view - Meredith in the "today", Cara in 1984 and Jay who linked the past and the present together. What I wanted was Becca's perspective - I wanted her to be a major player, not just a blur of a memory; not just a name ... but a real person.
This book just fell a little flat to me; overly descriptive, too wordy and it simply didn't really go anywhere.
Netgalley provided me with an advanced copy of this book.
Told in alternating points of view - Meredith in the "today", Cara in 1984 and Jay who linked the past and the present together. What I wanted was Becca's perspective - I wanted her to be a major player, not just a blur of a memory; not just a name ... but a real person.
This book just fell a little flat to me; overly descriptive, too wordy and it simply didn't really go anywhere.
Netgalley provided me with an advanced copy of this book.
stefaniefrei's review
4.0
Deutsche Version am Ende - Buch bislang nur im englischsprachigen Original erhältlich (German version underneath).
In her father’s attic, Meredith “Meri” Banks finds an old video tape. “I look at the label again and count on my fingers – July 1990: I was four and a half then. It was a few months before Becca (I no longer refer to her as Mother, Mummy, Mum) disappeared from my life.” p 8 Despite her father’s warnings, Meri watches the tape. Her mother tries to force her four-year-old self to tell the police a rather mysterious story. The recording points her in the direction of an old crime that happened in 1984, with Cara Jane Travers and Christopher Jay in the midst of it and … Becca. When Meredith asks her ex, detective constable Eliot Myles, to investigate into the affair, it will lead to some discoveries about the past that will turn her understanding about herself upside down forever and not just her life will change.
For all those sensitive to the hard stuff: not very explicit, no violent sex scences, nothing splatter-slasher-wise (but violence does happen).
The story evolves with an ever-present sense of dark foreboding, although I would say that when calling this a psychological thriller, the stress is on “psychological” and you might with as much reason rate it to be a mystery, even a who-dunnit, where you know all of the suspects, sorry editors and blurb-writers, but I still could hardly turn it off or put it down. Author Jess Ryder mixes passages from Meri’s point of view with whom the reader is likely to identify most (“me”) with that of some of the other protagonists, switches between now and then, thus inevitably leading to the climax – and turning point, and next, and next…Nothing is quite as it seems and it is not just the good intentions that the way to hell is paved with. Mostly, this is about love. And about the downsides of it. I had a number of ideas about how everything would be solved and had to put them down with the next chapter. Even when my guessing was right (finally! after missing like 10 times? like guessing Meri dreamt it?) and when I had a clue about 7 chapters ahead, I dismissed my correct guess when Ryder mislead me again. And still, a solution might not be a solution after all…
Dislikes? Well, I could have done without the session on Harley Street. And in the audio version, the speaker is brilliant apart from when voicing Isobel – I did listen to some public school voices apart from Margaret Thatcher’s fake one and this was even worse than her. Cara in August 1984 was 22 on page 50, but on page 105 she lived from 1960-1984 which makes her 24 in 1984 – no influence on the story, just annoying. I also wondered wether Meri was created in a realistic way, she seemed to mostly behave much younger than her age, but then, as she herself came to the conclusion at some point, had not her upbringing prevented her from developing fully?
4 ½ stars.
I enjoyed this book mostly as an audio and, time and again, as an ebook – my first try with whispersync and a direct hit. 4 1/2 stars for the story and 5 for whispersync to finally fulfill (most of) my audio book needs. I love audio books for a number of occasions – during domestic chores, calming down before sleep, while travelling. Downside: I cannot scroll back to check what Meri’s father had said first about his wife disappearing or similar matters. I do not know how a name is written, do not get that expressioin or abbreviation I never heard before, cannot take down a quotation. And: sometimes the pace is too slow for me if I listen.
When I can swop in between audio and ebook, no more issues with that. The progress synchs, and I can go back. Great. I loved my first experience.
