Keep Him Close is one of those books that will get under your skin, and make you re-evaluate yourself and your interactions with others.
After a dramatic opening that establishes something deeply upsetting has taken place, but offers little further, we focus on an almost mundane everyday experience – a mother preparing for one of her sons to leave for university, and a growing fractiousness with her younger son who seems to be growing apart from her. The conversation in the loft hints at problems and secrets, but we go no further. Then we learn that one of the boys doesn’t come home that night.
Alongside this family horror we have another mother, one who has to come to terms with the fact that her only son has been charged with murder.
The question of what actually happened the night Lou died does eat away at us. Was he pushed? Did he fall? Why was he fighting with his brother’s friend? Why were they on the third floor of the car park anyway?
There’s no quick answers. Some of them are hinted at early on, but we’re never entirely sure how the snippets of information link.
What intrigued me about this was the shifting perspectives. We see the viewpoints of both mothers, and a rather odd set of circumstances that lead to them working together to get the answers they so desperately crave.
While our main story is resolved fairly neatly, there are so many things left unsaid. This, no doubt, is deliberate but it left a rather unsettled feel to things.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication in exchange for my honest thoughts.