This book alternates between present day and sixteen years ago when Rose's little brother Billy was killed. They convicted the man Rose was dating with the crime.... a man who physically and emotionally abused Rose, and threatened everyone she loved if she ever told anyone or tried to leave him. Now, 16 years into the future, Rose is still barely hanging on to her sanity and she discovers Billy's blanket, an item that was misisng when his body was discovered. The question she must come to terms with asking: did he really kill Billy after all?
This book is a very gripping psychological thriller with a surprise ending. Very enjoyable!

Wow what a brilliant read!
This book kept me gripped throughout and I flew through it, desperate to know what was going to happen next.
I really felt for Rose as she'd been through so much and have to say another character made my blood boil!! (Can't say who as I don't want to spoil it!)
I would highly recommend this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for sending me an advance copy to read and review.

This review is written with thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for my copy of The Mistake.
Sixteen years ago, Rose's eight year old brother, Billy, was killed. Ever since, Rose has blamed herself, as the man convicted of his murder was her ex-boyfriend, Gareth Farnham. But when Rose's neighbour, Ronnie, falls ill, she decides to tidy his flat for him, and discovers a vital piece of evidence that makes her question everyone around her, and everything she thought she knew about Billy's death. What happened to Billy all those years ago?
The narrative of The Mistake takes place over two different time frames: sixteen years ago and the present day. This helped me to see how the events of the past are still affecting Rose in the present. Although I found it difficult to connect with Rose as an adult - she is quite isolated and guarded around others - I found Rose as a teenager much easier to relate to, and her relationship with Gareth was fascinating. This aspect of the novel is the psychological thriller genre at its finest. Slater has captured the behaviour and characteristics of an abusive partner so well that I felt manipulated by Gareth, despite knowing full well that he was a fictional character. This allowed me to become fully engaged in Rose's story and I wanted to know what had happened to Billy.
There is a twist at the end of The Mistake, which did come as a surprise to me. However, I felt that the twist was revealed a little too quickly, and this made the novel lack some tension as the novel reached its conclusion.

K.L. Slater is becoming one of my favorite authors. This was my second book by her and it did not disappoint! It was fast-paced and kept me guessing all the way through!

Rose is playing the blaming game with herself. Sixteen years ago her eight year old brother, Billy went missing while she was watching him. He was found dead and Rose is still asking herself what if....

Rose has looked in on her elderly neighbor, Ronnie since his wife passed away. He has been a good friend to her for many years and now he has taken ill. She finds him sprawled out on the floor in his house one day and has to call for an ambulance. Funny thing is he asks her Not to go upstairs! Is Ronnie hiding something or is he just embarrassed by an unkempt room?

I enjoyed the pace and I was constantly analyzing all the motives of everyone in Rose's life. This is one I enjoyed picking up and always wanted to read another chapter all the up to the twisted end!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Bookouture for the advance copy of The Mistake in return for an honest review. Having read and loved all of K.L Slater's books to date I couldn't wait to read this one and it was definitely worth the wait. The story evolves throughout the book as it swtiches between Rosie's present day life and her life 16 years ago and it is so full of twists and so gripping you won't be able to put it down!!!

Having read the authors previous book I was keen to read this . Another great one which I read in two sittings. Short sharp chapters that make you leap to the next. Set between the past and the present this is the story of Rose who’s brother was killed 16 years previous by her ex boyfriend.. or was he ? I really enjoyed this , the ending I didn’t see coming but , to be honest , that’s the part that I liked the least hence a 4 star instead of 5 star read . My thanks to bookouture and netgalley for my copy .

The Mistake by K. L. Slater the kind of book you hold up in front of you while you’re bumping into walls, as your make your way through your house. Not that I speak from experience or anything. (Rubbing forehead)

I simply COULD NOT put this book down. (I wasn’t kidding about bumping into the wall).

Rose is a 30-something bulemic, broken woman who’s had a rough life. Sixteen years ago her 8 year old brother, Billy disappeared, while under her watch. Billy is found dead and Rose’s world unravels.

