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faysieh's review against another edition
3.0
I am sorry to say that at best I found this read mediocre and at worst a continuous circle of a much smaller story.
I loved the front cover but this is very deceptive. Instead of a family suffering the cruel act of a child disappearing or being snatched, whilst there is a mystery over a child who appears out of nowhere in a car that has crashed, this book is all about gang warfare on a sink estate.
I found the plot rather repetitive and tedious and it just seemed to take me ages to finish the book, which as an avid reader is unusual as I usually storm through whatever I am reading.
The beginning is much better than the rest of the book because it is very strange to be run off the road and acquire a second child. That premise kept me reading. I did like Holly who had tried so hard to escape the drug dealing and girl trafficking life she grew up in with her father, brother and other families on the estate, but all the various comings and goings of the different gang leaders was confusing and frankly not very interesting.
I didn't dislike the book so much that I wouldn't try another book by the same author again, but this particular one disappointed and just didn't wow me or make me care enough.
I loved the front cover but this is very deceptive. Instead of a family suffering the cruel act of a child disappearing or being snatched, whilst there is a mystery over a child who appears out of nowhere in a car that has crashed, this book is all about gang warfare on a sink estate.
I found the plot rather repetitive and tedious and it just seemed to take me ages to finish the book, which as an avid reader is unusual as I usually storm through whatever I am reading.
The beginning is much better than the rest of the book because it is very strange to be run off the road and acquire a second child. That premise kept me reading. I did like Holly who had tried so hard to escape the drug dealing and girl trafficking life she grew up in with her father, brother and other families on the estate, but all the various comings and goings of the different gang leaders was confusing and frankly not very interesting.
I didn't dislike the book so much that I wouldn't try another book by the same author again, but this particular one disappointed and just didn't wow me or make me care enough.
amandainpa's review against another edition
2.0
This story started out amazing and spiraled downward from there. What started as a chilling mystery/thriller turned into a confusing crime drama focusing on a large cast of characters belonging to an organized crime family. Somewhere along the way, the focus of the story shifted and my interest waned very quickly. Organized crime is just not a topic that interests me in books and it was a very heavy theme throughout. Not my favorite.
I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
funsizedmrsw's review against another edition
3.0
I received a digital advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
On a rainy evening Holly and her son Milo are involved in a car accident, regaining consciousness Holly finds another child in the car next to Milo but who is he and who put him there. We soon learn that Holly comes from a past of organised crime, she has tried her best to forget the past, turning her back on that world and making a better future for her and her son. The accident plunges her right back into that world, long-buried secrets are rising to the surface and she will have to fight for her life.
I did enjoy the story although I found the title quite misleading, I was expecting more mystery around the forgotten child but found this more of a mafia crime style novel. The book is well written with interesting characters and an insight into the world of crime.
On a rainy evening Holly and her son Milo are involved in a car accident, regaining consciousness Holly finds another child in the car next to Milo but who is he and who put him there. We soon learn that Holly comes from a past of organised crime, she has tried her best to forget the past, turning her back on that world and making a better future for her and her son. The accident plunges her right back into that world, long-buried secrets are rising to the surface and she will have to fight for her life.
I did enjoy the story although I found the title quite misleading, I was expecting more mystery around the forgotten child but found this more of a mafia crime style novel. The book is well written with interesting characters and an insight into the world of crime.
fazila's review against another edition
3.0
FBRC REVIEW :
DISCLAIMER :
I received an ARC( advance review copy) of this book for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, NetGalley and HQ DIGITAl for providing me with an e-ARC of this book.
The synopsis is what sold me on this book. It had me intrigued so much that I had to pick this book up. The problem was that I soon realized that the story was going in a direction I did not expect at all. I wasn't really sure if that was a good thing or not. I kept reading it and kind of was not invested in the story after about 50 pages. After a couple of days, I picked it back up again and found myself pulled back into the story.
The story, the plot all of it was interesting and intriguing. The plot twists were not what I assumed would be at all. I did not expect the way the book ended. Those were the great things I found in the book.
The cons were difficult to ignore as it is vital to the story and to connect the readers to book and characters. The dialogues in the book were not natural. It felt forced and stilted a lot of the time. The interaction between the characters didn't feel like it was organic. There was no flow to it. This was frustrating as I wanted the dialogues to be natural and the conversations felt a lot like it was being forced and the responses didn't match the questions for some reason. This took away the enjoyment of the story.
