PRR - Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary

Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Publisher - Headline

Pages - 420

Blurb from Goodreads

Some secrets keep you safe, others will destroy you...

Detective Inspector Marnie Rome. Dependable; fierce; brilliant at her job; a rising star in the ranks. Everyone knows how Marnie fought to come back from the murder of her parents, but very few know what is going on below the surface. Because Marnie has secrets she won't share with anyone.

But then so does everyone. Certainly those in the women's shelter Marnie and Detective Sergeant Noah Jake visit on that fateful day. The day when they arrive to interview a resident, only to find one of the women's husbands, who shouldn't have been there, lying stabbed on the floor.

As Marnie and Noah investigate the crime further, events begin to spiral and the violence escalates. Everyone is keeping secrets, some for survival and some, they suspect, to disguise who they really are under their skin.

Now, if Marnie is going to find the truth she will have to face her own demons head on. Because the time has come for secrets to be revealed...



My Review

The book opens five years ago, DI Marnie Rome arrives at her parents home, cordoned off by the police. She knows it is bad, the way the scene is, the glimpses she can have from the house, the way her colleagues talk to her. Then we flick to present day, almost five years to the day it happened. The book teases the details along of what happened to Marnie's parents. But the world of crime stops for noone and she has a job to do. Arriving at a refugee house for abused women, to interview one of the woman who can help with an investigation they happen upon a bloody scene, one of the women have stabbed her partner she had fled from. Each of the women need to be interviewed, each has reason to hide, distrust and secrets are something they all have. As DI Rome tries to cope with her personal trauma and do her job, she needs to keep her wits about her to figure out what truly happened and how to solve the case.

The opening chapter pulls you in, your given enough to know something bad has happened but you don't know who done it or what they actually did. Present days packs quite a punch as one of the women meant to be kept safe has attacked her husband in self defense. There is a lot of tension within this book, the topic of abuse these women have endured is always present. It is a subject that if you have been touched personally by it the book will pack more of a punch with you. If you haven't it gives an insight into what these women endure and why they behave as they do.

I would say it is a psychological thriller, laced with crime and violence. Whilst the matter is dark and may be close to home for some readers, it is handled in a way that I feel didn't cheapen the subject but stayed true to the issues and reflected real life.

For a debut novel it packs quite a punch, I was up past 6am reading this, I could have gotten through it in one sitting had I not had other things to attend to. The chapters are nice and short which I do light in stories, it makes it easier to read more when you have other things to do in between. The time period jumps about a bit, between some of the characters although it is sign posted well enough, in parts it took a wee bit or getting used to. A great introduction to some new characters that I hope to see more of, 4/5 for me this time. I would certainly read more by this author and think Detective Inspector Rome and the other characters (especially Stephen) have some great tales still to come. Thanks so much to Headline for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and for introducing me to a new author.

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RR - The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Publisher - Headline

Pages - 372

Blurb from Goodreads

A chilling psychological thriller portraying the disintegration of a relationship down to the deadliest point when murdering your husband suddenly makes perfect sense.

Todd Gilbert and Jodie Brett are in a bad place in their relationship. They've been together for twenty-eight years, and with no children to worry about there has been little to disrupt their affluent Chicago lifestyle. But there has also been little to hold it together, and beneath the surface lie ever-widening cracks. HE is a committed cheater. SHE lives and breathes denial. HE exists in dual worlds. SHE likes to settle scores. HE decides to play for keeps. SHE has nothing left to lose. When it becomes clear that their precarious world could disintegrate at any moment, Jodie knows she stands to lose everything. It's only now she will discover just how much she's truly capable of...


My Review

The story opens and introduces us to Her, Jodie Brett, common law wife of Him, Todd Gilbert. With an intro of who Jodie is and a declaration of "a few short months are all it will take to make a killer out of her". Their routine and lives shared together are spread out between chapters, the past and leading to present that brings us to the murder itself. Jodie has always turned a blind eye to her philandering husband however this time is different, this time she is going to loose everything and Jodie cannot allow that to happen.

This story flips between the two and their views points of their relationship, past and present. Jodie is a bit of a cold fish, she likes control, is a psychologist working her own hours from home with a selective client list. He is a business man, his own boss who restores or builds, makes a profit and has a roaming eye for the ladies.

The story is very well done, the smallest detail described to what keeps Jodie going to keep from seeing what her husband gets up to. the book also flips back to Jodie revealing things from her past whilst she is a trainee which gives the reader a possible reason for how she is and all she accepts and refuses to see.

We get some insight into Todd's past too which count attribute to his philandering ways but ultimately the story pushes to Todd's betrayal and Jodie's reaction to it. Even when has two lives on the go Jodie still seems in denial until she is pushed to drastic action. I found quite a bit of it unbelievable, how easily the idea of murder comes up and how acceptable and docile Jodie is to it.

Some of it is very realistically done as even in this day and age some women will do anything to keep their husband and what happens when that is threatened. I can't say I liked any of the main characters however the author does a fantastic job in hooking you into wanting to see how it plays out. It goes at a sedate pace after the initial murder is mentioned however it builds a vivid picture of their relationship and interactions as well as how they end up on the paths they do.

It is quite a compelling read although some of it found me wanting and quite frustrated at times which is why it gets a rounded 3/5 rating. Thanks to Realreaders for providing me with a review copy and introducing me to yet another new author.

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