I really enjoyed reading Nuala Ellwood’s debut novel My Sister’s Bones so I was excited to be given the chance to read her second novel The Day of the Accident. Whilst I didn’t find the story as gripping as her first book it still makes for a compelling page turner and once again Nuala weaves a twisty tale centred on grief, loss and human relationships.

In the opening chapters of the novel we meet Maggie who is waking from a coma. Maggie was recently involved in a horrific accident along with her daughter, Elspeth. As she begins to heal the true horrors of that night are revealed to her and now she must begin to start a new life, but how can she when she has so many unanswered questions about what really happened? Will she ever get to the truth?

I had a lot of empathy for Maggie in this book. Nuala writes her character so well and I found the grief that Maggie was experiencing to be very believable. There is always a sense of urgency as Maggie fights hard to find the answers as to what happened on the day of the accident, and although I felt the truth maybe too horrifying for her, I was rooting for her to get to the bottom of what happened.

When I read Nuala’s first book I was really impressed by the twists so I was really looking forward to seeing how she would twist the plot in her second book and Nuala did it again. Her plotting is superb. Both her books have had really satisfying conclusions and it did make me think, how did I not see that twist coming? She is a writer who I am certainly a huge fan of and I’m really looking forward to reading what she comes up with next.

If you’re after a twisty, character driven psychological thriller, then you need to read Nuala Ellwood. Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance review copy.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like it when I started to read it, but what a fantastic book that not only gripped me but also kept me guessing to the end. Nuala Ellwood is an extremely talented author and I will definitely be checking out the her other books. Would give it more than 5 stars if I could.

I enjoyed this book and it kept me guessing right from the beginning. It was an interesting structure for a couple of reasons. Starting with the trial was one goods strategy and also the fact that we were constantly having to work out who was writing the letters. This was very thought provoking and meant I was having to try and work out things as the book progressed, so I felt that I was interacting all the time. There was a part in the middle where I felt it became a bit tedious, which is why I only gave four stars, but it picked up as it got nearer to the end and I couldn't put it down. All in all a good read.

I have just finished reading The Day of the Accident which I received via Netgalley.

This is a very, very dark book full of emotions that play with your brain. Whilst Maggie is in a catastrophic and tragic situation with which I could easily empathise I never really actually liked her.

The plot is full of suspense but whilst it plays out it never gives much away in terms of clues and what we are left with at it's conclusion is a bunch of people whose lives have been badly damaged, indeed only Sonia seems to come out of it unscathed, and it is the truth about the damage that comes out in the end with maybe just the tiniest hint of happy ever afters.

I think it would be shallow to say I liked or enjoyed this book but I did want to keep reading it and I can admire the writing style as it was indeed extremely clever, but for my taste and sensibilities it was just too dark.

This was a very interesting and different read with Maggie, the central character, recovering from a dreadful incident where she lost her young daughter. Maggie is eventually released from hospital in a very fragile state facing dreadful circumstances, abandoned by her husband, no home or income and the loss of Elspeth, in an accident that she believes she caused. I am finding that a lot of psychological thrillers these days have characters who have no parents, always seem to be killed early on in a car accident, and no immediate family or close friends, which makes their situation all the more difficult. I feel that in so many of these books, the inclusion of parents, close friends, siblings etc would mean that the storyline just wouldn't work. The hero, or much more often, heroine, feels isolated which supposedly adds to their plight. Maggie is no exception to this. So we are introduced to regular letters from a young girl who has apparently been abandoned herself by her parents and sent to a cruel and horrific boarding school. I think you are meant to think into the possibility that the letters are from Elspeth and perhaps she wasn't dead after all, maybe whisked away by her father. I then wondered if Maggie herself had written them when she was a child but after that I just wasn't sure. Maggie seems to spend a lot of time crying but maybe I would in the same situation. Finally everything ties up and we are made aware of the terrible thing that Maggie did when she was young, a secret that could not be told. To be honest I would have liked a happier ending, it was all quite depressing without a break, maybe there was a glimmer of something eventually. It was a good read but maybe not a book I would remember.

Margaret Allan, (Maggie) enters a plea to a crime of manslaughter. The story then begins with Maggie waking up from a coma, which she has been in for six weeks since the day of the accident.

She is told that her daughter, Elspeth, was killed in the accident and her husband has since disappeared. She also discovers that her husband sold their family home some years back and they have been renting it ever since. He gave notice to the company after their daughter had been buried and as a result Maggie has nowhere to live. Devastated, she tries to recall what happened the night her car went into the river with her daughter locked inside.

Struggling with memory loss Maggie begins to recall snippets of what happene that night. Gradually the reader is fed more snippets from Maggies past, providing a twisty, turny read.

Weaved throughout the novel there are heart wrenching letters from a child to her mother which plead for her mother to collect her and take her home. Get your tissues out -it's teary reading and very well done.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Books UK and Nuala Ellwood for my advance copy. I read Elwood's first novel which was very different to this one but I do like the writing style and I flew through it. It would be a great holiday read.

