I found this book just didn’t grip me and didn’t leave me wanting more. I do however like Kerry’s writing style.

Abigail "Abi" Coyle left her small town of Elwood and moved to London when she was 18. She returned 20 years later to bury her father. On the way back to her childhood home, which is now hers, she heard tires screeching and saw an upturned bicycle. The child, who was hit, was the son of her childhood best friend, Jo. The search is on for the hit and run driver.

I love Kerry Wilkinson's books but this was not a favorite. I did not care for any of the characters. Abi seems to drink a lot of vodka straight from the bottle and do not much of anything else except jump to her friends' commands. At the end of the book, I felt there were loose ends which had not be tied up. It also seemed redundant at times. I will give it a 3-1/2 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a good read this was
So true you can pick your friends but not family
Abi returns home after a long period and it all goes peat shaped
First the hit and run , then the ex and his wife
She ends up back in the life of her best friend due to the hit and run and it all ends up a big mess
Then she finds out about the extra family member
It was a good read , never put it down
Five stars

I’m a huge fan of Wilkerson’s Jessica Daniels series, but have more hit or miss luck with his stand alones. This one was more of a miss for me.
Abi Coyne suddenly left her hometown years ago and never returned. Now, her father has died and she’s come back. She’s no sooner back in town when she witnesses the hit and run accident that leaves an 8 year old boy in critical care. She’s not only dealing with the police, but also seeing high school friends she hasn’t seen for decades.
Abi is an unknown. The reader quickly learns she has a drinking problem. But we don’t know why she left.
I couldn’t buy her friend, Jo, the mother of the boy, deciding to carry on her own investigation. I kept waiting for the book to grab me, but it never did. It dragged. There was never any sense of real tension. I didn’t figure out who hit the boy, but I also just didn’t care. There were some twists, but they felt totally forced. And on top of that, the characters just felt flat to me. So, better luck next time Kerry.
My thanks to netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of this book.

I had higher hope for The Child Across the Street by Kerry Wilkinson, but this one fell short for me. I felt like the whole book was extremely slow and once it picked up at the end, everything was rushed. I couldn't connect with any of the characters either. I gave it 3 stars because I have enjoyed a couple other books by this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. All opinions are my own.

This book was okay. It was a quick read and easy to follow. However, my biggest problem is that the narrator seemed to lack any sort of personality. We learn about her past and she observes and reports things going on around her. Because of this, I didn’t feel much of a connection to her or the sorry. Also, the stakes in the narrative just didn’t seem that high. A boy is the victim of a hit-and-run and winds up in a coma, which is certainly serious, but I never got the sense that anyone else was in danger, so finding the culprit just didn’t seem urgent. Finally, there were some unbelievable plot points, like a character easily breaking a long-held addictive habit and a character meeting someone new and immediately trusting and loving her. It was interesting enough that I don’t regret reading this, but I wouldn’t recommend it to others.

The story Was well written with a great plot, believable characters, and suspense that held my interest to the end. I enjoyed the read and recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.

So far, I've read eight books by this author - on purpose. So when I got the chance to snag an advance copy of this one, I didn't even think once about requesting it. And even though it comes as no surprise, once again I'm a very happy reader.

Abigail (Abi) Coyle has returned to the childhood home she left some 20 years ago, but not because she misses the place so much. Her father has died and, as the only child, bequeathed her his house (her mother left them years ago, and her father got a divorce on the grounds of abandonment). Abi doesn't want to be here, but she needs to finalize funeral arrangements and check the contents of the house.

On the way there, wheeling her suitcase down the street next to a park, she's startled to hear car brakes squeal. The car quickly moves on - seen only as a brief glimpse - and Abi turns her attention to the side of the road. First, she sees a damaged bicycle wheel; then, something more horrifying appears: the body of a young boy. It appears he's still breathing, and Abi wastes no time calling the proper authorities. The boy is rushed to the hospital, and it turns out to be Ethan, the son of one of Abi's childhood friends.

Dad's home is nothing short of a mess, and Abi vows to avoid being in it as much as possible. But there's nowhere much better to stay, and Abi has left her job in London to come here and can't afford to waste money on overnight lodging. So, she stays in her old bedroom - now musty and dusty - while she begins to sort through all the "stuff" her father has hoarded over the years. At one time, she's certain someone was trying to get in the house, but nothing comes of it. Maybe, she surmises, someone wants to find out how much she knows about the hit-and-run driver who hit the boy (which realistically is practically nothing).

