Jessica's books

The One and Only Ivan
Pollyanna
Revolutionary War on Wednesday
Leprechaun in Late Winter
Ella Enchanted
The Courage of Sarah Noble
Plain Murder
Gone-Away Lake
Circling the Sun
Maggie and Max
The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
The Night Sister
Tuck Everlasting
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Bedknob and Broomstick
Mister Monday
Alice Through the Looking Glass
The Birchbark House
The Hobbit
The Witch's Daughter


Jessica's favorite books »

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Book Review: I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh




Synopsis (from Goodreads):

In a split second, Jenna Gray's world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever.

Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating . . .


My Thoughts:

This book has left my mind spinning!  Much like the last book I read, this one has a plot twist that you will absolutely not see coming!  At the end of part one, I had to reread the last paragraph just to make sure I was understanding it because everything I had been thinking I knew about the characters just flew out the window. 

The story starts out with a young mom walking her little boy home from school.  It is raining and she is laughing with her son and keeping a close hold on him until they are across the street from their house.  She lets him go and suddenly her whole life is changed.  A car comes out of nowhere and her child is struck down and killed and the driver of the car just drives away.

DI Ray Stevens takes on the hit and run case with his trainee, Kate.  Ray is dealing with his own issues at home that he would really just like to run away from.  This case gives him a reason to stay away from home and Kate is young and ambitious and reminds Ray why he is doing this job to begin with.

After the accident, Jenna ends up leaving Bristol and heading out to anyplace that will help her hide her memories.  She ends up at the coast in Wales.  She is happy starting fresh but soon her secrets will come out and she will have to deal with her past again.  

I cannot say much more about the plot in this book because I don't want to give anything away.  I loved all the characters but Jenna had some moments for me.  During her talks with Ray and Kate, I sometimes felt that she was weak and wanted to say "just tell them already" but I have never been in her position so I am not sure how I would have handled it either.  Jenna redeems herself at the end when she finds strength that seems to come out of nowhere.  

This book easily kept my attention and was a very fast paced read.  Once you get to the end of part one, the story seems to fly by and I really had a hard time putting the book down.  I figured out what happened towards the end but there were still enough twists that it kept me wanting to finish the book just to see if I was correct in my thinking.  

This is an excellent, fast paced and totally unpredictable psychological thriller.  Make sure  you pick this one up when it comes out and see if you can predict the ending.  

**A HUGE thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book!**

  

1 comment:

  1. Great review. Unfortunately, while I adored this book I felt like Ray's story wasn't concluded completely and that let it down for me. Nonetheless, I Let You Go made it onto my top 5 thrillers that keep you guessing (which you can check out here if you're interested: https://readbyjess.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/top-5-thrillers-that-keep-you-guessing.html). And yes, the twist is real!!

    ReplyDelete