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A review by urbansapphire
And So It Begins by Rachel Abbott
3.0
3.5 stars
A distress call to the police from a screaming woman starts off this twisty tale of murder and intrigue. The dead line is traced and Sergeant Stephanie King arrives at the sumptuous cliff-top home of Marcus (Mark) North, to find him dead on his bed in a pool of blood, and his wife Evie, injured. We know Evie killed Mark because she tells the police so - immediately - but why? Was it self defence? Evie claims so; Mark was abusive and regularly hurt her, and she had no choice but to kill him in order to save her own life and that of their little girl, Lulu. In fact, Evie has been covered in bruises, and injuries for weeks; her friends have been talking bout it and suspect that she has been covering up for Mark, saying all is ok and she is just really clumsy.
The house itself and victim Mark are familiar to Sergeant King as this is not the first tragedy to have happened there. Previously, Mark's first wife Mia - the source of Mark's fortune - was found dead at the bottom of the stairs leading to the basement gym. Although foul play was suspected, Mark was not around at the time of the accident, and Mia was ruled to have tripped over a rogue shoelace case closed. However Stephanie's spidey senses are once again tingling after this latest piece of 'bad luck' to happen here and she's not surprised to hear that Mark was not the paragon of virtue he was made out to be.
Evie is left facing murder or manslaughter, depending on which side of the story you believe. Mark's sister Cleo - virtually obsessed with her brother and jealous of any of his partners, doesn't believe a world of it and is determined to see Evie behind bars for life for what she has done. On the other hand, Evie's lawyer believes that Evie can be a poster girl for women who refuse to suffer at the hand of a domestic abuser is determined to get her off the hook.
As the tale unfolds from three different perspectives, we see how Evie came into Mark's life in the first place and secured a place in his life and the real story begins to unfold through the three main characters, while the real action is taking place in the courtroom.
The story keeps you guessing all the way through. You think you know what's going to happen, then suddenly, it all changes and you don't. I felt it got a bit over dramatic towards the very end but the actual ending was quite surprising all the same. All in all, a good stand-alone thriller.
Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
A distress call to the police from a screaming woman starts off this twisty tale of murder and intrigue. The dead line is traced and Sergeant Stephanie King arrives at the sumptuous cliff-top home of Marcus (Mark) North, to find him dead on his bed in a pool of blood, and his wife Evie, injured. We know Evie killed Mark because she tells the police so - immediately - but why? Was it self defence? Evie claims so; Mark was abusive and regularly hurt her, and she had no choice but to kill him in order to save her own life and that of their little girl, Lulu. In fact, Evie has been covered in bruises, and injuries for weeks; her friends have been talking bout it and suspect that she has been covering up for Mark, saying all is ok and she is just really clumsy.
The house itself and victim Mark are familiar to Sergeant King as this is not the first tragedy to have happened there. Previously, Mark's first wife Mia - the source of Mark's fortune - was found dead at the bottom of the stairs leading to the basement gym. Although foul play was suspected, Mark was not around at the time of the accident, and Mia was ruled to have tripped over a rogue shoelace case closed. However Stephanie's spidey senses are once again tingling after this latest piece of 'bad luck' to happen here and she's not surprised to hear that Mark was not the paragon of virtue he was made out to be.
Evie is left facing murder or manslaughter, depending on which side of the story you believe. Mark's sister Cleo - virtually obsessed with her brother and jealous of any of his partners, doesn't believe a world of it and is determined to see Evie behind bars for life for what she has done. On the other hand, Evie's lawyer believes that Evie can be a poster girl for women who refuse to suffer at the hand of a domestic abuser is determined to get her off the hook.
As the tale unfolds from three different perspectives, we see how Evie came into Mark's life in the first place and secured a place in his life and the real story begins to unfold through the three main characters, while the real action is taking place in the courtroom.
The story keeps you guessing all the way through. You think you know what's going to happen, then suddenly, it all changes and you don't. I felt it got a bit over dramatic towards the very end but the actual ending was quite surprising all the same. All in all, a good stand-alone thriller.
Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.