What an excellent book. After a lull in good old fashioned books that capture my attention and slap me from inside the pages, this made me grasp reading again in much the same way as Jodi Picoult, Kirstin Hannah or Diane Chamberlain does; you know, those “favourite authors” that are your “go to” after trying to dabble in a bunch of other genres or authors. This book made me question my relationships and my morality compass, and any book that makes you think outside of its covers is worth a read. It posed a fascinating question of criminal behaviour, nature vs nurture, truth vs lies, and appearance vs reality.

One of the strongest things about this book is Koomson’s ability to write very strong female characters that are believable, even if you have strong feelings of hatred towards one or two of them. I loved the portrayal of Maribelle and I found Tami to so so strong. Even Fleur and the daughters came alive in my mind. That’s the mark of a good book.

This was a five star up until the last few chapters where it slipped into a 4.5 book; the ending that was a "twist" had very little foundation and I found that let down the overall story a bit.

Recommend this!! I’ve only read a couple of her other books as they are not readily available in NZ but I shall be on hunt from this day forward!!