The main character Holly is someone I didn't like as much. I didn't like the way she was behaving a lot of times, The whole cursing in front of the kids, not bothering to censor certain words were a few things I didn't particularly like about her character. She is also seemed to be having this weird character ARC that makes it hard to pin her down. Her life prior to her marriage and her life post-marriage are so vastly different. She keeps contradicting herself, her behavior and thoughts just were out of sync.
I don't know if the organized crime plotline was something I expected when I read the synopsis. But once I got over that, I was able to enjoy it. It wasn't a great book, but I liked it. I liked how the plot came about and how it concluded. I don't know if a certain character in the book would be able to do what he did in the end. It seemed improbable to me considering his age and the way he behaved also just seemed to be highly difficult to imagine.
There were a few characters that were part of the story, but we don't get to know much about their involvement or their contribution to a vital event in the book. So overall it was an OK book for me. The story and the plot were definitely intriguing and I did want to know how the story would end, but I didn't expect the twists or the climax. The dialogues need to be reworked in my opinion. Holly's character needs to be more clear in terms of her life and the various events that shape her. She is almost portrayed as this badass woman who is strong and courageous, but her inner thoughts and her actions do not match up to that character trait.
I gave it a 3 star rating. If you are interested in a book with good twists and unexpected climax definitely check it out and see if you like it.
DISCLAIMER :
I received an ARC( advance review copy) of this book for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, NetGalley and HQ DIGITAl for providing me with an e-ARC of this book.
The synopsis is what sold me on this book. It had me intrigued so much that I had to pick this book up. The problem was that I soon realized that the story was going in a direction I did not expect at all. I wasn't really sure if that was a good thing or not. I kept reading it and kind of was not invested in the story after about 50 pages. After a couple of days, I picked it back up again and found myself pulled back into the story.
The story, the plot all of it was interesting and intriguing. The plot twists were not what I assumed would be at all. I did not expect the way the book ended. Those were the great things I found in the book.
The cons were difficult to ignore as it is vital to the story and to connect the readers to book and characters. The dialogues in the book were not natural. It felt forced and stilted a lot of the time. The interaction between the characters didn't feel like it was organic. There was no flow to it. This was frustrating as I wanted the dialogues to be natural and the conversations felt a lot like it was being forced and the responses didn't match the questions for some reason. This took away the enjoyment of the story.
The main character Holly is someone I didn't like as much. I didn't like the way she was behaving a lot of times, The whole cursing in front of the kids, not bothering to censor certain words were a few things I didn't particularly like about her character. She is also seemed to be having this weird character ARC that makes it hard to pin her down. Her life prior to her marriage and her life post-marriage are so vastly different. She keeps contradicting herself, her behavior and thoughts just were out of sync.
I don't know if the organized crime plotline was something I expected when I read the synopsis. But once I got over that, I was able to enjoy it. It wasn't a great book, but I liked it. I liked how the plot came about and how it concluded. I don't know if a certain character in the book would be able to do what he did in the end. It seemed improbable to me considering his age and the way he behaved also just seemed to be highly difficult to imagine.
There were a few characters that were part of the story, but we don't get to know much about their involvement or their contribution to a vital event in the book. So overall it was an OK book for me. The story and the plot were definitely intriguing and I did want to know how the story would end, but I didn't expect the twists or the climax. The dialogues need to be reworked in my opinion. Holly's character needs to be more clear in terms of her life and the various events that shape her. She is almost portrayed as this badass woman who is strong and courageous, but her inner thoughts and her actions do not match up to that character trait.
I gave it a 3 star rating. If you are interested in a book with good twists and unexpected climax definitely check it out and see if you like it.
fazila's review
3.0
FBRC REVIEW :
DISCLAIMER :
I received an ARC( advance review copy) of this book for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, NetGalley and HQ DIGITAl for providing me with an e-ARC of this book.
The synopsis is what sold me on this book. It had me intrigued so much that I had to pick this book up. The problem was that I soon realized that the story was going in a direction I did not expect at all. I wasn't really sure if that was a good thing or not. I kept reading it and kind of was not invested in the story after about 50 pages. After a couple of days, I picked it back up again and found myself pulled back into the story.
