What My Husband Did by Kerry Wilkinson @bookouture @kerrywk #blogtour #NetGalley #WhatMyHusbandDid

 

What My Husband Did by Kerry Wilkinson

Published by Bookouture

Publication Date 17th November 2020

Genre Crime, Thriller

My thanks to Sarah Hardy and publisher Bookouture for the opportunity to be part of the blog tour for Kerry Wilkinson's latest novel. The views I express here are my own and unbiased.

Book Description:

'I can give you a lift home,’ the man says. Little Alice tightens the zip of her big red coat. She’s unsure, but the walk will be cold and dark. ‘I’m not supposed to get in a stranger’s car.’ He forces a smile. ‘I’m not a proper stranger, am I?’

I return home to our beautiful house on a chilly winter evening expecting to find my handsome husband Richard waiting for me by the fire. We’re still so in love, and he always takes care of me: buying us this home in the little village where he grew up, making sure I settled in and made friends, and treating my teenage daughter like his own.

There’s a bit of gossip about our age gap, but the death of his first wife years ago was so tragic that he still gets sympathetic looks. Everyone loves Richard.

He usually comes straight back from work. But tonight, our antique clock ticks on through the dark evening, with no sign of him. Then a knock at the door shatters my perfect life. A 12-year-old-girl, Alice from the village, has been found unconscious in the field behind our house. They say she was last seen getting into Richard’s car.

Now rumours are flying. As Alice fights for her life in hospital, nobody will speak to me: and when they do it’s to ask if he didn’t hurt Alice, why hasn’t Richard come home?

I know that revealing my own darkest secret about Richard’s first wife could prove his innocence… but even if I do, he’s still missing. Is everyone right, and is my husband on the run? And will telling the truth about my past turn my own daughter against me, and tear our lives apart for good?

Fans of The Girl on the Train, I Am Watching You and Shari Lapena will adore this absolutely unputdownable read by bestselling author Kerry Wilkinson, about the dark secrets we hide to protect ourselves and the ones we love.

My Thoughts:

A knock on the door heralds the start of a nightmare for Maddy as her friend's husband Atal announces that he has found a young girl unconscious in the stream at the back of her house. Then Maddy's husband Richard fails to return from meeting a friend and work colleague which fuels rumours that he may be involved in young Alice's accident. 

The story follows events as Maddy becomes the target for the village's frustration in finding the chief suspect - surely she knows more than she's telling the detective on the case? The finger of suspicion loses Maddy both her income and the respect of locals who she would have previously called her friends. The villagers close rank under the seeming direction of the village's popular yummy mummy Harriet, who is quick to take Alice's mum Gemma under her wing. 

The book may be a little predictable in reflecting how society tends to behave in the wake of an event where there is harm to a child but author Kerry Wilkinson cleverly leads the enquiries into Alice's attack in several different directions to provide some strong smoke screens and decoy characters along the way to the truth.

Will you work out who is responsible for what happened to Alice? I wasn't too far away from solving the case but the path which led to the attack was certainly not what I was expecting. As in so many novels of this genre, secrets hidden in history have a habit of eking their way into the present and innocent people are often those who get caught up in the repercussions.

Although the initial event which triggers the storyline does not make for comfortable reading, I enjoyed trying to work out who was involved in the aftermath. Definitely a book I would recommend to friends and family - but there again Kerry is an author who features strongly on my recommendation list any way. If you haven't read his work - WHY NOT?! It's time you explored his work, you're in for a treat!

Buy your copy here:

Amazon: https://bit.ly/3n1Zal6

Apple: https://apple.co/3lffwGy

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3eIqAtj

Google: https://bit.ly/2GO6K3C

Follow the tour and read other reviews:

About the Author:

Kerry Wilkinson has had No.1 crime bestsellers in the UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Singapore. He has also written two top-20 thrillers in the United States. His book, Ten Birthdays, won the RNA award for Young Adult Novel of the Year in 2018 and Close To You won the International Thriller Award for best ebook in 2020.

As well as his million-selling Jessica Daniel series, Kerry has written the Silver Blackthorn trilogy - a fantasy-adventure serial for young adults - a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter, plus numerous standalone novels. He has been published around the world in more than a dozen languages.

Originally from the county of Somerset, Kerry spent way too long living in the north of England, picking up words like 'barm' and 'ginnel'.

When he's short of ideas, he rides his bike, hikes up something, or bakes cakes. When he's not, he writes it all down.

Social Media Links:

Website: http://kerrywilkinson.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/kerrywk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kerrywilkinsonbooks

The Pretenders by Agatha Zaza @agatha_zaza #ThePretenders #NetGalley @Agora_BooksLDN

 

The Pretenders by Agatha Zaza

Published by Agora Books

Publication Date 5th November 2020 (ebook), 3rd December 2020 paperback

Genre: Contemporary Literary Fiction

Book Description:

"I’m perfectly happy lying to myself…If it means getting to stay with you."

Jasper is ready to surprise his brother; Holly is ready to celebrate their engagement.

Anne tags along for fear of missing out, and John might just be going for another drink.

But Edmund and Ovidia had other plans for their Saturday.

Over the course of one day, these couples must own up to the secrets they’ve been hiding from one another and the lies they’ve been telling themselves. And face the devastating consequences.

Three couples. Two exes. One day. One reckoning.

My Thoughts:

Well, where to start with this book? It was really not what I was expecting but after a bit of a slow start as I settled in to the story I was soon drawn into the lives of brothers Jasper and Edmund. In some ways they seem very close siblings but in others they barely seem to know each other at all.

Jasper has decided to call in to surprise Edmund at his home in London to announce his engagement to girlfriend Holly. Best friend John and his wife Anne have tagged along too, having heard so much about Edmund and his high-flying career from Jasper. So when they arrive at Edmund's home something feels very off. He's sitting in his contemporary glass cube conservatory in his pyjamas and food-spattered dressing gown staring out into the garden. Hardly the successful, focused businessman they were expecting.

The enigma grows as a woman arrives at the house dressed in running gear. Her body language at first suggests that she lives here but then changes in an instant as she becomes unsure of herself and the situation she finds herself in. Meanwhile, Jasper is looking as if he's seen a ghost.
The book gradually peels back the layers of the six people's lives and we are presented with twist after shock revelation until we get to point where it all makes some kind of sense. There are quite a few triggers which people should be aware of before indulging in this book - domestic abuse and depression to mention just a couple.

This won't be a book for everyone as it's a bit of a slow burner which hits on some sensitive subject material but the style of writing is excellent and the facts are disclosed very cleverly so I would encourage people to stick with the slow introduction as it leads to a pretty shocking conclusion.

About the Author:

Agatha Zaza is a Zambian and Finn at present living in Auckland, New Zealand. Her writing is a departure from her work in fundraising and international development.

The Pretenders was born in Singapore, where she spent three years as a trailing spouse, where she rekindled a long-dormant love of writing. Aside from Singapore, Agatha has worked and lived several countries, among them Uganda and in the then Soviet Union. While in Ireland, she earned a Master’s in Equality Studies from University College Dublin and worked in a genuine Irish pub.

Agatha’s work can be seen in the Johannesburg Review of Books and in a PEN International special edition on African writers. She has also published three short books on Amazon. She’s been a passionate slow runner for two and half decades and has recently given up composting.