Wow what a book loved it. Just grips you from the first page and never loosens it’s hold. The story twists and turns until you are almost as bamboozled by who the murderer of a kid from 1975 is as the main character. Won’t spoil anything but it does go to show that secrets are and will always get exposed no matter how hidden and that some secrets and rumours are more deadly than some.

Suspense filled book about a single mom who moves to a small town with her young son and inadvertently spreads a rumor that could cost her a great deal.

‘I STILL REMEMBER THE BLOOD,’ SAYS CHILD KILLER SALLY MCGOWAN’S FORMER FRIEND AND NEIGHBOUR MARGARET COLE.'

By Geoff Binns
Tuesday, 3 August 1999
Daily Mail

Thirty years ago today, Sally McGowan became notorious for stabbing five-year-old Robbie Harris to death in a derelict house in Broughton, Salford. She was ten years old.

There's a rumour spreading saying that a child killer, Sally McGowan, has moved to a small town where our main character; Joanna lives. Jo was abandon from her father at a very young age and she is uncertain about almost everything in her life especially in interpersonal relationships. She's been having a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship with a guy who is also the father of her child. Her child has difficulties in school and doesn't have too many friends. In order her child to have friends, she thinks that it is a good idea to join a mothers club at her son's school, so when mothers become friends, so will the kids. So, when one day when someone tells her a rumour about a child killer moving to their town, she sees it as an opportunity to be heard. She unintentionally is the one to spread the rumour to other mothers.

Although she doesn't seem to have done it intentionally, there are consequences. Getting indirect threats via twitter and someone following her are just a few.

And this is when a rumour starts to become a big deal.

Here's another thing; her ''partner'' wants to write a book about this particular person and this is where things tangle up.

The thrill of having a criminal in their town raises heads from curiosity about who might be that woman. The main target is Anna, a candle shop owner who's been living in town for years.

Some take the investigation about her too seriously, going to such depths as to put posters and making false accusations, but as we get deeper and approach the truth, it is quite an unexpected turn of events.

The series of investigation, through Joanna's and the serial killer's pov as well, bring us a conclusion to who that person is. How and by who it has been done...are not as important questions as why or what was the reason behind it. The motive. The past. The things underlying this whole rumour.

Rumours can kill

Loved the twists and suspense in this one! Kicking myself for not guessing any of them!!

Felt like a British setting at times despite being set in U.S. Many characters and possible culprits. Good twist at the end. Nice debut.

"Rumours are like seeds, scattered on the wind. There’s no telling where they’ll land, but land they will. Settling in cracks and crevices, the roots take hold. The seeds sprout. It doesn’t matter if they’re true or false. The more times they’re spoken, the faster and stronger they grow."

It starts with a rumour. Whispers at the school gate...
Joanna is a single mom who is trying to fit in the new community. In order to make friends with the other moms so her son would be invited to their children’s birthdays, she repeats something she has heard from another mother. “Has anyone heard of Sally McGowan?”
Rumour has it that the notorious child killer is living in their small town. Sally stabbed a five year old boy to death when she was ten. Now she is living under a new identity.
But Joanna soon realizes that rumours spread quickly and there is nothing one can do to stop them.
That rumours can kill.

The Rumour is a suspenseful and gripping read with some really shocking twists

For me this one fell by the wayside. It took so long to build up to the storyline that the last 30 or so pages just felt lacklustre to me. The writing was easy going but I felt more like I was part of the main characters inner monologue than engaged in the actual storylines.