Disadvantage: I only know Amazon to offer this feature. And: in Germany, the price for books ist regulated by law. So you best pick the ebook first, than the audio to go along with it (immediately or later). Sometimes, the audios will be at a reduced price. I had the ebook as a price offering for € 0,99 (to be honest, I still will not buy for a much higher price – it is not a “real book”, I cannot lend it, borrow it, sell it, or kill a fly with it...) and the audio came for 2,95.
Auf dem Dachboden ihres Vaters findet Meredith "Meri" Banks ein altes Video. (frei:) "Ich schaue wieder auf den Aufkleber und zähle mit den Fingern ab - Juli 1990: Ich war damals viereinhalb. Es war wenige Monate, bevor Becca (ich beziehe mich auf sie nicht mehr als Mutter, Mami, Mum) aus meinem Leben verschwand." S. 8
Gegen den Widerstand ihres Vater schaut sich Meri das Band an. Ihre Mutter versucht, ihr vierjähriges Ich dazu zu zwingen, der Polizei eine recht mysteriöse Geschichte zu erzählen. Die Aufzeichnung weist auf ein altes Verbrechen, das 1984 geschah, mit Cara Jane Travers and Christopher Jay in dessen Zentrum und ... Becca. Als Meredith ihren Ex, Detective Constable Eliot Myles, bittet, Nachforschungen anzustellen, wird das zu Entdeckungen über die Vergangenheit führen, die ihr Verständnis über sich selbst für immer auf den Kopf stellen wird und nicht nur ihr Leben ist betroffen.
Für alle, die bei den harten Sachen empfindlich sind: nicht sehr explizit, keine gewalttätigen Sex-Szenen, nichts mit Splatter und Slasher (wobei Gewalt definitiv vorkommt).
Die Geschichte entwickelt sich mit einem dauerpräsenten Gefühl einer dunklen Vorahnung, obwohl ich bei der Einschätzung als Psychothriller die Betonung auf "Psycho" sehe. Man könnte mit gleichem Recht einen Krimi sehen, ein "Wer wer es", wo alle Verdächtigen bekannt sind, auch wenn mir das jetzt sehr leid tut für die Herausgeber und die Schlagwort-Schreiber, egal, ich wollte die Geschichte möglichst nicht unterbrechen. Autorin Jess Ryder mischt Abschnitte aus der Perspektive von Meri, mit der sich der Leser wohl am ehesten identifizieren kann ("ich"), mit der von anderen Protagonisten, wechselt zwischen heute und damals, führt so zum unvermeidlichen Höhepunkt - und Wendepunkt, und wieder, und wieder...Nichts ist, wie es scheint, und es sind nicht nur die guten Absichten, mit denen der Weg zu Hölle gepflastert ist. Es geht meistens um Liebe. Und über die dunkle Seite davon. Ich hatte etliche Lösungsansätze und musste sie mit dem nächsten Kapitel verwerfen. Selbst als ich dann richtig lag (endlich! nach vielleicht zehn Fehlversuchen? Inklusive, dass Meri das vielleicht alles träumt?), mit sieben Kapiteln Vorsprung, verwarf ich meine Idee und wurde von Ryder erneut in die Irre geführt. Und selbst dann ist eine Auflösung vielleicht immer noch keine Auflösung...
Was gefiel nicht? Ich hätte auf die Sitzung in der Harley Street verzichten können. Auch ist in der englischen Audioversion die Sprecherin brilliant, bis sie Isobel spricht - ich habe schon einigen "Public School"-Stimmen gelauscht jenseits von Margaret Thatchers aufgesetzter Version, und das hier war sogar noch schlimmer. Dann war Cara auf Seite 50 im August 1984 22, aber auf Seite 105 lebte sie von 1960 bis 1984, was sie in 1984 24 Jahre alt macht - ohne Auswirkung auf die Geschichte, das stört halt nur. Ich habe mich auch gefragt, ob Meri ein realistischer Charakter ist, sie benahm sich mir meist deutlich jünger als ihr Alter, aber andererseits, wie sie selbst irgendwann schlussfolgert, hatte nicht ihr Aufwachsen eine normale Entwicklung verhindert?
