A tense and powerful emotional thriller from Sam Hayes that asks: Do we ever really know our children? 'What would you do if your teenage son was stabbed to death at school?' That's a question chat-show host Carrie Kent can well imagine posing to any one of her studio guests. Her daily morning TV show deals with real life in all it's grubby glory - from underage sex to benefit swindlers, cheating partners to DNA testing. It's a million miles away from her perfect, polished existence. But when she gets a call to say that her beloved son Max has been murdered, Carrie and her ex-husband Brody will have to enter a world of poverty, fear and violence if they want to find out what really happened. And when the shocking truth is finally revealed, will they be able to live with it...?
I had never heard of Sam Hayes before receiving this book but this will not be the last book I read of hers either.
The book starts with a stabbing - a detailed account of what happened, one which remained on my mind throughout the book. It was, in my mind, graphic and drew my attention to the book straight away.
the book is a disturbing and emotional thriller that touches the darkest fears of any parent; 'do I really know my child?', 'are they secretly in emotional pain or even in danger?', 'have I lost sight of what's really important?'.
the book follows a fast-paced journey through the troubled world of Max and Dayna, teenagers who meet shortly before Max is fatally stabbed outside his school.
Dayna lives in a economically and emotionally impoverished family and Max struggles to live within a life lived on a tough estate where bullying and violence is an everyday occurrence. His mum is Carrie Knight, the host of a morning television show, similar to Jeremy Kyle. She lives and breathes the show, not recognising what is going on in her own life and that of her sons. Max's father is no longer living with them and is a blind mathematician. Max is further troubled by the confusion and misery felt by the breakdown of his parents relationship.
The stabbing of Max is a wake up call to his mother, Carrie and she must face some hard truths about the life of her son and must discover what Max's life had been like before he was so cruelly stabbed.
I really enjoyed this book, there were twists and turns in the storyline, surprising me when I thought i had guessed but was further intrigued. I learnt much about each character, their lives and relationships and by the end of the book, thought of them as real people who I cared about.
This book is a great thriller, recommended to anyone who loves a book thrilled with suspense.
Thank you to Sam Eades of Headline Publishing for sending me this book to review and see the post above for an exclusive read of the first chapter.
No comments:
Post a Comment