REVIEW: The Foundling by Stacey Halls (ARC)

The Foundling by Stacey Halls

Genre: Historical fiction

Read: 28th April 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 6th February 2020)

★★★★★ 5 stars

*My apologies for the delay in writing this review as I was rushed to hospital two weeks ago and then had surgery last week and now I have clots in my leg and lungs, and I haven't been up to reading or reviewing since.*

I love historical fiction and this is historical fiction at its best! I was swept away into another world from the opening page and I did not want to put it down until the end. And even then I didn't want to. It is engaging, it is engrossing and it is atmospheric.

London, 1747: Set in Georgian London, THE FOUNDLING is the story of Bess Bright, a young woman who found herself in the family way after a brief encounter with a charismatic gentleman in a dark alley. Unable to provide for her baby girl, Clara, Bess is forced to give her up at the Foundling Hospital with the clear intention of going back for her just as soon as she has saved enough money to pay for her keep at the hospital and to support them both.

The Foundling Hospital is a place where many a woman finds herself - whether they are unwed or unable to feed another mouth. They line up and pick a token from a bag to decide their baby's fate. If it is one colour, their baby is taken in, health checks pending; another means they must wait for a place and their babies declared healthy; the final colour means they are turned away. It is devastating to see the desperation of these women, most of whom are of the poorest and cannot support a child. Yet while they are giving up their babies, lining the walls are the beautifully adorned and festooned gentry with theirs fans and masks and wigs piled up high. To them, this is a form of sport they love to spectate on...the utter desperation of the poorer classes giving up their own flesh and blood. It is despicable to think the gentry see themselves far above those who cannot afford to feed or clothe their babies, and therefore must give them up. It most certainly reveals the chasm between the classes.

Bess draws out a token that puts her on a waiting list for another's child to be rejected. When she is called up, baby Clara is taken away for a health check and Bess is asked for her details. Unable to read, she can only leave an 'X' as a signature. Clara is deemed healthy for admission and Bess leaves her with a token - as proof of identity - one half of a whalebone heart with the initials 'B' (for Bess) and 'C' (for Clara) engraved within.

1754: Six years later, Bess has worked hard with her father at the docks selling shrimp, smelling like a fishwife and saving everything she could, that now she finally has enough money equivalent to two years' wages and is ready to reclaim her daughter. However, when she arrives she is shocked to discover that her daughter has already been claimed...by Bess herself! The day after she relinquished her! All these years and Clara was never at the Foundling. Bess is devastated but determined to find out who took her daughter.

In her desperation, Bess meets a young doctor and member of the Foundling Hospital and he takes pity on her story. He invites her to chapel the following Sunday where the other members of the hospital attend in the hope that they can help her in her search for Clara. It is there, Bess sees a young girl who catches her eye and is sure without a doubt that she has found her daughter.

The tables are then turned and we are swept away from the docks to the terraced houses of Bloomsbury affluence. It is here we meet Alexandra Callard, a wealthy widowed recluse who leaves the house once a week only for chapel and her young daughter Charlotte. Through the kindly Dr Mead of the Foundling, Alexandra takes on a nursemaid for Charlotte, despite her worry about allowing another person into the house that she has filled with secrets.

Eliza moves into the Callard household as nursemaid to 6 year old Charlotte, a bright and lively child who yearns for life on the outside. Her mother, Alexandra, has not set foot outside (except for chapel) since her husband Daniel died before Charlotte was born and for reasons known only to Alexandra, has therefore become a recluse and insisting her child be also. Eliza is young but very capable in her position as nursemaid, taking little Charlotte under her wing as they giggle together and become fast friends. For while Charlotte lives a life of privilege and wants for nothing, money may be plentiful but it is soon obvious that love is not.

But unbeknownst to Alexandra, Eliza has an agenda. One of which she did not foresee or ever expect. And when one night, those intentions are made clear, the lives of these two women are changed forever.

Alternating between Bess and Alexandra, THE FOUNDLING is divided into "parts" that are told in the respective narratives of both women. I loved this aspect as the reader becomes privy to each character's thoughts and the complexities of their lives as we watch the two become intertwined to create an even bigger picture.

