How far should one go to solve a murder?

Anna has everything worked out – a successful company, all the comforts she needs and no ties. But when she stumbles across the body of a young girl on a deserted beach in Lithuania, everything changes.

Anna is compelled to uncover the story behind the tragedy, despite concern from her partner, Will. Everything points towards sex trafficking, but as she searches, her own deepest secrets start to surface.

This was a difficult topic to read but was a very fast paced thriller with an ending I didn't expect.

#NetGalley #TheTruthWaits
Pub Date: 01 Nov 2018

This was my first book by Susanna Beard and I was not disappointed! It started off slow but did not leave my disappointed. I was always left wondering if I really knew what was going on or not. I found myself second guessing myself the whole time I was reading thinking I for sure knew what was happening one chapter and then the next was sure I was wrong.

I enjoy getting to see other parts of the world that aren't often featured in novels. While the subject matter is of a sensitive nature (human traffic and sex traffic market) and may be hard for some to read it was well written about.

There were a few parts of the book that the story seemed to get away from itself that left me a little confused. I am unsure if this was done intentionally by Susanna to indicate the narrators current state of mind. I was satisfied with the way the story wrapped up though and how everything wrapped up. Susanna builds her characters so well and you get to know them so well and begin to feel their feelings and their anxieties.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishes for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

A real page turner of a thriller that deals with some dark themes. Will look out by more work by Susanna Beard

The Truth Waits, the second psychological thriller from Susanna Beard, is a superbly compelling read, albeit with more substance to it than most which I always appreciate. It is certainly a dark affair and deals with some of the cardinal sins of life - greed, guilt, evil and revenge, but also has a focus on the part love, trust and reconciliation can play in healing a soul. The balance between the light and dark is expertly managed, and luckily, in the end, good triumphs over evil, just as it should.

This is a fast-paced, beautifully written book, with an incredibly likeable protagonist that is the epitome of all that's good in the world. All she wants to do is what's right, unfortunately, this gets her into quite a bit of trouble with organised crime and pits her against those who will do anything to keep their devious and disturbing secrets safe. A captivating and immersive read with an upbeat ending that I didn't at all expect with all of the gangbangers that were hanging around. However, there are quite a few tropes of the genre used here, but if you're looking for an interesting and engaging story that isn't required to be original, then you could do a lot worse than pick this up.

Many thanks to Legend Press for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I just love locations that are off the beaten path. This book made me look up Lithuania, a setting I have never read about before. I wish there had been more information like history or topography in the book. Not sure I ever really bought into the romance, but it seemed to work for how things worked out. I will be looking for more books by Susanna Beard.

Dark tense psychological thriller set in Lithuania involving sex trafficking a dead young girl a true page turner.

The Truth Waits is the first book by Susanna Beard that I’ve read, and I was not disappointed. This is a fast-paced crime thriller about sex trafficking.

When I started reading and found this book is written in third-person present tense, I wasn’t sure how easily I’d become caught up in the narrative. I love present tense, but third-person present tense has always been a hard read for me, and I’m not sure why. Yet I had no problems getting into this book. There’s something compelling and almost lyrical about the writing, and I just felt like I needed to read more and more every time I sat down to read “just a couple of chapters.”

What really makes this book is the characterisation. Anna is a great main character. She’s a work-obsessed business woman and it’s hinted early on that she has a dark secret. On the surface, she seems rather cold, but as you read, you discover hidden depths to her character. When her dark secret is revealed, it’s done so in a way that is still sensitive to the character and heart-wrenching for readers. Though the secret had the capability to paint her as a villain, Anna still doesn’t seem like a villain in the reader’s eyes, despite her secret, and I think the execution of it was beautifully done. She’s definitely the villain from another (off page) character, and it just proves that the protagonist and antagonist of a story very much depends on the point of view and narrator.