4 1/2 Sterne.
Ich habe diese Geschichte meistens gehört und gelegentlich als ebook gelesen - mein erster Versuch mit Whispersync und ein Volltreffer. 4 1/2 Sterne für die Geschichte und 5 für Whispersync, das endlich (fast) alle meiner Audiobuch-Bedürfnisse erfüllt. Ich liebe Hörbücher zu etlichen Verwendungen, bei häuslichen Arbeiten, zum Herunterfahren vor dem Schlaf, auf Reisen. Nachteil: ich kann nicht zurückscrollen und überprüfen, was Meris Vater zuerst über das Verschwinden seiner Frau gesagt hatte und ähnliches. Ich weiß nicht, wie ein Name geschrieben wird, bekomme unbekannte Begriffe oder Abkürzungen schlechter mit, kann keine Zitate herausschreiben. Und: manchmal geht es mir nicht schnell genug.
Wenn ich wechseln kann zwischen Audio und ebook gibt es das Problem nicht mehr. Der Fortschritt wird synchronisiert, ich kann zurückblättern. Großartig. Ich liebe diese Erst-Erfahrung.
Aber: ich kenne das nur über Amazon. Und: In Deutschlang gibt es die Buchpreisbindung. Also muss ich am besten zuerst das ebook auswählen, dann das Hörbuch (sofort oder später). Etliche Audios gibt es zu ermäßigten Preisen.. Ich hatte hier eine Aktion von € 0,99 für das ebook (und ganz ehrlich will ich nicht viel mehr zahlen, es ist kein "echtes Buch" für mich, ich kann es nicht tauschen, verborgen, verkaufen, als Briefbeschwerer nutzen...), das Hörbuch lag dann bei 2,95.
Autor: Jess Ryder
In her father’s attic, Meredith “Meri” Banks finds an old video tape. “I look at the label again and count on my fingers – July 1990: I was four and a half then. It was a few months before Becca (I no longer refer to her as Mother, Mummy, Mum) disappeared from my life.” p 8 Despite her father’s warnings, Meri watches the tape. Her mother tries to force her four-year-old self to tell the police a rather mysterious story. The recording points her in the direction of an old crime that happened in 1984, with Cara Jane Travers and Christopher Jay in the midst of it and … Becca. When Meredith asks her ex, detective constable Eliot Myles, to investigate into the affair, it will lead to some discoveries about the past that will turn her understanding about herself upside down forever and not just her life will change.
For all those sensitive to the hard stuff: not very explicit, no violent sex scences, nothing splatter-slasher-wise (but violence does happen).
The story evolves with an ever-present sense of dark foreboding, although I would say that when calling this a psychological thriller, the stress is on “psychological” and you might with as much reason rate it to be a mystery, even a who-dunnit, where you know all of the suspects, sorry editors and blurb-writers, but I still could hardly turn it off or put it down. Author Jess Ryder mixes passages from Meri’s point of view with whom the reader is likely to identify most (“me”) with that of some of the other protagonists, switches between now and then, thus inevitably leading to the climax – and turning point, and next, and next…Nothing is quite as it seems and it is not just the good intentions that the way to hell is paved with. Mostly, this is about love. And about the downsides of it. I had a number of ideas about how everything would be solved and had to put them down with the next chapter. Even when my guessing was right (finally! after missing like 10 times? like guessing Meri dreamt it?) and when I had a clue about 7 chapters ahead, I dismissed my correct guess when Ryder mislead me again. And still, a solution might not be a solution after all…
Dislikes? Well, I could have done without the session on Harley Street. And in the audio version, the speaker is brilliant apart from when voicing Isobel – I did listen to some public school voices apart from Margaret Thatcher’s fake one and this was even worse than her. Cara in August 1984 was 22 on page 50, but on page 105 she lived from 1960-1984 which makes her 24 in 1984 – no influence on the story, just annoying. I also wondered wether Meri was created in a realistic way, she seemed to mostly behave much younger than her age, but then, as she herself came to the conclusion at some point, had not her upbringing prevented her from developing fully?
