Only Child by Casey Kelleher
Genre: Domestic thriller, Domestic drama, Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 7th October 2022
Published: 7th October 2022
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
The police are here. The feeling of pure dread swirls in my stomach as a million scenarios start playing out in my head. My whole life I’ve expected something bad to happen to my daughter. It is as if part of me has been expecting it. As if I deserve it.
Fifteen-year-old Kayla is the apple of her parents’ eyes, their beautiful only daughter. They tried for so long to have her that she was even more precious when she arrived. But deep down, her mother Sherrie has always been terrified that their worst fear would come true: that Kayla would be taken from them.
Then one day – just as Sherrie had dreaded – Kayla fails to return home after a sleepover. In desperation, Sherrie and her husband Richard call Kayla’s friends. They scour the streets, their search becoming more and more frantic. Until the police arrive and deliver the shocking news, when their worst nightmare comes true: someone has their daughter.
As Sherrie and Richard grill friends, family, and even each other, Sherrie starts to wonder, has the secret they’ve been hiding all these years finally caught up with them?
Because Sherrie and Richard are living a lie. A lie so huge, so shocking, that it could destroy the one thing they hold most dear – their daughter.
And if the truth comes out, their family will never be the same. But if it doesn’t, they will never see their precious girl again…
A totally unputdownable psychological thriller that will have you gasping out loud until the very last page. If you love Lisa Jewell, K.L. Slater and T.M. Logan, you’ll be obsessed with Only Child.
MY THOUGHTS:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Casey Kelleher's tense domestic thriller ONLY CHILD.
This is my first foray into new-to-me author Casey Kelleher and wow! What an introduction! The plot had all the hallmarks I love in a good domestic suspense tale - intrigue, mystery, tension, gaslighting, mental illness, unreliable narratives and teenage angst thrown into the mix - what more could you want?
The story opens with a few short lines before jumping into the prologue which leaves us wondering where this tale is really going to end up. We are then thrown into the lives of two couples - Sherrie and Richard Goldman along with Tessa and Amelia. But who are these people to each other and just how are they connected?
In the London suburb of Hackney, Tessa lives happily with her partner Amelia...but her past continues to haunt her. Although what happened to her was many years ago, she still can't escape the terror she felt then that feels all to real now. While it is not clear at first what happened to Tessa, it is blindly obvious she suffers PTSD as a result. Her past experience left her understandably traumatised which now leads her to paranoid idealisations.
So when she's at the supermarket buying ingredients to bake Amelia a birthday cake (or at least attempt to), Tessa sees a face from her past. It's him. The man who destroyed her life and got away with it. Though he is so much older now she is sure it's him...and she follows him home at a safe distance. And then comes her second shock. He's only streets away from where she lives. And the third? He has a family - a wife and a daughter. How could he escape justice and go on to lead such a normal life? With a wife and family? How could he do what he did to her and get to have all this?
And so Tessa sits outside their house and watches...and waits...until she can get her revenge.
Sherrie and Richard and their 15 year old daughter Kayla have a somewhat normal life. They have a beautiful house in a wonderful area...but they have fallen out of love and only stay together for their daughter. Sherrie is a stay at home mother while Kayla does her best to push against the boundaries keeping her tied down, which is what any normal teenager does. But unlike other mothers, Sherrie is overprotective of her daughter, going as far as to hide her passport to prevent her from going to France with her classmates. This is not the first time Sherrie has prevented Kayla from other similar excursions but she has always come up with a ready excuse which Kayla never questioned. But as her mother, she is dutybound to protect Kayla...if only her daughter could see that.
And then Kayla goes missing after a night out with friends. And all of Sherrie's fears come bursting to the surface. This is exactly what she was afraid of; why she was so protective of Kayla; why she encased her in a maternal bubble...to keep her safe. You never knew who was out there. But now all of Richard's secrets are coming back to bite them. The time she learnt who he truly was. It was people like him she was protecting Kayla from...and now one of them has taken her!
Where is Kayla? Who has taken her? And why? Or did the girl simply run away from her overprotective mother? And why is Tessa so focused on a seemingly complete stranger?
The story unfolds through the alternating narratives of Tessa, Sherrie and Kayla - none of whom are entirely reliable. All of them have something to hide. But what exactly are they hiding? The race to uncover the truth is an addictive thrill ride one that will have you turning the pages at the speed of light.
There are twists at every turn that make this an unputdownable "one sitting" read that is both intriguing and entertaining. You think you know what's going on, you but you don't. I had a few suspects lined up and was surprised when one of them was the villain! Even a major plot twist I had suspected very early on I never thought would come to fruition but did! I was just taking stabs in the dark because I had no idea where this train wreck was heading at the time.
There are so many different tangents this tale could take but it held my interest throughout. So many juicy secrets and layers to peel back make this an intriguing mystery to unpick.
ONLY CHILD is a fast paced intriguing thrill ride from start to finish...and I enjoyed every minute of it!
I would like to thank #CaseyKelleher, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #OnlyChild in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Whilst working as a beauty therapist and bringing up their three children together with my husband, she penned her debut novel Rotten to the Core. Its success meant that Casey could give up her day job and concentrate on writing full time.
If you click the yellow 'follow' button, Amazon will send you an email when she has a new release, or if there's a special deal you might be interested in. It's the best way to make sure you never miss a book! Casey loves connecting with her readers, and there are plenty of ways you can get in touch:
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