It would be unfair to blame the woman I met tonight for turning my life upside down. She didn’t. It was already upside down. I just didn’t know it.
 
Recently life has been good for Mallory Hansen: a great job, a lovely home, and a wonderful man, Nathan, to share it with.
 
But now she must ask herself: is it all built on lies?
 
A terrible accusation has been made against Nathan, and Mallory doesn’t know who to believe. All the signs point to his guilt. She has learned to trust Nathan, but she also remembers the fickle boy he used to be.

#NoMoreLies @RachelAbbott #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour 

Together, Mallory and Nathan were part of a close-knit group of six friends until a vicious argument drove them apart. Now, fifteen years later, they are back in touch with one another, only to find themselves drawn into a web of mutual distrust, one by one…
 
The attacks on their lives are cleverly targeted, designed to hit them where they hurt the most, and when a young woman disappears and a baby is abducted, DCI Tom Douglas must try to unravel the past and discover the architect of their misery.

My Review

I’ve read quite a few of Rachel Abbott’s books – in fact this is number eight as far as I know, most of them being part of the DCI Tom Douglas thriller series. I’ve loved every single one. I’m a huge fan. This is my first blog tour though.

Having read so many of the others, I know a lot about Tom’s back story (though it doesn’t matter if you haven’t read them). I know about his brother Jack, his ex-wife, his daughter and his relationship with Louisa. And baby Harry of course. But on to the main story.

Mallory and Nathan were part of a group of six friends until an argument ended their friendship. Nathan had a fling with Jodie, but dropped her quite quickly for a girl outside the group (it might break up their friendship he told her), called Erin. That was also short-lived, because the only girl he really wanted was Mallory, but she knew he meant trouble. Fifteen years later, Mallory and Nathan are married – he swore he’d changed – but when Nathan is suspended at work for an accusation which he emphatically denies, Mallory has doubts. Is he the same womaniser he was all those years ago?

In the meantime, one of their other friends, Taya, has also been targeted, but at this point there isn’t a link. In fact the police don’t know yet that Taya, Mallory and Nathan were friends.

At times during the story, we jump back to that fateful night, fifteen years ago, when it all fell apart. Nathan, Mallory, Connor, Akin, Jodie and Taya decided to spend their last night drinking and celebrating before they all went off to university. But something happened when they got to their destination and played a silly game from their childhood. And that’s when it all went wrong.

This is a brilliant book, maybe even my favourite of Rachel’s novels. It’s exciting, fast-paced, well thought out, with a maturity that has grown since book one.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

Rachel Abbott is a British author of psychological thrillers. As a self-published author, her first ten novels (and one novella) in the DCI Tom Douglas series have combined to sell over four million copies. All have been bestsellers on Amazon’s Kindle store, and her books have been translated into over 20 languages. In 2015, Rachel was named the number one bestselling self-published author in the UK and the 14th bestselling author (both published and self-published) over the previous five years on Amazon’s Kindle in the UK.

In 2017, following a five-way auction, Rachel signed a two-book deal with Headline Publishing Group. The first book, And So It Begins, was published in 2018 and features Sergeant Stephanie King. The second book in this series, The Murder Game was released in April 2020. Books three and four in the series are to be published by Headline in late 2023 and 2024.

Rachel’s writing career began in 2009, when she decided to write a book about a woman facing a situation which gave her no option but to commit murder. In November 2011, she published the story – Only the Innocent – on Amazon. It rose to number one in the charts and remained there for four weeks. Rachel followed up Only the Innocent with The Back Road, Sleep Tight, Stranger Child, Kill Me Again, The Sixth Window, Come A Little Closer, The Shape of Lies, Right Behind You and Close Your Eyes. All the thrillers in this series focus on the victims and perpetrators of the crimes, and the complex relationships that exist between protagonist and antagonist. This series features Detective Chief Inspector Tom Douglas.

Rachel grew up near Manchester, England. She worked as a systems analyst, and then founded an interactive media company, developing software and websites for the education market. When she sold the company in 2000, she moved to Italy where she restored a 15th-century Italian monastery. For a time she and her husband operated the property as a venue for weddings and holidays. She now lives on the Channel Island of Alderney in a Victorian Fort where she spends her days writing in her office – a former gunpowder shelter.

Follow her at:
Twitter: @RachelAbbott
Instagram: @rachelabbottwriter
Facebook: RachelAbbott1Author
Website: rachel-abbott.com