THE FOUNDLING is an incredibly well-researched tale and, although fiction, the hospital and its history shine within these pages bearing a sad reflection of life in Georgian times. The attention to detail given to the story reflects the chasm between the two main characters and their vastly different lifestyles, of that between the rich and the poor, in 18th century London. The two women couldn't be more different. Bess who, from a world of hawking by the docks for a living, is naturally warm and loving in nature while Alexandra, in her ivory tower of affluence and money, is cold, remote and distant. Bess is on the streets every day selling shrimp while Alexandra sits alone in her withdrawing room talking to the portraits of her dead parents.

I didn't like Alexandra to begin with but as the story unfolds and we find out more about her it soon becomes clearer why she is the way she is, and as the reader we understand her a little better. But having said that, my sympathies were always with Bess and her own heartbreaking situation. Just because you are not born into money shouldn't dictate whether you are able to love and provide for your child just as much as the next person. Life in Georgian London certainly proved to be a cruel time in which to live and having to face the desperate decision of whether to leave your newborn baby to the fate of strangers in a hospital in the hope one would be able to save the money to reclaim them at a later time is heartbreaking. Which just makes Bess' tale even more poignant.

A captivating tale from beginning to end, THE FOUNDLING is atmospheric and well written detailing the social injustices of the time, motherhood and love. But at the heart of the story is the question of what is more important: love and affection amidst a life of poverty, or a life of luxury without love?

While there is no real mystery as to how the two women are linked, there are several puzzling aspects of how and why that are gradually revealed making THE FOUNDLING an engrossing and addictive read that will leave you wanting more. Unlike many others, I loved the ending as no real closure is one of my pet hates in a book.

If you are looking for a dark historical tale fraught with social injustice yet filled with strong characters and a beautifully intricate plot, then look no further. THE FOUNDLING is definitely for you! I loved it from start to finish and it is well worth every star.

I would like to thank #StaceyHalls, #NetGalley and #BonnierBooksUK for an ARC of #TheFoundling in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: Perfect Kill by Helen Fields (ARC)

Perfect Kill (Callanach & Turner #6) by Helen Fields

Genre: Crime fiction, police procedural, thriller

Read: 30th April 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 6th February 2020

★★★ 2.5 stars (rounded up to 3)

*My apologies for the delay in writing this review as I was rushed to hospital two weeks ago and then had surgery last week and now I have clots in my leg and lumgs, and I haven't been up to reading or reviewing since.*

When I requested this book I didn't realise it was part of a series. In fact upon requesting, I had this author mixed up with another "Helen" and thought it was her latest release, so I was a little confused when I began to find I was in Scotland rather than the Lake District...with totally different characters. The fact this is the sixth book in a series made it a little confusing to connect with the characters because they already have so much history that I was not privy to. But it was an interesting premise, to say the least.

Set between Edinburgh and Paris, PERFECT KILL focuses on two cases that are drawn together, seemingly somehow linked when a DNA test returns a result to a missing Scottish boy. Bart Campbell wakes in a completely dark place with no idea where he is. Bound but not gagged, he has been kidnapped after finishing his shift the night before and when his mother wakes in their flat, she is puzzled to find he hasn't returned home. He is then reported as a missing person when he fails to return.

A young woman escapes her prison, running through back alleys and banging on doors for help. Only to find the door that opens to her is one that is on the payroll of her captors and she finds herself dragged back to the life she had not come to Britain for.

DCI Ava Turner wakes next to a colleague she had taken to her bed on a whim, regretting it instantly, while still pining for Luc Callanach. She receives a call to attend the scene of a very gruesome murder, shortly followed by a call from Luc. DI Luc Callanach was seconded to Interpol in France as part of an ongoing investigation into human trafficking and black market organ transplants.

Luc and Ava soon discover that their cases are linked, bringing Luc back to Scotland where the two are faced not only with their respective cases, but their feelings for each other.

I think I would have best appreciated PERFECT KILL had I read the previous books in the series, although the crime is a standalone story, the backstory to the characters are not.

