Well, finally I am back in the blogging seat. It has been long enough. Thank you for sticking with me. Today’s book was a surprise ARC in the mail from the publisher. I love getting those. I am much better at keeping up with them than the ebook ARCs, lol. I hope that you find my review informative. Have an awesome weekend!!!!

Goodreads Blurb:

They say you never forget your first love. What they don’t say though, is that sometimes your first love won’t forget you…

A police interview room is the last place Angela expected to find herself today. It’s been hours, and they keep asking her the same inane questions over and over. “How do you know the victim?” “What’s your relationship with Mr. Parker?” Her ex’s wife has gone missing, and anyone who was close to the couple is a suspect. Angela is tired of the bottomless questions and tired of the cold room that stays the same while a rotating litany of interrogators changes shifts around her. But when criminologist Novak takes over, she can tell he’s not like the others. He’s ready to listen, and she knows he’ll understand. When she tells him that her story begins a decade before, long before Saskia was in the picture, he gives her the floor.

A twenty-something young professional, Angela claims to have no involvement. How could she? It’s been years since she and H.P., Mr. Parker that is, were together. As her story unfolds, it deepens and darkens. There’s a lot to unpack… betrayal, jealousy, and a group of people who all have motives for retribution. If Angela is telling the truth, then who’s lying?

My Review:

I will have to admit that I was skeptical about reading this book but figured I would give it a shot since it is not a long novel and it was kindly sent from the publisher.

We enter the story with Angela, a twenty something woman who has been taken into custody because the police believe she may have some information about the disappearance of Saskia, the wife of Angela’s first and only true love. Immediately I got a “this chick is crazy” vibe from the way she was handling the interview. She is more of a calm crazy which seems to be the worse kind. Angela advises the officer that the story is not really about Saskia but about what has happened to lead up to her disappearance. Angela is convinced that Saskia is just pulling a stunt to get attention, which at the end of the novel you will find that very ironic. Angela tells the detective all about her blossoming romance with HP, her first love and Saskia’s husband. The way she presents her story you could almost feel some sympathy for her and the heartbreak that she may have endured with HP. Angela’s mother, in my opinion, has to shoulder some of the blame when it comes to Angela’s behavior and naivety. Her mother was very mentally controlling. She reminded me of Joan Crawford but without the physical abuse. Angela spends the entire interview backtracking on her past with HP and her present time with his family. To me that whole present day set up with them was weird and I thought that HP and Saskia were asking for trouble by allowing Angela to be so involved in their lives. Angela is a very self centered person and in her mind only her feelings matter. She certainly took her mother’s manipulative gene. In the end, I did feel some empathy for the men who passed thru the life of Angela.

I am glad that this book was less than 300 pages. In my opinion the length was perfect with how the story developed. I believe that anything longer would have caused the story to lose what bit of effect it had on me. It is definitely a quick read if you want a suspense that you can just breeze thru. I have to say that when I first started reading this story I could not stand Angela at all. I thought that she talked too much and that the story was going to be drawn out. Luckily it wasn’t and once I was able to sit down and spend some time on it, I saw how quickly it developed even if the ending felt just a bit rushed. But that is something that happens from time to time with these types of stories.

Rating:

2.5 stars

Availability:

This book will be available in hardcover, ebook and audio on April 17, 2018