It’s been a while since I have been able to read a book, let alone review one, but I have just had major surgery & have 6 weeks recovery time so I am hoping to put that right! I picked this beauty up out of the mountainous pile of books which arrive each week and I was absolutely transfixed from the start!

Sophie Kent is a journalist at the London Herald when her friend & colleague, Charlie Swift, becomes the suspect in a murder. Charlie is a successful journalist, handsome with a beautiful wife, he appears to have it all, which is why Sophie refuses to understand how he can be implicated in this savage crime; she makes it a priority to clear his name. 

Sophie is not without her own demons & the death of her brother recently has hit her hard. Despite this, she is determined to help, as she begins digging around she realises that Charlie’s life isn’t as perfect as it seems. Without warning, everything she believes about her friend is turned upside down as she struggles to swallow the bitter pill that Charlie could have betrayed them all. 

A roller coaster of a plot where I literally had my heart in my mouth at times. As a teacher,  I encourage my class to ‘show not tell’ the reader the story: Jackson has a gift for this. My heart raced, I got goosebumps & she made me think as she grabbed me by the hand and took me along for the ride. I have been a silent bystander in newspaper offices, press conferences, pubs, dingy cellars, places of worship & the seaside town of Bournemouth, afraid to breathe, it seemed, the whole time-right up until the very last sentence. Chilling, powerful & compelling- I read it in one sitting. 5🌟