In all, PERFECT KILL is a gritty thriller that is gruesome and graphic and suited best to those who like their crimes on a more distubring scale.

I would like to thank #HelenFields, #NetGalley and #AvonUK for an ARC of #PerfectKill in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Burning Men by Will Shindler (ARC)

The Burning Men (DI Alex Finn #1) by Will Shindler

Genre: Crime fiction, thriller

Read: 26th April 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication: 6th February 2020)

★★★ 3 stars

The story begins five years before when a fire consumes the construction site of a prestige development in Pacific Square, London. A team of five firefighters are first on the scene when they see a man waving from a third floor window. They rush inside to his rescue, emerging soon after with the body of a man who is then identified as well known money launderer, Erik Whitlock. Within 18 months, all five members of the team have taken early retirement.

Five years later, these same men are now being targeted after one of them is set alight at his own wedding reception. The remaining four fear they are being singled out for a decision they made five years previous...a fear that soon becomes a reality when yet another of them is found dead, burned alive. Who is doing this?

DI Alex Finn is assigned to the case after recently returning to work after the death of his wife Karin from an aggressive brain tumour. He is partnered with DC Mattie Paulson, as some kind of mentor to the young DC, who has her own demons to battle after a recent investigation into a paedophile.

The remaining three ex-firies are tight-lipped, saying nothing, even if it could help pinpoint who is singling them out and killing them all one by one. Whilst in the background corruption runs deep as tabs are being keps on Finn and Paulson's investigation.

A solid police procedural with some gruesome scenes but with an intriguing plot that keeps you guessing, THE BURNING MEN is a chilling, gritty and well written debut with twists, tension and plenty of suspense.

Recommended for fans of this genre.

I would like to thank #WillShindler, #NetGalley and #HodderAndStoughton for an ARC of #TheBurningMen in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: Saving Missy by Beth Morrey (ARC)

Saving Missy by Beth Morrey

Genre: Contemporary, Chick Lit

Read: 26th April 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication: 6th February 2020)

★★★ 3 stars

I'm not sure why I requested this book, but obviously something in the premise prompted me to do so. It is not my usual genre and even upon re-reading the premise, I'm still at a loss as to why I did.

Missy Carmichael is 78 years old and living alone in the great big house she once shared with her husband Leo and their children Melanie and Alistair. Her children are now grown - with Alistair and her grandson Arthur now living in Australia, and her estranged daughter Melanie about to marry her long time love of some 30 years, Octavia. I could feel Missy's loneliness as it bounced off the empty walls and it was indeed a sad state of affairs. But she was a spiky old woman who was incredibly endearing.

Despite her loneliness, Missy is a very proud woman and refuses to be pitied. So when one morning she collapses at the park and awakes to the smiling face of Sylvie, she bats away the invitation for a coffee...despite secretly longing for the company. When Missy then has a chance encounter at a cafe with the loud and brash Irish woman Angela from the park, she could only sit there and listen to Angela prattle away. Missy took an instant dislike to Angela when she first saw her in the park and she still wasn't particularly fond of her but it gave her something to do. Little did Missy know, these chance encounters would change the course of her life as she knew it.

The most poignant time in Missy's life was also the beginning. It was her 79th birthday, which she sadly celebrated alone. Angela had knocked on her door that evening with a scruffy mongrel named Bob asking if she would take the dog for a while for a friend of hers who is in the transitional stage of leaving her abusive husband and is currently in a refuge, where dogs are not permitted. Missy was affronted that Angela would even suggest such a thing and firmly put her in place. But the following day, Missy made her way over to where Angela had pointed out where she lived in her little flat and she apologised then agreeing to look after Bob.

Missy knew nothing about dogs and had never really liked them but as time went on she soon grew fond of the scruffy beast. And despite firmly telling Bob that she was to remain downstairs on the little rug at night, Missy always woke the next morning to find Bob curled up at the end of her bed, snoring happily. It was endearing and Missy grew to enjoy her warm presence. But Bob? For a female dog? Missy decided to adopt the slightly more feminine variation of Bobby which she thought far more appropriate.

