He had happily been skipping along anticipating milk; biscuit; twenty minutes of television, fish fingers for tea…. While reading this scene and immediately after, it got my mind ticking over about my son’s road sense and my own responsibility as a mum in negotiating crossing roads with my son. When the death of 5 year old Jacob comes to their attention Ray is determined to discover who did it, and why they drove away from the scene of the crime. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. This book was still extremely enjoyable for me regardless of the twists; I always enjoy a book more if it can stand on its own without the gimmicks.

The haunted as well as motivated police officers involved in the case, Ray, Kate and Stumpy are authentic. It starts with a mother walking with her son when tragedy strikes as he is mown down in a hit and run. Waiting for a break in the traffic they duck across the busy road, and she tightens her grip on the small hand inside the soft woollen glove, so he has to run to keep up. Waiting for a break in the traffic they duck across the busy road, and she tightens her grip on the small hand inside the soft woolen glove, so he has to run to keep up. It happens in a heartbeat; the feeling of space by her side as he runs toward home, seeking out the warmth of the hall, with its porch-light glow.

Ray and Kate have been investigating something which they found in Jenna's purse whilst she was in custody. This novel clearly shows how in one moment an unexpected tragedy can occur leaving many people devastated. He never stops moving; full of energy from the second he wakes until the moment his head hits the pillow. Then the twist hits and it was so cliche that I never really managed to shake my annoyance after that.

Overall, this one gets kudos for originality, for tossing the formula writing out the window and for giving me a story that challenged me, which is just what I am always on the lookout for. Below we have Comment from a couple counsellor…British seaside life is well depicted, the long stretches of rolling waves washing up on the sand, the grey skies brightening into Summer.Stevens and Kate are relieved to be reassigned to the case, which has been reactivated with the new information.

Feeling lost she finds her way to a small Welsh community where she attempts to pick up the pieces and start anew.Instead consider keeping this information to yourself until your book club meet in person, and you can then share the page – perhaps after you have all debated the ending. You might think you know what's happening and how the characters are involved, but in reality, you have no clue. That winter is a cold and lonely one for Jenna, as she tries to hide from a terrible secret that haunts her thoughts, day and night. In actual fact the author had been very deliberate, clever and deceiving with language in the first part. But the car doesn't stop—it drives off into the night, leaving the mother to watch her son die in her arms.

If you’ve read and liked Paula Hawkins’ ‘The Girl on the Train,’ which was excellent, you’ll like this too. They have a fight on the cliff tops and "unfortunately" Ian slips and falls off the cliffs and down the 200ft drop into the sea.

After the End was published in 2019 and became an instant Sunday Times bestseller, and in 2021 Hostage flew straight into the top ten. The gripping, heart-stopping story unfolds from different perspectives, revealing varying pieces of the puzzle until suddenly I saw the big picture and it was nothing I envisioned. The squeal of wet brakes, the thud of a five-year-old boy hitting the windscreen and the spin of his body before it slams on to the road. The bitter-cold weather of the coast coupled with Jenna’s melancholic perspective, set a somber tone that makes her brokenness palpable. The twists that define and propel the second half of the book are made possible by Mackintosh’s fastidious character development in the book’s first half.