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Only the Truth
He's not the perfect husband. But he is the perfect suspect.
Dan Cooper has never been the perfect husband to Lisa. He travels for work and plays the carefree bachelor when he can. But now, on a solo business trip, in a remote coastal hotel, he’s surprised to find Lisa in his bathroom. She’s dead.
He has no idea how she got there but one chilling fact is clear: everything points to Dan having murdered her. Someone is trying to frame him. Someone who might still be watching. In a panic, he goes on the run. But even as he flees across Europe, his unknown enemy stacks up the evidence against him.
Dan is determined to clear his name and take revenge on Lisa’s killer, but the culprit is closing in. And then there’s the agony of his own guilty conscience. No, he didn’t kill her—but is it all his fault?
255 pages, Paperback
First published February 24, 2017
2469 people are currently reading
3490 people want to read
About the author
Adam Croft
50 books548 followersWith more than half a million books sold to date, Adam Croft is one of the most successful independently published authors in the world, and one of the biggest selling authors of the past year.
Following his 2015 worldwide bestseller Her Last Tomorrow, his psychological thrillers were bought by Thomas & Mercer, an imprint of Amazon Publishing. Prior to the Amazon deal, Her Last Tomorrow sold more than 150,000 copies across all platforms and became one of the bestselling books of the year, reaching the top 10 in the overall Amazon Kindle chart and peaking at number 12 in the combined paperback fiction and non-fiction chart.
His Knight & Culverhouse crime thriller series has sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide, with his Kempston Hardwick mystery books being adapted as audio plays starring some of the biggest names in British TV.
In 2016, the Knight & Culverhouse Box Set reached number 1 in Canada, knocking J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child off the top spot only weeks after Her Last Tomorrow was also number 1 in Canada.
During the summer of 2016, two of Adam’s books hit the USA Today bestseller list only weeks apart, making them two of the most-purchased books in the United States over the summer.
Before writing full time, Adam had previously worked as an internet marketing consultant, delivery driver and professional actor.
Adam has been featured on BBC Radio, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The Bookseller and a number of other news and media outl
Following his 2015 worldwide bestseller Her Last Tomorrow, his psychological thrillers were bought by Thomas & Mercer, an imprint of Amazon Publishing. Prior to the Amazon deal, Her Last Tomorrow sold more than 150,000 copies across all platforms and became one of the bestselling books of the year, reaching the top 10 in the overall Amazon Kindle chart and peaking at number 12 in the combined paperback fiction and non-fiction chart.
His Knight & Culverhouse crime thriller series has sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide, with his Kempston Hardwick mystery books being adapted as audio plays starring some of the biggest names in British TV.
In 2016, the Knight & Culverhouse Box Set reached number 1 in Canada, knocking J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child off the top spot only weeks after Her Last Tomorrow was also number 1 in Canada.
During the summer of 2016, two of Adam’s books hit the USA Today bestseller list only weeks apart, making them two of the most-purchased books in the United States over the summer.
Before writing full time, Adam had previously worked as an internet marketing consultant, delivery driver and professional actor.
Adam has been featured on BBC Radio, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The Bookseller and a number of other news and media outl
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 448 reviews
February 21, 2017
ONLY THE TRUTH by British author Adam Croft is a suspense mystery thriller that is soon to be released. Having just read his previous novel, “Her Last Tomorrow”, a gripping fast-paced thriller, and really enjoying it, I was anxious to start his new novel.
“What if? What if I turned around and there was a dead body in the bath? That was the spark that led to the plot for this book.” The author acknowledges this at the end of the novel.
“Dan Cooper has never been the perfect husband to Lisa. He travels for work and plays the carefree bachelor when he can. But now, on a solo business trip, in a remote coastal hotel, he’s surprised to find Lisa in his bathroom. She’s dead.
He has no idea how she got there but one chilling fact is clear: everything points to Dan having murdered her. Someone is trying to frame him. Someone who might still be watching. In a panic, he goes on the run. But even as he flees across Europe, his unknown enemy stacks up the evidence against him.
Dan is determined to clear his name and take revenge on Lisa’s killer, but the culprit is closing in. And then there’s the agony of his own guilty conscience. No, he didn’t kill her—but is it all his fault?”
When I first started this book, I wasn’t exactly sure where this book was heading, and found it a bit slow, but the author releases information/clues on a need-to-know-basis. The plot is simple…a cheating husband that has been setup and framed for the death of his wife.