Now, a broken bulemic, she lives a quiet mundane life. She works as a librarian and helps take care of her neighbor Ronnie. Ronnie and his wife were always there for Rose and her family. But now widowed, he’s alone and takes a turn for the worst with his health.

While he is in the hospital, Rose decides to welcome him home to a clean house. But as she is cleaning, she makes a grave discovery in his spare bedroom, which rocks her world once again.

Ms. Slater has conjured up quite the plot here. The description, and my summary, do not do this book justice. It’s so much more than what it sounds like.

This story is told in alternating time periods, present and sixteen years earlier. They are easy to distinguish, and you will not get lost.

The characters are realistic and easy to feel for. Caught between her boyfriend and her best friend you can feel Rose’s confusion and frustration.

The Mistake twists you around curves you did not even know existed. This isn’t my first K. L. Slater book, nor will it be my last. Five twisty stars.

Thank you to K. L. Slater, Bookouture, and Netgalley for an advanced copy of The Mistake. All opinions are solely my own.

K. L. Slater returns following (2017) Liar, and Blink plus her debut (2016) Safe with Me with her fourth hit in a row THE MISTAKE — a twisty psychological thriller with a satisfying conclusion.

Fans of Kaira Rouda’s Best Day Ever, will enjoy The Mistake. (especially the ending). Gareth and Paul have a lot in common. Payback is a bitch.

Rose is a librarian who lives alone with a cat. Anxiety filled, with an eating disorder (when under stress), she pretty much stays to herself and never goes out at night. Books help her back to some sense of normal.

She used to read crime novels, but she has not touched a book like that in sixteen years. She had a therapist. She had experienced true terror. She now builds her life around food, drink, books, and TV.

"Reading about deceitful personalities, the hidden underbelly of society and unreliable characters who appear to be one thing but are soon found out to be something else entirely . . . all that stuff now fills me with a curdling discomfort that can last for days."


A trauma, from an event which occurred some sixteen years earlier. Her safe and ordinary life disappeared in the space of a heartbeat.

Guilt-ridden, she was with her younger eight-year-old brother, Billy. She should have been watching him closer the day they were flying his kite. However, something grabbed him in the woods and after missing for two days they found him dead. Strangled.

Her parents are now deceased, and she still lives next door to an elderly man, Ronnie. He was a nice man who everyone loves and helped search for her brother years ago. She tries to help him out with picking up food from the market and checking on him. She has a key for emergencies.

Ronnie has some sort of virus and has fallen. She finds in the bathroom and the medical team has arrived and as he is leaving, he tells her not to look in the attic.

Later, Rose decides she will do something to help the kind man which everyone loves in the small village. She decides to clean his house for him so it will be nice when he gets well and returns home.

However, she recalls his warning of the attic. She thinks possibly he is embarrassed because it is messy, so she decided to clean the upstairs as well.

Then she stumbles upon a blanket. The blanket was her brothers. The one he had the day of his death that no one has ever found. Rose is now beside herself. How could Ronnie, this nice man have her brother’s blanket? She desperately needs answers.

Has she been living next to her brother's killer all along?

We revisit the events leading up to Billy’s disappearance and death. Rose had a best friend Cassie. They did everything together. One day walking home with her art, this good-looking guy stops her. Gareth. Cassie encourages her.

Gareth was in his twenties and seemed worldly. He was responsible for the regeneration of the village with new plans. He seemed interested in her. Soon she becomes engrossed with this new guy. However, he soon turns into a controlling narcissist, but not before he charms Rose and pulls her in with manipulation.

Cassie warns her to stay away after she sees how controlling he is. Gareth says Cassie is jealous. He makes her choose. Soon he manipulates his way into their family with her dad, offering him a volunteer job and promises of a paid job.

However, he dislikes her little brother Billy and does not want her to have any friends. He tells her he loves her. Yet he tells her what to wear, how to act, and wants to control everything in her life.

Cassie later is raped and now is estranged from Rose. Rose tried to see her but her protective brother Jeb turned her away. Not until the abuse begins does she realize how deep she is in. She must break things off with this monster. However, it is not so simple. He will not let her go.

