This is a revenge story with what I consider a perfect cast of fairly despicable and unlikable characters. The reader knows at the outset about "that night" changing everything but is not told exactly what mother and daughter did, but it was pretty easy to guess quite quickly. They cover up a crime and try to go on with their lives but keeping the secret ruins their family. When Louise's husband reveals his affair with her sister, Louise leaves their family home and seeks to lick her wounds in the Cotswalds at their other house. She leaves her son at home with his father. Someone else has followed Louise and he proceeds to torment her by leaving dead birds for her to find. Brooke follows her mother to the house but when ordered back to home in London, she vanishes from the train station. Police get involved. Climax. And then a long "letter" at the end explaining every detail in case the reader didn't get it.
Louise is histrionic and overwrought all the time -- I got totally sick of her. None of the others fared much better in my care, concern, or empathy. Everyone is crying, sobbing, shedding tears, too much emotion. I never felt any tension build or felt any menace. Was sort of hoping for exactly the outcome of the story. Well. That was at least a real ending and everyone ended up where they should have, except perhaps for poor Dominic.
Thank you to NetGalley and JJP for the e-book ARC to review. I'll probably read this author's follow up novel to see how it has improved over this debut.
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