4 ½ stars.
I enjoyed this book mostly as an audio and, time and again, as an ebook – my first try with whispersync and a direct hit. 4 1/2 stars for the story and 5 for whispersync to finally fulfill (most of) my audio book needs. I love audio books for a number of occasions – during domestic chores, calming down before sleep, while travelling. Downside: I cannot scroll back to check what Meri’s father had said first about his wife disappearing or similar matters. I do not know how a name is written, do not get that expressioin or abbreviation I never heard before, cannot take down a quotation. And: sometimes the pace is too slow for me if I listen.
When I can swop in between audio and ebook, no more issues with that. The progress synchs, and I can go back. Great. I loved my first experience.
Disadvantage: I only know Amazon to offer this feature. And: in Germany, the price for books ist regulated by law. So you best pick the ebook first, than the audio to go along with it (immediately or later). Sometimes, the audios will be at a reduced price. I had the ebook as a price offering for € 0,99 (to be honest, I still will not buy for a much higher price – it is not a “real book”, I cannot lend it, borrow it, sell it, or kill a fly with it...) and the audio came for 2,95.
Auf dem Dachboden ihres Vaters findet Meredith "Meri" Banks ein altes Video. (frei:) "Ich schaue wieder auf den Aufkleber und zähle mit den Fingern ab - Juli 1990: Ich war damals viereinhalb. Es war wenige Monate, bevor Becca (ich beziehe mich auf sie nicht mehr als Mutter, Mami, Mum) aus meinem Leben verschwand." S. 8
Gegen den Widerstand ihres Vater schaut sich Meri das Band an. Ihre Mutter versucht, ihr vierjähriges Ich dazu zu zwingen, der Polizei eine recht mysteriöse Geschichte zu erzählen. Die Aufzeichnung weist auf ein altes Verbrechen, das 1984 geschah, mit Cara Jane Travers and Christopher Jay in dessen Zentrum und ... Becca. Als Meredith ihren Ex, Detective Constable Eliot Myles, bittet, Nachforschungen anzustellen, wird das zu Entdeckungen über die Vergangenheit führen, die ihr Verständnis über sich selbst für immer auf den Kopf stellen wird und nicht nur ihr Leben ist betroffen.
Für alle, die bei den harten Sachen empfindlich sind: nicht sehr explizit, keine gewalttätigen Sex-Szenen, nichts mit Splatter und Slasher (wobei Gewalt definitiv vorkommt).
Die Geschichte entwickelt sich mit einem dauerpräsenten Gefühl einer dunklen Vorahnung, obwohl ich bei der Einschätzung als Psychothriller die Betonung auf "Psycho" sehe. Man könnte mit gleichem Recht einen Krimi sehen, ein "Wer wer es", wo alle Verdächtigen bekannt sind, auch wenn mir das jetzt sehr leid tut für die Herausgeber und die Schlagwort-Schreiber, egal, ich wollte die Geschichte möglichst nicht unterbrechen. Autorin Jess Ryder mischt Abschnitte aus der Perspektive von Meri, mit der sich der Leser wohl am ehesten identifizieren kann ("ich"), mit der von anderen Protagonisten, wechselt zwischen heute und damals, führt so zum unvermeidlichen Höhepunkt - und Wendepunkt, und wieder, und wieder...Nichts ist, wie es scheint, und es sind nicht nur die guten Absichten, mit denen der Weg zu Hölle gepflastert ist. Es geht meistens um Liebe. Und über die dunkle Seite davon. Ich hatte etliche Lösungsansätze und musste sie mit dem nächsten Kapitel verwerfen. Selbst als ich dann richtig lag (endlich! nach vielleicht zehn Fehlversuchen? Inklusive, dass Meri das vielleicht alles träumt?), mit sieben Kapiteln Vorsprung, verwarf ich meine Idee und wurde von Ryder erneut in die Irre geführt. Und selbst dann ist eine Auflösung vielleicht immer noch keine Auflösung...
