As a barrister, it’s Ingrid’s job to get dodgy people off the charges brought against them. A few years ago Ingrid kept her Machiavellian client John Webster out of prison by getting him off stalking charges, despite being pretty sure he was guilty. It’s her job, you see. So when his obsession turned to her and making her life hell, some might say there’s a bit of Karma in there somewhere. Eventually John’s crimes caught up with him and he was sent to prison. He’s since been released, and thankfully, Ingrid’s not seen hide nor hair of him for some time, but when a colleague similar to her in stature and dress borrows her umbrella and almost immediately afterwards becomes the victim of a tragic accident, she starts to think that it’s a case of mistaken identify and John is up to his old tricks again, trying to finish her off for the last time.

More ‘accidents’ follow and Ingrid follows the breadcrumbs to find the link. When she does, it’s clear that her life is in danger once again but who can she turn to to help keep her safe? There are lots of characters in this book, it’s fast paced and twisty and if there’s a moral to this tale it is that you really cannot trust anyone.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book – it was clever, engaging, the details were drawn out carefully so as to intrigue but not give too much away. However the further we went and the more the danger increased, the more Ingrid stopped behaving like the strong, decisive, intelligent female she was supposed to be, and started making very bizzare decisions. If you think a stalker is trying to kill you, and you’ve changed all your locks, would you give spare keys out willy nilly? I think not. For someone with experience in criminal law, and as a victim of an actual stalker, I don’t think her actions fit at all and felt forced to further the storyline -but I suppose it could have been done so as to paint Ingrid as an unreliable narrator or someone losing the plot. Also, as with many thrillers, the ending was way over the top and unrealistic compared to the rest of the book, so you’ll need to suspend disbelief as you head towards the finish.

Despite that though, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it’s definitely one I would devour in one go on a plane or on holiday. It was fast paced and cleverly written. As mentioned there was quite a large list of characters but well developed and explained so they never got confusing or lost. The plotting of reveals was well done and more of a slow release than a big ‘ta-da’ reveal of everything at the end. There were times when I felt things were signposted really heavily and then they wouldn’t happen, so that was cleverly done too although I did guess the motive and the people involved but then I’ve read so many thrillers that it’s a rare occasion when I don’t!

Thanks to Pigeonhole and Jane for the opportunity to read this book.

3/5