Do you ever get the feeling that you must have done something really bad in a previous life or smashed every mirror in a mirror factory. Because all you ever seem to get is your bad luck and everyone else's as well. Recently Tess's life has seemed to be just one lot of bad luck after another, her husband left her for another woman,her eldest daughter is not talking to her. Her mother is suffering from dementia and Tess is worried that her father is struggling to cope and the situation is starting to affect his health.
Then one night,Tess's youngest daughter Emma is attacked on her way home from a party. Fortunately,a kindly,good Samaritan called Francis rescued Emma and brought her home.
Then,when Tess doesn't believe that things couldn't get any worse,the man who attacked Emma is set free and soon after Emma sees him on the street near their home.
Blinded by her need to protect her daughter,Tess is forced to take matters into her own hands. But in this taunt thriller where people are not who they appear to be,might she end up putting her family in even greater danger?
This tightly plotted,compelling thriller is predominantly voiced by Tess,a complex character who at one time I would have thought was a annoying and frustrating individual. But now that I have had personal experience of how the menopause messes with your head,the confusion,the mood swings and anxiety,I couldn't help feeling a connection with her character. Being a parent myself,I felt a lot of admiration for her determination to get revenge and protect her daughter but there was also aspects of her character that I didn't like. The author's portrayal of teenage Emma was very realistic,the moods,her secretive behaviour,her snappy attitude when Tess tried to talk to her about the attack. She was a typical teenager but not the bratty type that normally appear in books and films. I could understand and sympathize with with Tess's anger and frustration at the inadequacies of the justice system. The antagonist was so clever and cunning that they were able to commit crimes without leaving any evidence therefore the police wouldn't believe anything that Tess was trying to tell them. This is a terrifying aspect of the stalking laws that has to be changed. There have been horrible true life stalking cases were victims of stalking have actually been accused of wasting police time,nothing has been done about the stalker who has then gone on to murder the victim. There are different versions of stalking and different types of stalkers,there are situations were watching people can be justified such as Tess having a camera in her parents home so she could make sure they were ok. But there is also situations were the reasons for the stalking are just sinister and creepy and so is the stalker. The antagonist in this novel was very creepy and gave me chills everytime they appeared in the story.
I loved this mesmerising,fast paced,page turner,it's extremely well written,packed full of twists and turns and had a jaw dropping twist that I definitely didn't see coming. The story flows nicely,drawing the reader into the author's character's fictional world. This is the first book that I have read by this author and it most definitely will not be my last. I have actually just bought First One Missing on Amazon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tammy Cohen (who previously wrote under her formal name Tamar Cohen) has a growing backlist of acclaimed novels of domestic noir including:The Mistress's Revenge, The War of the Wives, and Someone Else's Wedding.
Her break-out psychological suspense thriller was The Broken, followed by Dying for Christmas, First One Missing and When She Was Bad.
She lives in North London with her partner and three (nearly) grown children, plus one badly behaved dog.
Chat with her on Twitter @MsTamarCohen
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 2147 KB
Print Length: 430 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0857524631
Publisher: Transworld Digital (18 July 2019)
PURCHASE LINK.....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Untitled-2-Tammy-Cohen-ebook/dp/B06XWLZDLT
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