The story is told in the first person POV through the eyes of our main character, Dan, a self-absorbed jerk, and it allows us to see everything through Dan’s eyes. When Dan finds out his wife has been murdered, almost all of his thoughts are of himself: "Why did this happen to me?" It really shows how selfish he is, and how he didn’t really like his wife at all. Could he have killed her??
The reveal at the end was a complete surprise and not one that I expected.
This was an interesting quick read, a little far-fetched in places but still acceptable.
I wish to thank the author for a copy of the ARC.
All I can say is what comes around…goes around. Be careful how you spend your time…it can come back to haunt you!
“What if? What if I turned around and there was a dead body in the bath? That was the spark that led to the plot for this book.” The author acknowledges this at the end of the novel.
“Dan Cooper has never been the perfect husband to Lisa. He travels for work and plays the carefree bachelor when he can. But now, on a solo business trip, in a remote coastal hotel, he’s surprised to find Lisa in his bathroom. She’s dead.
He has no idea how she got there but one chilling fact is clear: everything points to Dan having murdered her. Someone is trying to frame him. Someone who might still be watching. In a panic, he goes on the run. But even as he flees across Europe, his unknown enemy stacks up the evidence against him.
Dan is determined to clear his name and take revenge on Lisa’s killer, but the culprit is closing in. And then there’s the agony of his own guilty conscience. No, he didn’t kill her—but is it all his fault?”
When I first started this book, I wasn’t exactly sure where this book was heading, and found it a bit slow, but the author releases information/clues on a need-to-know-basis. The plot is simple…a cheating husband that has been setup and framed for the death of his wife.
The story is told in the first person POV through the eyes of our main character, Dan, a self-absorbed jerk, and it allows us to see everything through Dan’s eyes. When Dan finds out his wife has been murdered, almost all of his thoughts are of himself: "Why did this happen to me?" It really shows how selfish he is, and how he didn’t really like his wife at all. Could he have killed her??
The reveal at the end was a complete surprise and not one that I expected.
This was an interesting quick read, a little far-fetched in places but still acceptable.
I wish to thank the author for a copy of the ARC.
All I can say is what comes around…goes around. Be careful how you spend your time…it can come back to haunt you!
February 7, 2017
I am mindblown that anyone is giving this book anything more than two stars. The plot made no sense, the characters made choices that made no sense, the dialogue was completely unrealistic and made no sense. One second the protagonist is talking about his dead wife, the next he's asking his sidekick if she'd been molested. Um, what?? The writing had to be a 4th or 5th grade reading level - the writing was so simplistic and just read as some frat boy's daydream fantasies he decided to publish. Do yourself a favor and skip this one - or, if you read it, make it a drinking game. Everytime you see the words "Was supposed to be 70 miles away," "her body," or "my passport," take a shot. The writing is redundant, not interesting, and syntactically so simplistic I felt myself losing brain cells. Will not be reading another Adam Croft novel.
February 4, 2017
When I first started reading Adam Croft's latest book (soon to be released) I was in doubt.
By the time I got to 55% I just couldn't lay my Kindle down.
To have such a plot but with several twists kept me occupied for a few hours as I thought I knew who it was. But then something terrible happened which left me stumped.
There are two main characters that stand out in this read.
The chap (to me at times came over like a wimp......until more was revealed)
Jess, the main female was unemotionally equipped however, had a unique ' know it all' about her that I did wonder why she was so emotionally detached.
I soon found out.
Some conversations they have made me smile though, a time just before cutting each other's hair. Look out for that one!
It's a seriously good thriller, but, has some wonderful dialogue going on there.
It's a read I thoroughly enjoyed.
By the time I got to 55% I just couldn't lay my Kindle down.
To have such a plot but with several twists kept me occupied for a few hours as I thought I knew who it was. But then something terrible happened which left me stumped.
There are two main characters that stand out in this read.
The chap (to me at times came over like a wimp......until more was revealed)
Jess, the main female was unemotionally equipped however, had a unique ' know it all' about her that I did wonder why she was so emotionally detached.
I soon found out.
Some conversations they have made me smile though, a time just before cutting each other's hair. Look out for that one!
It's a seriously good thriller, but, has some wonderful dialogue going on there.
It's a read I thoroughly enjoyed.
February 11, 2017
"I've always been a fighter. I never felt it right to give up in the face of injustice."
Dude. You literally ran away to Slovakia to escape having to fight to clear your name or find out who killed your wife. You are the diametric opposite of a fighter.
Stylistically, this book didn't work at all for me. First-person POV will never be my favourite but it works if the narrator is at least two of clever, funny or interesting; unfortunately, the hero of our story 'Dan' is a stupid, boring and self-absorbed asshole.
