Genre: Crime fiction

Stars: 5

Links: Amazon UK and Amazon.com

The Blurb:

Love hurts. Obsession kills.

Joe loves Kit. Everyone thinks she’s dead. Joe knows she’s not.

If you lost the love of your life, how far would you go to get them back? Detective Joe McNeil would do absolutely anything. When Joe breathes life into a killer’s victim, he discovers what anything really means. Nell will use whatever is necessary to ensure she survives, including Joe. Is she really a victim or merely the weapon being wielded by a much more cunning foe? As Joe struggles between his love for missing Kit and his growing obsession with the enigmatic Nell, he plunges headlong into a spiralling nightmare of kidnap, murder and betrayal. His relentless search for the truth jeopardises his career, his sanity and his life. But for Nell, the risk is even greater.

A haunting tale of obsessive love, ultimate sacrifice and deadly consequences.

My Review:

It is very rare for me to pick up a book and refuse to get up for even the most torturous of bladder emergencies, but this was definitely one of those reads. Hooked from the first sentence, I couldn’t stop despite the novel’s contents playing havoc with my blood pressure.

Joe, wrecked and treading water (well, mainly alcohol) since the disappearance of his girlfriend, Kit, is the only one that won’t believe she’s dead. When he resuscitates a ‘dead’ victim, Nell, at a crime scene, his obsession with discovering what really happened to Kit the previous year re-ignites, but so does his need for Nell. Which of what’s happening is real, which staged, and which only in his head? And, above all, why?

This a a superbly written book: from the prose, to the plot, and everything in between. Interspersed with chapters that give us a first-person glimpse into Nell’s inner thoughts, this is one twisted crime/ mystery/ psychological suspense/ thriller story with sprinkles of literary and coming-of-age. Wow, just wow – undoubtedly the best thing I’ve read all year. Read it. Now.

*I received an ARC from the publisher. This is my honest review.