Clare Mackintosh – BooksPlease

The sixth Reading Wales celebration (aka Dewithon 24), a month-long event during which book lovers from all parts of the world are encouraged to read, discuss and review literature from and about Wales, began on Saint David’s Day, 1 March, and ends today.

I’ve finished reading two books one , I let You Go, set mostly in Wales and Maiden Voyages by Siân Evans, a Welsh historian, which I’ll write about in a later post.

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

Synopsis

A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn’t have prevented it. Could she?

In a split second, Jenna Gray’s world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever.

Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating . . .

My thoughts:

I loved I Let You Go, Clare Mackintosh’s debut novel, part psychological thriller and part police procedural. It won Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2016, beating J K Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith. I’ve had this book since 2017 and I started to read it then but it begins with a tragedy, as five year old Jacob is killed by a hit-and-run driver, and I didn’t feel up to reading it at that time and put it back on the shelf for a while. Clare Mackintosh, a former police officer, is a member of Crime Cymru, a consortium of Welsh crime writers who promote Welsh crime fiction.

This is a difficult book to review without giving away spoilers so I’m not going into detail about the plot. It is set partly in Bristol, England where Jacob is killed, and then moves into a small coastal village in Wales where Jenna is trying to make a new life for herself. It’s heart-wrenching reading as Jenna tries to put the past behind her and at times I thought this was a romantic novel. But it’s not, as it becomes clear that there are secrets in her past that haunt her. It’s almost a book of two parts and the second half is dark and violent, full of suspense and menace, and really shocking twists and turns. The characters are fully rounded, extremely well-drawn and realistic. The settings are vividly described, especially of the beautiful Welsh coast line. I could picture it so well and it made me long to be there.

After a slow start this became a book I didn’t want to stop reading. It’s a powerful novel that kept me glued to its pages and it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year. I’ll certainly be reading more by Clare Mackintosh.

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading. You can also share from a book you want to highlight just because it caught your fancy.

I’m featuring I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh, a book I’m currently reading. It won Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2016, beating J K Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith. I’ve had this book since 2017 and I started to read it then but as it begins with a tragedy I didn’t feel up to reading it and put it back on the shelf for a while. I picked it up again recently when I discovered that Clare Mackintosh, a former police officer, is a member of Crime Cymru, a consortium of Welsh crime writers to promote Welsh crime fiction. And as March is Reading Wales Month I think it’s a good time to read it now.

Book Beginning:

Prologue: The wind flicks wet hair across her face, and she screws up her eyes against the rain. Weather like this makes everyone hurry: scurrying past on slippery pavements with chins buried into collars.

and then Chapter One:

Detective Inspector Ray Stevens stood next to the window and contemplated his office chair, on which an arm had been broken for at least a year.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice, but she is taking a break and Anne at My Head if Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. You grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Page 56:

Ray sighed. Puberty had turned his son into a grunting, uncommunicative teenager, and he was dreading the day the same thing happened to his daughter. You weren’t supposed to have favourites, but he had a soft spot for Lucy, who at nine would seek him out for a cuddle and insist on a bedtime story.

Description from Amazon:

A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn’t have prevented it. Could she?

In a split second, Jenna Gray’s world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever.

Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating . . .