Lethal Ties by Helen Christmas
Genre: Psychological thriller, Psychological drama, Suspense
Read: 31st August 2021
Published: 18th April 2021
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
A haunting vision. A spine-chilling nightmare. A missing boy.
When Joe, Maisie and Sam met in a residential children’s home, they pledged to look out for each other; three friends who were inseparable until the night Sam went missing…
Twenty years later, Maisie suffers flashbacks, unable to understand what lies at the root of her recurring nightmares. Shocked to find Joe, homeless on Bognor seafront, she helps him turn his life around, but it doesn’t seem long before their past comes back to haunt them.
What really went on at Orchard Grange all those years ago?
Where did Sam go?
Only he can provide the answers but they need to find him.
Within weeks of Maisie and Joe being reunited, however, an eerie presence disrupts their world. A mysterious black car is tailing them; a campaign of online abuse makes Joe wonder if his enemies are still around. He has never forgotten Mr Mortimer from the children’s home, until a shocking attempt on his life launches a police investigation.
Lethal Ties is a tense psychological thriller, an untangling of secrets with an utterly chilling twist.
MY REVIEW:
First up, I must warn readers that this book may be triggering for those who've suffered child sexual abuse, particularly institutional, and those with repressed memories. While there is nothing too descriptive, the hint remains throughout though it is expertly handled with sensitivity and empathy. The author stated the inspiration came when all the abuse allegations surrounding celebrities such as Jimmy Savile came to light some years back, particularly those surrounding Westminster which were later proven to be false.
With this in mind, she was inspired to write a psychological thriller surrounding institutional abuse from the victims' perspectives. The result is a chilling yet disturbing tale that is both addictive and utterly compelling.
Three children meet in Orange Grange children's home, thrown together by fate that then separates them with a malevolent force. Maisie, Joe and Sam are relatively the same age but the circumstances that brought them to the home are vastly different. A car accident claimed the life of Maisie's parents and younger sister Charlotte. Joe's father murdered his mother is violent rage. And Sam's mother was a high class prostitute that thought her luck was about to change but instead she was found shot dead in a taxi. Joe had been at the home for the longest and took Maisie and Sam under his wing, as they were younger and far more naive to the cruelties that took place inside the home's walls.
One night Maisie was given a pretty red dress with satin ribbons having been told she'd been specially selected for a party. But knowing what lay in store, Joe locked Maisie in the cellar to shield her from what was to come. However, his interference was discovered and he was cruelly punished whilst Maisie was whisked away in a chauffeured car to a beautiful estate mansion in the country. She recalled Joe's warnings not to drink the punch and try and she might, they watched her closely though she was able to discard the remainder in a pot plant. Having not consumed it all may have been to her detriment as what was to come, while not fully aware, was to haunt her for years to come.
Maisie was then fostered by Mandy and Stewart Reedman, growing up in a loving family home. However she missed her two friends, Joe and Sam. Then one night Sam disappears after returning from a party with Joe and when Maisie's foster mother called the home to invite Joe to visit, she was told that Joe had run away.
Twenty years later, Maisie has drawn on her own experience in the system and now works in the fostering programme at West Sussex County Council. But at 31 years old, her life is far from complete. She suffers haunting flashbacks and terrifying nightmares she doesn't understand. She has an irrational fear of forests and entering one doesn't bear thinking about. Her foster mother Mandy suggest she see a psychotherapist and over the ensuing months has been going over her past memories and regressing into her subconscious in an attempt to understand her flashbacks and the root of her nightmares.
One day whilst offering some sausage rolls she has warmed up for the homeless that bunk down along the seafront, Maisie is shocked to recognise one of them as her old friend Joe. She takes him home, feeds him, clothes him and offers him a place to stay. She finds him some volunteer work at her friend's charity shop and is furnished with a newish mobile phone. It is almost like old times...almost. But the shadow of Sam's disappearance always lingers in the background. Convinced something sinister could have happened to him, Maisie enlists the help of her friend Sarah who works in adoption to help trace him. After all, Joe was told that Sam had been adopted by the home's owner...but by who?
Then Joe begins to receive threatening messages and Maisie notices a black car has been following them and parked outside her flat. Could these threats be related to their past? The content of the messages certainly appear to allude to their time in the home as Maisie and Joe become increasingly fearful of their safety. But when things come to a head and someone attempts to run Joe down on his way to work, they decide they can wait no longer and take their concerns to the police.
But nothing prepares them for the shock they are about to receive. Their old friend who went missing all those years ago, Sam, suddenly turns up with a new life and a shocking tale to tell. And it isn't pretty. But what he has to reveal sets the ball rolling for even bigger shocks to come.
Maisie, Joe and Sam are the ones who hold all the pieces of the puzzle. But what is real and what is imagined? How reliable are their childhood memories? And how safe are they now?
A cleverly woven tale that is addictive and mesmerising, LETHAL TIES binds the lives of these three people together both in the past and in the present. In a gripping narrative we watch as their stories slowly unfold since the day they were torn apart. The sense of foreboding, the air of malevolence, the claustrophobic atmosphere that squeezes every last breath from you as you tear through the pages. It is dark, it is disturbing and a force so evil as to finish what was started twenty years before.
Despite the slow build, the story does gather pace afterwhich you can't turn the pages quick enough. Filled with twist after twist, though I managed to unravel most of them before the end except for one shock that left me speechless, LETHAL TIES is a thoroughly absorbing psychological thriller. For despite the unpalatable topic that shimmers just below the surface, it is an engaging read that is well written and plotted.
Overall, a fantastic read that is truly impressive is perfect for fans of dark psychological thrillers.
I would like to thank #HelenChristmas and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #LethalTies in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
I am active on social media and have written various articles about my characters on my blog. The underlying premise of ‘Lethal Ties’ is to raise awareness of mental health problems and promote a better understanding of conditions such as Asperger’s.
‘Lethal Ties’ is my first standalone psychological thriller and set in my local town, Bognor Regis.
Social Media links:
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Wow, thanks so much, Stina, for this amazing and detailed review. I am so pleased you enjoyed reading Lethal Ties, a great start to my blog tour.
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