The Staffymum's Book Nook: Liz Lawler

Showing posts with label Liz Lawler. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 November 2022

REVIEW: The Nurse's Secret by Liz Lawler

The Nurse's Secret by Liz Lawler

Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller. Suspense

Read: 28th October 2022

Goodreads

Amazon

Audio links:

Listen to Sample

Published: 31st October 2022

★★★★ 4 stars

DESCRIPTION:

Loving wife. Caring nurse. Liar.

You trust her with your life… She has a deadly secret.

In hospital, lives begin and end every day.

The doctors and nurses work round the clock to keep their patients breathing, yet death is part of their routine.

When the police arrive in the brightly lit corridors, asking for pretty, young, Nurse Shaw, staff and patients start talking.

The say Sarah Shaw’s husband has been murdered. They’d only been married for a few short months.

The police want to know where Sarah was that night. And why the medicine went missing from the hospital a few days before.

As William Shaw’s complicated past unravels it’s clear that Sarah has secrets of her own. But as she delivers pills in paper cups with a stiff smile and shaking hands, her patients want to know, is she a killer, or is her life in danger too?

An addictive psychological thriller that will have you glued to the pages until the final shocking twist. Perfect for fans of K.L. Slater, Shari Lapena and Clare Mackintosh.

MY THOUGHTS:

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Liz Lawler's tense psychological thriller THE NURSE'S SECRET.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. Not only is it a psychological thriller but it also features a procedural side to it making it something of a crime thriller as well. They inclusion of both aspects complements the entire story perfectly as we, the reader, try to unravel the tangle of secrets going on and just who is keeping what from who. I wasn't surprised by the who as they were my number one suspect pretty much the whole way through. But that didn't ruin it for me because I enjoyed everything else about it as well.

The prologue opens with a scene that is enough to grab your attention as you wonder just where it will lead us. It was also a heart rendering moment that someone could be so callous as to let someone lay there helpless until they took their last breath.

And then we meet Sarah, a ward sister who, whilst helping laying out a recently deceased patient, tragically learns the fate of her newlywed husband. She had been worried about him when he didn't answer his phone or the landline and so she called the police. A bit of an overreaction, maybe? It seems not because when the police answered the call for a welfare check on the said husband, William Shaw, discovered him in the bedroom shot through the mouth. Suicide? Unless he hid the gun after the event, it seems not.

Sarah is speechless. More than that, she appears to be in shock because she sheds not a tear. Is that normal for a new wife? Shouldn't she be distressed at his untimely death? Or will that come later when the reality sets in as to what has actually happened and just three months after their wedding, she now finds herself a widow?

Charlie is a veteran police sergeant who is pleased with the return of DI Nick Anderson who fled to London a year ago without a word. Now he is back and heading up the investigation into William's murder. When Charlie broke the news to the man's wife at the hospital where she works, he didn't envision her turning up to the house and barging her way in. Sarah took one look at her husband and screamed. Is this the emotion they have been waiting for coming through?

And then there is Kathleen, Sarah's colleague, who takes the younger woman under her wing and into her home where she proceeds to mother her. She continually reminded Sarah that she had them now (her and hubby Joe) to take care of her and not to worry about a thing. She never had to return to that home and she had a home with them for as long as she liked. Sarah had no clothes of her own, not even the uniform she'd been wearing as she'd stepped into a crime scene and had to hand over what she'd been wearing. So Kathleen happily gave her some clothes to wear...all inappropriately too small for her but Kathleen seemed not to notice. Sarah has no idea why Kathleen suddenly saw it as her mission to take care of her as the women had never been friends nor did they know anything about each other. But now that she was living there it seemed Kathleen wanted her to stay. It all seemed a bit creepy to me.

Soon the police were knocking every day looking to Sarah for answers about her husband and who might want him dead. Enquiries lead them to the school in which he taught as well as to the hospital where Sarah worked.

But little did any of them know that every one of them were hiding a secret. Sarah, Kathleen, Nick and Charlie. But what were their secrets and how did they affect what had happened? Nick's was a secret to all but the reader as we learnt that he and Sarah had once been involved for several years and she was the reason he fled to London a year ago. But how will that affect the way he conducts this investigation? Surely it's a conflict of interest and he should recuse himself? And Charlie? We are drip fed enough information to work out what his secret is though we don't learn till nearer the end. That leaves Sarah and Kathleen. So what are their secrets and what have they to do with William's murder? If anything?

