The One Who Got Away by L.A. Detwiler
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller
Read:30th May 2020
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 19th February 2020)
★★★★★ 5 stars
Disturbing on so many levels, THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY is a somewhat unique but scary concept. It makes you stop and think what if this really happened. Unlikely, I know, but with some of the unsavoury things that do often go undetected in aged care homes, it does make you wonder.
The story begins in the present day with Adeline Evans, an elderly woman nearing 80, who has moved into a aged care home. Adeline has the early stages of dementia so her memory is not what it used to be, often playing tricks on her and leaving her questioning the validity of everything she knows. But it's not just the care home that Adeline is worried about - it's the fact that her daughter Claire has brought her back to where her nightmares began sixty years ago. A place she vowed she would never return. A place where old memories begin to resurface.
It was 1959 and Adeline Walker was 19 years old. Having moved from their previous place under somewhat dubious circumstances three years previous, her parents wanted a new start for themselves and their only daughter in West Green, Crawley. But life has not turned out how she, nor her parents, had envisioned. Her mother wanted more for her only daughter and set her sights on the most eligible bachelor in town - Oliver Parsons. But Oliver was not who he appeared to be and when Addy broke off with him, the repercussions were relentless.
But Adeline had also gained the attention of another admirer. Someone who remained in the shadows. Someone who watched and waited and bides his time. A killer with an appetite beyond all measures who snatched his victims and left bite marks all over their bodies, some dismembered. Each of his kills were the lead up to his grand finale that was to be Adeline Walker. But with six women living in such close proximity having been brutally murdered, Adeline's parents decided it was time to move...for fear their daughter may be next. But Adeline was going nowhere without Charles. So they made their own plans to escape in the middle of the night, catching the first train out of Crawley and never looking back.
Now sixty years later, having been happily married for many years before Charles' death the previous year, Addy now finds herself in Smith Creek Manor Care Home where the past begins to haunt her. Strange things start happening - at first little things - but disturbing nonetheless. Notes left on her noticeboard, Bible verses damning her to hell, mice in the bed, blood on the walls, her photos smashed. There is a man she recognises from her past and another who seems vaguely familiar who stares at her daily from his window - do these men mean her harm? Then her only friend dies suddenly after she discovers something important she was about to disclose to her. But no one believes Addy when she tries telling them what's happening and that someone is trying to kill her. It's just dismissed as "the confused mind of dementia".
Added to that is the disgraceful behaviour of some of the bullying staff who spare no thought to the elderly residents in their care, abusing them constantly on a daily basis. But who will listen to the cries of an old woman whose addled brain is decaying from dementia?
Told in the past, the present and in newspaper clippings, THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY is a chilling read that is both shocking and confronting. As secrets of the past are slowly revealed, we learn more about Adeline and her dubious past and the fear that plagues her now.
THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY is an atmospheric read as the fear and vulnerability of those within the walls of a care home, that is supposed to care for its residents, is downright disturbing. As is the past that is equally chilling.
My first read by L.A. Detwiler and it is such a thrilling read that while I pieced together parts of the puzzle early on, the ending was rather unexpected. But a thrilling and chilling read which I thoroughly recommend for fans of psychological and domestic thrillers.
I would like to thank #LindsayDetwiler, #NetGalley and #OneMoreChapter for an ARC of #TheOneWhoGotAway in exchange for an honest review.
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