I was going to give this book two stars (one of them for trying, like a participation trophy) until 86% of the way through a <300 page story our Brave Hero buys a dictaphone and proceeds to spend a chapter giving a précis of the story to date. Pal, we *know*, *we've literally been following along in your head*.
A lot of reviewers have said that the reveal at the end took them by surprise. Well, yeah - that can happen when your author spends 275 pages telling you absolutely nothing about any character other than our Brave Hero and engaging in no plot development. I won't spoil the surprise but suffice it to say the killer's motivation and explanation make zero sense.
Kindle First pick for February.
Dude. You literally ran away to Slovakia to escape having to fight to clear your name or find out who killed your wife. You are the diametric opposite of a fighter.
Stylistically, this book didn't work at all for me. First-person POV will never be my favourite but it works if the narrator is at least two of clever, funny or interesting; unfortunately, the hero of our story 'Dan' is a stupid, boring and self-absorbed asshole.
I was going to give this book two stars (one of them for trying, like a participation trophy) until 86% of the way through a <300 page story our Brave Hero buys a dictaphone and proceeds to spend a chapter giving a précis of the story to date. Pal, we *know*, *we've literally been following along in your head*.
A lot of reviewers have said that the reveal at the end took them by surprise. Well, yeah - that can happen when your author spends 275 pages telling you absolutely nothing about any character other than our Brave Hero and engaging in no plot development. I won't spoil the surprise but suffice it to say the killer's motivation and explanation make zero sense.
Kindle First pick for February.
February 4, 2017
The only good thing about this book was it was a Kindle First book so I didn't pay for it. This was just a pretty lame novel. The main character was stupid-no depth at all.
July 31, 2023
*Unreal*
This is about Dan Cooper who does not seem to care about anything more than himself. If things get hard or confrontational he is out the door. Lucky for him he travels for work and stays in different hotels and does not even remember he is married as he has flings all over the place.
One day during one of his many hotel stays he finds something shocking that he can barely comprehend, and there are pointers that he is the likely culprit, what does he do? he fleas the hotel. But not on his own. This time with the receptionist he is currently bedding, why does she flea with him?
We see them go around the continent trying to get ahead of law enforcement. When he thinks they can finally take a breather the story takes a farcical turn that made me wonder what the hell I was reading… that aside it still kept me engaged even though I was laughing or rolling my eyes even in places that were not funny.
I am trying to read things that have been in my kindle library for ages lol…
This is about Dan Cooper who does not seem to care about anything more than himself. If things get hard or confrontational he is out the door. Lucky for him he travels for work and stays in different hotels and does not even remember he is married as he has flings all over the place.
One day during one of his many hotel stays he finds something shocking that he can barely comprehend, and there are pointers that he is the likely culprit, what does he do? he fleas the hotel. But not on his own. This time with the receptionist he is currently bedding, why does she flea with him?
We see them go around the continent trying to get ahead of law enforcement. When he thinks they can finally take a breather the story takes a farcical turn that made me wonder what the hell I was reading… that aside it still kept me engaged even though I was laughing or rolling my eyes even in places that were not funny.
I am trying to read things that have been in my kindle library for ages lol…
July 4, 2017
Another one where the plot sounded great, but the rest of the story was just a mess. The main character in this one was such an idiot! I can't imagine any sane person making the choices this man made, so it made everything feel really unrealistic for me.
February 7, 2017
While one might believe this is merely another murder story where the accused person has to establish his innocence, "Only the Truth" has more of a realistic feel to it. The protagonist is not a super spy, ex-cop, ex-military, or anyone special...just someone whose usual habits have gotten him into more trouble than might normally happen. Here's a quick rundown, without spoilers:
PLOT -- The author has taken all the elements and boiled them down to simplicity, just enough clues to keep readers interested and guessing. There were a couple times I believed I had everything figured out and then Mr. Croft would quietly slip another wrench in the works and I was forced to work on another potential solution. There are no outlandish scenes hovering on the wrong side of unbelievable, and most of the action would be something the average person might do. Very refreshing in this type of story.
CHARACTERS -- Dan is the main character in the book, framed for a murder he did not commit. We learn a lot about him, though not so much about the other characters in the book. In a way, it works out. Dan is very absorbed in himself, and of course, more absorbed in trying to decipher who committed the murder and why. As the story is told in first person, we are able to witness everything through Dan's eyes, thus gaining a deeper understanding of many facets of his personality.
WRITING -- With this book, Mr. Croft's writing is top notch and why I couldn't stop reading. There wasn't a huge cast of characters, so it worked well telling the story from Dan's intimate perspective. However, it was the detail expressed through the filter of Dan's personality that enables this book to climb to another level, and the main reason I enjoyed the book as much as I did.
JUST SO YOU KNOW -- There are some vulgarities and swearing. While the reader is aware characters are engaging in sexual relations, there are no graphic explanations. Violence is also kept to a minimum, with no extensive detail.
BOTTOM LINE -- Entertaining story and a fairly quick read. While Dan is not the greatest guy in the world, he is honest in his own fashion, and it is hard not to side with him and hope he can find the killer before the killer or the police find him. The last chapter is a nice twist. Four-and-a-half stars.
PLOT -- The author has taken all the elements and boiled them down to simplicity, just enough clues to keep readers interested and guessing. There were a couple times I believed I had everything figured out and then Mr. Croft would quietly slip another wrench in the works and I was forced to work on another potential solution. There are no outlandish scenes hovering on the wrong side of unbelievable, and most of the action would be something the average person might do. Very refreshing in this type of story.
CHARACTERS -- Dan is the main character in the book, framed for a murder he did not commit. We learn a lot about him, though not so much about the other characters in the book. In a way, it works out. Dan is very absorbed in himself, and of course, more absorbed in trying to decipher who committed the murder and why. As the story is told in first person, we are able to witness everything through Dan's eyes, thus gaining a deeper understanding of many facets of his personality.
WRITING -- With this book, Mr. Croft's writing is top notch and why I couldn't stop reading. There wasn't a huge cast of characters, so it worked well telling the story from Dan's intimate perspective. However, it was the detail expressed through the filter of Dan's personality that enables this book to climb to another level, and the main reason I enjoyed the book as much as I did.
JUST SO YOU KNOW -- There are some vulgarities and swearing. While the reader is aware characters are engaging in sexual relations, there are no graphic explanations. Violence is also kept to a minimum, with no extensive detail.
BOTTOM LINE -- Entertaining story and a fairly quick read. While Dan is not the greatest guy in the world, he is honest in his own fashion, and it is hard not to side with him and hope he can find the killer before the killer or the police find him. The last chapter is a nice twist. Four-and-a-half stars.
November 28, 2020
SUPER FAST REVIEW:
A decent story but I wasn’t particularly into the writing.
So the story itself is pretty interesting if you’re a fan of crime dramas. There’s some pretty good twists in there too, I didn’t expect that ending at all. I also cared about the main character before it was all over, that’s always a good thing.
Unfortunately it felt kinda boring because it takes too long with certain parts and going into things that barely felt necessary, sometimes even in-depth. There’s also some repetitive things. I guess I mostly just found the writing kinda dry (as well as the audiobook narrator who wasn’t terrible but didn’t do this any favors).
So yeah, if you’re up for a crime drama this isn’t a bad pick but I wouldn’t say it’s a favorite of mine or anything I’d particularly recommend, even if just talking about this specific genre.
3/5
A decent story but I wasn’t particularly into the writing.
So the story itself is pretty interesting if you’re a fan of crime dramas. There’s some pretty good twists in there too, I didn’t expect that ending at all. I also cared about the main character before it was all over, that’s always a good thing.
Unfortunately it felt kinda boring because it takes too long with certain parts and going into things that barely felt necessary, sometimes even in-depth. There’s also some repetitive things. I guess I mostly just found the writing kinda dry (as well as the audiobook narrator who wasn’t terrible but didn’t do this any favors).
So yeah, if you’re up for a crime drama this isn’t a bad pick but I wouldn’t say it’s a favorite of mine or anything I’d particularly recommend, even if just talking about this specific genre.
3/5
February 7, 2017
2.5 STARS
The majority of the book is first person POV, so most of the time is spent in Dan's head (there are also a few chapters in third person POV which delve into Dan's past, these were the most interesting chapters in the book). Which would be fine, but Dan is self-absorbed asshole. He travels all the time for work and sleeps with any woman who looks at him twice whenever he can. So I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that when Dan finds out his wife has been murdered, almost all of his thoughts are of himself: "Why did this happen to me?". He doesn't seem to feel much sadness that his wife is dead, really doesn't seem to have even liked her all that much. Honestly, I was wondering throughout the book if he did kill her.
He hits the road with Jess, his latest fling, who is more than a little weird, and seems to have terrible taste in men. About halfway through the book, it starts to get more interesting. Dan travels all over Europe, growing more paranoid that he will be caught or killed. Eventually, Dan makes it to Slovakia, where he meets two guys that kind of derail the plot (I didn't care about Andrej and Marek, they didn't add anything to the book but length). Eventually Dan gets tired of being paranoid and decides he needs to start being more proactive. When the killer is revealed, I was as shocked as Dan, so the twist was good.
Dan: "This doesn't make any sense, I haven't done anything wrong." Killer: "And that's exactly your problem. You never think you've done anything wrong. It's always just down to the way the world works out, isn't it? It's always due to circumstance, to bad luck."
I admit, the last chapter made me chuckle a little bit.
The majority of the book is first person POV, so most of the time is spent in Dan's head (there are also a few chapters in third person POV which delve into Dan's past, these were the most interesting chapters in the book). Which would be fine, but Dan is self-absorbed asshole. He travels all the time for work and sleeps with any woman who looks at him twice whenever he can. So I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that when Dan finds out his wife has been murdered, almost all of his thoughts are of himself: "Why did this happen to me?". He doesn't seem to feel much sadness that his wife is dead, really doesn't seem to have even liked her all that much. Honestly, I was wondering throughout the book if he did kill her.
He hits the road with Jess, his latest fling, who is more than a little weird, and seems to have terrible taste in men. About halfway through the book, it starts to get more interesting. Dan travels all over Europe, growing more paranoid that he will be caught or killed. Eventually, Dan makes it to Slovakia, where he meets two guys that kind of derail the plot (I didn't care about Andrej and Marek, they didn't add anything to the book but length). Eventually Dan gets tired of being paranoid and decides he needs to start being more proactive. When the killer is revealed, I was as shocked as Dan, so the twist was good.
Dan: "This doesn't make any sense, I haven't done anything wrong." Killer: "And that's exactly your problem. You never think you've done anything wrong. It's always just down to the way the world works out, isn't it? It's always due to circumstance, to bad luck."
I admit, the last chapter made me chuckle a little bit.
February 7, 2017
Couldn't finish
I tried. I really tried but just couldn't finish. The plot and characters were simply unbelievable . The stupidity of the main character drove me crazy. I'm sorry but I was just too bored to even get more than a quarter into it.
I tried. I really tried but just couldn't finish. The plot and characters were simply unbelievable . The stupidity of the main character drove me crazy. I'm sorry but I was just too bored to even get more than a quarter into it.
February 6, 2017
I was so disappointed in this. It started out with so much potential, but just like the main character, the author ran away from the potential. I guess because I'm a person of logic, I had a hard time understanding the actions of these characters. First, Dan. Why in the world would he travel cross country with a woman that he's only know for a few days. Why would he be so open and trusting of her? Why ? why? For Jess, the same thing...if the man that you're sleeping with tells you that his wife was found dead in his hotel tub, why would you run off with him? Why ? Why? It made no sense to me and the only reason why I continued to read this book is because I was hoping that the "why's " would be answered. Also, I couldn't understand the part with the brothers...I thought that their presence would be some sort of clue or something, but no....just more pages of "what?" Even when the killer is revealed and as the book came to a close, I still couldn't wrap my head around the "why's" .
February 7, 2017
In the words of DJT: Bad book! Terrible! Do not read!
March 16, 2017
I read Her Last Tomorrow by Adam Croft at the end of 2016, mainly due to the huge amount of rave reviews I saw, especially all over Facebook. It got a solid 3* from me as, although I really enjoyed the book and I found the author to be a great storyteller, I also thought it had an “unbelievable in places” plotline as well as a few other, rather unrealistic elements that let it down. But I said then that I would be keen to read more by this author and so when Only The Truth came out I downloaded it to see how it compared.
Only The Truth is told in the first person narrative by Dan who is not a particularly nice man. He cheats on his wife whilst travelling round the country working as lighting crew for a tv company and his latest conquest is Jess, the receptionist at the hotel he is staying in. But coming up to his room one night he is shocked to discover his wife Lisa dead in his bathtub and a message on her mobile from HIS phone asking her to come to his room. So does he call the police trusting that CCTV and an alibi will keep him safe? Eh….no! He raids his bank account and runs off to an old holiday cottage in France with Jess! What an idiot! He says he didn’t kill Lisa but thinks someone may be trying to set him up. Maybe the clues are in the flashbacks to a young boy living in an orphanage run by nuns but with a very nasty benefactor? The thing is things seem to get a lot worse once Dan flees abroad and it’s a case of “out of the frying pan and into the fire”.
