Simon Lelic

**** SPOILER ALERT****

This one went down hard. I couldn't get into this at first.....by the time things get interesting, I was over halfway through the book.

The long short.....a couple...Jack and Sydney.....are buying a home...basically, they got a deal that seems to good to be true. You soon realize this isn't a fairytale couple....Sydney has a dark past filled with drug abuse, a dead sister and a severely abusive Father, who is currently in prison.

Sydney meets a young girl in the show more neighborhood who is also being abused. Weird things start happening...the storyline leads you to believe they could be paranormal....instead, you soon learn Sydneys Father is out of prison and harassing them. Plot twist and drama ensue. All said and done, it comes to light that Sydney killed Elsie dad to frame her Father.

The problems?......where do I start?....Lets see, the characters were unlikable.....Jack was the only somewhat redeeming addition....but even he was annoying in his weakness. Sydney is supposed to be a victim, but she just comes across as a whiney and entitled psychopath. The fact that you're obviously supposed to sympathize with her, and end the book on a happy note...her and Jack survived, they're still together, Elsie is safe..... all is well that ends well....just doesn't sit right. She planted evidence against her boyfriend at the crime scene....had her little plan backfired, he would have spent his life in prison for murder......just so she could get revenge on her dad and kill Elsie's? Why is this ok? There's also the fact that she still talks and thinks like a psychopath!

Nope, I ended up just feeling aggravated and disappointed with this one. show less

THE LIAR’S ROOM is a dark and unsettling thriller about a woman’s secret past that returns to haunt her.

Susanna is a therapist and mother to 14-year old Emily. Years ago she ran away from her old life after a devastating incident, hoping no one would find out. For 14 years her old identity stayed hidden, until a session with a new client named Adam threatens to destroy everything.

This was a fast-paced, enjoyable (yet disturbing) book that put me on edge. Who is Adam really? What is show more Susanna is hiding? I may have jumped ahead to get a quick peek because the suspense was killing me! Both main characters are downright flawed, so often times I wasn’t sure who I should sympathize with. To me the ending was sad yet satisfying, probably the best case scenario considering. I couldn’t put this one down!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

In Simon Lelic’s gripping novel The Child Who, 12-year-old Daniel Blake has murdered 11-year-old Felicity Forbes. The act is inexplicable, morally repugnant and by any standard indefensible, and yet Daniel, having been arrested, is entitled to a defence. By chance, the case lands on the desk of solicitor Leonard (Leo) Curtice. Leo, intimidated by the heinous nature of the offence, initially approaches Daniel tentatively, expecting a monster. But it is not long before he is seduced by show more Daniel’s youth, genuine remorse, and outward appearance of naïve innocence, and he quickly finds himself firmly in sympathy with the boy. The case soon spills over into his private life: not only is he arguing on Daniel’s behalf with colleagues at the law firm who would be happy to see Daniel swing for his crime, he is also forced to defend his role as Daniel’s advocate to his wife Megan and daughter Ellie. Despite a groundswell of public rage fuelled by an increasingly intrusive media, he forges ahead in the belief that a convincing and compelling argument exists on which he can build a case for either leniency or institutional confinement instead of imprisonment. Then, with his search for just such an argument faltering, letters start to arrive threatening harm. Angry with everyone for abandoning Daniel to a heartless and unforgiving judicial system, heedless of the consequences of his actions, he can only watch as his life spins out of control. Then the worst happens. Lelic’s edgy narrative, inspired in part by the James Bulger case, is not an easy read. It compels us to imagine what drives one child to kill another. Lelic depicts Daniel as lost and confused. Despite our knowledge of what he has done, rather than condemn him as a willing perpetrator of a horrendous criminal act, our inclination is to pity him as a victim of impulses he can neither control nor understand. To his credit, Lelic does not attempt to push the reader toward any kind of conclusion. The Child Who occupies the grey middle-ground of the moral arena. Obviously, Felicity did not deserve what happened to her. But the difficult question that the reader will continue to ponder is: Does Daniel deserve what happens to him? In the end, only the reader can decide if justice has been served. show less

THE NEW NEIGHBORS is a dark and creepy thriller-ish novel about a couple whose “dream” home is anything but. The book ended up being so much more than what the blurb hinted at. It was deeper, more emotional, and more distressing! Told in a dual narrative, the story alternates between Jack and Syd, the new owners of this perfect London house that they seem to have come by too easily.

Much of their narrative is told in journal form, with Jack and Syd writing to each other – and to the show more police – about the troubling and tragic things that have happened since buying the house, and in their separate lives before, which led them to this point. The style was a little confusing at first, but after a couple of chapters I was hooked. Jack and Syd were well-drawn and compelling characters I could easily empathize with.

THE NEW NEIGHBORS was a fast-paced riveting read for me. I loved the eerie tone throughout – felt like a gothic thriller. Hard to put down and original!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less