Author – Adele O’Neill
Publisher – Aria – Head of Zeus (Brilliant name for a company by the way)
Available from;
Easons – Arklow, Bridge Street Books – Wicklow, Byrnes – Gorey & Wexford
Also available on Amazon
Thank you to the author, Adele O’Neill and her publishers Aria – Head of Zeus (again, can’t get over that name) for the opportunity to review this book.
From the blurb;
What if everything in your life was a lie? An emotionally tense story of love, loyalty, betrayal and revenge. Perfect for the fans of Louise Jenson.
DUBLIN – For the past two years Jill Ryan has tried to keep her darkest secrets deeply buried and remain relatively anonymous. Haunted by her tragic past and struggling to keep her life together, Jill soon realises that the last person she can trust is herself.
KILKENNY – Only Heather Martin knows the lengths her husband will go to teach her a lesson and Heather has had enough. Faced with the impossible choice of saving herself or staying to care for her ailing father, Heather has a choice to make. But does she have what it takes to survive?
When Detectives Louise Kennedy in Dublin and Tony Kelly in Kilkenny begin to investigate, their dark discoveries collide unravelling a complex web of secrets that stretch far and wide.
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Adele’s first book a few months back (Brothers and Sisters 4/5) I was delighted to hear that another book was just around the corner, and happier again that we would see the return of Kelly and Kennedy. While this is billed as Kelly and Kennedy #2 in many places, I do think that this book would work just as well as a standalone. It is quite a different animal to the first installment, but that is in no way a bad thing.
As with the authors previous book the story is told by mixing events from two time periods. This time we are in Kilkenny in 2016, while we also visit Dublin in 2018. What we are given here is a story told in increments where in each chapter we are given just enough new information to keep us guessing. The author weaves these two time periods together brilliantly and I felt the change of setting every so often flowed perfectly.
As you can see from the blurb this book deals with the lives of two women, with a strong focus on domestic violence. While not as fast paced as some books in the genre I think that Adele has build the tension perfectly here. I really felt for the characters and the lives they were leading. Our returning characters Kelly and Kennedy are up to their same antics, but I actually felt that the other characters in this book outshone them for the most part.
This book really took me through the ringer, at times it had me laughing out loud (I’m looking at you Kelly), and then in the next couple of pages I wanted to reach into the pages and shake some characters by the scruff of the neck. Some of the scenes in this book are quite harrowing, but really show what sufferers of domestic violence go through, not only during the violence, but after it has stopped.
This book had me up to the wee small hours trying to finish it, I couldn’t put it down.
Thoroughly recommended. 4/5
Don Jimmy Reviews 