Over the course of this somewhat poignant story, Missy finds friendship where she least expects it - in Sylvie, Angela, Otis and of course Bobby - as well as the many others peppered throughout. As events unfold, we see Missy reminisce over her past and what made her who she is today as she discovers the secrets that make her life worthwhile.

But...the thing I knew would happen, that I spent most of the book hoping beyond hope wouldn't, did...and I bawled like a baby as Missy mourned the love she lost where she least expected to find it. After that, I was so devastated I could only skim to the end. Although I am relieved to say the story did end on a happy note...despite the sadness I am still feeling long after I've put it down.

I still don't know why I requested SAVING MISSY. It is a contemporary/chick lit type of book that I don't generally go for but it is also somewhat heartwarming despite the heartbreaks in between. I really liked the prickly and spiky Missy and her little quips had me chuckling at times. It is an endearing book for those who enjoy these types of stories. And although it is not really my cup of tea, I do not hesitate in recommending it.

I would like to thank #BethMorrey, #NetGalley and #HarperCollinsUK for an ARC of #SavingMissy in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley (ARC)

The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

Genre: Thriller

Read: 25th April 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication: 6th February 2020)

★★ 2 stars

When I read the premise for this book, I was immediately intrigued. A tragic event in which the driver of the car involved and the grieving family of the man he hit are drawn together as they each try to piece together their shattered lives.

Sounds intriguing, right? Wrong.

What I got was five hours of depressing monologue from both narratives that I cannot get back. I can't believe I stayed up into the night in the hope it would get better. The reason I did stick at it was that it was a short read (thank God!) and the promise of a twist at the end that I was eager to discover. And even that was somewhat anti-climatic.

But to be fair, THE WRECKAGE is about more than just a car accident. It is a story of dangerous love and obsession and the lives of those that are thrown together by this tragic event. And then the twist that is thrown in towards the end reveals that nothing is as it seems. A clever concept...but sadly the two characters were so unlikable that more than once I felt like stuffing them both in a bin bag, tying it off and tossing it in the river!

We meet Ben Anderson, primary school teacher, on his way to work at 6.40am one morning on the motorway in a deluge of rain and mist that you could hardly see the road in front of you. His windscreen was fogging up quicker than he could wipe it with the sleeve of his jacket as the heater was busted. The rain was falling faster than his wipers could go when suddenly he saw a flash of white in front of him...and then it was gone. Pulling over to the shoulder, he got out to find the crumpled body of a man about his age. What the hell just happened? Did he hit this man? Has he killed him? But where on earth did he come from?  Beside himself with worry, Ben is taken to the police station to give a statement of events.

Alice Selby awakes on the same morning around 7.15am. She feels the cold and empty space beside her where her husband Adam should be. Donning a satin dressing gown, Alice descends the stairs and upon seeing no sign of Adam in the kitchen of living room, realises Adam must be in his "study", a shed at the bottom of the garden. But when she opens the door, the sight that greets her is one of disarray with papers strewn everywhere and his mother's porcelain lamp laying broken on the floor. As she steps inside, Alice sees the brown envelope on the seat in Adam's neat calligraphy writing with the words "Tell Maxy I'm sorry" on the front.

Springing into action, Alice pulls Max out of bed and leaving him with their neighbour, takes herself off frantically to the police station. All the while thinking "Not again". Suffering clinical depression and anxiety for most of his life and having a mother who suffered Bipolar before taking her own life, Adam has attempted suicide several times before. But this time is different. This time, when Alice gets to the police station to report her concerns, she is informed that her husband had stepped in front of a car on the motorway and was on his way to the hospital. He's alive? But that hope is short-lived when five weeks later she gives permission to switch off his life support. Adam was brain dead. There was no coming back from it this time.

Ben and Alice's lives first intersect when Ben, feeling so traumatised by the event, visits Adam in the hospital. Alice was shocked at first but then finds a kind of comfort in the kind man who so obviously blamed himself for making her a widow. But Alice knew it wasn't his fault. Adam chose to step in front of his car and end his life. Ben was just the unfortunate person to have hit him.

