Forget Me Not by Miranda Rijks
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 30th October 2022
Published: 26th October 2022
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Five years ago, Helen lost her husband. Now she may lose her life.
Five years ago, Helen’s husband Paul went missing while skiing in the Swiss Alps. His body was never found, but he is presumed dead because no-one could have survived a night on that freezing mountainside.
It took Helen a long time to get over her loss, but now she has pulled her life back together – she is an acclaimed interior designer in a loving relationship with a new man.
Even better, Helen has just been offered her dream project, renovating a luxurious chalet in an idyllic location. There’s only one catch – it’s right next to the resort where Paul went missing.
She decides to take the job anyway, convincing herself that a visit to the scene of her great tragedy will actually be good for her, that it will give her a chance to lay old demons to rest.
But soon after she arrives, she makes an utterly shocking discovery and finds herself caught up in a nightmarish web of treachery and deceit where nothing is as it seems.
Only one thing is certain – the mountains want to claim another body…
Forget Me Not – the stunning psychological thriller from the best-selling author of The Visitors, Deserve to Die, I Want You Gone.
MY THOUGHTS:
Big Miranda Rijks fan here! Uber excited to have a new thriller of hers to devour and this time it's the atmospheric setting of the Swiss Alps. Seriously, I was frozen to the bone just reading about it! Luckily it's been somewhat toasty here in Sydney this week so I didn't get frostbite.
Interior designer, Helen Sellers has built a new life for herself and her daughter Emily after the tragic loss of her husband Paul in the Swiss Alps some five years ago. He was a far more proficient skier than Helen, who was only a beginner at the time, and spent his days out on the mountains and coming back to their dingy hotel in the evenings. Then one day, he didn't return. Helen is frantic and calls the police who then deploy a mountain rescue team...all to no avail. The only thing they found was a ski Paul had hired at the top of a sheer drop over the mountainside...the consensus being that he had an accident and tragically fell to his death.
Ironically, the death of a teenage girl on the piste occurred just a couple of days before Paul's disappearance...and he was acting somewhat strangely at the time. Helen had confronted him when his response to the girl's tragic death wasn't normal, and they ended up having a huge row. The next day he disappeared. Are the two incidents connected?
Helen had discovered she was pregnant just prior to these events and expecting Paul to be over the moon, she was shocked to discover he was anything but.
Now five years later, she has moved on and found love again in a wonderful man named Andrew. And Emily adores him and has even asked if she can call him daddy. They plan to marry when the seven years has passed since Paul's disappearance and he can legally be declared dead. It is time to move on and close that chapter of her life.
And then Helen gets a commission to design the interior of a chalet in the Swiss Alps...a place that holds nothing but bad memories for her. Is this a coincidence? Or is fate bringing her back to where it all happened all those years ago? The owner of the chalet, Camilla, is a tyrant who wants everything to be perfect and yesterday. She doesn't want to know of any problems...she just wants the job done. But when Camilla brings the completion date forward a month, Helen finds she needs to stay on site for the duration just to ensure everything is completed on time.
And then Helen sees him...or she thinks she does. It's the limp - from an old rugby injury - she would know that gait anywhere. But when she tries to find him, he's gone. Did she really see him or is her mind playing tricks on her?
Then strange things begin to happen. Like when Emily tells her of "the nice man" who has been speaking to her. What man? And the slate that falls off the roof in a storm, narrowly missing Helen and only injuring her. And calls made to the suppliers cancelling her orders for the interior design job she's been commissioned to do. And that inane sense that someone is watching her. But when Emily announces that a huge teddy bear had been left at the door for her name on, Helen is creeped out. Someone is stalking her and her daughter. But who are they and what do they want?
FORGET ME NOT is a fun-filled thriller that moves at a steady pace with a scenic setting that is so atmospheric the chills could be felt icing up the page. Unfortunately none of the characters were likeable, except Andrew and he didn't have a huge role. I would have liked him to have stayed and played more of a part. We get several POVs as the story unfolds in the timelines of THEN and NOW. When the first twist came, it wasn't a shock. I had been expecting it. But it was still entertaining and utterly compelling...until the end. I found that to be sadly disappointing. All that build up...for what? I fear I cannot say more without spoiling it, but I was dissatisfied with it...on more than one count. Up until then, it had almost been a five star read.
Overall, the story was compelling and the tension palpable. While there was no real mystery throughout, you are still absorbed within the story wanting to know more and find out how it all ends. It was definitely an interesting read, with the setting being the star of it all, though not one of Miranda's best. But still compelling enough to enjoy and be entertained.
I would like to thank #MirandaRijks, #Netgalley, #InkubatorBooks and #ZoolooTours for an ARC of #ForgetMeNot in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
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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Thank you so much for taking part in the tour and for sharing your review x
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