Weirdly enough I did enjoy this one but not as much as Her Last Tomorrow which I’m now tempted to bump up a star on Amazon! The things I loved About Only The Truth were very similar to those I loved in Her Last Tomorrow. It’s a fast paced, thoroughly enjoyable plot which is both intriguing and highly engrossing. I read it in one afternoon and I loved the “easy to get into” writing style which flowed effortlessly from one drama to another. I thought the flashbacks were great but wish they had maintained a little more mystery and not shown their hands too quickly either. I had two trains of thought as to what was panning out, one I thought quite obvious and one slightly more oblique, with an angle I thought was coming but didn’t. I think I just read too many of this genre so it’s quite difficult to pull the wool over my eyes! There were red herrings galore but unfortunately they swam off too soon leaving me slightly frustrated.
Overall I do enjoy Adam’s books! I find them gripping and unputdownable, a quick and easy read that’s not too complicated. And I find Adam really does have the magic touch with getting his readers on board and then driving them at full speed towards the finish line. I did have to read the end of this one twice though as I thought I must have missed something, one of the threads didn’t seem quite finished to me. But that could just be my OCD of liking all the ends tied up neatly in a very pretty bow at the end!!
And as I said last time, I am still happy to read whatever Adam Croft writes next as I definitely have a soft spot for his books.
Only The Truth is told in the first person narrative by Dan who is not a particularly nice man. He cheats on his wife whilst travelling round the country working as lighting crew for a tv company and his latest conquest is Jess, the receptionist at the hotel he is staying in. But coming up to his room one night he is shocked to discover his wife Lisa dead in his bathtub and a message on her mobile from HIS phone asking her to come to his room. So does he call the police trusting that CCTV and an alibi will keep him safe? Eh….no! He raids his bank account and runs off to an old holiday cottage in France with Jess! What an idiot! He says he didn’t kill Lisa but thinks someone may be trying to set him up. Maybe the clues are in the flashbacks to a young boy living in an orphanage run by nuns but with a very nasty benefactor? The thing is things seem to get a lot worse once Dan flees abroad and it’s a case of “out of the frying pan and into the fire”.
Weirdly enough I did enjoy this one but not as much as Her Last Tomorrow which I’m now tempted to bump up a star on Amazon! The things I loved About Only The Truth were very similar to those I loved in Her Last Tomorrow. It’s a fast paced, thoroughly enjoyable plot which is both intriguing and highly engrossing. I read it in one afternoon and I loved the “easy to get into” writing style which flowed effortlessly from one drama to another. I thought the flashbacks were great but wish they had maintained a little more mystery and not shown their hands too quickly either. I had two trains of thought as to what was panning out, one I thought quite obvious and one slightly more oblique, with an angle I thought was coming but didn’t. I think I just read too many of this genre so it’s quite difficult to pull the wool over my eyes! There were red herrings galore but unfortunately they swam off too soon leaving me slightly frustrated.
Overall I do enjoy Adam’s books! I find them gripping and unputdownable, a quick and easy read that’s not too complicated. And I find Adam really does have the magic touch with getting his readers on board and then driving them at full speed towards the finish line. I did have to read the end of this one twice though as I thought I must have missed something, one of the threads didn’t seem quite finished to me. But that could just be my OCD of liking all the ends tied up neatly in a very pretty bow at the end!!
And as I said last time, I am still happy to read whatever Adam Croft writes next as I definitely have a soft spot for his books.
February 5, 2020
What makes a best seller? No one knows. This was one. Somehow. Which tells me a lot about this industry - it's frustrating at times. Books that are as poorly written as this can and do succeed, while the vast majority of well-written books and stories get overlooked. Why that happens? I have no idea. And I don't understand how people give this five stars. Do you want an honest analysis of this book?
It's garbage.
In the first chapter we learn that the "protagonist" has cheated on his wife, simply out of boredom. This is our hero? Was he redeemable? Did he develop and grow and become likable and sympathetic? No. He ended being a worse guy than originally introduced, a real coward. It was impossible to like or relate to him.
His wife ends up dead in his hotel room, but he didn't do it. Fine, he was set up. Not a secret - that's what it says in the book's description. Problem: I knew who the killer was before the end of chapter 4. Okay, so why did he/she do it? I'll be honest, it's a ridiculous reason. Not logical. Not clever. Not a big shock.
Do yourself a favor and skip to page 220 if you're going to read this. Our guy talks into a Dictaphone for three pages and summarizes everything that has happened in the first 219. I'm not even kidding. Save yourself the trouble and start on page 220 and read through to the end. The rest of it is at least tolerable.