Over a period of a couple of days, Abi meets up with several other childhood friends, including an ex-boyfriend who's now married with kids (much to the chagrin of his wife). Memories start flowing back - most of them more than enough to convince Abi that she wants no part of living in this backwoods community ever again - even when she meets an intriguing new-to-her character who brings a surprise of a lifetime. Still, she's concerned about the accident victim, his family and the identity of that errant driver - clues lead to several possibilities - so she pokes around while the house is being cleaned out and readied for sale.

My only disappointment, and it's a very minor one, is that I wanted to know more specifics about what happened in Abi's childhood. It's easy to see why she's estranged from her runaway mother, but she has zero use for her father, either - and what he did to deserve her wrath isn't fully explained. Still and all, this is another of the author's don't-want-to-put-down books, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the chance to read and review it. Good job once again!

This is my first book from Wilkinson so I can't compare it to others but I did see he has a lot of highly rated books. At first I really liked his writing style - he kept the pace fast and did a great job with the creepy feel. However as I kept reading I found there to be a lot of filler, esp with Abi's thoughts, that made me just waiting for something to happen. So overall I would say I had mixed feelings on this book - it had potential but just ended up average. I'm interested to give another Wilkinson book a try though to see if it appeals to me more.

On the whole this book has promise. The blurb is inviting and the cover striking. However at times the pace felt lacking and I did skip a few chapters sadly.

A book by Kerry Wilkinson equals a good book. He has the ability of mixing a great writing style with a bit of humor and lots of suspense and does not shy away from twisty additions.

The author offers the readers a wide range of suspects to choose from and each and everyone of them seems to fit the bill. This makes your head spin and you can put the blame on your favorite baddie. Does this mean though that they really were responsible or did the writer manage to keep it wrapped up until the end?

It was fun slowly pealing away every layer in order to find out the truth. My money was on the wrong horse, yet again.

I have read stories by him that are more creepy than this one, but that certainly does not mean that I did not enjoy it. Entertainment is what I seek in books and that is what I got. Mission accomplished. :) 4 stars.

Thank you, Kerry Wilkinson and Bookouture

Great cover and interesting blurb, I was thrilled to be approved for The Child Across the Street.

Abi returns to her childhood hometown to settle affairs when she learns of her father's death. On her way to the house, she witnesses a hit-and-run; someone has hit the 8 year old son of one of her oldest friends and left him for dead. As Abi reunites with her friends and works through her own emotions of being back in a place wrought with painful memories, she finds herself becoming more invested in solving the crime--even if she has to risk her own safety to do it.

This is the first Kerry Wilkinson book I read but it certainly won't be the last. While this is set in a small British town, this could easily have been about my own childhood in the 90s. A few close friends, pretending to be Spice Girls, (I even admittedly had the All Saints CD when that came out), I found Wilkinson's portrayal of young friendship to be authentic and nostalgic. Abi's conflicted emotions about returning to her hometown, I found super relatable. I'm from a small town in upstate NY. My entire family lived within a mile of each other. I knew pretty much everyone in my grade. Rumors spread fast and people tended to fall into two categories: stay forever, or leave and never come back. For me, this struck a chord, and if I'm being honest, I was most interested in these introspective moments; they came alive in a way that the overarching mystery of the hit-and-run did not.

The story itself is well-paced and full of suspects. There's plenty of motive to go around, and I found the exploration of different possibilities to be fun and intriguing. Abi's a solid MC with flaws and a tragic back story that you can't help but root for. She's self aware and stubborn in her goals and manages to find a middle ground between recovered and self-destructive. I wish there had been a bit more development of Ethan's character, as the hit-and-run used him as more of a point to propel the plot than actually give him a voice. And while I wasn't surprised by the ending, I found it enjoyable.

Overall, The Child Across the Street is a fun, fast-paced read with a delightfully-suspicious cast of characters. I'd recommend this title to anyone looking for a throwback friendship, a light suspense without too much gore, or anyone who's a fan of intrigue over crime (Big Little Lies, The Husband's Secret, etc.). Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

I love this author but in some places it drags on.
I enjoyed the story but wished it was a bit more fast paced. Is great that I managed to read the book
!

