Debut novel by British author Lesley Kara. This one surprised me. I loved the idea and even the cover of the book. I was kind of bored at the beginning. Confused about chapter sizing. But by page 60/70 I was hooked. I literally read this book in 1 day. Maybe 6/7 hours of reading in total.

It starts with a rumour. A rumour that a child murderer, Sally McGowan was living in their tiny seaside town of Flinstead, under a new identity. Sally is accused of murdering a 5 year old boy, Robbie, when she was only 10 years old. She says it was a game gone wrong. She says her father was abusive. Her parents turn against her. She goes into witness protection.

Our main character Jo overhears this rumour whilst dropping her son, Alfie off at school.
Later Jo repeats the rumour to her book club. This would be a fatal mistake.
The rumour starts to spread. A local business woman targeted. Jo starts to suspect everyone in town. She’s second guessing friendships, questioning simple behaviours, confused by harmless actions. She’s being targeted herself.

I thought I had discovered the identity of Sally about halfway through. I was wrong. But I was on the right track. Lesley Kara does an amazing job of throwing you off the scent of the truth. I second guessed my own thoughts and theories through this one. By the time we got to the truth I was shocked. I actually didn’t believe what I was reading. Surely this was a misdirect as well?

Overall this is a great debut novel by Lesley Kara. I’m very excited now to read her second novel “who did you tell?”