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Tuesday, November 4, 2014

What you left behind - Samantha Hayes


The nightmare of parents is happening in the village of Radcote. A spate of teenage suicides happened two years ago. Seemingly random, it has raised alerts within the police community and when a young man is found dead by his motor cycle with a suicide note by his side, alarms are raised amongst many.

Freddie is young, vulnerable and unusually quiet. When his aunt Detective Lorraine Fisher comes for a vacation she realises that everything is not quite what it seems. Her sister has separated from her partner and whether this was the cause for Freddie's despair is also a possibility as Malc and the boy were unusually close. Unknown to the adults Freddie is a victim of  bullying and he does not know how to face up to his tormentors.  Although one other teenager is aware of what Freddie is going through, Lana is not going to come out with the truth as she feels that it will precipitate major problems both within her family and out, especially since once of the boys who committed suicide is her brother.

I could identify so much with Freddie - his wanting to just reveal all what he was hiding was so strong within in and at the same time he was terrified of what he had uncovered. He did not know whom to turn to and did not know what to do next. The dilemma of teenagers all over the world. What should one do, or should one try to be an adult and just deal with it.

A mystery thriller with elements of a family story as well. Secrets within a family well hidden and what happens when cracks appear and the whole sorry tale bursts out.

This was a book sent by Netgalley courtesy of  Crown Publishing. 















2 comments:

  1. I love good thrillers and good family stories and the two combined sound terrific!

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  2. This sounds very good, Mystica. It sounds like the author was able to really get into Freddie's mind and make him real to the reader.

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