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jackiecromarty62's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kberry513's review against another edition
5.0
It's been awhile since I read the earlier books in the series, so I've forgotten a lot, especially about Leo's history, so her behavior made her seem like an extremely weak-willed character. I kind of hated her in this book - Tom needs her at the end and she's pushed him away because she thinks he's cheating on her because he's been keeping things from her. But he's a policeman. And he's clearly working on an important case - you have first hand exposure to this sort of thing. And she had started out being super supportive of him looking into his brother's old things and then ended up being obnoxious. This doesn't actual detract from the book - in fact, I could absolutely see that sort of reaction coming from her and books where all the characters have no faults are boring. Plus, she truly doesn't know what Tom has been through, so I could forgive her.
I am hoping in the next installment, this gets addressed. Maybe next time I should reread the series.
Meanwhile, there are some mild romantic notions about Tom on Becky's part - I'm hoping that they don't get together, although I do want her to find somebody. She's already done the dating-a-superior thing.
***
Okay, now I've reread the series so that I'll remember everything before reading the next ones. I'm very interested to see the resolution of Tasha's story.
Plot summary: DCI Tom Douglas' brother Jack was a computer genius who did not always do things by the book. When they were young, he and his friend Ethan Bentley used to come up with schemes on how to make money via hacking. One of his favorite tricks was to hack a system and leave a document (with self destruct capabilities) on the desktop of a computer, which would then cause people to go to him to help set up better security.
Six years ago, Jack was dating Emma, but he realized Bentley's gang was going too far and he wanted out. Jack dumped Emma to keep her safe, claiming that it was for another woman (Melissa), who was in actuality just keeping an eye on him, as she was Bentley's mistress. Emma fled to Australia to visit her father and lick her wounds. One of Jack's marks, David, owed Bentley's gang a lot of money and set up a fake kidnapping of his wife and daughter so that he could steal diamonds from the safe deposit boxes at his work, give them to the gang, then claim he did it all under duress. Jack found out and called to warn the wife, but she got into a car accident and died. The gang kidnapped Tasha, David's daughter, as she was a witness. Jack sent Emma what was ostensibly a suicide note, and then faked his death, leaving his money to his brother. Tasha spent the intervening years in the family of Rory Slater, having been abused and taught to steal and run drugs. If she (or any of the other children) acted out, they'd get put in a deep hole in the basement called The Pit until they repented. Once the girls were old enough, they would be sent to Julie's to be prostitutes.
Emma came back to England about a year later and reconnected with David, who she had known from social functions with Jack. She commiserated with him about losing his wife and child, assuming he was drowning in grief, which she realized later was guilt. They eventually married and had a baby named Ollie, who is now 9 months old.
Four years later, the gang tried to use Tasha as leverage against her father, but he refused. Now, two years after that, she (understandably) hates him for this and readily agrees to help the gang by kidnapping Ollie. She confesses to her friend Izzy what is going to happen right before Izzy gets sent to Julie's. Izzy runs off and kills herself in the woods and this is the case that Tom Douglas gets involved in originally. As Izzy was never reported missing, they believe it may be Tasha herself.
Tasha shows up at her dad's house, freaking Emma out, but they try to embrace her. Emma insists they notify the police, especially since the police have just been by asking for a DNA sample to test against the body they've found in the woods. The police also find evidence that Tasha has been running drugs and ask her questions about her actions caught on the CCTV. Becky Robinson is leading this investigation. Meanwhile, Tasha plants bugs all over the house. While Emma is out, David lets Tasha take Ollie for a walk and she hands him over to the gang. She tells them not to involve the police, but Emma finds an old phone and uses it to contact her ex-fiance's brother - Tom.
Tom has been going through his brother's old papers at his girlfriend Leo's insistence and he has found evidence that Jack had been into some shady stuff. He immediately puts together his involvement in setting up David to need his security and suspects that he may have been involved in the gang. His suspicions are confirmed when he sees the picture the task force has of the head honcho - Bentley. Due to the nature of the kidnapping case, he has to keep information from his girlfriend Leo, who is wary of men to begin with and this is straining their fragile relationship.
