The Life She Wants by Mel Sherratt

 

 

🌟🌟🌟due out 29-November-2021🌟🌟🌟

Description from Goodreads:

"From behind the curtains, Sarah spotted the man coming out of the house, followed by the woman. It would be strange seeing people in the property. She wondered how much it would change their lives. For now, she would bide her time and hopefully get to know them better. She needed to gain their trust.

When I met Richard, I fell for him instantly. He was able to give me everything I had always wanted, the dream house, security and above all, love like I’d never known. We lived a quiet life in the middle of nowhere; we didn’t need anyone else.

So, when the empty house next door is sold, I am wary. Will our neighbours invade the perfect life Richard has built for us? As soon as I meet Juliette and Danny, I am reassured. Overwhelmed by grief after the death of their young daughter, they have moved in search of a quiet life and a chance to start again. Over dinner one evening, we hit it off instantly and I know they are just the neighbours we need.

All is well until Juliette spots a young girl in our garden. Richard convinces her that she is seeing things, that it’s the grief taking over. But Juliette won’t let it go. She is sure she saw a child. She believes that Richard is threatening her. She starts to think that I’m not safe.

I need to convince Juliette that she’s imagining it. I need to keep Richard happy. If I am to protect everything I have built for myself, she must never find out the truth.

That my perfect life is built on the deadliest lie."

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I am a fan of Mel Sherratt's work and always look forward to reading her books but, I have to say, never have I been so confused as I was with this one.

Now, whilst at first this might seem to be a negative, let me reassure you that if you stick with it, everything falls into place very nicely and the confusion was well worth it in the end.

Told from different perspectives over different timelines, this is a complex storyline which deals with various unsavoury but important and contemporary themes; coercive control, domestic abuse and loss.  These are hard-hitting subjects but Mel deals with them with respect.

There are a number of characters and all have a part to play but I found I didn't really focus on them that much as I was more interested in the story and how it was going to play out.  That's not to say they weren't great characters, far from it, it's just that the story was so engrossing that they felt secondary to me somehow.

Full of secrets, lies and manipulation, this is a book that makes you angry and sympathetic all at the same time.  It's definitely one that kept me totally engrossed and I couldn't read fast enough.

With atmosphere, suspense and tension aplenty, this is a book that I would definitely recommend to lovers of psychological thrillers and I have to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

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Other books by Mel Sherratt that I have read and reviewed:

Ten Days

Follow The Leader (DS Allie Shenton #2)

Only The Brave (DS Allie Shenton #3)

Written in the Scars

Liar Liar (DS Grace Allendale #3)

Good Girl (DS Grace Allendale #4)

Ten Days by Mel Sherratt

 

Description from Goodreads:

"Can her own dark secret set her free?

Day one. As my eyes adjust to the darkness, I slowly start to recognise my surroundings: the small hole in the door and a narrow window allowing only a small chink of light. The jewellery given to me by my loving husband is gone and I am wearing someone else’s clothes. The room is exactly as the first woman described. And the second. And the third… It’s then I know, I am the fifth woman to be taken.

Just days before, I had interviewed the third victim for the local paper. Her story was the same as those before her: an ordinary woman, locked away for ten days then released with no explanation, and nothing – nothing she could think of – to link her to the others. Throughout the ordeal, her abductor stayed eerily silent.

I tell myself I’ll be safe; that I can brave the loneliness and survive just like the others. But as the days pass, I can’t help thinking of the fourth victim who is still missing.

And then I hear the voice coming through the door. ‘You said everything would be fine. But it wasn’t was it?’ It is then that I realise. If I am to make it out alive, I need to revisit a dark secret of my own that I have spent a lifetime trying to forget."

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I admit to being a rather big fan of Mel Sherratt's books having read several previously so was hoping this was going to be as good ... I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.

Ten Days has got it all ... great characters, intriguing storyline, fast paced, twists, turns and a very satisfying ending.

Ten Days is one of those books that is so compelling that you can't stop reading and I found myself taking every opportunity to read just one more chapter which quickly became several!  

I would certainly recommend this and any of Mel's previous books; she delivers every time.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

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Other books by Mel Sherratt that I have read and reviewed:

Follow The Leader (DS Allie Shenton #2)

Only The Brave (DS Allie Shenton #3)

Written in the Scars

Liar Liar (DS Grace Allendale #3)

Good Girl (DS Grace Allendale #4)

Good Girl (DS Grace Allendale #4) By Mel Sherratt

 

Description from Goodreads:

"Erin was a good girl. But someone wanted her dead…

When sixteen-year-old Erin Ellis is attacked, she dies in the arms of her best friend Molly, just metres from her home. Molly is the surviving girl but says she easily could have been the victim – it was a random mugging gone wrong.

 

With inconclusive evidence, DS Grace Allendale must dig deep within the tight-knit Stoke community for leads. And she soon finds that someone had a motive to kill Erin.

 

As the investigation unfolds, Grace is reminded of a horrifying case she worked on earlier in her career.

 

Is the past coming back to haunt her? And can she push through her fear to catch Erin’s killer before it’s too late?"

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I have never been disappointed by anything written by Mel Sherrratt so had no hesitation in reading this, the fourth in the series, and, once again, it was as good as I was expecting and, as an added bonus, you don't have to have read the others in the series, as this works well as a standalone so don't worry!

What we have in "Good Girl" is a pretty dark and hard-hitting police procedural which follows the investigation of DS Grace Allendale and her team into the apparent mugging and murder of a young 16 year old but as Grace delves deeper, all is not what it seems.

With believable characters, an authentic and frighteningly realistic story line written at a great pace and with sensitivity, given the subject matter which is difficult to read at times, this is another excellent book.

Thank you to Avon Books UK, a division of HarperCollins, and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

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Liar Liar (DS Grace Allendale #3) by Mel Sherratt

Description from Goodreads:

"The truth can be a dangerous thing…

When a young boy is thrown from a balcony in a block of flats, DS Grace Allendale witnesses the shocking aftermath of the tragic event. But despite everything, no one will admit to seeing who did it – and the parents will only tell the police that it was an accident.

Determined to bring the perpetrator to justice, Grace must sort the truth from the lies in a case that takes her into the darkest corners of the criminal world – and strikes closer to home than she could have ever imagined..."

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Mel Sherratt describes herself as a "meddler of words" and I am not going to argue with her!  I would also put her in the category as one of THE best crime writers in the UK that I have had the pleasure to read and one where I have never been disappointed.

Here we have another great story full of mystery and twists and one which I found hard to stop reading way too late into the night.  This is book 3 in the series however, I don't think you have to have read the other 2 in order to enjoy this and I certainly feel it works well as a standalone.

Each and every character, both goodies and baddies, are well developed; their circumstances believable and scarily plausible.  The setting is perfect and so well described I felt I was there.  The pace is fast and engrossing with plenty of action and a fare amount of violence and scenes of peril right from the start however, this shouldn't come as a surprise if you've read the blurb.

The book is written with alternating chapters of the present and the past and rather than this complicating matters, it provided an insight into one of the main characters' motivations and justifications as to why she responds as she does.  There are several strands that could all have a bearing on the investigation and rather than cause confusion, added to the mystery and intrigue making this an engrossing book and one which I would recommend to anyone who enjoys gritty, realistic and absorbing reads.

Thanks go to Avon Books UK via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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