I Will Make You Pay by Teresa Driscoll
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 16th October 2019
Purchase: Amazon
(publication: 10th October 2019)
★★★★ 4 stars
I love Teresa Driscoll and simply devour her thrillers before they've barely seen the light of day! So when I saw a new one hitting the shelves this month, I headed straight to NetGalley to request it. And while I did take a few days to read it, that is not reflected in the book at all, but rather how busy I've been the past few days that I simply wasn't able to devour it as quickly as others...but instead I had the time to savour it.
I WILL MAKE YOU PAY - the threatening words are enough to instill fear in anyone, conjuring up images of a vengeful hate puzzling to the logical mind. For journalist Alice Henderson, they began slowly and unremarkable that she dismissed them as nuisance calls. She didn't even notice that they only ever occurred on a Wednesday each week...until one Wednesday the tone changed.
"I am going to use a cheese wire on you."
It is then Alice begins to feel fearful. Someone has been toying with her, making idle threats that are now becoming more troublesome with each passing week. As she processes everything that has occurred each Wednesday it becomes frightfully clear that she is in danger. There have been phone calls, hang ups and the odd "gift" and, as every Wednesday comes around, something even more intimidating and frightening occurs.
Someone is stalking her and wants her to suffer. But why? What has she done? Is it something she has written? Is it something - or someone - from her past? Whoever this stalker is, he knows a lot about Alice and her personal life. There are even vague threats regarding her mother. But how did he even know her mother's favourite flowers are pink peonies? Or what care home she is in?
Clueless as to who this person may be, Alice is determined to continue going about her life as per normal. But her boyfriend Tom is so concerned for her safety that he hires ex-copper Matthew Hill, now a private investigator, to help keep her safe and find out who is behind the growing threats. Engaged to follow Alice on Wednesdays, Matthew works closely with former colleague DI Melanie Sanders whose hands are tied and is limited to what she can do unless the stalker follows through on his threats.
The good news for Alice...most stalkers are NOT killers.
The bad news...many killers are stalkers first...
But as the investigation goes deeper, Matthew discovers that Alice has been keeping her own secrets and is not who she says she is. Alice isn't really Alice. So who is she really? And who is she hiding from? Is her stalker something to do with her past?
And what is the significance of Wednesdays?
However, Matthew isn't the only one following Alice. Her co-worker from the paper, Jack, is also tailing her. He says he is concerned for her...but is that just a cover for something more sinister?
The stalker himself has a very dark, very sad past which is slowly revealed layer by layer throughout his alternate narrative told in the past and up to the present. It is easy to feel sympathy for him growing up with what he silently endured for many years and to see the love he had for his gran, and the closeness they shared. These chapters humanised him...despite the terror he inflicted on Alice in the present day.
Woven into the story is that of Alice's mother, who is battling a cruel disease that will soon take her mother from her. Throughout Alice's narrative we see her love for her mother and the heartbreak at the knowledge that she does not have much time left. These pages are enough to make you tear up.
The narratives alternate between Alice and Matthew in the present and the stalker in the past, showing snippets of all three as each chapter unfolds revealing more of the story, layer by layer. The tension builds throughout with a pace that has the reader devouring each page with speed. With plenty of red herrings and twists thrown in along the way, I narrowed my suspect pool down to two - but which two, you say? That would be telling. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover my suspicions were correct which, as I've said many times before, never deters my enjoyment of a good mystery thriller.
I WILL MAKE YOU PAY is a brilliantly written thriller with just the right amount of suspense and heartfelt emotion. The opening line "I am going to use a cheese wire on you" is enough to have you hooked right away and you will not want to put it down until the end.
I was thrilled to see the return of Matthew Hill and DI Melanie Sanders, both of whom have appeared in previous books "I Am Watching You" and "The Promise", although none are a part of a series. Each book are standalones and in no way follow on from the ones before. In fact, "I Am Watching You" was the first to feature Hill and Sanders but interestingly "The Promise" actually takes place prior to the first book. So don't worry if you haven't read the others...although I highly recommend it simply because they are just brilliant!
As a journalist for more than 25 years, Teresa Driscoll was also a BBC TV news presenter before turning her talents to writing fiction. This story was inspired by her own story when as young journalist starting out, she took a threatening call, three times, the same day each week. Fortunately for her, her calls ended with an apology on the third week, but her experience helped her to picture a scenario where that wouldn’t be the case, as the fear stayed with her much longer. This story helped her to examine that fear with a fictional story.
A delightfully creepy mystery, I WILL MAKE YOU PAY is a compelling, twisty and intriguing tale you will not be able to put down.
I would like to thank #TeresaDriscoll, #NetGalley and #AmazonPublishing for an ARC of #IWillMakeYouPay in exchange for an honest review.
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