I would highly recommend this book for fans of the psychological thriller genre.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy.

The description of this book was really what made me read it. Once I started I found it OK, but it didn't really 'grab' me. I found that I worked out some of the plot endings quite early on, so I really was reading it to pad out the story for myself. It is well written and it puts across the awfulness that some people find themselves going through, through no fault of their own. And it conveys how nasty and deceitful others can be to ensure that they are ok, at the expense of other individuals. All in all, I found it quite a depressing read and actually I think I regret reading it.
Having said that I do think that the majority of people will find the story quite riveting and will engage with it more than I could.

Such a well written story taking you through so much emotional turmoil to an ending that I didn't see coming!

Loved this book, even when I was not reading it I kept thinking about it and couldn’t wait to pick it up again, hence I finished it in a day. Would definitely recommend to others and can’t wait to read other titles from this author.

This was a really good read. The story is heartbreaking and devastating and all the worst fears you can ever have when you’re a parent but it’s a must read. I can’t put into words how lucky this book made me feel to have the daughters I do and to cherish them in the here and now. I would’ve liked to see Ben at the end of the book but all in all I thoroughly enjoyed.

Gripping, psychological and twisted. It demonstrates how easily people are mislead and how devious people can be.

The day of the accident by Nualla Ellwood.
Maggie wakes up from a come in hospital   she has been in an accident. They say her daughter died in the car. Maggie is devastated.  Her daughter was her world. Sean her husband leaves and she doesn't know why? As she is recuperating strange things are happening.  A letter is by the door. She thinks it's from elspeth.  But she is dead isn't she?
Absolutely loved it.  An absolutely fantastic read. Very emotional.  Bought tears to my eyes. Loved Maggie. Wasn't sure about Sonia. Really didn't see that coming.  What a twist. 5*. Highly recommended.

Brilliant. I was totally drawn in from the start. Maggie wakes up in hospital. She is told her daughter has drowned when she was unable to get her out of a car that went into the river. Her husband has vanished after the funeral. Maggie tries to piece together what happened. There is so much to this story. I feel like I have been through a rollercoaster of emotions myself just reading this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The Day of the Accident is a well written book and definitely a page-turner. Maggie is injured and suffers memory loss in an accident in which her daughter Elspeth dies. The book follows Maggie's struggle to regain her health and discover what happened at the accident. Unfortunately this 5 star book loses a star when all is revealed. The book however is still a good read.

Well where to start, feeling a bit wrung out if I'm honest, a brilliant read that kept you guessing, a great story told very well that came together at the end to a very satisfying conclusion, throughly enjoyed

The story starts when the main character Maggie wakes from being in a coma for weeks to be told that her daughter has died and her husband has disappeared. Maggie cannot remember what happened that fateful night and is desperate for answers. Follow her story as the truth slowly comes out and she has to deal with the consequences.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the book in exchange for an honest review.
This was an interesting book to read, it was also a very sad book to read about a woman who wakes from a coma to find out her child has died and her husband has disappeared. Then you find out more about her and about her teenage years and learn she had been in psychiatric care after a teenage pregnancy. The baby was taken away and she was told would be adopted. The letters you read from a daughter you think are written by the woman to her mother, it is only near the end you find out who wrote those letters and why.
An interesting story. Recommended.

Brilliant story. I read this in a couple of days. What an emotional rollercoaster ride into the unimaginable. Losing a child is always going to bring out the protective in anyone. I wanted so badly to be there for Maggie. The story was in turn heartbreaking and thought provoking. Maggie wakes from a coma to find out that her daughter is dead and her husband has disappeared. I wanted to give Maggie any help I could to find out what happened. By god the plot woven through heartbreak and twists and turns that you don’t expect. Until the very end I had no idea who was out to get Maggie or why. All the time you are thinking it’s a huge mistake and that Elspeth is alive but being kept away from her mother. I am looking forward to reading more of Nuala Elwood if this book is anything to go by.

Wow what a story.... absolutely brilliant completely had me hooked from the beginning!!
A story told in such a captivating way you can't help being drawn in by the characters!!!

The Day of the Accident

This is the first book I've read by Nuala Ellwood; wow, what a ride!

I was engrossed from the first page and was dying to know what was going on. The premise is simple; Maggie awakens from coma with memory loss and learns her daughter is dead and her husband has disappeared. The plotting is incredibly twisted, with teasers about identity dropped throughout and I went off in totally the wrong direction. The final chapters are amazing as all the strands are drawn together with one surprise after another.

It's tense, dramatic and the central characters feel like real people. My heart went out to Maggie when she finds herself alone and frantic to make sense of events. I could feel her frustration and that kept the pace tense. This is a brilliantly constructed psychological thriller, full of twists and turns, compelling and original. I loved it and my thanks to Penguin for a review copy via Netgalley.