In this riveting tale of psychological suspense, a divorce lawyer risks her career, her sanity, and her life when she falls into an illicit, all-consuming affair with her client—who becomes the primary suspect in his estranged wife’s sudden disappearance.

Young divorce lawyer Francine Day has methodically built her career doing everything right. She’s one big case away from securing her place among London’s legal elite. But when she meets her new client, Martin Joy, the natural caution that has protected Francine and fuelled her rise melts away. Powerless to fight the irresistible magnetism between them, client and counsel tumble into a blistering affair that breaks every rule.

Though Martin insists his marriage is over, Francine doesn’t believe him. Certain details he’s told her don’t quite add up. Consumed with a passion she cannot control and increasingly obsessed with Martin’s relationship with his wife, Donna, Francine follows the woman one night . . . and discovers her having dinner with her supposedly soon-to-be-ex-husband.

The next morning, Francine awakens in her neighbour’s apartment with blood on her clothes and no recollection of what transpired after she spied Donna and Martin together. Then Francine receives more devastating news: Martin’s wife has vanished. That dinner was the last place anyone has seen Donna Joy alive.

Suddenly, Francine finds herself caught in a dangerous labyrinth of deception, lies, and secrets, in which one false move could lead to her undoing. What happened that night and why can’t Francine remember? Where is Donna and who is responsible for her disappearance? The further Francine goes to find answers, the tighter the net seems to draw—around her lover, herself, and the life she’s meticulously built.

Francine Day is a top London divorce lawyer, making her way amongst the great and the good, flying high in her career and close to making silk. Having come from a Northern comprehensive school background she’s has had to work very hard to get to where she is and has fought several demons, including bi-polar disorder, along the way. Having saved hard for a tiny flat in the area she has coveted, life is looking good and the future is hers for the taking.

When rich and handsome Martin Joy strolls into her life, the chemistry crackles and Francine is stunned by her physical reaction to him. Despite knowing that getting involved with a client is a huge no, no, it’s not long before she’s given in to her desires and things have gotten way out of hand.

As their forbidden relationship grows, Francine grows suspicious and follows Martin’s wife Donna. Surprised to see Martin follow Donna into her house and realising that their marriage may not be as over as the hiring of a divorce lawyer would suggest, Francine drinks too much and mixed with her bi-polar meds, she blacks out, finding herself waking up covered in blood in her neighbour’s apartment with no recollection of most of the night before.

To make matters worse, Donna doesn’t reappear after that night and an investigation is launched – Martin being one of the main suspects. Given that Francine’s career could be over with this one indiscretion, she finds herself in an unenviable ‘catch 22’ situation – tell the truth and put herself and Martin at risk and ruin everything, or tell a few ‘white’ lies and hope that the real culprit is found before any harm is done. On top of this, she has some suspicions about some of Martin’s friends, a growing situation with her manipulative neighbour, and then there’s Martin himself – after all, he was apparently the last person that saw Donna alive, and a dead wife costs a lot less than a multi million pound divorce settlement…

With an unreliable narrator telling the story so you never really know what is real and what is not, a fast-paced, well written plot and well researched legal proceedings, this is a great book for those who like a twist in the tale.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

4/5 stars