It’s TWG’s turn to host today’s stop on Fiona Barton’s blog tour and no, I’m not ‘The Suspect’, honest!! Many thanks to Transworld Books for the ARC, and huge thanks as always, to Anne Cater for the blog tour invite. Here is my review of ‘The Suspect’:
The new must-read thriller from the author of Sunday Times bestseller, THE WIDOW, and the Richard & Judy No. 1 bestseller, THE CHILD.
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‘The police belonged to another world – the world they saw on the television or in the papers. Not theirs.’
When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing on their gap year in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft and frantic with worry.
Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth – and this time is no exception. But she can’t help but think of her own son, who she hasn’t seen in two years, since he left home to go travelling. This time it’s personal.
And as the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even this far away, danger can lie closer to home than you might think . . .
What does TWG think?
Oh this was clever. This was very, very clever!!
What would you do if you found yourself being on the receiving end of a journalists questions, instead of being the one asking them? Would you be annoyed? Happy that they’re just doing their job? Or would you feel betrayed by the people you call friends? The people who, up until recently, were working alongside you, trying to find the latest showstopper piece to put in the newspaper. I would feel a tad betrayed although I could appreciate that they were just doing their job…..to a point. That said, it would all depend on the reason why they were hounding you in the first place, wouldn’t it?
Two missing girls, two frantic families, and nobody wanting to give out straight answers – sounds a tad stressful! Kate, forever being a journalist, is determined to find out information about the mission girls before the rivals. However, due to the fact that her own son hasn’t been in contact much as he decided to venture to a different country to ‘clear his head’, trying to get the exclusive without turning it personal is quite testing for Kate.
Obviously I won’t spill spoilers here, but whilst ‘The Suspect’ does start off slow and steady, the storyline gradually picks up speed as the storyline progresses, before concluding with an absolute firework of a closing chapter. Put it this way – if the storyline had teeth, it would have bitten me. I’m sure you’ve heard that phrase before, and it’s oh so relevant here. Knowing what I know now, I SHOULD have seen it coming, but because the author was very clever with the way she wrote each eventuality and the characters reactions, I ended up not seeing it coming at all and it left me with a jaw nearly reaching the floor in shock. And no, I’m not even being over dramatic either!
‘The Suspect’ is written from different points of views and, whilst that can often be confusing for some, Fiona Barton made it perfectly clear whose point of view was in the spotlight each time, upping the grit with such short and sharp chapters. Patience is a virtue where this book is concerned, yet on the other side of the coin my lack of patience and constant urge to find out what happened, enabled me to fly through the book like no tomorrow. I just couldn’t help myself!
Fiona Barton is, and I’ll say it again, a very clever writer who certainly knows how to make her readers think. I was so impressed by what I read, and I cannot wait to read more from this author.
A brilliantly written, jaw dropping novel which left me gasping in shock – what more could you want?!
The Writing Garnet 
thanks so much for the blog tour support Kaisha x
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