Published By: Bookouture
Pages: 312
Released On: 29/09/2025
The invitation to my ex-boyfriend’s funeral came out of the blue.
I take a deep breath, my hand on the door to the church, fingers trembling. I haven’t seen Jacob in ten years – not since an anonymous lie about me tore the two of us apart… I’ve stayed as far away as possible ever since, but I just can’t miss the chance to say goodbye.
But when I pull open the heavy oak door, every pair of eyes in the room lands on me. His mother glares at me from the front pew, shaking with barely contained rage. Her piercing shriek echoes off the walls.
‘How dare you show your face around here, Eva Walsh? You killed my son!’
My heart stops dead, sweat pooling at the base of my spine. I’m frozen in place.
How could I possibly have killed Jacob? Why would I? I see the cold, angry stares and realise I’ve made a terrible mistake coming back. But does what happened all those years ago mean I’m now in danger, too?
*****
Thanks to Bookouture for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I have read all of Natali’s published thrillers and they just get better and better and better.
There are 42 chapters in it and they’re all quite short which is good, as I can’t abide a long chapter.
This is very character heavy which I loved. Yes there’s a thrilling plot, but for me it’s more about the characters themselves, what they’ve done, how they feel etc. rather than the actual goings-on.
It’s got this…interior feeling about it. That might not be the right word but bear with me. It feels very personal, that we’re reading about the internal feelings of what’s going on rather than the external reactions, if that makes sense. No? It does to me, I just can’t quite vocalise what I mean.
It’s thrilling but not in an all-guns-blazing kind of way you expect a thriller to be. It’s quiet, it hovers over your shoulder, watches you from the shadows, puts you on edge, which in my opinion is harder to achieve than putting full blown scares in.
Eva is an interesting main character. She’s clearly been through some stuff and is reluctant to return to her past but she’s forced to confront it. I was really on her side and was getting really frustrated along with her. There aren’t many other characters, but they’re all a bit iffy. No one is all good but some are all bad, and they all leave you with a question mark, you’re not sure who to trust. I think it was a good idea to have few characters because it adds to the claustrophobic feeling I think she’s aiming for.
I read one review that said they saw a twist coming but I’m not sure if I did. I had an inkling but wasn’t fully committed. I don’t really mind if twists don’t’ surprise me, it’s more about the twist itself and how it impacts the story than completely taking me by surprise. And this has twists and turns all over the shop, but it never feels overwhelming.
It’s not a very long book and yet she’s packed so much into it but still manages to make it fun to read and not overwhelming All the books I’ve read of hers are relatively short and I wonder if that’s a conscious decision to make it more fast paced? Would a longer one feel too drawn out? I don’t know but it’s interesting to ponder. Either way, I would never turn down a chance to read a Natali Simmonds book.
Each book is slightly different but where I think she has always excelled is in her character creation and development. The plots are interesting too, don’t get me wrong, but I think she’s one of the best at creating deep, well-rounded, raw, very human characters.
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