Was gefiel nicht? Ich hätte auf die Sitzung in der Harley Street verzichten können. Auch ist in der englischen Audioversion die Sprecherin brilliant, bis sie Isobel spricht - ich habe schon einigen "Public School"-Stimmen gelauscht jenseits von Margaret Thatchers aufgesetzter Version, und das hier war sogar noch schlimmer. Dann war Cara auf Seite 50 im August 1984 22, aber auf Seite 105 lebte sie von 1960 bis 1984, was sie in 1984 24 Jahre alt macht - ohne Auswirkung auf die Geschichte, das stört halt nur. Ich habe mich auch gefragt, ob Meri ein realistischer Charakter ist, sie benahm sich mir meist deutlich jünger als ihr Alter, aber andererseits, wie sie selbst irgendwann schlussfolgert, hatte nicht ihr Aufwachsen eine normale Entwicklung verhindert?
4 1/2 Sterne.
Ich habe diese Geschichte meistens gehört und gelegentlich als ebook gelesen - mein erster Versuch mit Whispersync und ein Volltreffer. 4 1/2 Sterne für die Geschichte und 5 für Whispersync, das endlich (fast) alle meiner Audiobuch-Bedürfnisse erfüllt. Ich liebe Hörbücher zu etlichen Verwendungen, bei häuslichen Arbeiten, zum Herunterfahren vor dem Schlaf, auf Reisen. Nachteil: ich kann nicht zurückscrollen und überprüfen, was Meris Vater zuerst über das Verschwinden seiner Frau gesagt hatte und ähnliches. Ich weiß nicht, wie ein Name geschrieben wird, bekomme unbekannte Begriffe oder Abkürzungen schlechter mit, kann keine Zitate herausschreiben. Und: manchmal geht es mir nicht schnell genug.
Wenn ich wechseln kann zwischen Audio und ebook gibt es das Problem nicht mehr. Der Fortschritt wird synchronisiert, ich kann zurückblättern. Großartig. Ich liebe diese Erst-Erfahrung.
Aber: ich kenne das nur über Amazon. Und: In Deutschlang gibt es die Buchpreisbindung. Also muss ich am besten zuerst das ebook auswählen, dann das Hörbuch (sofort oder später). Etliche Audios gibt es zu ermäßigten Preisen.. Ich hatte hier eine Aktion von € 0,99 für das ebook (und ganz ehrlich will ich nicht viel mehr zahlen, es ist kein "echtes Buch" für mich, ich kann es nicht tauschen, verborgen, verkaufen, als Briefbeschwerer nutzen...), das Hörbuch lag dann bei 2,95.
Autor: Jess Ryder
syren1532's review
5.0
Meredith Banks hasn't seen her mother since she was a little girl. Her mother had mental issues and escaped from a hospital and has not been seen since. Now Meredith's dad is moving house and while clearing out the attic she comes across a video tape with her name on. Meredith watches it after getting it transferred to DVD - it shows her mother and her but her mother is claiming that Meredith is actually someone else come back to life and that a nasty man is after them. The video clip is linked to a murder case from before Meredith was born and her mother was a witness at the trial. Her ex boyfriend Eliot is a police officer so she asks him to help her find more information about the case. The ensuing review of the murder case and the information Meredith discovers for herself changes everything she thought she knew about her mother, father and her childhood. Great read which had me gripped from the beginning. Look forward to more from this author.