Saturday 20 June 2020

2020 Reading Challenge | Under Your Skin by Rose McClelland

[AD/Gifted: I received this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

I was very kindly sent a copy of Rose McClelland's novel 'Under Your Skin' for review. I was excited about reading this one because she is a local author and the book is set in Belfast, my hometown. It is Rose McClelland's first psychological thriller, her past three novels being romantic fiction.

It is my twentieth book of 2020. Please feel free to connect with me on Goodreads where I am logging my Reading Challenge progress.

Under Your Skin by Rose McClelland - 4/5 
Blurb: When Kyle's wife Hannah goes missing, the whole town is out in force to try to find her. One person knows where she is. One person is keeping a secret.

Detective Inspector Simon Peters and Detective Kerry Lawlor have been brought in to investigate the case but Hannah has left no traces and Kyle has no clues.

Local Belfast resident Julia Matthews joins the #FindHannah campaign and becomes friendly with Kyle, sympathising with his tragedy. As Julia becomes more involved in the case than she bargained for, she begins to uncover more secrets than the police ever could.

Julia was only trying to help but has she become drawn into a web of mystery that she can't escape.

Review: This is a great first foray into the crime genre. It reads very much like an ITV thriller - which I love!

Hannah is married to Kyle and suddenly disappears. He reports her as missing to the police and a search is started. It is based in Belfast and I thought it was a bit strange at first, all these places that I am familiar with being mentioned.

A local campaign is started and members of the public go out on the hunt for any signs of Hannah but it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems. It is one of those books where you just suspect everyone and don't know who to trust.

We hear about Hannah's relationship with Kyle from the beginning and I liked that you even get some personal backstories on Detective Kerry and her work partner, Simon. It contains a few tough subjects such as domestic violence and baby loss so that's maybe something to be aware of.

The chapters switch between the points of view of Hannah, Kerry (the investigating officer), Kate (a local lady) and Julia (a woman who helps with the search) and they are very short so I was able to fly through the book quickly.

Everything is tied up well and it pretty much has everything you could ask for in a crime novel. I will definitely read more of Rose McClelland's work.

You can get your hands on a copy here and you can keep up to date with Rose on her Instagram.


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