She has lost everyone she is close to. It is her fault for allowing this monster into their lives.

Moving back and forth from past to present in alternating chapters, readers are dying to know about what really happened to Billy. Gareth was in prison. However, was he the real killer? He was a bad person but is Ronnie the real killer? On her father’s deathbed, Rose promised her dad she would never see Gareth again. However, will she have to face down her worst nightmare in order to help Billy?

She is receiving threatening notes. Someone is watching her every move.

She has to find the courage and find out once and for all who killed him. In the process, she could be trying to help a monster go free. She is only safe with him behind a jail cell. She has to be smart to stay one step ahead of Gareth. She gets in touch with the detective, Mike North who was on the case.

What about Ronnie, her neighbor? She must solve this mystery to put this nightmare behind her once and for all. Was it Gareth, Ronnie, or someone else? Motive for harming an innocent child?

However, she has to keep Gareth in prison. He is evil, abusive, a psychopath, liar, and a rapist. A killer?

An unputdownable thriller, and as always Kim keeps you glued to the pages. If you have read her other books, you know she is the queen of killer twists. The Mistake is another one which keeps you on the edge-of-your-seat. A Sleeping with the Enemy with a twist.

I especially enjoyed seeing Rose stand up to Gareth, after the abusive relationship and everything he put her through. This one will leave you smiling.

A cautionary tale of coercive, manipulative, abusive, and controlling relationships and the lost-lasting effect such a negative experience can have on a person. The author also addresses help for anyone who thinks they may find themselves in this type of relationship full of criticisms.

A special thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.

JDCMustReadBooks

The Mistake is K.L. Slater 's latest novel, and I'm sure they just get better and better.

When eight year old Billy goes missing, his older sister Rose is a teenager. Sixteen years later she is still blaming herself for his death, even though she knows the real perpetrator is safely behind bars.

Rose is a kind and caring woman, working at the local library, she knows that she could have moved away after her parents died, but despite all that has happened, she feels at home where she lives.

Rose is considerate of others, and is happy to help out elderly neighbour, Ronnie, after the loss of his wife. But Ronnie is still fiercely independent, despite his loss, and when he ends up in hospital is adamant that Rose shouldn't go upstairs.

Rose meaning well, ignores her neighbour. She knows he'll be delighted to come home to a clean and tidy house from the hospital.

But then she makes a discovery that makes her question every single thing she thought she knew about Billy's disappearance and subsequent murder.

Everything she thought she knew has been placed into turmoil, and she realises she doesn't even know if she's safe anymore.

Told in alternating present and flashback chapters, the Mistake is a novel that entices you in slowly, then grabs hold of you tightly. You won't want to put it down!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for a free electronic ARC of this novel, received in exchange for an honest review.
When Rose was eighteen, her eight year old brother was abducted and killed, and to this day she lives with the guilt. She should’ve watched him closer, she should’ve spent more time with him. And, most importantly, she should’ve stayed the hell away from Gareth. Now, sixteen years later, Rose is riddled with anxiety, ill and living as a shut-in. When she discovers her brother’s blanket in a box in her neighbour’s attic, she is forced to reconsider Gareth’s role in her brother’s death. Could that monster possibly be innocent? Rose must overcome her internal guilt and fears and confront Gareth one final time to get to the bottom of what happened to her brother.
I was introduced to K.L Slater with her novel, “Liar”. Although I was a huge fan of “Liar”, I am an even bigger fan of “The Mistake”.
The novel is gripping and filled with suspense, alternating storylines between present day and sixteen years ago, all told from the perspective of Rose. Rose is a fabulous character, full of flaws and eccentricities that have resulted from the loss of her brother and the responsibility she feels.
A non-stop plot, this story was next to impossible to put down. It pulled me in from the start, and I was immediately cheering for Rose, praying that Gareth would get his just desserts, and hoping for justice for young Billy. Even the ending was unpredictable- just when I thought I had it figured out, another twist would blow my assumption out of the water. It ended so fabulously, I practically cheered.
There is nothing bad to say about this novel- creative, addictive writing, suspense-fueled plot, passionate and honest characters (both good and evil alike). Surprises at every turn will leave the reader constantly wondering what’s going to happen next. “The Mistake” has it all- young, teenage romance and the passion that could go horribly wrong, the murder of a young boy and the mystery that shrouds the sadness, and the quest of an older sister to bring the killer to justice.
I was delighted to get the chance to read this story and cannot wait to experience her other works. This novel is definitely not a “mistake”, and I highly recommend it to everyone who needs a great, chilling, psychological thriller with a flair of mystery.

I actually liked this book even though I didn't much care for Rose. I was never sure if Rose was really that naive or if she was just weak. I wavered throughout the book on my feelings for her. I did enjoy the story though and I kept turning pages because I just had to know.
I loved that Rose is a librarian but I'm a bit disappointed that we don't find out the fate of the library.
I would recommend this book if you are looking for a quick little mystery and don't really want to think too much while reading. It's a fast, easy read.

My only criticism of this book was the blurb that promises "a brilliant twist" and I almost didn't read it because of that. I hate being told in advance about plot twists because I spend the whole time wondering if each 'reveal' is the twist - very annoying!
Having said that I really enjoyed this story that weaves between the past and the present as Rose tries to find out the truth about her brother Billy's death 16 years previously. .
A good story, well written that kept me intrigued and guessing right to the end.

You know him, you trust him, you shouldn’t

This book was so good that I literally couldn’t put it down! It’s told from two points of view – 18 year old Rose and 34 year old Ruth. They are the same person but very different people. Life hasn’t been kind to Ruth and the person she may have become before the events of her 18th year happened, is not necessarily the person she is. 34 year old Ruth is scared of her own shadow, dowdy, timid, frightened and still grieving the loss of her younger brother, Billy who was murdered as a little boy whist playing in the park with his sister.

Ruth still lives in the family home but has lost her parents and her best friend, as well as Billy. Billy’s murderer was apprehend and is serving his time in prison. This man was Ruth’s boyfriend at the time. Through her 18-year-old voice, we hear of how she alienates all her friends and family to be with Gareth and how he quickly becomes her world. As the reader, you soon pick up on the fact that all is not well with the much-older Gareth who is clearly grooming and controlling her.

She didn't mind when he insisted on choosing which flavour ice-cream she’d have, after asserting that the chocolate and raisin would be far superior to the boring vanilla she’d initially chosen.

As quotes go, there are a lot more sinister ones in the book but this one struck a chord with me as it highlighted the subtlety of Gareth’s power and reminded us that Ruth is still just a child and a very naïve and ‘young’ one at that. He fed on this and used his power to manipulate not just Ruth but her father too with the promise of a job, his first since the mines closed in their town.

Gareth was incarcerated at the time but this doesn’t stop Ruth from jumping at every shadow and living her life by a very rigid set of rules (not going out after 9pm; only opening a window in the house if she is in that particular room; keeping her hair dyed jet black…) all of which add to the sense of unease throughout the book. Enter into the story her aged neighbour, Ronnie. He seems to be a pillar of the community and a source of strength and support to Ruth. One day, he is taken ill and whilst recovering in Hospital, Ruth decides to clean his house for him. In an upstairs room, she makes a shocking discovery that potentially changes the last 16 years of her life and what she knows and believes.

The discovery I’ve made this morning pours petrol on the glowing embers of my grief and I know now that everything I thought I knew for sure has already changed.

I’m not going to tell you what the discovery is or how it impacts on present-day Ruth or the fact that the one thing I was sure of didn’t even come close to what the real story was… Intrigued? I hope so. This book kept me on the edge of my seat and it drove me nuts when I was really into the 34 year old Ruth’s story only to be whipped back to the past for the next three chapters! And then it would happen again in reverse!! (What a great ploy by the author to make you want to read ‘just one more chapter… or 3!)

Thank you to NetGalley and ‘bookouture.com’ for the advanced copy of this book for me to read and enjoy!

