Book Synopsis:
Cleo knows she should be happy for her brother Mark. He’s managed to find someone new after the sudden death of his first wife – but something about Evie just doesn’t feel right…
When Evie starts having accidents at home, her friends grow concerned. Could Mark be causing her injuries? Called out to their cliff-top house one night, Sergeant Stephanie King finds two bodies entangled on blood-drenched sheets.
Where does murder begin? When the knife is raised to strike, or before, at the first thought of violence? As the accused stands trial, the jury is forced to consider – is there ever a proper defence for murder?
And So It Begins is available now in all formats, you can purchase your copy here.
My Review:
I’m a huge fan of Rachel’s so I was very excited to be offered an advanced copy of And So it begins.
The thing I most liked most about this book was that it wasn’t just a crime thriller but it also covered the important issue of domestic abuse and confirmed the age old saying that you never know what goes on behind closed doors. The story is told from three different perspectives and goes back and forth in time covering how Mark & Evie met through to the court case. I felt this was brilliantly done as it enabled the reader to understand more about the characters and their relationship. It was fascinating to read events from the different points of view but also to watch the court case unfold and the different sides putting their cases forward.
The characters are all very different from each other and developed well throughout the book. Although I didn’t warm to any character particularly, I did enjoy learning more about Mark, Evie and Cleo’s relationship with each other which was full of secrets. It was great to see all the pieces of their relationship slowly fit together. Stephanie was an interesting character and she is obvious a very competent detective but her side of the story wasn’t as interesting for me as the court case that was unfolding. I do wonder whether her part was needed in the book as it was the mystery surrounding Evie, Mark and Cleo that I found most interesting.
The book is very fast paced with lots of action happening which made it hard to put the book down. The author was very good at keeping me guessing and my opinion about what happened changed frequently throughout the book. There were lots of surprising twists that took me by surprise and ensured I kept reading as I was desperate to find out how things would end. The ending was fantastic and not at all how I thought the book would end. It’s definitely one I’ll be thinking about for a while.
I’ve read lots of Rachel’s books and I’m pleased to say I think she’s just getting better and better. I really look forward to reading more from her in the future.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Becky from Headline for my copy of this book. If you like fast paced, twisty crime thrillers you’ll love this book!
About The Author:
Rachel Abbott’s debut thriller, Only the Innocent, was an international bestseller, reaching the number one position in the Amazon charts both in the UK and US. This was followed by the number one bestselling novels The Back Road, Sleep Tight, Stranger Child, Nowhere Child (a short novel based on the characters from Stranger Child), Kill Me Again and The Sixth Window. Her most recent novel, Come a Little Closer, is available from February 2018.
Rachel’s novels have now been translated into over 20 languages and her books have sold over 3 million copies in the English language.
In 2015 Amazon celebrated the first five years of the Kindle in the UK, and announced that Rachel was the #1 bestselling independent author over the five-year period. She was also placed #14 in the chart of all authors. Stranger Child was the most borrowed novel for the Kindle in the first half of 2015.
Rachel splits her time between Alderney – a beautiful island off the coast of France – and the Le Marche region of Italy, where she is able to devote all her time to writing fiction. For more information, see Rachel’s website, or follow her on Twitter.
Rachel’s website can be found at
Website : http://www.rachel-abbott.com
Blog : http://rachelabbottwriter.com/
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/RachelAbbott1Writer
Twitter: @RachelAbbott
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