The Couple's Revenge by Daniel Hurst
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Domestic drama, Suspense
Read: 29th December 2023
Published: 4th January 2024
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
How far would you go to protect your child?
I knew something was wrong. It’s a mother’s instinct.
I could tell when my son started hiding things from me. He used to walk to school with a mischievous grin on his beautiful face. Now he avoids eye contact and keeps his head down.
Since I discovered he’s being bullied by a classmate, I’ve spent every day worrying, my stomach churning with anxiety from the moment he leaves the house to the second he walks back through the door.
Everyone keeps telling me I’m overreacting, but I won’t risk my child’s safety. My husband and I try to talk to the other boy’s parents, but it only makes things worse…
Then our precious child is hurt. Enough is enough. It has to stop. Even if that means taking matters into our own hands.
Because we know the truth about the family targeting our son – it’s not the first time they’ve done this.
So the question is, exactly how far will we go to get revenge?
A nail-biting, page-turning psychological thriller from the number one bestselling author of The Doctor’s Wife. If you love Behind Closed Doors, Gone Girl and The Housemaid, you’ll be hooked on The Couple’s Revenge.
MY THOUGHTS:
How far would you go to protect your child...?
No one does revenge quite like Daniel Hurst and once again he delivers an entertaining thrill ride in which one must suspend belief a little. OK...maybe a lot. But who cares? It's fun, it's fast paced and oh so entertaining.
Sara and Guy have a happy life with their two children Amber (18) and Jacob (15). It's not perfect but it's as close to as they could hope for. After Amber's turbulent teenage years she is now studying criminology at London University leaving home for a student-filled life.
Fifteen year old Jacob has always been a happy child, never causing his parents to worry. So when he returns home one afternoon from school and instead of greeting his mum with a smile and tales of his day, storms up the stairs and slams the door to his bedroom refusing to come out, Sara has cause to worry. She knocks on his door to which there is no answer. When she opens the door and pokes her head in, he growls at her to "Get out!" Sara is immediately worried. This is not like Jacob at all. She calls Guy to ask him to come home and speak to him. But Jacob isn't forthcoming with him either, except to say that he has a stomach bug, which Guy accepts. Sara, however, doesn't. She knows her child. And this is not like him. A fact which is only confirm when they sit down to dinner and Jacob displays no dip in his appetite.
Until Guy mentions who he saw at 5-a-side football that evening. The name Kevin Atkinson causes Jacob to drop his fork and stare blankly at his meal. Then he pushes his chair back, gets up and mumbles that he's had enough and storms back upstairs to this bedroom, slamming the door. Sara is speechless. Why did Kevin's name cause such a reaction in their son? Guy, of course, was oblivious. And he thinks Sara is overreacting when she tries discussing it with him. But Sara doesn't think so.
Three years ago, Kevin Atkinson's 12 year old daughter Zoe (the same age as Jacob was) committed suicide after suffering brutal bullying at the hands of Mason Burton, another 12 year old in her class. A fact which the Atkinsons knew nothing about until they read their daughter's suicide note. Is that what's happening here? Could Jacob be bullied? After all, Mason was expelled from the school Zoe attended (too little too late) and was now at Jacob's. Why else would the mention of Kevin Atkinson cause such a reaction in her once happy son?
That weekend, Guy tries some male bonding by taking Jacob to their football teams's home game and it is there that he notices some bruising to Jacob's side. After the game, they grab some fish and chips and Guy carefully approaches the subject of the bruises. Jacob tosses his chips down and runs from the shop with Guy in hot pursuit. What is wrong with their son? And why is he keeping something so obviously painful a secret?
And then one day, Jacob comes home bloodied and battered. He is such a state that Sara and Guy call the police and the ambulance, and Jacob is taken to hospital. Sara and Guy know then that this has to end. Everyone knows who is behind it but is it enough? Not for these parents...and so they hatch a plan for revenge.
This is pure Daniel Hurst but with a dark edge. OK, so it's not entitrely believable in that not everyone would take the law into their own hands in such a way but that's the beauty of Daniel Hurst's thrillers. They take ordinary people from ordinary lives and he places them in extraordinary situations. It begs the question that every parent must think at one time or another. How far would you go to protect your child? And how far will you go when your child's wellbeing and happiness is threatened?
Hurst pulls us in from the very first page and doesn't let us go until the very last. There's no real mystery surrounding the story as you always know who is doing what but then there is a dramatic twist that leaves everyone (including the reader) questioning who and how and what just happened?! As with every Hurst thriller, there are very few players, leaving the suspect pool rather shallow...and yet he keeps you guessing.
The ending is a little scattered and convoluted but that's the nature of this entire tale. The only flaw I found in it was the overexplanation of the how and why in the epilogue. I feel just the revelation of the who was enough without the convoluted explanations that followed. That's the only thing that let this addictice and wholly absorbing tale down. Because Daniel Hurst is one hell of a writer who is both prolific and entertaining.
I've said before that there is no such thing as a bad Daniel Hurst book. I love everything I have read that he has written, while not all equally, each tale has their strengths and weaknesses. His thrillers are addictive, adrenalin-fuelled thrill rides that are entertaining and fun to read. And once again, he does not disappoint.
I would like to thank #DanielHurst, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheCouplesRevenge in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Daniel Hurst was born in the northwest of England, a part of the world famous for its comedians, pasties and terrible weather.
He has been employed in several glamorous roles in his lifetime, including bartending, shelf stacking and procurement administration, all while based in some of the most exotic places on the planet, like Bolton, Preston and South London.
Daniel writes psychological thrillers and loves to tell tales about unusual things happening to normal people. He has written all his life, making the progression from handing scribbled stories to his parents as a boy to writing full length novels in his thirties. He lives in the North West of England and when he isn’t writing, he is usually watching a game of football in a pub where his wife can’t find him.
Since following his lifelong passion for writing in 2020, he has amassed a loyal and devoted set of readers, and regularly has several books in the top 100 of the Psychological Thriller Charts on Amazon. His title The Passenger became the #1 selling psychological thriller in the UK in October 2021. The Doctor's Wife is his first publication with Bookouture.
A prolific writer, Daniel likes to keep readers on their toes by self publishing even more books in between those released through his publisher.
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