Our other main character is Will, a travel journalist. We start off not knowing much about him, and Beard cleverly builds the suspense as she has us questioning whether Will really is everything that he says he is, as Anna finds evidence to support both her theories (that he’s a sex trafficker and/or that he’s investigating the sex trafficking). This back-and-forth structure as Anna tries to make up her mind, made it a compelling read, and right from the start, I found Will to be an intriguing character.

The book begins with Anna finding the body of a sixteen-year-old girl on the beach not far from her hotel in Lithuania. What follows is a dark journey into the gritty world of sex trafficking as Anna tries to work out who murdered the girl, and struggles to trust those around her.

For me, the only negative point about this book was the ending. Although all the plot points are wrapped up in a satisfying way, it felt a little rushed in places. Anna almost seems to find out the answer too quickly, after spending so much of the book deliberating, and there are no huge twists in the final section—due to the large amount of back-and-forth worrying that Anna has as she suspects other characters, the ending confirms that the bad guy is one of the people she suspected. I was expecting there to be a reveal after this that someone else close to Anna was also involved, and I feel that would’ve just made this book have the edge.

Overall, this is an engaging crime thriller and well worth the read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book and for the publisher for inviting me to be part of the blog tour with this review.

This was a pretty good read; a little slow starting out but got more intense the more into the book. A woman (Anna)on business in a country known for trafficking young girls stumbles upon a dead girl when out for a walk on a deserted beach. When no known information comes out with how she died the woman (Anna)becomes obsessed and decides she is going to dig a little deeper on her own. Only bad can come from this!

I received an advanced readers copy exchange for an honest review. This is not a psychological thriller, it’s an international crime thriller. Not my usual cuppa tea but the subject matter -trigger warning: international sex trafficking- was so interesting and I found myself getting sucked into the story. Very tropish and nothing really new here but enjoyable

Thank you to NetGalley and Legend Press for the opportunity to preview this book in exchange for my honest review.

This story starts off so well, with a body found on a beach by a business woman who is stranded in Lithuania by the Icelandic volcano eruption. It's a book full of suspense and I liked it, I just felt that it tailed off part way through, although it's eventually nicely rounded off and all loose ends wrapped up.

3 star read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Legend Press for the opportunity to read The Truth Waits before its release on November 1, 2018 in exchange for an honest review.

We meet our protagonist Anna, who appears to be a depressed workaholic. She resides in England, but, decided to take an extended work trip to Lithuania, where her factory that makes her clothing line is located. She unfortunately gets stuck in Lithuania due to the volcano that erupted in Iceland and ends up having to extend her stay. She goes out for a walk on the beach and ends up discovering the body of a dead girl washed ashore, with whom she becomes obsessed with.

Through all the chaos, she hesitantly meets a friendly couple, Gavin and Charlotte, at the hotel bar and ends up talking to them. Through sitting and talking with this couple she also gets introduced to Will, whom she takes a liking to. They end up spending a week together while stranded in Lithuania and continue to see each other in England, where they both reside. Will ends up moving in with her and we see a strange, distant relationship blossom.

It ends up that both Anna and Will have some deep, dark secrets. In the end both are innocent enough, however, as you are reading your mind takes you to crazy places with what is going on. I was upset in the beginning of the book because it seemed too predictable and that the book was going down a path of a substandard thriller. I was so wrong.

This book kept me hooked and became a quick read for me. I had to know what was going on and I became as obsessed with the dead girl Anna found on the beach as she did in the book. This was a captivating thriller that I got swept away in. I appreciated the closure at the end of the book and through all the darkness, we were given a happy ending.

This is a solid 4 star read for me. It comes out next week so pre-order it now, you won’t be disappointed. Beard does not disappoint in this fast-paced thriller. Be warned, if you are looking for a book that you will be able to put down to go to bed at night, this is not the book for you. She captivates you and makes you believe that you don’t need to sleep for the night, you need to find out what is going on with Anna and Will.

***REVIEW WILL BE POSTED AT https://bookinthebag.wordpress.com/ ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25th AT 5:08 AM PACIFIC TIME. IT WILL BE SHARED ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, AND TWITTER ON THE SAME DAY.