Then it starts to get a little weird and go downhill.

Ben starts to show a concerning amount of interest in Alice and her 7 year old son Max. He begins to follow her on Facebook, Googling her address to view her house on street view and turning up at the same mindfulness class. Then out of misplaced guilt, he starts to spend a little too much time with them. At first, Alice took pity on him and invited him to a small dinner party with friends. Then an impromptu breakfast of pastries for Max. In a flurry of WhatsApp messages, the two of them share a weird relationship as they try to navigate their way through their grief and feelings of guilt.

Then after a mindfulness class one evening Ben invites Alice for dinner. She thinks "why not?" and Ben takes her to a favourite Italian restaurant for what he sees as their "first date". Then as the evening comes to a close, Alice invites him back for a nightcap and the two end up tearing each other's clothes off and...well, you get the picture. But almost as soon as it happens, Alice is filled with regret while Ben is walking on cloud nine, believing that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. The narrative between the two of them at this point shows a complete difference in perspectives and expectations.

What has Alice got herself into? Who is Ben really? She hardly knows him and though she tries to let him down gently, Ben either doesn't take the hint or he has a more sinister agenda. He begins to stalk Alice, turning up where she least expects him leaving her wondering what the hell he is doing there.

Then something happens and all bets are off. What is Ben doing? What is he after? Was it misplaced guilt he's trying to assuage or has he actually been playing a longer, darker and far more twisted game all along?

Plunged right into the story from the first page, THE WRECKAGE is a twisted tale of obsessive love, loss and grief and certainly not what I was expecting. I did have a sense of deja-vu reading it with similarities of a kind to Gillian Jackson's "The Accident" which I have also recently read...although in the end, the two are completely different.

While it did start off promising, it soon tapered off to the point I was getting bored as the story didn't seem to progress and nothing was really happening...but most of all, the two main players were appalling unlikable people. Ben has this whole creepy stalkerish vibe going while Alice is just mean and foul-mouthed.

The twist, when it came, didn't really shock...more like had me raising my eyebrows and thinking "Seriously?" it was pretty unbelievable. But at the same time, it did reveal just how unstable Adam really was. Though he wasn't diagnosed as such, but given his mother had the condition, I had to wonder whether Adam suffered Bipolar as well with the addition of paranoid delusions.

With the exception of one chapter from Adam's POV, THE WRECKAGE is primarily told in alternating narratives by Ben and Alice, as the reader is given a glimpse into each of their perspectives with somewhat startling revelations...but no major shocks.

An average thriller, THE WRECKAGE showed promise to begin with but ended up as nothing wonderful. It was indeed disturbing, with a little twisted twist at the very end that left me thinking "What the...?"

**I feel I must include a trigger warning as the book does contain suicide, depression, anxiety, mental illness and domestic abuse.**

I would like to thank #RobinMorganBentley, #NetGalley and #OrionPublishingGroup for an ARC of #TheWreckage in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Orphan's Daughter by Sandy Taylor

The Orphan's Daughter (sequel to The Little Orphan Girl) by Sandy Taylor

Genre: Historical fiction

Read: 24th April 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication: 5th February 2020)

★★★★ 4 stars

My first book by Sandy Taylor, THE ORPHAN'S DAUGHTER is a truly a wonderful story. I love the way historical fiction transports you back in time to another place, another era and a completely different way of life. It seems, as a reader, I have found something of a kindred spirit in Nora and her love of books...although she seems to enjoy any book and any story. I'm a little pickier than that.

Set in Ballybun, County Cork in Ireland, THE ORPHAN'S DAUGHTER is the story of Nora Doyle and her coming of age. It's 1924 and she and her best friend Kitty Quinn are thirteen years old. Just one more year of schooling before they become adults and leave to find work. We meet Nora and Kitty sitting upon a wall outside the church graveyard, marking funerals out of 10 by how much wailing and crying is done and if mourners are wearing their Sunday best. Despite their young age, the girls are like little old women both in their chatter and their seemingly wise ways beyond their years.