The writing is cliched and simple and not very interesting, and the book is tiring. Our guy runs around Europe with the woman he was cheating on his wife with - the receptionist at the hotel he was staying at - and nothing really happens. The "thrilling" moments were anything but, and the suspense was hardly that. When the characters do the same thing over and over in different countries without anything ever happening, I don't know how you can find yourself not skimming to get through it. There was a giant section when our guy gets involved with running packages for drug dealers, and it was entirely unnecessary to the plot. All it did was add words and pages. There are no redeeming qualities in our protagonist, the plot is entirely unoriginal and simple, and the book is a complete waste of time. Skip it.
It's garbage.
In the first chapter we learn that the "protagonist" has cheated on his wife, simply out of boredom. This is our hero? Was he redeemable? Did he develop and grow and become likable and sympathetic? No. He ended being a worse guy than originally introduced, a real coward. It was impossible to like or relate to him.
His wife ends up dead in his hotel room, but he didn't do it. Fine, he was set up. Not a secret - that's what it says in the book's description. Problem: I knew who the killer was before the end of chapter 4. Okay, so why did he/she do it? I'll be honest, it's a ridiculous reason. Not logical. Not clever. Not a big shock.
Do yourself a favor and skip to page 220 if you're going to read this. Our guy talks into a Dictaphone for three pages and summarizes everything that has happened in the first 219. I'm not even kidding. Save yourself the trouble and start on page 220 and read through to the end. The rest of it is at least tolerable.
The writing is cliched and simple and not very interesting, and the book is tiring. Our guy runs around Europe with the woman he was cheating on his wife with - the receptionist at the hotel he was staying at - and nothing really happens. The "thrilling" moments were anything but, and the suspense was hardly that. When the characters do the same thing over and over in different countries without anything ever happening, I don't know how you can find yourself not skimming to get through it. There was a giant section when our guy gets involved with running packages for drug dealers, and it was entirely unnecessary to the plot. All it did was add words and pages. There are no redeeming qualities in our protagonist, the plot is entirely unoriginal and simple, and the book is a complete waste of time. Skip it.
February 24, 2017
This may be one of the worst books I've ever read. I couldn't find any reason to like any of the characters and actually skimmed through the last third or quarter of the book just to see how it ended, the first time I've ever done something like that. I tend to be a completionist with respect to nearly any book I start, but just couldn't find the interest to do that with this book. There was a kernel of a good idea here but probably could have been told in a short story or maybe a short novella. There's so much padding and repetition - at one point the protagonist records a narrative of recent events and the author chose to present it verbatim, even though it's a summary of the first couple of hundred pages of the book! The protagonist changes emotional states like most people change radio stations. It's all quite painful. The motivation of the killer is so bizarre that it really strains credulity and the author presents so few players that figuring out who that killer is proves to be relatively trivial.
March 1, 2017
Wow. I'm not sure what to say about this book. So I'm not going to say anything. I think two stars speak for themselves.
March 2, 2017
This book was pretty slow for me. I don't know if I can say that I really liked the book. I might need to re read it again at some point. I have been distracted with life issues and I don't know if my head was in this book while I was reading it.
February 7, 2017
Rolled my eyes so many times but just kept reading like a dummy. Could see the "bad guy" coming from a mile away. Do people in the U.K. even measure things in miles, ffs?!
April 14, 2018
Plot holes the size of craters... cliches instead of characters... There’s a lot to dislike here. But perhaps the most jarring thing is that it doesn’t read like it’s written by a British person at all. Instead it feels like it’s written by a person pretending to be a British writer. That’s how inauthentic this writing is.
2 stars because it’s short, & if you pick this up will finish it. But don’t bother picking it up - there are much better thrillers out there.
2 stars because it’s short, & if you pick this up will finish it. But don’t bother picking it up - there are much better thrillers out there.
August 24, 2017
Waste of time. This was a kindle first, many of which are shady. It sounded promising when the description mentioned that Dan's wife was found dead in his hotel room while he was traveling for work. And that's about as good as it got. I kept reading because I wanted to know who killed her. Now and then there were flashbacks of Dan's youth or one time with his wife that were better constructed than the actual story. Alas, those tidbits had nothing to do with anything. Plenty of the F word, that also was completely pointless.
January 28, 2019
Book source ~ Kindle First
Dan Cooper sets up lighting rigging for movie sets. He travels quite a bit, so he gets to sleep around on his wife. A lot. He doesn’t even feel bad about it. Until one day his wife shows up in his hotel bathtub, 70 miles from their home. Oh, and she’s deader than a doornail. All signs point to Dan as her murderer, so he panics, packs up, and flees the scene. The hotel receptionist that he’s been banging this trip goes with him. What a weirdo. Anyway, they flee England for France then Switzerland. Blah, blah, blah.