Twenty years after she left, Abigail Coyne returns to her hometown of Elwood to sort out her Dad’s funeral. As unhappy memories flood back all she wants is to leave quickly as possible.

As she nears her house, Abi witnesses an horrific accident - a small boy being thrown off of his bike due to a car out of control. She goes to him and finds he has broken bones and bleeding but is alive. She calls 999 for help. She shocked to discover that the boy is the son of one of her best friends, Jo, from her childhood.

She reluctantly reconnects with her old friends but constantly feels that someone is watching her. Someone who knows that she is the only one who saw the accident.

The plot was nice but at times in between it was slightly dragged, so my attention wavered sometimes. But apart from that it was a good mystery with interesting twists and turns at the end!

Thank You to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!!

Abi arrives back in her hometown following the death of her father and on the day of her arrival witnesses a hit and run. She can’t be completely sure of the details and this could be partly down to her long journey home, or, her obvious drinking problem.

What follows is a suspenseful read as Abi feels more and more uncomfortable in her old family home and the fact that someone appears to be watching her. Who can she trust? And who was the driver of the car?

I really like this author and have read many previous novels. This didn’t grab me fully and I found it dragged in places. However, I did stick with it as I was keen to learn the outcome. Overall a good read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview..

Thank you Netgalley, Bookoutoure and Kerry Wilkinson for this advanced copy.

Abigail returns to her childhood home after she hears her father has passed away. She returns to deal with the funeral and sale of the house, but wants to leave as soon as possible as being back in Elwood brings back sone bad childhood memories.

Her first day back, as she's walking down the street, she hears the screeching of tires. She looks up to see a car speeding away but doesn't think anything of it until she reaches the end of the street and sees the overturned bike. And laying beneath the bike is a young boy.

From this day on Abi tries to figure out who hit the boy, are her friends still her friends, was her childhood boyfriend involved all the while dealing with her own demons. Someone knows she saw what happened, and someone wants to shut her up for good!

Overall a good story. I love this author's previous work so I had high hopes for this book. This one was not as solid or engaging as some of his previous work but despite that I had to know how it ended so I kept reading. I rounded up to 3.5 because I like this author.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Unfortunately it wasn’t the right book for me. Well it started out interesting I lost interest and skipped forward to the end just to find out what happened. Then when I found out it was kind of blah. So much description and so many unrelated things were going on.

Was overall a good story. Great author that I've read before. Was well written and easy to follow the characters. A solid read but not Unputdownable for me as dome of her other books.

Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for an early release of this book.

What happens when you leave home, determined to never return, only to return and face the past? Old friends, old memories, nothing worth returning for. But your father passes away and you have to return to settle the estate. Upon your arrival, you come across a young boy who was hit by a car and left for dead. You call the police and from there, the past seems to be connected to everything. But how to past behind you and move forward when even the future is tied to the past.

A good mystery that kept me guessing until close to the end. Kerry Wilkinson does a great job in their book, the first I have read by him. I will have to check out more of his works.

I enjoy reading Kerry Wilkinson novels, especially the excellent Jessica Daniel series so was really looking forward to this stand alone thriller.

Following the death of her father, Abigail Coyne returns to her hometown of Elwood after leaving 20 years ago. Abi has inherited her fathers house following his death and returns to Elwood to deal with the sale but also she feels there are other things that need to be addressed. 

On her arrival she witnesses an accident, an 8 year old boy is thrown off his bike when an out of control car hits him. Abi is first at the scene and discovers the badly injured boy and calls emergency services. The eight year old boy is identified and Abi discovers that he is the son of her childhood friend. Following the accident Abi feels that she is being watched and makes her feel uneasy. Is her past coming back to haunt her, is she under threat. 
I love the easy writing style of Kerry Wilkinson but unfortunately this book didn't grab me like many of his other books. I can see going by other reviews that there are plenty of people who disagree with my opinion and sure the book will be successful. It certainly doesn't put me off the author and to prove it instantly started another one of Kerry Wilkinson's books which I have to admit I am enjoying far more.

I would like to thank both Net Galley and Bookouture for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.