Keeper by Jessica Moor
Genre: Domestic thriller, Literary fiction
Read: 27th June 2020
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 19th March 2020)
★★ 2 stars
The premise for KEEPER drew my attention and I was thoroughly engrossed for about the first 30%. After that...my interest waned. The concept was promising, as the light on domestic violence really needs to shine a little brighter sometimes and the twist at the end was brilliant, but everything in between was just a little bleh.
Katie Straw worked at a domestic violence refuge for women. But when her body is pulled from the river, at first glance it appears to be suicide. Or is it? Detectives Whitworth and Brookes must piece together Katie's life to work out if she did in fact kill herself or if she was murdered. But the question is, who would want to kill Katie?
As they delve into her background, detectives discover that there is no trace of anyone named Katie Straw. No birth certificate, no tax records, no nothing. The only real reason to change one's name is to hide in plain sight. So who exactly was Katie? And what, or who, was she running from?
Detectives question her boyfriend Noah and the women at the refuge, much to the chagrin of the woman who runs it, to try and get a lead on exactly who Katie was and what secrets she kept. The women, all of whom are a mixed bunch, aren't convinced Katie killed herself. Yes, she seemed sad at times but that wasn't who she was. The reader is slowly let into the confines of both the refuge and the minds of the women who shelter there.
KEEPER is Katie's story told in the past and present - THEN and NOW. As her story unfolds in the past chapters, we soon learn that her boyfriend Jamie is incredibly controlling and abusive. He doesn't hit her but then abuse comes in all shapes and sizes. He uses coercive control, he manipulates her, slowly chipping away at her and breaking her down...ultimately leading to threats. It is obvious from early on that Katie isn't happy. She stops eating and begins to lose weight. Jamie's pointed remarks about her being skin and bone only add to her growing loss of self confidence. It isn't until she finds herself in hospital that she finds the strength to leave.
I found myself more drawn to Katie's past story than the current one which was just so boring. Detective Whitworth was a wet blanket with a somewhat complacent view on abused women. He had no backbone and I kind of felt what was the point of him even being there. The women in the refuge, as sad as their stories were, all seemed to bleat on endlessly and Val, the woman who ran the place, wore a permanent cat's arse expression with tired lipstick. No one was very likable at all. As a domestic violence survivor myself, I found I couldn't relate to any of these women...except Katie, because she's the one we got to know the most.
It was unfortunate that this was such a disappointing read for me as it certainly had the potential to be a fantastic thriller. But it is not a thriller at all. It's not even a crime thriller. But it is a mystery. However, having said that, the best part of KEEPER is the ending. It was a shocking twist that I didn't see coming and it was a clever one at that...which is probably why I am so disappointed in the rest of the book.
So even if you don't like this book, I do recommend you read till the end...that twist may change the entire book for you. It didn't for me, but I still thought it was such a clever ending.
I would like to thank #JessicaMoor, #NetGalley and #PenguinUK for an ARC of #Keeper in exchange for an honest review.
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