You Belong To Me by Samantha Hayes

You Belong To Me by Samantha Hayes
Buy You Belong To Me by Samantha Hayes at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Thrillers
Reviewer: Zoe Page
Summary: An extremely engaging thriller in which you never quite know who is telling the truth, this is book is highly recommended and will keep you guessing to the very end.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 496	Date: March 2015
Publisher: Century
External links: [www.samhayes.co.uk Author's website]
ISBN: 978-1780893396
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Isabel is a Brit abroad who is running away from something, or someone. There are a lot of these about, in my experience, but few who have such an intriguing, and worrying, history. She left the UK to escape a controlling ex but now has to return suddenly, for family reasons, even though she swore she would never go home again. Detective Inspector Lorraine Fisher is haunted by the cases she hasn’t cracked, the warning signs she didn’t see, and the girls she couldn’t save. It’s hard to keep your personal and private lives separate when your job is all consuming, and her family are starting to see the cracks. As their two worlds collide, Isabel might finally have found an ally, but will danger find her before the police do?

This thriller is a brilliant read that really keeps you guessing. So many different voices take their turn narrating that you see all perspectives and realise nothing is quite what it seems. I spent a lot of the story guessing and then re-evaluating my suspicions as new facts emerged, and ultimately I was on the right lines but couldn’t have foreseen the climax.

Though the cover is spooky, the book is more of a psychological thriller than a horror story. The writing is warm and welcoming, and Isabel and Ray in particular are well fleshed out so their personalities and motivation shine through. Felix is suitably lit as a baddy, while Owen is more confusing, perhaps a little too understanding and accommodating. I especially liked the way Isabel feels she is losing her mind, as it left me trying to work out whose mind was being messed with, and how much I could trust her judgement.

The book is well paced though the final reveal about Felix seemed a little extreme and, well, expensive. I was happy that some of the more perturbing facts were proved to be falsifications, and this showed me how invested I was, both in the characters and in the story. I wanted it to be a happy ending, and while I’m not sure you could call it happy, it’s a bit like what they say about wars: no one wins, but one side loses less than the other.

The story is quite long but it didn’t seem to drag as I ploughed through it. The change of country, and the flashbacks in time helped bring in different story arcs, and I liked the detail of the police investigations, past and present. I wouldn’t call this a crime thriller, per se, because it wasn’t too technical, but having Ray’s perspective was definitely helpful.

I would recommend this one, certainly, as it kept me engaged from start to finish, and I put off various tasks along the way so I could read just one more chapter. I was recapping it to the Boy on our flight home, and his response was Is this a review book? I take it you’ll be recommending it so I’d say my précis was suitably positive and detailed. I’d like to thank the publishers for supplying this book. It was fab and is, indeed, highly recommended.

Before You Die by Samantha Hayes is a previous adventure for one of the characters here, and comes recommended by one of my fellow reviewers.

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You can read more book reviews or buy You Belong To Me by Samantha Hayes at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy You Belong To Me by Samantha Hayes at Amazon.com.

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