Rachel Brown plays Doctor Elouise Sparks in the popular TV series ‘Emergency’. Though successful in her career, Rachel has just learned that her chance of conception is small, and she is devastated by the information.

That’s when Mikey Bell takes Rachel from her home to a remote mountain cottage. But Mikey’s motive isn’t ‘normal’. He has a strange request. The good news is that if Rachel can deliver by Christmas Day, he’ll let her go.

But someone else in the cottage is not on the same page as Mikey. This person has different designs for Rachel, and the bad news is that this No.1 Fan has no intention of ever letting her leave.

My Review

This was so fast-paced and relentless that after reading it in two sittings, my head was spinning. From one horrific event to another, the shocks just never stopped coming.

When TV actress Rachel Brown is kidnapped by a lunatic, you know it’s not going to end well. And if you thought her No 1 fan Mikey is nuts, just wait until you meet his nana. I was definitely reminded of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho more so than Misery, except that the old lady in this case isn’t dead – yet.

Rachel is married to Jacob, who also plays her husband in the TV series Emergency. One night, Jacob is beaten up outside their home by a man in a blue anorak, the same man Rachel believes was stalking her earlier. He probably won’t come back again the police tell her. They rarely do. Wrong! And so the nightmare begins.

Did I already tell you what Mikey’s other obsession is apart from Rachel’s character in Emergency? No. Well it’s Christmas and all things related. He wears a Christmas jumper the year round, keeps a dust- covered plastic tree up in the corner of the room where he hides Rachel, and hangs tinsel around the place. And he sings corny Christmas songs to himself, like Rocking Around The Christmas Tree and Let It Snow.

This was so good! You can’t beat a fast-paced thriller that never lets up, a likeable main protagonist and a lunatic perp with an evil nana. Once you start reading, clear the decks, skip work, make a flask full of tea, get some snacks in and keep going till the end. You won’t be disappointed. It’s brilliant!

Incidentally, I love the cover. It’s really beautiful and the colours are stunning.

Many thanks to the author @Abby13Richards for a pre-publication copy.

About the Author

Abby Davies was born in Macclesfield in 1984. She grew up in Bedfordshire in a seventeenth century cottage near Flitton Moor and started writing ‘thrillers’ when she was seven years old. After reading English Literature at Sheffield University and training to be an English teacher, she wrote novels in her free time.

She was shortlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition in 2018 and longlisted for the Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award in 2019. Her debut Mother Loves Me was published by HarperCollins in 2020. The Cult came out in 2021. Arrietty was her third novel followed by Her No1 Fan.

She lives in Wiltshire with her husband, daughter and two crazy cocker spaniels.