Once you enter the gates, will they ever let you leave?
Frankie Whittle has it all: a career in the City, a gorgeous husband and a baby on the way. It’s the perfect life, but it’s built on sand. In one terrifying night, everything she has worked so hard for unravels. She needs a fresh start.
When she discovers the very place she was born has been converted into a beautiful gated community, it feels like serendipity. After all she’s been through, has she found her dream home? They say you should never go back, that the past is a foreign country, filled with devastating secrets. How far will those around her go to keep their secrets safe?
My Review
First of all let me just say that I cannot even begin to imagine why Frankie would want to live in a gated community, where everyone knows everyone’s business and they all go for cosy walks together on a Sunday. I’m not one of those people who doesn’t want to know the neighbours and couldn’t even tell you the names of the families on either side, but there is a limit.
The Return of Frankie Whittle starts off as a fairly slow burn, nothing much happening initially, apart from her sh*t of a husband Toby (can you tell I didn’t like him) spending most of his time working away or spending time with his mother. A woman with a stick so far up her own a*se, I’m surprised she can bend in the middle. I’m definitely going to have to create a separate review for Amazon.
But about half way through, things start to ramp up. Frankie’s life changes following a terrifying incident with knock on results, and after spending some time living with her mother, she moves into her new home before the sale goes through. She actually fell out with her mother – just send her a text and make up – you know what they say about pride. The previous owner has moved out so she can rent for a time till contracts are exchanged etc. Toby comes home at weekends but spends more time with his new best friend Jerome than with Frankie.
The plot becomes more and more sinister with every chapter and I couldn’t wait to read on. OK so at times it was a bit far fetched (I hope), slowly moving from a romance to a thriller, with a bit of Dan Brown thrown in. I really enjoyed it.
Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #FrankieWhittle readalong. It’s been great fun.
About the Author
Caroline is the CWA Dagger shortlisted author of psychological thrillers Beneath The Skin, My Husband’s Lies, Betray Her, Truth Games, The Sinner, The Stranger Beside Me. She also writes Gothic-tinged psychological thrillers as CE Rose – The House of Hidden Secrets, The House on the Water’s Edge, The Shadows of Rutherford House, The Attic at Wilton Place.
Caroline writes multi-layered, dark and edgy ‘domestic suspense’ stories that delve into complicated relationships, secrets and the moral grey area.Drawing on her days as a divorce and professional indemnity lawyer, she loves to create ordinary, relatable characters who get caught up in extraordinary situations, pressures, dilemmas or crime. She admits to a slight obsession with the human psyche, what goes on behind closed doors and beneath people’s façades. She also enjoys performing a literary sleight of hand in her novels and hopefully surprising her readers!
Watching Horsepats Feed the Roses and Hanged by the Neck are her dark, twisty short story collections.
Handles/Tags
X (Twitter)
@cazengland
@bullingtonpress
@KellyALacey
@lovebookstours
#Ad #LBTCrew #BookTwitter #FreeReview #FreeBookReview #ReadAlong #LBTCrime
Instagram
@cazengland1
@bullingtonpress
@lovebookstours
#Ad #LBTCrew #Bookstagram #FreeReview #FreeBookReview #ReadAlong #LBTCrime
Threads
@lovebookstours
Facebook
@lovebookstours
TikTok
@lovebookstours