The gang finds out that Tasha was caught on camera when the police pick up Rory and another drug-running kid. Meanwhile, the Triton task force has been after the gang for years and have an informant posing as a buyer. They bring Tasha and David in on the fact that the police know and swap Becky for Emma for a few hours so Becky can check out the house. They get a call from the kidnappers and David acts fishy when he doesn't put it on speaker - this is because he knows exactly who took his son. Emma discovers what David has done when Tasha confronts him about it.They get a second call setting up the deal - and it's Emma who has to break into the vault. While Emma is off trying to save their son, Finn McGuinness (the muscle) goes to get Tasha back and beats David with a crowbar. However, Tasha has run away. Finn sees a police radio and knows the police are involved.
Emma has help in the vault, which turns out to be Jack, who is also the informant. Bentley tells Emma to get rid of her police escort. The police also know about where the meet is and they believe Ollie is at Julie McGuinness' house, so they let her go and Becky takes a team into Julie's. However Ollie is not there and once Emma drops off the gold, Finn takes her to a secondary location. The police try to get info out of Julie and all they get is a name - Mel - because she's wasted. They also arrive to arrest Finn and rescue Emma.
Tom recognizes the informant as Jack and gets him to help find Mel, who turns out to be Melissa. Emma and Tom arrive just as Bentley does at Mel's house. Tom manages to keep Bentley from noticing Emma, but is enraged that Mel has the baby, so Jack reveals himself to Bentley. Mel shoots Bentley to stop him from killing Jack, expecting and hoping to go to prison to keep herself away from Finn, who she is afraid of even though he will be in prison forever. While Tom is ensuring Ollie and Emma's safety, Jack takes off. Mel claims he wasn't there, but Tom can't lie as a police officer. Jack leaves Tom a note stating that everyone is better off with him dead, and Finn must remain believing that. Tom tries to reach out to Leo, needing her to be there for him, but she has taken off because she's upset that he was keeping things from her.
David dies of his injuries and Emma stays in the house in the hopes that Tasha will come back. She and Ollie continue to look for her, passing out fliers everywhere.
I am hoping in the next installment, this gets addressed. Maybe next time I should reread the series.
Meanwhile, there are some mild romantic notions about Tom on Becky's part - I'm hoping that they don't get together, although I do want her to find somebody. She's already done the dating-a-superior thing.
***
Okay, now I've reread the series so that I'll remember everything before reading the next ones. I'm very interested to see the resolution of Tasha's story.
Plot summary: DCI Tom Douglas' brother Jack was a computer genius who did not always do things by the book. When they were young, he and his friend Ethan Bentley used to come up with schemes on how to make money via hacking. One of his favorite tricks was to hack a system and leave a document (with self destruct capabilities) on the desktop of a computer, which would then cause people to go to him to help set up better security.
Six years ago, Jack was dating Emma, but he realized Bentley's gang was going too far and he wanted out. Jack dumped Emma to keep her safe, claiming that it was for another woman (Melissa), who was in actuality just keeping an eye on him, as she was Bentley's mistress. Emma fled to Australia to visit her father and lick her wounds. One of Jack's marks, David, owed Bentley's gang a lot of money and set up a fake kidnapping of his wife and daughter so that he could steal diamonds from the safe deposit boxes at his work, give them to the gang, then claim he did it all under duress. Jack found out and called to warn the wife, but she got into a car accident and died. The gang kidnapped Tasha, David's daughter, as she was a witness. Jack sent Emma what was ostensibly a suicide note, and then faked his death, leaving his money to his brother. Tasha spent the intervening years in the family of Rory Slater, having been abused and taught to steal and run drugs. If she (or any of the other children) acted out, they'd get put in a deep hole in the basement called The Pit until they repented. Once the girls were old enough, they would be sent to Julie's to be prostitutes.
Emma came back to England about a year later and reconnected with David, who she had known from social functions with Jack. She commiserated with him about losing his wife and child, assuming he was drowning in grief, which she realized later was guilt. They eventually married and had a baby named Ollie, who is now 9 months old.
Four years later, the gang tried to use Tasha as leverage against her father, but he refused. Now, two years after that, she (understandably) hates him for this and readily agrees to help the gang by kidnapping Ollie. She confesses to her friend Izzy what is going to happen right before Izzy gets sent to Julie's. Izzy runs off and kills herself in the woods and this is the case that Tom Douglas gets involved in originally. As Izzy was never reported missing, they believe it may be Tasha herself.
