Be Careful What You Wish For by Lorraine Murphy
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 26th August 2023
Published: 20th August 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A mother determined to hide the truth. A sister about to expose it.
When Tara Ryan gets the results of a DNA test one rainy afternoon, all her dreams come true. She discovers she’s not an only child, she has a long-lost sister, Cassie.
What she doesn’t know is that Cassie is homeless, strung out, and praying for a break.
As socially awkward Tara lets street-wise Cassie into her life, shocking secrets come to the surface – a dark web of illegal adoptions, betrayal and death. All rooted in a horrifying children's home scandal which occurred many years before.
Has Tara's mother been deceiving her for her entire life, or is Tara looking to the wrong person for the truth?
Someone is lying - and they must pay the ultimate price.
Be Careful What You Wish For is a gripping tale of lies and deceit that will astound and enthrall until the very last page.
MY THOUGHTS:
Having read Lorraine Murphy's fantastic debut "Into the Woods" I was excited by the prospect of her second offering. The concept is something of a complex tale, sad even, and definitely intriguing. It begins as a slow burn which remains steady throughout and yet there was still something compelling me to keep reading. It's a quick read which I easily unravelled in a few short hours in one sitting.
Tara is an only child with an elderly mother, Mary, whom she now cares for solely since a car accident which claimed the life of her father and confined her mother to a wheelchair some twenty years ago. Her life is but a small one. She has no friends, no significant other, with her whole life devoted to caring for her ailing mother. But when a DNA test reveals a "full match" - meaning parent, sibling or child - through a family website, Tara unexpectedly finds she has a sister she knew nothing about and her ordered world suddenly falls into chaos. She contacts the woman, Cassie, and agrees to meet her. But the two women couldn't be more different.
Cassie finds herself homeless after a drinking binge sees her in hospital and out of the refuge where she had been living. But upon receiving the news of a DNA match with a woman, Cassie sobers herself up and arranges to meet her long lost little sister in Dublin. But their first meeting doesn't go as planned, leaving both women feeling dissatisfied and disappointed. However, Tara has always wanted a sister and seeing how lucky she has been in life compared to the hand Cassie had been dealt, she takes her under her wing...albeit maybe a little too naively.
Amidst the goings on is the news that is currently sweeping Ireland of the children's home scandal, which was rife in Ireland up to the 1980s, that saw children wrenched from their biological mothers and sold to the highest bidder with non-disclosure agreements preventing either party from revealing the details of the adoption...or even that there had been an adoption. I would have liked to see this play more of a part in the story than it actually did. It was dangled in the background and offered something of an explanation without really explaining anything.
And then there is Mary. Ailing, frail and elderly Mary. Widowed and talking fondly of her her husband Frank RIP - what in the hell was that? She referred to him as Frank RIP and Tara referred to him as Daddy RIP. Sure, he died and it was tragic but they branded the RIP on the end like it was a medal of honour. It was tacky and senseless. And Mary, who wears her ailments like a garment she cloaks herself with each morning was exhausting to read. The woman beat Tara down at every turn, gave her panic attacks, allergies and then demanded she not take a promotion offered to her. Why? What did she hope to gain from it? Of course the promotion meant Tara had a week's training in London which Mary simply would not hear of, nor would Tara leave her. Until Cassie stepped in and offered to care for her in Tara's absence. Oh no, that just would not do. But why?
Honestly, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive...as quoted by Shakespeare but Tara cites it as someone called Scott. Whoever first quoted it, no truer words were spoken. These three women weave a tangled web between the lot of them. And I liked none of them. Tara was weak and spineless and at her age could not stand up for herself in any way. She dressed dowdy and had no self esteem. Of course, this was down to the environment in which she had grown up, and Mary's devious ploy to keep her close. Cassie was secretive and had her own ulterior motives. I could feel no sympathy for any of them.
This is a tough book to review and rate because of this. And because I felt it had so much more potential. So much more could have been done with the children's home scandal, of which were rife in Ireland and there would be no shortage of stories there. I remember watching a documentary of a Catholic children's home in which there revealed to be a mass grave of children's bodies secretly buried there as well as many illegal adoptions that took place from there. Now that could be the basis of a brilliant thriller I would love to read.
Overall, this was still a good quick read that could easily be devoured in a few short hours. It was compelling, that's for sure. I just kept wanting to turn the page and find out that little bit more and what secrets bubbled beneath the surface.
I would like to thank #LorraineMurphy, #Netgalley, #InkubatorBooks and #ZoolooTours for an ARC of #BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
A software engineer by profession, Lorraine as had many jobs including slimming club leader, adult educator, charity co-founder, chairperson, activist and entrepreneur. Oh, and mother and carer. As a teenager, she adored Stephen King and later found herself on the jury of Ireland’s longest Murder Trial.
When she's not writing, she's always into something, whether it be competing in/ for her Toastmasters club or jumping out of a fully functional airplane.
Lorraine lives in Westmeath, Ireland with her husband Brendan and three taller children.
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