Imagine you’re looking at a painting of a happy family. It looks so lovely, soft focus, perfect, right down to the goofy Golden Labrador. Then the author passes you high definition spectacles, and suddenly it’s all in sharp focus!
A business trip, and a one night stand in Tokyo, far away from home - something that’s forgotten when you’re back with your loving husband Christian, beautiful 5 year old son Marlon and Buddy the dog right? Well if that’s what Tara Carver thought then she’s sadly mistaken.That one night stand will have unforeseen consequences, that will take a sledgehammer, not just to Tara’s life but to her whole family’s life too, and in the process, it will smash that happy painting into tiny pieces!
Tara appears to have it all, she’s really driven, and has a successful and rewarding business, one that she started completely from scratch. She and Christian (a stay at home Dad) have a loving relationship, and Marlon is the light of both their lives. This little family were a tight unit, they only needed each other to make their lives complete. However, after Tara’s night of complete abandonment, her perfect life ends, when the married man she spent the night with, decides that he wants her permanently in his life, and constantly calls, texts and even shows up at her place of work. This is definitely stalker territory! She can’t get through to him that it was a one off, he just won’t let it go. There’s only one way to get rid of him before he destroys everything she holds dear - and that’s to get rid of him permanently!
This was a really gripping psychological thriller, that also manages to portray how a loving family unit, is left straining under revelations that can no longer be ignored, can no longer be put back in the box. The backlash isn’t pretty, but it made for a riveting read.
* Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for an ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review *