My first 5 star read of 2019!

Single mum Joanna has moved from the hububb of London to a rural village so that her son can make a fresh start away from bullies. She's found herself a job in a local estate agents', joined a book group, and best of all, her mother is just down the road, on hand for babysitting duty at any time. But when it seems like history might repeat itself, with her child being isolated at lunchtimes, she realises that she has to do something in order to ingratiate herself with the other mums at the school gates. If she can befriend them, then her son might get invited to the odd party or two.

How do you ingratiate yourself in with a gaggle of gossiping mums? Give them some juicy gossip of course, and Joanna has heard the juiciest little morsel.. An ancient case from decades ago, a notorious child killer who stabbed a six-year-old when she was just ten is apparently alive and well and living under a new identity in their sleepy seaside village. A rumour Joanna repeats in order to gain popularity for son soon has the whole village speculating, scandalising and indulging in vigilante behavior.

She didn't mean to set off the whole chain of events but a whisper can cause an avalanche, and this one soon snowballs out of all control. with Joanna unwittingly finding herself in the eye of the storm.

I did guess the twist but not until just before it was revealed as there were plenty of red herrings to keep me fishing for the answers. A stonking good read, 5 fat stars for this debut thriller, I'll be eagerly awaiting whatever comes next from Lesley Kara.