“This was a brilliant read and I full recommend this to everyone.”

 

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

The story revolves around Leona, her daughter Beth and her live-in boyfriend, Graham.

They live in Church Langdon, in the Lake District, and Leona is fiercely over-protective of Beth. She has her own quaint business, a perfect cottage to call home and a loving boyfriend. Graham too loves Beth like his own daughter.

Leona does everything with her together, so much so that Beth is a loner in the outside world; and she not only has no friends, she’s the constant source of negative attention of the popular girls in her class, to the oblivion of Leona and Graham.

Enter Scott into Beth’s life, and her dull monotonous existence seems to be more meaningful. Beth continues meeting Scott without the knowledge of her parents; but for how long?

One day while shopping at the local mart, Leona thinks she spots a person she knew from the past – Ria. And then begin the panic attacks and sleepless nights, so much so the family start getting neglected.

At the heart of the matter, the question remains, why did Leona move to the Lake District? Why doesn’t she talk of or tell Beth who her father is? Why does she refuse to officially marry Graham?

And most importantly, who is Ria? What’s her connection with Leona? And why and how does she have a hold over Leona to this extent?

Leona starts seeing a counselor to be able to cope with it – after all Ria has resurfaced in her thoughts after 12 years!

Told alternatively from the viewpoints of Leona, Ria and Beth – this is a mind-boggling psychological thriller.

The twists are fantastic, the plot brilliant, the story-telling articulately done and the ending, though predictable, once you knew what was happening, was a perfect culmination to the plot.

You feel Leona’s fear, sympathize with Ria and empathize with Beth.

This was a brilliant read and I full recommend this to everyone!

5/5 for me.

 

Reviewed by:

Ranjini Sen

Added 9th May 2019

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Ranjini Sen