This novel introduces the reader to the world of precocious musician children.
We meet genius IQ Zoe Maisey a seventeen-year-old musical prodigy. Three years prior to the book’s beginning she was involved in a traffic accident in which three friends died. Was she responsible? How? Was she sentenced unfairly? That fact is made known little by little as the book progresses.
When she "did her time" as a juvenile offender, she and her mother Maria moved to a new town with changed names to begin their “Second Chance Life.” Her mother’s new husband Chris whose son Lucas is also a musical prodigy know nothing of her past life. And they won’t, too. Neither she nor Maria plan to tell them. All seems well, except for one thing.
Her music.
It’s unmistakeable and unique and of course people from her “old life” would recognize it in an instant. Which is exactly what happens.
The book, the entire book, revolves around the incidents which occur in one terrible, awful, heart-rending 24 hour period following a concert where her mother Maria is murdered.
The reader goes from loving Zoe with an intense understanding, to wondering if she is really all that changed. The reader is introduced to all of the members of this family—Maria and Chris, Zoe and Lucas their children, Grace, the new baby, Sam, Zoe’s first solicitor and Maria’s sister Tessa.
It’s hard to review a novel like this without giving spoilers, so none here, but what kept me glued to this book was the way the author goes into the lives of each of the characters in turn revealing new horrors.
There are three things I demand in the thrillers that I read:
1. Being well-written. This one is.
Here is how the book begins:
It’s unmistakeable and unique and of course people from her “old life” would recognize it in an instant. Which is exactly what happens.
The book, the entire book, revolves around the incidents which occur in one terrible, awful, heart-rending 24 hour period following a concert where her mother Maria is murdered.
The reader goes from loving Zoe with an intense understanding, to wondering if she is really all that changed. The reader is introduced to all of the members of this family—Maria and Chris, Zoe and Lucas their children, Grace, the new baby, Sam, Zoe’s first solicitor and Maria’s sister Tessa.
It’s hard to review a novel like this without giving spoilers, so none here, but what kept me glued to this book was the way the author goes into the lives of each of the characters in turn revealing new horrors.
There are three things I demand in the thrillers that I read:
1. Being well-written. This one is.
Here is how the book begins:
Before the concert begins, I stand inside the entrain to the church and look down the nave, Shadows lurk in the ceiling vaults even though the light outside hasn’t dimmed yet, and behind me the large wooded doors have been pulled shut.
In front of me, the last few members of the audience have just settled into their places. Almost every seat is filled. The sound of their talk is a medium pitched rumble.
I shudder.
2. Things revealed slowly, but steadily with a “hook” at every chapter end.
3. A darn good story. And this one is.
In front of me, the last few members of the audience have just settled into their places. Almost every seat is filled. The sound of their talk is a medium pitched rumble.
I shudder.
2. Things revealed slowly, but steadily with a “hook” at every chapter end.
3. A darn good story. And this one is.
If you're interested in this genre, here's a wonderful article in Writer's Digest.
For the next summer thriller review: Saving Sophie by Sam Carrington
For the next summer thriller review: Saving Sophie by Sam Carrington
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