Many thanks to Tracy Fenton and Trapeze for the blog tour invite and ARC – here is my review of ‘Bad Seed’ by Jessica Eames.
Nicola is going to die. Just like her husband did.
Nicola thought she’d gotten away with it.
Since her husband died, life has been getting back on track. She has a new boyfriend, Phil. A new home, living next door to her brother-in-law, his wife and their children. She is closer than ever with her daughter, Sarah. She even likes her job at the local shop, though she’s had some time off recently with illness. The doctor says its menopause, that it’s nothing to worry about. As if he could know how she’s feeling.
Nicola is finally moving on with her life.
But then she receives the note. Someone knows what she did. They know the secret she doesn’t even think about when she is alone.
And they want revenge.
What does TWG think?
Oh dear, someone’s in trouble!!! Dont you just hate it when something from your past comes back to bite you on the behind?! Well, if you were innocent and hadn’t done anything wrong, you would have no need to worry when a little note drops through your letter box….right?
Nicola’s past has found her, JUST when she finally feels comfortable in her life, and just when relationships with loved ones are heading in the right direction. Bit of a kick in the teeth, eh!
For me, ‘Bad Seed’ was a very intriguing debut read which oozed a lot of promise. On the other hand, I found the execution of the storyline to be a little bit stilted and seemed to contain more padding than I felt was necessary.
The storyline does contain intensity, and it does deliver on ensuring the reader constantly thinks ‘what happens now?’ – a definite plus point, thats for sure!
As for the characters, I am on the fence when it comes to Nicola as, on one hand I found her personality to be unique and well crafted, yet on the other hand I found that her actions and voice, so to speak, didn’t work with the overall vibe of the book and the whole revenge path.
However, I did enjoy ‘Bad Seed’, and I am looking forward to seeing how this author develops in further books.
The Writing Garnet 