One day, the girls sneak through a hole in a fence leading them to Bretton Hall, a grand house that sits upon a hill in which "the Honourables" live. But it is also a place that has always been forbidden to Nora, for reasons she does not know. It is there they meet young Eddie who claims to be the son of the groom but is soon revealed to be the young Master Edward Bretton, a lonely young boy with no siblings who longs for a friend. Nora and Eddie feel an instant connection and become firm friends although Kitty isn't as enamoured by him as her friend is. But for Nora, there is a familiarity to Eddie that feels comfortable, as if she has known him all her life.

Eddie introduces Nora to a beautiful secret garden which he himself tends, and it is there he teaches Nora about the different plants and flowers, and the seasons in which they bloom. Both Eddie and Nora share a love of books, with their favourite being "The Secret Garden", just as this garden is to them. But despite her mother's explicit's instructions that Bretton Hall is forbidden, Nora finds she cannot stay away.

When the girls turn 14, they decide that it is time to put away childish things as they leave school to find work - Kitty up at the Hall and Nora at Minnie's cafe in town. Nora finds she doesn't have as much time to meet Eddie in their secret garden but she gets there when she can...and yet still, she is defying her mother by doing so. So when one day Nora bounds into the garden expecting to find Eddie, she is shocked to discover his Aunt Caroline instead, who banishes her from the grounds and from seeing "Master Edward" ever again. Nora is devastated.

It is then that Nora and her mother take a special journey to England, where Nora learns the truth to a secret her mother has kept from her for fourteen years. With this knowledge, when Nora finds the courage to return to the garden it is only to find that the fence through which she'd stole has been replaced with a huge brick wall. The rejection she feels is palpable.

Nora soon realises that as circumstances change so does life, and she makes the decision to leave Ballybun. With the opportunity to work in a bookshop in Dublin, Nora grabs at the chance to live her dream and move away to where a new life awaits her. But even as she makes new friends in Josie, Ellis and Molly, Nora never forgets her best friend Kitty, exchanging letters often. Then Nora meets Joe and before long the two are walking out together. Could this be love?

Then one day, Nora receives some tragic news and before long she is on the next train home, unsure what she is going to find upon her arrival.

The secrets of the past become one with the present as two women from different worlds overcome their aversions and discover a mutual respect, quiet friendship and a strength in each other. But the question that Nora has been putting to the back of her mind soon comes to the forefront - is her life here in Ballybun or back in Dublin?

THE ORPHAN'S DAUGHTER is a heartwarming coming of age story about love, loss, friendship, loyalty and resilience. Throughout the years we watch Nora and Kitty grow from idealistic girls scoring funerals into beautiful young women finding love where they least expect it. In a place where people have so little by way of material possessions when it comes to love and friendship the people of Ballybun want for nothing.

I loved this journey through time that Sandy Taylor takes us on in this wonderful tale that is filled with a simplicity that is truly heartwarming. Sprinkled with love and laughter throughout, THE ORPHAN'S DAUGHTER is a gentle tender read that is instantly compelling.

I did have one really irritating niggle that was peppered throughout the pages. Whenever Nora used big grand words that people of their class weren't accustomed to using, Kitty would then pose the question "Grandad Doyle?" in response to which Nora had the most annoying and repetitive habit of saying "The very man" just about every time. And just when I thought they had outgrown the habit, there it was again. It irritated me no end and gave an almost patronising feel to her character.

There was also a few parts in the book where I felt the outcome was never fully explained. For example, when Nora's mother was telling Nora about what happened with Mrs Grainger...all that was said was that she had seen her maid on the Titanic and knew Mrs Grainger would be there too. So...without mentioning any spoilers...how did her mother "get" her outcome? All we know is that she did.

As much as I enjoyed THE ORPHAN'S DAUGHTER, I understand it is the sequel to "The Little Orphan Girl", although I saw no reference to it being so, and I was therefore left wondering if this book's title (which had apparently previously been "The Girl from Paradise Alley") was a follow-on from that one. Since discovering that it is indeed the sequel I really wish I had known as I would have read that first. It is a pet peeve of mine that it is not stated as being a sequel or part of a series, particularly on Netgalley when requesting, as I like to know the story from the beginning.