THE NURSE'S SECRET is packed full of secrets, lies and deception to keep you turning the pages until the very end. It is compelling reading even if most of the characters are unlikeable. I did like Nick and Charlie and felt for them both. Sarah felt very detached so it was hard ro get a read on her or feel anything for her. Kathleen was an overbearing presence that blew hot and cold. There are a handful of others that added to the story as well - both likeable and not.

The plot itself is a little complex and busy but easy enough to follow. Many have their own backstories and agenda as we try to figure out what. I enjoyed this thriller more than I had anticipated and I liked the ending somewhat which was a combination of happy and sad...and somewhat bittersweet.

Overall, an enjoyable read that moves at an even pace and keeps you guessing throughout.

I would like to thank #LizLawler, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheNursesSecret in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Liz Lawler had a 20-year career as a nurse and later became a general manager of a five star hotel before her career as an author began. She is the author of 'Don't Wake Up', a Physiological Medical Thriller, which is an Amazon Best Seller and has over 1000 five star reviews. Her second book 'I'll Find You', a Physiological Thriller, is also an Amazon Best Seller.

Liz has three children and lives in Bath with her husband. She originates from Chatham, Kent, but has lived in Somerset for a number of years now. She is part of a large family, and has eleven brothers and sisters who grew up sharing anything from socks to a chair at the table.

Liz has always had a love for books from a very early age, but found her passion for writing at a later stage in life and has been unable to put the pen down since. She is signed to Bookouture.com for her next two books, and her books have been translated in over 12 languages.

She loves books and all things bookish! If you have time, say hello to her on Twitter or on her Facebook page.

Social Media links:

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

PUBLISHER:

Stay up to date with upcoming releases from Bookouture by following them on these social media accounts.

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Sunday, 10 October 2021

REVIEW: The Silent Mother by Liz Lawler

The Silent Mother by Liz Lawler

Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense

Read: 2nd October 2021

Goodreads

Amazon

Apple

Google

Kobo

Published: 8th October 2021

★★★ 3 stars

DESCRIPTION:

The phone rings. It’s the call every parent dreads. My beautiful son is dead.

He’d been the centre of my world from the moment he was born. Now my perfect life is shattered. In the midst of my grief, I receive an anonymous letter telling me that Tom’s death was not an accident.

So I’ve come to the apartment where my only child lived to find out what really happened. Tom was newly qualified as a doctor, he had a bright future ahead of him. Nothing about the day he died makes sense.

As I get to know the medical staff Tom worked with and his friends living nearby, I’m drawn into a tangled web of lies. Whispers and rumours circulate along the hospital corridors and I start to question how well I really knew my precious boy.

But a mother knows when things don’t add up.

His girlfriend has been keeping her pregnancy secret.

His best friend betrayed him in the weeks before Tom’s death.

His neighbours all have something to hide.

Which one of them would kill? As I get closer to the truth, the stakes become more dangerous. And I realise I could be next on their list…

MY REVIEW:

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Liz Lawler's engrossing thriller THE SILENT MOTHER.

Firstly, I'm not sure where the title comes from as the mother is anything but silent as she endeavours to clear her son's name. However, the journey upon which she embarks to do so is fraught with obstacles along the way drawing the tale out a little bit too much. That said, it was an engrossing read but not entirely addictive.

The story begins with Ruth, a doctor and partner of a practice in Bath, receiving a text from her son Thomas, a junior doctor, outlining his appearance in court the following day and asking her to be there. Ruth knows nothing of the crime with which he's been charged or what to expect from the hearing, so she embarks on the trip to Bournemouth a day early in the hope of catching Thomas that he might further explain his predicament. Unfortunately she wasn't able to raise him and spent a restless night in the hotel adjacent to the Crown Court in which he was to appear the following day.

Arriving at court, she meets his Barrister and his solicitor who fill her in on the details of his case. Thomas, it appears, was arrested for not only stealing drugs from the hospital in which he worked but for the assault of a security guard who had tried to restrain him when he became aggressive. Ruth is shocked. This doesn't sound like her son at all. Not because she's his mother, but because anyone who knew him would know it was completely out of character. His behaviour explained by the amount of midazolam in his system at the time of his arrest. Believing this to be the beginning of a trial, Ruth is further shocked to learn that Thomas had plead guilty and that this was in fact a sentencing hearing. What had happened to her sweet placid boy to turn him into someone she doesn't recognise?

