BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'What She Knew' by Karen Long. This book was previously published as' The Cold Room'.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication date 15th March 2021.

This is the first book I have read by this author and the third book in the 'Detective Eleanor Raven' series but can be read as a standalone

I was originally drawn to this book by its beautiful eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis. The synopsis stated this book is a gripping, heart-pounding read for fans of Lisa Gardener and others. I am a huge fan of Lisa's books so am interested to see if it will live up to this statement. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of a prologue and 22 chapters. The chapters are medium to long in length.

This book is based in Toronto, Canada 🇨🇦.

This book is written in third person perspective and the main protagonists are Eleanor Raven, Mo and Laurence Whitefoot. The benefits of third person perspective are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out on anything.

A bit of mixed feelings on this one if I'm honest. The majority of the time the book is very well written with vivid and raw descriptions. However, there were quite a few occasions I found that the location and protagonists jumped from one place to another which I found quite confusing for a while. I did start getting used to this happening and think the location/protagonist 'jumps' are well placed for the storyline but perhaps a gap between would have helped. That is the only real downfall I found with the book and it may not bother others, in fact looking at a couple of other reviews I haven't seen anyone else mention it. Overall, it was very cleverly written especially the parts through the Killers perspective!!

Moving on to the storyline. The plot was very gritty, addictive and unique which I really enjoyed. I loved how all the crimes linked together and by the end everything is wrapped up nicely so there were no loose ends. The storyline is filled with action, suspense, shocks and was quite gruesome and disturbing in several places. There were several stark scenes and it completely kept me glued to the pages. It was very fast paced and I think that the ending was perfect. I loved how there were several 'background' scenarios going on as well as the main crimes as it gave the storyline more depth. There was plenty of background information on what had previously happened for the reader to be able to understand and read it as a standalone. That being said, I do think that one would get more out of the book if they had read the previous books first. I was completely shocked when I found out what was happening with a certain character and did not expect it at all so a congratulations is definitely in order there as it is not that often I am shocked anymore when it comes to who did what.

Eleanor's character is extremely strong and she is most definitely a fighter. She has gone through one hell of a lot but won't let it get to her and keeps going. She is very independent and being female myself I love seeing these strong women kicking butt in books. There was a good amount of background information in the majority of the main characters to give you a good "feel" of their personalities. The only one I found lacking was Tibbs. The rest of the characters I felt I really connected with as a reader. I really felt for Laurence and love what Eleanor did for him!! I was intrigued by the fact that we got to see so much through the Killers eyes and it was fascinating to read his thought processes and how he felt and reacted to certain things and the simplicity of how he "worked". That being said the book did make me question how much of it was down to him as an individual and to what extend a certain person influenced him and others.. Its quite hard to say what I mean without revealing too much so I will leave it at that and once you have read the book I'm sure you will understand what I mean. It was definitely thought provoking.

I am looking forward to reading more from Karen and getting to meet the characters again. I most certainly will be looking into reading her previous books in this series.

Overall a fantastically unique, suspense filled addictive page turner.

Genres covered in this novel include Mystery, Thriller and Crime amongst others.

I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of Lisa Gardener and anyone who enjoys gritty unique storylines .

304 pages.

This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

I was a bit indecisive whether to rate this 4 or 5/5. I normally give 4 if I liked a book and 5 if I loved it. I loved the storyline but due to the confusion with 'where' I was in the book I felt that should be taken into consideration when rating. Therefore I would like to rate it 4.5/5. Due to not being able to give half ratings I put it up to 5 rather than down to 4 as felt it deserved better than a 4!!

Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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A solid detective novel that will make you want the killer to be caught before there are more victims!

#WhatSheKnew #NetGalley
Unsettling.
Angela Myles hums as she lays out breakfast before the school run, when an unexpected knock on the door stops her in her tracks. But when she sees the familiar face through the peephole, she immediately tries to run with her kids out the back door. Because Angela knows her visitor, she knows why they’re here, and she’ll never give up her children.
Hours later, as the police talk softly to Angela’s terrified children, trying to unpick her last moments, they wonder what other secrets she was hiding from those around her. And then another woman goes missing. How many more will pay the price for Angela’s silence?
I loved it's characters.
I'm doing more promotion on its release date among my fellow Authors Bloggers Family Friends and followers.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me an advanced copy of this suspense thriller.