I always feel that if a book has me in tears by the end, then it's a wonderful read...and THE ORPHAN'S DAUGHTER did just that. A heartwarming tale I highly recommend to historical fiction fans such as Pam Howes, Nadine Dorries and Dilly Court.

I would like to thank #SandyTaylor, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheOrphansDaughter in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: Mr Nobody by Catherine Steadman (ARC)

Mr Nobody by Catherine Steadman

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 22nd April 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 1st February 2020)

★★★★ 4 stars

I was also interested to discover that the author Catherine Steadman was none other than Mabel Lane Fox on everyone's favourite period drama "Downton Abbey". MR NOBODY is her second thriller and its premise was so intriguing and unique in its concept I couldn't wait to read it. And I wasn't disappointed.

A man is found on a Norfolk beach on a cold winters day, soaked through to the bone and wearing no shoes. He has no memory of who he is or how he got there. His only clue is a name he had written on his hand and his mantra to "find her" and to "don't f*** it up this time"!

Dr Emma Lewis is a neuropsychiatrist and a leader in her field surrounding memory loss in a busy London hospital. She is chosen by a well-respected and more experienced specialist to take on the case of the man the media are calling "Mr Nobody" to determine whether he is suffering from retrograde amnesia, fugue and is malingering (faking it). There is only one small issue - it will require her to return to her hometown in Norfolk where she and her family escaped under a cloud of suspicion, before being given new identities, 14 years ago. But for Emma, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity as fugue cases are incredibly rare and she may never come across another one.

Early testing suggests the patient is suffering from retrograde amnesia or dissociative fugue. The onset is generally caused by severe trauma to the head, resulting either temporary or even permanent memory loss...or the patient could simply be malingering/faking it.

After careful consideration and talking things over with brother Joe, Emma decided to throw caution to the wind and take the job. After all, what is the likelihood she will be recognised now? 14 years later?

The man the hospital is calling "Matthew", while the media refer to him as Mr Nobody, hasn't spoken a word since he was admitted a week ago. He has latched onto a Jamaican nurse called Rhoda and between them they have formed a type of silent communication. But as soon as Emma walks into Matthew's room, he recognises her. He knows she's the one he's been looking for...only he can't remember why. He just knows it is her.

Then he speaks...just one word..."Marn?"...and Emma feels her past rushing back to haunt her. How could he know that name?

Further testing reveals Matthew genuinely has no recall of anything beyond the week in which he was first discovered on Holkham beach. But there do appear to be some emotional responses even if the memories are not there...he definitely feels something about them. What does this mean?

I found the medical testing under fMRI to be intriguing as Emma seeks to gauge Matthew's responses to memory and his emotional reactions. It was all rather interesting. All throughout, even those the tests revealed he could not faking, the reader is still wondering if he is. Things don't seem to add up and you wonder just how reliable Matthew's narrative is.

The story unfolds primarily through Emma and Matthew's (The Man) perspective with the odd narrative by PC Chris Poole and his irritating parasitic journalist wife Zara. Everyone in the book has issues, they all have a backstory, which is slowly woven throughout.

My biggest niggle with the book was the author's inaccurate portrayal of staffies in the attack on Rhoda. It really irks me that people are so influenced by the media and society's opinion of this wonderfully loving, loyal and affectionate breed, resulting in an inaccurate portrayal. It would be more believable of a smaller more aggressive dog than of a staffy who love people and live to please us. And the way the attack happened - suddenly and unprovoked. That does not happen. And it saddens me greatly to see staffies misunderstood and misrepresented in such a way.

Anyway, that aside, whilst the ending may have been a little far-fetched, MR NOBODY is still a compelling read and had me hooked from the first page right up to the end.

With plenty of twists to keep you entertained, MR NOBODY is definitely an original concept to say the least that weaves two tales from the past and the present, leaving the reader pondering are they in some way related?

It's clever, it's original, it's an enjoyable read. Recommended!

I would like to thank #CatherineSteadman, #NetGalley and #SimonAndSchuster for an ARC of #MrNobody in exchange for an honest review.