Category: Thriller

Thank you C.J. Tudor for yet another compulsive read. It has left me rather chilled, but once I started this I was desperate to know how everything fitted together.

Our story begins with Gabe travelling home, worried he’ll be late. He sees a rusty car being driven erratically in front of him. In the rear window he sees a young girl…his daughter Izzy…but then he loses sight of the car. Calling home he’s met with the awful news that his wife and daughter have been murdered. So, who was in the car?

The next time we see Gabe is years later. He’s taken to driving up and down the motorway looking for clues as to the whereabouts of his daughter. He is no longer a person of interest, but nobody has any clues as to what might have happened.

Without giving too much away, we are then shown a number of incidents that seemingly have no connection. We see Fran and her daughter, Alice, on the run. We have service station worker Katie struggling to make ends meet after the death of her father. We have the discovery of a car in a pond, with a body inside. And we have a number of references to a young girl asleep, a beach and pebbles…and references to The Other People.

What then follows is a twisting turning read, with just enough hints to have us start making links. There’s mystery aplenty and a borderline menace that had the hairs on the back of my neck tingling.

Once I finally reached the end I felt wrung out. So many secrets; so much sadness. Throughout, there was a sense of good people making bad choices…but I guess how we act in those trying times is what defines us. I just pray that I’ll never be in that kind of situation!

 

Yet another explosive read in the series…

Having settled into their home, it’s no surprise that some still resist the presence of Gwen, Sam and the kids. There’s plenty of comments and little incidents that are designed to make them leave. Gwen resists this, determined to give her kids some form of normal but we know this is always going to be tricky.

When Gwen is asked to investigate the disappearance of a young man called Remy, nothing could have prepared her for what she gets caught up in. Her investigations lead her to a young woman who has tried to escape a cult…but they’re tracking her and things quickly become awkward.

When Sam and Connor are abducted by the cult we know they’re getting reckless. Something big is planned but Gwen is determined to do whatever she has to in order to protect her family.

What follows is big. There’s lots of switching views so we see the outside picture alongside the experience of those inside the compound. Part of me feared where this would go, but it had me on the edge. I feared the outcome at the same time as being desperate to see things resolved, however that was done.

The question for Gwen and her family is…what next?

 

‘The dropper is lowered. The child turns his head toward it, toward the medicine, seeking it. He remembers it.
He opens his mouth. He drinks.’

The closing image of Long Bright River is just one of the images that will haunt me some time in the future. The ‘medicine’ being administered to this newborn is an opiate substitute. From the outset this child, like so many others, will show signs of addiction and need care to withdraw successfully. He may or may not make it. So many do not.

From the synopsis I knew this was not going to be a comfortable read. What I wasn’t prepared for was just how powerful I found the story.

The story focuses predominantly on two sisters, Mickey and Kacey. Brought up by their grandmother after their mother overdoses, they live in a fairly deprived area of Philadelphia. The sisters have the same opportunities but take very different paths. Mickey becomes a police officer, patrolling her home streets, looking out for those who live to feed their addiction. Kacey is one of the many in the grips of addiction, working the streets to earn what she needs for her next fix. This part of the story, and the slow reveal of the nature of their relationship over time, would have kept me engaged on its own.

However, in the course of her work Mickey starts to realise that many of the girls working the streets are being killed. The initial response is that they’ve overdosed, but the signs point to a killer on the loose. When Mickey learns that Kacey has been missing for a month, she fears what may happen next. And so begins the other compelling part of the story: the police procedural showing the investigation and the thriller as we start to realise that the person responsible may be a lot closer to Mickey and her role than you’d dare imagine.

Long Bright River focuses on so many unpalatable truths. There’s no happy-ever-after ending, but the story and its characters certainly grip you from the outset and will not relinquish that grip easily. A powerful read.

 

I have only just closed the last page on this extraordinary book, and I think this is one I’ll return to time and time again.

The subject is horrifying, but it is a story that ought to be shared.

A school in the Somerset woodlands, full of children of all ages going about their daily lives. A noise is heard in the woods. Most think it’s a harmless prank, fireworks, but refugee Rafi recognises that it’s a bomb. The Headmaster is shot and he, along with older students, takes refuge in the library and surrounding classrooms. A group of students is in relative safety in the school theatre, rehearsing Macbeth, while a group of primary children are with their teacher in the pottery room.

Spread out as they are, this is an incredibly tense situation.

As we switch views and timings, we learn more about what is happening. We follow these incredibly brave children trying not to give in to their fear. We see teachers stepping into roles nobody should have to take on. We see the police procedure as they desperately try to resolve what quickly becomes a terrifying scenario. We watch in horror as we see the role media and the wider public world have in events. And we also get fleeting glimpses of desperate parents trying to find their children.

The events of this book take place over three short hours. Every moment of that time was depicted so clearly, and as events build to their chilling climax I was physically affected by my reading.

While I might, over time, feel more manipulated by certain revelations/events, I have to rate this based on my reaction as I was reading. Nobody should have to face anything like this. It’s a horrific time when such hatred is shared widely, and nobody challenges it. This book is testimony to what I’d like to feel is a common decency and determination not to give in to this hatred.

 

A serial-killer story with a difference.

Growing up often means leaving childish dreams behind. When Matt and his friends head to a festival for one last weekend of fun before settling down, nobody could know just how these events would change them. When Stuart is attacked in the night, the group pitch in to help him. They end up killing a man. Who knows why they do what they do next, but they bury the body and vow never to tell anyone.

Unfortunately, their kill wasn’t the only one that night. As they leave the woods, they find another body. This one seems to have been killed by someone who knew what they were doing.

One year on we can see the guilt is affecting them. Their friendship has been altered and yet they seem to have got away with murder.

Then comes the twist.

A series of unlikely events is set in motion with the apparent suicide of Stuart. Those left behind are now convinced that someone must have seen them and wants revenge.

What follows defies belief. However, I was turning the pages quickly, desperate to watch the strands pull together. I was surprised by the reality of the situation, but there’s still something of a twist at the end.