Tasha shows up at her dad's house, freaking Emma out, but they try to embrace her. Emma insists they notify the police, especially since the police have just been by asking for a DNA sample to test against the body they've found in the woods. The police also find evidence that Tasha has been running drugs and ask her questions about her actions caught on the CCTV. Becky Robinson is leading this investigation. Meanwhile, Tasha plants bugs all over the house. While Emma is out, David lets Tasha take Ollie for a walk and she hands him over to the gang. She tells them not to involve the police, but Emma finds an old phone and uses it to contact her ex-fiance's brother - Tom.
Tom has been going through his brother's old papers at his girlfriend Leo's insistence and he has found evidence that Jack had been into some shady stuff. He immediately puts together his involvement in setting up David to need his security and suspects that he may have been involved in the gang. His suspicions are confirmed when he sees the picture the task force has of the head honcho - Bentley. Due to the nature of the kidnapping case, he has to keep information from his girlfriend Leo, who is wary of men to begin with and this is straining their fragile relationship.
The gang finds out that Tasha was caught on camera when the police pick up Rory and another drug-running kid. Meanwhile, the Triton task force has been after the gang for years and have an informant posing as a buyer. They bring Tasha and David in on the fact that the police know and swap Becky for Emma for a few hours so Becky can check out the house. They get a call from the kidnappers and David acts fishy when he doesn't put it on speaker - this is because he knows exactly who took his son. Emma discovers what David has done when Tasha confronts him about it.They get a second call setting up the deal - and it's Emma who has to break into the vault. While Emma is off trying to save their son, Finn McGuinness (the muscle) goes to get Tasha back and beats David with a crowbar. However, Tasha has run away. Finn sees a police radio and knows the police are involved.
Emma has help in the vault, which turns out to be Jack, who is also the informant. Bentley tells Emma to get rid of her police escort. The police also know about where the meet is and they believe Ollie is at Julie McGuinness' house, so they let her go and Becky takes a team into Julie's. However Ollie is not there and once Emma drops off the gold, Finn takes her to a secondary location. The police try to get info out of Julie and all they get is a name - Mel - because she's wasted. They also arrive to arrest Finn and rescue Emma.
Tom recognizes the informant as Jack and gets him to help find Mel, who turns out to be Melissa. Emma and Tom arrive just as Bentley does at Mel's house. Tom manages to keep Bentley from noticing Emma, but is enraged that Mel has the baby, so Jack reveals himself to Bentley. Mel shoots Bentley to stop him from killing Jack, expecting and hoping to go to prison to keep herself away from Finn, who she is afraid of even though he will be in prison forever. While Tom is ensuring Ollie and Emma's safety, Jack takes off. Mel claims he wasn't there, but Tom can't lie as a police officer. Jack leaves Tom a note stating that everyone is better off with him dead, and Finn must remain believing that. Tom tries to reach out to Leo, needing her to be there for him, but she has taken off because she's upset that he was keeping things from her.
David dies of his injuries and Emma stays in the house in the hopes that Tasha will come back. She and Ollie continue to look for her, passing out fliers everywhere.
joweston's review
4.0
There is something oddly addictive about Rachel Abbott's books. I've read them all now, and though they can be rather implausible, as this one was once again, they make for a good listen and are quite unputdownable. 3.5-4 stars as it's good, but not great.
I really like the main character, Tom Douglas.
I really like the main character, Tom Douglas.
casimoore's review
5.0
Rachel Abbott is definitely on my top fave authors list. I just cannot put her books down, even if it means minimal sleep haha :)
paperbacksandpines's review
4.0
Really liked the book but didn't completely like the ending! I want everything wrapped up in a neat little package by the end of a book.
wellingtonestatelibrary's review against another edition
4.0
This was a quick and enjoyable read. Though I did predict the big "twist" I still found myself wanting to read to the end to find out if I was right. 4 stars because of the predictability but I look forward to more by this author.
books_penguin's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
fuzzywuzzy's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I rounded up to four stars because I like this author. My problem with this book is that it felt drawn out and confusing which made me lose interest.
jblaszczyk135's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0