Roses are Red by Miranda Rijks
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Noir
Read: 22nd August 2020
Published: 26th April 2020
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
She wanted a second chance at happiness. She got a first-class ticket to hell.
Lydia Palmer seems to have it all - a thriving business, a beautiful house, a picture-perfect husband and two wonderful kids. But things are different behind closed doors - Lydia is desperately unhappy and wants a divorce. Then, shockingly, her husband Adam dies.
When her grief eases, Lydia starts online dating and almost immediately meets Patrick. Handsome, successful, loving, he’ll make the perfect second husband.
But is Patrick too good to be true? Can you really find prince charming online?
These are questions Lydia is forced to ask when her world begins to collapse. First, the police say Adam may have been murdered. Then her daughter turns against her, her business disintegrates…
Lydia is convinced that someone is trying to destroy her happiness. She’s wrong. They want so much more than that…
Roses are Red is a gripping psychological thriller that will keep you up until the early hours. Perfect for fans of K. L. Slater, Teresa Driscoll, and Andrew Hart.
MY REVIEW:
The perfect wife with the perfect life is at the forefront of domestic thriller ROSES ARE RED by Miranda Rijks. Classic domestic noir with unreliable characters, lies and secrets that will have you turning the pages into the night.
On the surface, Adam and Lydia Palmer have it all. Money. Wealth. Success. A lavish restored farmhouse, two children and a life of luxury. But things are never what they seem. Lydia is far from happy. Adam is a serial philanderer and the couple are on the verge of divorce. After discovering the identity of his latest conquest the couple have a massive row afterwhich Adam storms out to go for his nightly swim. And Lydia goes to bed. When Adam hasn't returned three hours later, she goes in search of him...and finds him at the bottom of their swimming pool, having been murdered by electrocution. The police swoop in and investigate, questioning both Lydia and her business partner Ajay. And then the trail goes cold.
Three months later and Lydia's best friend Cassie is encouraging her to try internet dating. After an unsuccessful date and vowing never to use internet dating again, Lydia meets Patrick - a warm and charismatic man who is kind and loving and everything Adam wasn't. Can this man be the calm amidst the storm of her life?
Patrick woos Lydia and by Christmas the couple are engaged, much to the shock of everyone...particularly her 15 year old daughter Mia who is outraged. Patrick wants a quick wedding without the usual fanfare but Lydia isn't so sure. She only buried her husband seven months ago and her children are still grieving. But Patrick is insistent and even manages to talk Mia round, begrudgingly, for she refuses to attend their very small wedding of just five people. Lydia wants her daughter to love her new husband so badly but she also wants her to be happy. Her son Ollie is content enough but becomes rather ecstatic when Patrick spends time bonding with him over computer games. At last, life seems to be good.
Then things start to fall apart...
Patrick travels a lot for work and Lydia finds herself the recipient of prank calls throughout the night. Then her business begins to suffer when she appears on a home shopping show to promote a product her business is selling only to discover the wrong product was sent to the network, which is a cheap knock-off version of the one they sell, and her demonstration resulted in a humiliating display. She is shocked to discover her partner Ajay had changed the instructions and so she confronts him after clarifying her paperwork had been in order but he denies having done so. But why would he do that? Then she discovers that the police have new evidence pointing to Ajay as being responsible for Adam's murder. Is this true? Could it have been Ajay? But why?
Then the silent calls begin again. And noises in the night. Shadows in the dark. A dark maroon car seen driving away from the house, matching Ajay's car. Is he stalking her? Trying to scare her? Before long, Ajay offers to buy Lydia's share of the company which she refuses. Has this been his ploy all along? To discredit her business only to buy her out at way below the market value? Patrick had warned her he might do this and it seems he was right. But is Ajay dangerous too?
But then nothing will prepare Lydia for what is to come...
Collapsing on the kitchen floor one morning eating breakfast, Lydia is unable to breathe, her tongue swelling in her throat. She knew at once what it was. She is highly allergic to peanuts and she has gone into anaphylaxis. Mia searches for her mother's EpiPen, none of which could be found, screaming in panic before Lydia fades into blackness. Who put the peanuts into Lydia's granola, knowing full well she is allergic? It seems whoever it is wants Lydia dead...and they will stop at nothing.
Is it Ajay? Or is it someone closer to home?
Told solely in Lydia's narrative, except for the opening chapter, ROSES ARE RED is a fast paced thriller that will have you scratching your head...and not always in a good way. It was well written and was a heart-pounding read but for me it was all too familiar. In fact, I had to stop reading to search for the book that it did remind me of because it screamed of such similarities to Alison James' "The Man She Married", albeit with a few differences.
My biggest issue with this book though was Lydia herself. How someone with the nous to build a multi-million pound crafting empire could be so gullible...really? How could she be so blind to be unable to see how she is being played? How could she doubt her business partner and friend for over twenty years and take the word of her new husband whom she has known just 5 minutes? For these reasons I found the story a little too predictable and the shock twist promoted with the book really wasn't. ROSES ARE RED wasn't a bad book but it wasn't the greatest either. It was still intriguing and held my interest throughout as I was interested to discover "why", despite the "who" not being such a great shock. There were a couple of surprises but I had figured out the majority of what was happening by the time all was revealed.
What wasn't so cliched as it was real is the whole internet dating thing. I may be old fashioned but for me that's just playing with fire. You don't know who you are talking to, who you are meeting or what you are opening yourself up to. It is scary as hell and incredibly frightening that intelligent people are willing to open themselves up to complete strangers without knowing anything at all about them. Online, people can be whoever they want to be...and none of it is real.
ROSES ARE RED is still an enjoyable read though I don't think the "twist you won't see coming" tagline is at all apt. You can spot it clearly a mile away.
Although I did enjoy the book, it is not one that will stay with me as some books do. It is, however, a perfect read for something quick and mindless that is uncomplicated and still enjoyable. And sometimes that's just what one needs. ROSES ARE RED is a great book to escape into with its fast pace and easy reading style.
I look forward to Miranda's next book "The Arrangement".
I would like to thank #MirandaRijks, #NetGalley and #InkubatorBooks for an ARC of #RosesAreRed in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Miranda Rijks lives in West Sussex, England, with her husband, their musician daughter and black Labrador. ‘The Obituary’ was her first psychological thriller. She has also written a psychological thriller series featuring Dr Pippa Durrant, a psychologist and specialist in lie detection, who works alongside Sussex police getting embroiled in some scary stuff!
After a degree in Law, Miranda worked in marketing in London and Eastern Europe before setting up businesses in the horticultural, leisure and retail sectors. Along the way, she got a masters in writing and wrote the self-help book, ‘How Compatible Are You?’ and biography, ‘The Eccentric Entrepreneur’. In 2018, Miranda wrote ‘Don’t Call Me Brave’, a novel very loosely drawing upon her experiences of having a rare bone cancer.
She feels extremely lucky to be living the dream, writing psychological thrillers full time!
Miranda loves connecting with her readers, so feel free to drop her a line.
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