Book Review | What You Left Behind by Samantha Hayes

BOOK REVIEW | WHAT YOU LEFT BEHIND

TITLE: What You Left Behind

AUTHOR: Samantha Hayes

RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2015

GENRE: Suspense & Thriller

A mesmerizing new thriller from the author of Until You’re Mine

Two years after a terrifying spate of teenage suicides, the remote village of Radcote has just begun to heal. Then a young man is killed in a freak motorcycle accident and a suicide note is found among his belongings. When a second boy is found dead shortly thereafter, the nightmare of repeat suicides once again threatens the community.

Desperate for a vacation, Detective Inspector Lorraine Fisher has just come to Radcote for a stay with her sister, Jo, but the atmosphere of the country house is unusually tense. Freddie, Jo’s son, seems troubled and uncommunicative, and Jo is struggling to reach out to him. Meanwhile, Lorraine becomes determined to discover the truth behind these deaths. Are they suicides, or is there something more sinister at work? Finding answers might help Freddie, but they’ll also lead to a shocking truth: whatever it is–or whoever it is–that’s killing these young people is far more disturbing than she ever could have imagined, and unraveling the secret is just as dangerous as the secret itself.

Wicked, intense, and utterly compulsive, What You Left Behind confirms Samantha Hayes as a top thriller writer. (Description from NetGalley.com)

MY THOUGHTS

At times, I feel I need a little bit more adventure, suspense, and mystery in my life so I wander away from my usual Women’s Fiction genre books and go towards a book like What You Left Behind by Samantha Hayes. Its books like this that keeps be wanting more suspense and thriller type novels to read.

There were many twists and turns throughout the book and Hayes did a great job tying up the loose ends. This is what kept me engaged and is what I loved most about the book. I was surprised by the plot twists. At times, I can predict what twists will be, but with this book many of the twists were a mystery. That’s not to say I didn’t guess a few of them, but for the most part I was like “oh my gosh” when something was revealed.

The characters, including the minor ones, were well developed and their stories were perfectly intertwined. The way Hayes created the characters made you believe they were different than they turned out to be. I think this created a much more impactful thriller and made me second guess my predictions (commence the applause).

What You Left Behind is a riveting psychological thriller riddled with secrets and lies and is well worth staying up until 1am to finish it.

I was generously provided a copy of this book for an honest review from NetGalley. Thank you Samantha Hayes and Crown Publishing.

OVERALL RATING

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

Throughout the years, I always strived to improve my writing. In 2003 I won a short story competition and subsequently had a novel published by a small independent press. It’s out of print now. Since 2007 I have had four novels published by Headline under the name Sam Hayes—BLOOD TIES, UNSPOKEN, TELL TALE and SOMEONE ELSE’S SON.

I am now represented by Oli Munson at A M Heath Ltd and my books are published by Century and Arrow. I have written three novels in a new detective series – set in and around Birmingham, featuring my married DIs Lorraine Fisher and Adam Scott. The first is UNTIL YOU’RE MINE, followed by BEFORE YOU DIE, and finally YOU BELONG TO ME. These are all written as Samantha Hayes. You can find details of all my recent novels by visiting the bookspage. Meantime, I’m busy working on my next novel!

About the author was found on her website and you can click here to find out more.

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