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kberry513's review against another edition
4.0
I reread this because I couldn't remember the important points and I wanted to read her newest book. The most important things to remember:
DCI Tom Douglas got divorced because his wife Kate was unfaithful. He moved to London to follow his daughter, but when his ex decided to chuck the guy she left him for, she wants him back because his brother died and left him tons of money, so she uses his five year old Lucy as collateral. He ultimately decides against getting back with her and she moves back to Manchester. Tom fell for the wife of a murder victim while working a case, but in a twist, she's the one that murdered her husband. There's no evidence, though, and tbh he deserved it. His entire family was screwed up, he married her because she looked like his dead mother, he broke up her bff's marriage to her brother by roofying them both and putting the bff in a compromising position for her husband to walk in on, he had her committed twice, he was murdering prostitutes that he was pretending to save, and she needed to save her step daughter from him. Tom hears her confess to her brother, but doesn't have any proof and he really doesn't want any. He also suspects her sister in law of killing her father and making it look like a suicide decades before, for very similar reasons. He has trouble reconciling this, as he loves being a police officer, but he ultimately lets Laura know he knows and how he feels about it and how he can't be with her because of it, which she acknowledges, also noting to herself that she will never marry again, as honesty is important and no one else can know the whole story. His coworker Becky knows something fishy was going on, but does not suspect the whole plot. She's young, crazy driver, but great police officer.
Over all, I really enjoyed this one because the author does a good job of slowly releasing more and more information about the dead husband and his (very unsettling) relationship with his wife through letters she had written but never sent. It is disturbing to realize how he systematically stripped her of her personality and friends and family and convinced everyone she was crazy.
DCI Tom Douglas got divorced because his wife Kate was unfaithful. He moved to London to follow his daughter, but when his ex decided to chuck the guy she left him for, she wants him back because his brother died and left him tons of money, so she uses his five year old Lucy as collateral. He ultimately decides against getting back with her and she moves back to Manchester. Tom fell for the wife of a murder victim while working a case, but in a twist, she's the one that murdered her husband. There's no evidence, though, and tbh he deserved it. His entire family was screwed up, he married her because she looked like his dead mother, he broke up her bff's marriage to her brother by roofying them both and putting the bff in a compromising position for her husband to walk in on, he had her committed twice, he was murdering prostitutes that he was pretending to save, and she needed to save her step daughter from him. Tom hears her confess to her brother, but doesn't have any proof and he really doesn't want any. He also suspects her sister in law of killing her father and making it look like a suicide decades before, for very similar reasons. He has trouble reconciling this, as he loves being a police officer, but he ultimately lets Laura know he knows and how he feels about it and how he can't be with her because of it, which she acknowledges, also noting to herself that she will never marry again, as honesty is important and no one else can know the whole story. His coworker Becky knows something fishy was going on, but does not suspect the whole plot. She's young, crazy driver, but great police officer.
Over all, I really enjoyed this one because the author does a good job of slowly releasing more and more information about the dead husband and his (very unsettling) relationship with his wife through letters she had written but never sent. It is disturbing to realize how he systematically stripped her of her personality and friends and family and convinced everyone she was crazy.
gabmc's review against another edition
2.0
I'd heard really good things about this author, and this was her first book (independently published). The story had promise: a man renowned fir his charity work has been found dead in unusual circumstances and there are seemingly no obvious suspects. However the way the story was told was problematic for me - there were a series of letters (never sent) from the victim's wife to her estranged best friend and the wife and her family were on first name basis with the police which I didn't like.
joo13's review
4.0
Only the Innocent is Rachel Abbott's first book and it's hard to tell. This is a great story which weaves itself round a few central characters. Lord Hugo Fletcher is murdered and Detective Chief Inspector Tom Douglas is brought in to investigate. Whilst on the surface this is a police procedural, it's more of a tale of the people close to Hugo and why he wasn't the wonderful person his public persona was.
At 471 pages this was a big chunk of a book and took me quite a time to read. On the whole I didn't think it dragged, though.
I couldn't even guess whodunnit right until the end
At 471 pages this was a big chunk of a book and took me quite a time to read. On the whole I didn't think it dragged, though.
I couldn't even guess whodunnit right until the end
jwillis81's review against another edition
3.0
This book started out really interesting; the mystery about Hugo's death and what he was really like behind closed door kept me eagerly reading along. Once those questions were answered, though, the rest of the narrative felt a little tedious and formulaic. The first two-thirds were solid, but it flagged significantly during the home stretch.
feralsarah's review
3.0
I enjoyed this book. It definitely is not what I was expecting from the overview. Well-balanced with enough twists, cliff hangers, and new characters. I found myself cheering for Laura and deeply hating Hugo. I'm glad good prevailed over evil.
books_penguin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
vickyluscombe's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75