This story is awful. No, really. Dan spends the ENTIRE book whining about how his wife is dead and someone is framing him. Because he may be a shitty husband but he doesn’t deserve to be framed for murder. And who is framing him? Well, let’s run hundreds of miles and several countries away, so we can figure that out, shall we? Omg. No. Stop. I should have just tossed in the towel on this one. But I was genuinely curious as to who framed this stupid fucking whiny cheating asshole. Whatever. It was not worth the aggravation of listening to Dan. Interspersed with Whiny Dan in present tense there’s Young Dan in past tense describing how he grew up. That was a much better story by far than the current day one, even as fucked up as Dan’s childhood was. In any case, I recommend this book to no one except the people I don’t like. There are much better mystery/thrillers out there and I’m moving on to find them.
Dan Cooper sets up lighting rigging for movie sets. He travels quite a bit, so he gets to sleep around on his wife. A lot. He doesn’t even feel bad about it. Until one day his wife shows up in his hotel bathtub, 70 miles from their home. Oh, and she’s deader than a doornail. All signs point to Dan as her murderer, so he panics, packs up, and flees the scene. The hotel receptionist that he’s been banging this trip goes with him. What a weirdo. Anyway, they flee England for France then Switzerland. Blah, blah, blah.
This story is awful. No, really. Dan spends the ENTIRE book whining about how his wife is dead and someone is framing him. Because he may be a shitty husband but he doesn’t deserve to be framed for murder. And who is framing him? Well, let’s run hundreds of miles and several countries away, so we can figure that out, shall we? Omg. No. Stop. I should have just tossed in the towel on this one. But I was genuinely curious as to who framed this stupid fucking whiny cheating asshole. Whatever. It was not worth the aggravation of listening to Dan. Interspersed with Whiny Dan in present tense there’s Young Dan in past tense describing how he grew up. That was a much better story by far than the current day one, even as fucked up as Dan’s childhood was. In any case, I recommend this book to no one except the people I don’t like. There are much better mystery/thrillers out there and I’m moving on to find them.
February 10, 2017
Just ok
While the pace of the story was pretty good, I felt it was a bit predictable. Like another reviewer said, I realized who the killer was early on and the 'reveal' was pretty lackluster. The story switches from the main character's past to present throughout but to be honest I don't really get why we had to read about the past as it didn't add to the current plot other than filler. The ending seemed a bit abrupt as well and pretty unbelievable considering the circumstances. I will add, you might say the last chapter contains a small twist but again, I had already guessed this would happen. Not the best Kindle First selection this month for me.
While the pace of the story was pretty good, I felt it was a bit predictable. Like another reviewer said, I realized who the killer was early on and the 'reveal' was pretty lackluster. The story switches from the main character's past to present throughout but to be honest I don't really get why we had to read about the past as it didn't add to the current plot other than filler. The ending seemed a bit abrupt as well and pretty unbelievable considering the circumstances. I will add, you might say the last chapter contains a small twist but again, I had already guessed this would happen. Not the best Kindle First selection this month for me.
February 4, 2017
Loved this book. I made several guesses throughout and all were wrong. Kept me gripped til the end, I couldn't put it down in parts! Kind of hoping for a sequel, as there are a couple of possibilities, but maybe I'm a glutton for punishment and it should be left as is. Loved it.
April 3, 2018
I really liked the narrator of this book-helped it be better than the book is. The story was a little far fetched to believe someone would react the way these people did, but I could over look that for the entertainment of the story. A good enough story to listen to while weeding in the garden.
March 2, 2017
I wanted so much more from this book... The premise of a man finding his wife murdered in his hotel room could have been so, so good. Instead this book was predictable, slightly boring, and the main character just kind of grated on my nerves throughout the entire story.
January 23, 2018
Would have given it one star, but it kept me reading to find out who did it. I got so tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. It felt like the first half of each chapter was a repeat of his thoughts from the last chapter. I kept wanting to skip ahead and just get it over with.
March 30, 2017
Strange, strange book. I almost always love these psychological thrillers, but this one didn't come together for me.
April 3, 2017
Entertaining, but far too predictable. Also, some aspects were too unrealistic to believe.
February 10, 2018
Ok
This was just a ok read. I didn't like it much but I finished it. May be OK for some people just not my thing.
This was just a ok read. I didn't like it much but I finished it. May be OK for some people just not my thing.
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