The story, the plot all of it was interesting and intriguing. The plot twists were not what I assumed would be at all. I did not expect the way the book ended. Those were the great things I found in the book.
The cons were difficult to ignore as it is vital to the story and to connect the readers to book and characters. The dialogues in the book were not natural. It felt forced and stilted a lot of the time. The interaction between the characters didn't feel like it was organic. There was no flow to it. This was frustrating as I wanted the dialogues to be natural and the conversations felt a lot like it was being forced and the responses didn't match the questions for some reason. This took away the enjoyment of the story.
The main character Holly is someone I didn't like as much. I didn't like the way she was behaving a lot of times, The whole cursing in front of the kids, not bothering to censor certain words were a few things I didn't particularly like about her character. She is also seemed to be having this weird character ARC that makes it hard to pin her down. Her life prior to her marriage and her life post-marriage are so vastly different. She keeps contradicting herself, her behavior and thoughts just were out of sync.
I don't know if the organized crime plotline was something I expected when I read the synopsis. But once I got over that, I was able to enjoy it. It wasn't a great book, but I liked it. I liked how the plot came about and how it concluded. I don't know if a certain character in the book would be able to do what he did in the end. It seemed improbable to me considering his age and the way he behaved also just seemed to be highly difficult to imagine.
There were a few characters that were part of the story, but we don't get to know much about their involvement or their contribution to a vital event in the book. So overall it was an OK book for me. The story and the plot were definitely intriguing and I did want to know how the story would end, but I didn't expect the twists or the climax. The dialogues need to be reworked in my opinion. Holly's character needs to be more clear in terms of her life and the various events that shape her. She is almost portrayed as this badass woman who is strong and courageous, but her inner thoughts and her actions do not match up to that character trait.
I gave it a 3 star rating. If you are interested in a book with good twists and unexpected climax definitely check it out and see if you like it.
DISCLAIMER :
I received an ARC( advance review copy) of this book for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, NetGalley and HQ DIGITAl for providing me with an e-ARC of this book.
The synopsis is what sold me on this book. It had me intrigued so much that I had to pick this book up. The problem was that I soon realized that the story was going in a direction I did not expect at all. I wasn't really sure if that was a good thing or not. I kept reading it and kind of was not invested in the story after about 50 pages. After a couple of days, I picked it back up again and found myself pulled back into the story.
The story, the plot all of it was interesting and intriguing. The plot twists were not what I assumed would be at all. I did not expect the way the book ended. Those were the great things I found in the book.
The cons were difficult to ignore as it is vital to the story and to connect the readers to book and characters. The dialogues in the book were not natural. It felt forced and stilted a lot of the time. The interaction between the characters didn't feel like it was organic. There was no flow to it. This was frustrating as I wanted the dialogues to be natural and the conversations felt a lot like it was being forced and the responses didn't match the questions for some reason. This took away the enjoyment of the story.
The main character Holly is someone I didn't like as much. I didn't like the way she was behaving a lot of times, The whole cursing in front of the kids, not bothering to censor certain words were a few things I didn't particularly like about her character. She is also seemed to be having this weird character ARC that makes it hard to pin her down. Her life prior to her marriage and her life post-marriage are so vastly different. She keeps contradicting herself, her behavior and thoughts just were out of sync.
I don't know if the organized crime plotline was something I expected when I read the synopsis. But once I got over that, I was able to enjoy it. It wasn't a great book, but I liked it. I liked how the plot came about and how it concluded. I don't know if a certain character in the book would be able to do what he did in the end. It seemed improbable to me considering his age and the way he behaved also just seemed to be highly difficult to imagine.
There were a few characters that were part of the story, but we don't get to know much about their involvement or their contribution to a vital event in the book. So overall it was an OK book for me. The story and the plot were definitely intriguing and I did want to know how the story would end, but I didn't expect the twists or the climax. The dialogues need to be reworked in my opinion. Holly's character needs to be more clear in terms of her life and the various events that shape her. She is almost portrayed as this badass woman who is strong and courageous, but her inner thoughts and her actions do not match up to that character trait.
I gave it a 3 star rating. If you are interested in a book with good twists and unexpected climax definitely check it out and see if you like it.