I've read and very much enjoyed two of the author's other books - "Safe With Me" and "Liar" - so I was especially delighted to get my mitts on this one as well. All are rightly dubbed "psychological thrillers," and that alone is enough to get my attention. I do admit, however, that no matter how much I understand the hows and whys, relating to women who don't, won't or can't stand up for themselves just doesn't come naturally to me. It is, then, a testament to the author's outstanding writing skills that I not only finished the book with nary a single, "C'mon, woman, get your act together and hit the road," but completed it in two sittings just because I was so reluctant to put it down.

The woman in question is Rose Tinsley, whose younger brother Billy was murdered 16 years earlier. Because he'd been with her the day he chased a kite into the woods and never came out, she has blamed herself for his death. She works in a small library in Nottinghamshire County (which based on terminology and non-American English spellings is somewhere in the United Kingdom). She lives in the family home next door to an elderly man and good friend named Ronnie; his wife and her parents are deceased, and she looks in on him every day. Also every day, she lives much like a hermit, suffering from almost debilitating paranoia and, on occasion, the return of the eating disorder she developed after Billy's death.

Background on the events of 16 years earlier are revealed in flashback chapters, where it's learned that a just-ready-for-university Rose fell in with a much older man with named Gareth, with whom she thought she was in love. Appropriately, I guess, she donned Rose-colored glasses when it came to his ultra-controlling behavior; in fairly short order, she was shunned by her long-time best friend Cassie as Rose acquiesed to Gareth's demands and rationalized them to be a sign of his love for her.

But one day in her present life, she returns home to find that Ronnie is in bad health. As the EMTs wheel him to the hospital, he whispers to her that she's not to go into his upstairs. As she's already demonstrated, she doesn't listen to advice from other people close to her, so of course, when she returns to tidy up his house, she can't resist heading up. When she finds a closed door, she can't resist opening it; and when she finds storage boxes there, she can't resist opening them as well. And what she finds there not only takes her breath away, but challenges everything she's believed in since her brother's murderer was tried and convicted - in part as a result of her testimony - and jailed.

That discovery sends Rose on a roller-coaster ride of emotions as well as the determination to find out what really happened to her brother. Could it be that the wrong man was convicted? Could her brother have been done in by someone closer to home? Here and there, the story does get a little too melodramatic for my taste, but the nonstop action - and the twists and turns - are enough to reel me back into the story until the surprising conclusion.

My conclusion? Another winner. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have read all of this author's wonderfully twisted, heart racing books and when a new one is announced, I have to have it. And this book was everything I was expecting - thrilling, addictive, fast paced - and more. The author's skill is in creating characters we can all identify with, ordinary people, who appear completely normal but are all hiding extra-ordinary secrets, which implode with devastating consequences. This story was again another absolutely amazing page turner, with so many twists. I could not out it down. I was bereft when it was over, and I was wowed. LOVE this incredible author and I cannot wait for her next gripping story!

I am a huge fan of K.L. Slater's psychological thrillers but something was missing with this one for me and it didn't excite me or leave me as excited to scream about the book as her previous thrillers have done. I have to say that is mostly in part due to a rather disappointing ending after what was for the most part a truly unputdownable book. I was honestly reading this at every available opportunity, only to be left disappointed at a lacklustre ending.

Sometimes when you read a thriller such as this, about a character as damaged as Rose it makes you thankful for your own life at times. Kim has written a truly believable tale here of a young, naive girl that finds herself in a controlling and abusive relationship with seemingly no way out. The fear that she felt was palpable throughout, and at times all I wanted to do was reach into my Kindle and help her. Seeing her push friends away and lose family only made me want her to escape even more. Being given chapters from the present day however told us that this might never be possible, haunted by the murder of her brother Billy years before, she soon uncovers evidence in the present day that could lead to his real killer.

Unfortunately things just fell flat firstly because it was obvious that Rose's abusive partner was never going to be the killer, that would've been too obvious but also the red herrings were never strong enough. It just seemed too outlandish for me to believe that some of the suspects that Kim reveals to us (never coming outright and saying it but introducing characters that appear to not be who they seem) but then delivering what felt to me like a bit of a rushed ending. In fact, the whole story itself felt rushed and rather short and I feel like if this was a print book there wouldn't be all that many pages in it. I'll stick with Kim after loving her previous books but this one for me just didn't hit that high mark that she has set with those books.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for my copy.

This book tells the story of Rose a shy innocent teenager who meets an older charming man Gareth. She thinks he loves her but she is soon under his control. He tells her what to wear, how to behave and starts to alienate her from her best friend Cassie and her little brother Billy.

Fast forward 16 years and Rose is a shell of her former self. Working at the local library with no friends apart from her frail old neighbour Ronnie. Her life is spent trying to control her anxiety through basically self neglect, food issues, making herself unattractive and cutting herself off from people.

This story is told alternately between the different times. The life she had with her friends, family and how she comes under Gareth's control to the present time when she still hasn't come to terms with the murder of her little brother and is still searching for answers.

This was a very enjoyable read and I could really feel how easy it would be for Rose to be drawn in by an older worldly wise man who flatters and showers her with attention. Although not as riveting as her previous books this was still a great read by a talented author.

I love K L Slater' books. They always have twists and turns and this one is no exception. Rose is a librarian in a quiet village and 16 years ago her young brother Billy was abducted and murdered. A man named Gareth was arrested for the murder and is now in prison. The murder has left Rose with an eating disorder and living with her nerves.
When Rose's elderly neighbour Ronnie is suddenly taken into hospital, she looks after his empty house and whilst cleaning she finds something of Billy's which was never found after the murder. Is Ronnie the murdererer and the wrong man in prison?
The characters are very believable and the author always manages to draw you in to the plot easily.
Looking forward to the next one!

Having read and enjoyed previous books by this author, I was champing at the bit to get my mitts on this, her new one. I started it with trepidation as my expectations based on previous track record were high but I had no reason to fear as this was of an equally, if not higher standard.
Rose has had a bit of a troubled life. Her brother Billy was taken and killed when he was only eight years old and Gareth, the older man that Rose was "dating", was convicted and jailed for his murder. Rose blames herself for letting this monster into their lives and not having the guts to end things when the relationship degenerated into abuse. She lives a quiet life and her only friend is her next door neighbour, Ronnie, an elderly gentleman who has always been kind and supportive to her and her family. One day, Ronnie is taken bad and has to go into hospital. As he is being taken away he implores Rose not to go upstairs. Obviously, human nature dictates that as soon as we are told not to do something, we invariable want to, have to, even if we had no intentions of ever doing so in the first place, and so Rose ventures upstairs and what she finds there chills her to the bone. Is everything she currently believes about Billy's death about to be turned upside down? Told in the present with flashbacks to Rose and Billy's past and the story of Rose and Gareth's relationship, this is a story of what really happened sixteen years ago and why.
I simply devoured this book, cover to cover in just a couple of sittings, only stopping when life made me and, when it did, I was counting the seconds until I could pick it up again. Due to the nature of certain relationships depicted within, it is not an easy book to read and some of the descriptions of what was happening chilled me to the bone and made me quite uncomfortable. I hasten to add that all that was described was in context and added to both character development and plot and not included to glamourise or for shock tactics but, I repeat, be warned, some of what happened wasn't easy to read at all. I ended up reading way past my bedtime as I really, really needed to know what really happened.
It did take me a while to really connect to Rose but, as more of her past was revealed, I started to really understand her and sympathise with her. As more and more of her shocking past came to light I really felt for her and the situation she found herself in. It's easy to read a book and shout at the characters to just do this or just do that or just tell someone but, at the end of the day, the reader is not in the character's shoes and feeling all the emotions they are feeling so, although I did query some of young Rose's behaviour, I had to reserve judgement and accept what was happening to her and the decisions she was making.
The ending was, for me, pretty perfect. I have tried to form the words to express exactly why but every time I try, it invariable includes spoilers that I am desperate to avoid. So, suffice to say that all the twists and turns throughout the book come together very nicely to form a complete and wholly satisfying ending.
With the bar set even higher for this author now, I am really wondering where she will take me next time, can't wait!
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.