Melanie Douglas and her 12-year-old daughter Kate are living a hardscrabble existence since Mel's abusive husband, Billy, went to prison. Things get even worse when she's fired from her job as a carer and their situation becomes really bleak; now they might not even be able to pay the rent on their dingy flat. A light at the end of the tunnel appears in the form of a letter offering an inheritance and, just like that, Melanie is the owner of Moreton Inn in Halebury and her bank account is flush. The odd part of this is that Melanie has no relatives having grown up in foster care, and the hotel and money come with some stipulations. Melanie and Kate move hastily as they want to get away and hide from Billy who is newly released from jail and will probably come looking for them. Melanie throws herself into renovations and is settling into this much better life when things are thrown into turmoil by Kate's shocking discovery of bones buried near the new construction. NO SPOILERS.
First, the description/synopsis of this book is misleading, so you might want to lower your expectations about this being a twisty psychological thriller. The characters and events were entirely predictable and I never really felt the tension or suspense that was promised by the blurb. There's a bit of mystery regarding Melanie's backstory, but I think readers will immediately guess most of what happened. This was actually more a family drama with Mel trusting the wrong people, making some bad decisions, and Kate behaving badly. It was a quick, easy read that kept me entertained for a couple of hours and I enjoyed it despite the lack of surprises or thrills.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookoutre for this e-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - family drama, marketed as psychological thriller
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