Book #22 And Then She Vanishes

And Then She Vanishes by Claire Douglas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A breathtaking opening chapter with an equally shocking ending! And Then She Vanishes is a terrific thriller. Has it all. A claustrophobic, page turning, slow burner - when two bodies, thought to be local businessman Clive Wilson, 58, and his mother, Deirdre Wilson, 76, are found in a cottage in the seaside Somerset town of Tilby. They had been shot. A third person, Heather Underwood, was found unconscious at a caravan park less than half a mile away, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest... Heather, whose sister Flora disappeared in 1994, never to be seen again. Everything points to Heather being the murderer. But why?! There is no apparent motive, yet....

Jessica Fox is a journalist in Bristol where she lives with her boyfriend, Rory. Could Heather be the friend she fell out with back in 1994? She works with Jack, the photographer for the Bristol and Somerset Herald, a twice weekly publication. Looking for any kind of exclusive the layers are slowly peeled back. Jessica has a dark past that saw her leave The Tribune in London, for reasons she has never fully explained to Rory. And all the time, the question that pervades this whydunnit is: What really happened the night Flora disappeared?

I will not say any more about this thrilling story - don't want to spoil it for future readers. I can say that you will love it!

My thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph, NetGalley and Claire Douglas for my ARC. Wonderful!

View all my reviews

Book #46 Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kirsty, husband Adrian and their two young daughters leave London to start a new life in the Brecon Beacons area of Wales. Purchased an old property with the financial help of Kirsty's mother Carol and carry out renovations to begin a guest-house business. So far so good. And then the first 'guest' arrives - Selena and her daughter Ruby, invited by Carol as Selena allegedly needs to escape an abusive husband. Kirsty hasn't seen Selena for seventeen years and she is the last person she wants to see. Too many bad memories.

The locals are unfriendly, it is rumoured that the house is haunted, scary events begin to happen as other guests arrive for short stays. There is an underlying menace to this story that builds a level of tension as events unfold and Selena's real reason for seeking refuge becomes apparent. A complex plot in which past events will come to the fore with one hell of a twist come the end.

View all my reviews

Book #40 Last Seen Alive

Last Seen Alive by Claire Douglas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Net Galley and Claire Douglas for an ARC of Last Seen Alive in exchange for an honest review.

More twists and turns than Spaghetti Junction. The comfortable atmosphere of a seemingly opportune house-swap - a flat in Bath for a magnificent house in Cornwall. Was Libby Hall rather naive to accept, at face value, a note pushed through her letterbox offering the swap from someone who claims urgent need for such an arrangement as he and his wife need to visit their daughter, who awaits an operation, at the local hospital. Would you not be suspicious at least? Well, not for Libby and her husband Jamie, who are going through a rough patch in their marriage.

The secluded house in Cornwall is not everything it at first appears. Is Libby being watched? Does her paranoia come to the surface? What is she hiding from her past? And what of Jamie? Does he have secrets that he keeps from Libby? Is Libby really who she has claimed all along to be? Do past events in Thailand have a bearing on the way she acts? Just what is she hiding?

Those past events will lead to a cataclysmic outcome as the secrets and lies unravel with terrible consequences. Atmospheric, claustrophobic, a plot that often left me blind-sided and not a little confused at times. And then, the final twist.... Great stuff!

View all my reviews