REVIEW: The Playground by S.D. Robertson

The Playground - S.D. Robertson

Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense

Read: 24th September 2023

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Publsihed: 26th September 2023

★★★★ 4 stars

DESCRIPTION:

He saved my little girl when I couldn’t. I invited him into our lives. But I had no idea he knew my darkest secret…

It is an ordinary September morning when I nearly lose my little girl. My mouth is dry, my hands shake when I see that she has darted unexpectedly into the playground…

The place where my own childhood ended.

Where I can’t set foot inside.

As she wobbles on top of the climbing frame about to fall, a silent scream freezes in my throat. So when a stranger hears her cries and rushes to help, I feel weak with relief.

I thank him as my daughter presses her tear-stained face into my skirt. Looking into his warm brown eyes and gentle smile, I feel an instant connection. When our paths cross again, I invite him for dinner. I’ve been so lonely since the breakdown of my marriage. What harm could come of it?

Soon we are seeing each other daily and I feel a spark grow between us. But then he says something that makes my heart beat fast in my chest. Something that makes me think he knows my secret.

That he knows what really happened at the playground all those years ago.

And if he knows that, he could destroy my precious family in a second…

A completely unputdownable page-turner about the terrible secrets that any family can hide. Fans of Lisa Jewell, K.L. Slater and Gillian McAllister will be hooked on The Playground!

MY THOUGHTS:

He saved my little girl when I couldn't...I invited him into our lives...but I had no idea he knew my darkest secret...

Beth is walking her 8 year old daughter Daisy back to school after a dental appointment. When she takes a call, Daisy runs into the nearby playground and onto the swings. Upon realising where her daughter is, Beth panics. She cannot enter the playground. Not ever. It's a place of nightmares that haunt her, where something happened when she was a teenager and since that day she has never stepped foot inside a playground...ever. And as her vision clouds, her breath begins to quicken. She falls to the ground. She cannot reach her daughter.

And then arms find her and catch her before she hits the ground. The smiling face looks like that of her father. But it can't be...can it? Is she dreaming? And then she hears screams coming from the playground. Daisy! The stranger runs into the playground to where her daughter is now perched atop the climbing frame while two teenage boys encourage their dog to nip at her daughter's feet, laughing as she screams. The stranger sees the teenagers flee with their dog before helping Daisy down from the frame and back to her mother.

And that is how Beth and Daisy meet Billy. He has become Daisy's knight in shining armour while beth herself finds herself attracted to the man who is clearly younger than she is. When she learns he is knew to the neighbourhood, she invites him to dinner by way of a thank you. However her 14 year old son Ethan is not thrilled by the idea of another male muscling in on what he feels is his dad's rightful place, despite his parents being separated. While Daisy has handled the separation well enough, Ethan is angry about it. He's become sullen and secretive.

As Beth and Billy's friendship develops, Beth begins to wonder if it could become something more intimate...until Billy makes a shock confession that changes her entire perspective of the life she knew.

And then there is Beth's inherent fear of playgrounds. What is it that happened to her all those years ago to create such an impact that would cause her never to enter one ever again? She clearly still has nightmares about it and it's never far from her mind. 

What she doesn't realise is just how close the past and the present are about to come...and how much it will change her life.

A delightfully twisty psychological thriller that had me at the "playground". I'm not sure what I expected - probably something more to do with kids from the title - but this was such an entertaining read I thoroughly enjoyed. Even though I had some terrible circumstances in RL taking place in the middle of it that stopped me reading for three days, when I picked it up this evening it took my mind off what was going on in my reality for a couple of hours and it was refreshing. I didn't see the twist at the end...whether that was down to me being off my game at the moment or the skill of the writer...it was a good solid read either way and the fact that it took me away from the pain of my own reality just now is a good thing.

A definite well worth it read!

I would like to thank #SDRobertson, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #ThePlayground in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Former journalist S.D. Robertson is a USA Today and #1 Kindle bestseller. He quit his role as a local newspaper editor to pursue a lifelong ambition of becoming a novelist – and he’s never looked back. Stuart, whose work has been translated into ten languages, is a reluctant DIYer and unofficial tech support provider for his family. He lives in a village near Manchester and is married with one daughter. There’s also his cat, who likes to distract him from writing by any means possible.

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