But this is just the beginning of the mystery because Thomas, it seems, has failed to turn up for court and the natives are growing restless. Just as Ruth was losing all hope that things might turn around for her son, she sees the look pass between the barrister and solicitor...and her day, her world, goes from bad to worse. Thomas has been found in his flat having taken his own life.

Four months later, Ruth returns to Bournemouth in search of answers. She had received an anonymous letter pleading with her to come and clear Thomas' name though she has no idea who it is from. Having kept the rent paid up on his flat, she moves in and takes a job as a locum GP at a nearby thriving practice for the interim. No one knows she is Thomas' mother, having not married his father she retained her maiden name, Bennett, whilst Thomas was given his father's name of DeLuca. Her first port of call was to find the nurse who had reported the incident that had kicked off at the hospital resulting in Thomas being arrested in the first place. But when she tried knocking on her door, there was no answer. This nurse would hold the answers as to what happened to Thomas that day.

Throughout the course of her enquiries, Ruth meets her neighbours - Kim, Akito and Tilly - and her landlord Henry, with whom she begins a friendship. He is supportive and shares her belief that all that was alleged about Thomas was completely out of character for him. She comes across his diary and as painful as it is, she finds solace in his writings...despite some of them being drunken ramblings of frustration at an incident that had occurred with another nurse. It is through this diary she learns of his girlfriend referred to only as C. Talking to his friends and neighbours, Ruth discovers that they too saw Tom as an upstanding person full of compassion and integrity. So if all this that Ruth believes to be true, then someone else may well be responsible for his death...whether directly or indirectly. But will her digging put her in danger as well?

Alongside the main story is one of Rosie Carlyle, a nurse and also a patient of Ruth's at the clinic where she now practices. Rosie suffers from deep anxiety and depression, possibly resulting in a disturbing event that took place when she was a teenager and a secret which she and her best friend Anabel kept. Now Anabel has gone missing and Rosie is frantic with worry over what may have happened to her friend and sets about looking for her. Rosie's narrative is somewhat unreliable as her convoluted thoughts spill out with justifications for her behaviour and those of Anabel, who was apparently threatening to reveal the secret they had kept for fourteen years.

Initially, it isn't clear how these two storylines intersect but it soon becomes clear as Ruth continues to seek justice for her son and Rosie searches for Anabel. The two characters are as different as each other - Ruth is a strong character searching for the truth whilst Rosie is unstable, untrustworthy and unreliable. But does that make her a bad person? Or is she just caught up in something over which she has no control? Both women were complementing of the other in their vast extremes while they each had their own foibles. The supporting characters were an interesting bunch - Kim (mistrusting at first), Akito (engineering whizz), Tilly (not sure where she fits in but she's there), Joan (a staunch and loyal advocate), Drs Campbell, Raj and Miller (supportive colleagues in whom Ruth found trust), Pauline (whose mouth seriously needed washing out), Tim Wiley (a PC with a secret), Anabel (the missing best friend who seemed more like a ghost throughout) and Henry Thorpe (the landlord-come-friend-come-confidante-come-something more perhaps?) - and certainly a colourful cast.

It is worth mentioning that the story does touch on suicide, though it isn't a huge focus it may be a trigger for some readers. Overall the book covers themes of grief, loss and relationships - both toxic and fulfilling. A psychological thriller focusing on family drama, THE SECRET MOTHER is a twisted tale that will leave you shocked and somewhat disturbed by the outcome.

Although engrossing, THE SECRET MOTHER is not entirely addictive as I found the story just a little too drawn out. I became impatient with Rosie's convoluted narrative thinking her bonkers, if not deluded. But I just had to find out what happened with Tom and why. I have to admit, I did figure some of it out but was left a little puzzled by other parts. Yes, there were a few niggles, my main one being that I felt the story just went too long but overall it was still engrossing enough to make me want to read to the end. I wasn't disappointed but I wasn't completely satisfied either.

THE SECRET MOTHER is a psychological thriller of a different kind but a reasonably good read nonetheless.