Greg and Tess are perfect for each other. Two halves of the same coin. Which is why, when Greg gets offered the job of a lifetime in Boston, Tess agrees to marry him and move, along with her nine year old son Joey and soon to be born baby, from her home in England. This despite their romance having been something of a whirlwind and her misgivings about how Greg feels about the pregnancy (he never wanted children).

Once they arrive, things don’t go as Tess hoped. Greg is from the States and fits back into the life straight away, that’s when he isn’t at work – which is pretty much all the time. Tess feels like a fish out of water. Her neighbour Helena seems to hate her. Joey hates school and is being bullied. Then there are the mystery notes that keep turning up threatening Greg, possibly left by the disheveled red-haired woman Tess keeps seeing outside their house. Greg seems to find it all perfectly normal but Tess isn’t so sure. She starts asking questions and Greg, she starts to find out, hasn’t been telling her the truth about his past.

I really like these type of books, where you spend most pages wondering if a character is or isn’t up to no good. When they are done well, they are real page turners and this one was, despite the slow start. Lucy Atkins builds up the tension bit by bit. At first, you think Tess is being paranoid because of the stress of the move and the new baby. All along, though, you know Greg is slightly off. The question is just how off?  I just had to know and loved all the twists that got me there, though I must admit there were a couple of times I thought we could have gotten there quicker (the timeline is written to fit with the pregnancy).

What didn’t work so well for me was the ending, which left me a little flat and thinking “is that it?”. The run up had been quite intense with a drive through a storm and a remote house. I was started to get worried about what would happen to more than one character. Then it was all over. I wanted a bit more and felt I had been promised that. Looking back, though, the ending wasn’t bad and it is a bit different from the usual ones for these type of stories but it wasn’t what I expected and so I’m left with mixed feelings about the book. If I was rating it, then, it would likely be right in the middle – 3 out of 5.

Have you read this, what did you think of the ending?

Emma

p.s. I “won” a copy of this from Goodreads so whilst there wasn’t a requirement to post a review on my blog, it wasn’t a purchased book.