Blurb: Linda has lived in a quiet neighborhood since fleeing the dark events of her childhood in Wales. Now she sits in her kitchen, wondering if this is all there is: pushing the vacuum around and cooking fish sticks for dinner, a far cry from the glamorous lifestyle she sees in the glossy magazines coming through the mail slot addressed to the previous occupant, Rebecca.

Linda’s husband Terry isn’t perfect—he picks his teeth, tracks dirt through the house, and spends most of his time in front of the TV. But that seems fairly standard—until he starts keeping odd hours at work, at around the same time young women in the town start to go missing.

If only Linda could track down and befriend Rebecca, maybe some of that enviable lifestyle would rub off on her and she wouldn’t have to worry about what Terry is up to. But the grass isn’t always greener and you can’t change who you really are. And some secrets can’t stay buried forever…

Wishlist book picked up from a charity shop - a lucky find eh?

A good read, but one that was little confusing at times with the way it alluded to past events (I'm not good at reading between the lines). It certainly wasn't the cosy mystery with a quirky housewife-turned-amateur-detective who turns her crossword solving skills to murder, which is what the cover blurb had me expecting.

Linda is a strange rather simple character (think Eleanor Oliphant or Elvira Carr but, for me at least, without their charm) she's a bit away with the fairies & does appear to be totally unaware of what's going on around her. While I didn't warm to her as a character there were times when it was uncomfortable, almost heart-breaking, to see how oblivious she was to how others were treating her, ( *SPOILER* the "dinner party" - my heart sank as I just knew what was coming. Poor Linda...not that she twigged....) though at other times I found her apparent naiveté irritating. The other characters are not particularly likeable either & with such a bunch of unpleasant individuals in her life it's not hard to see why Linda craved friendship & approval.

However as the back blurb says "...nothing on Cavendish Avenue is quite as it seems" & the "gloriously sinister twist" that's promised was delivered.

There were a few quotes I liked:

"You can’t take a pair of scissors to one thing and leave the rest undamaged."

"The sound of nothing ends up being the most distracting thing of all."

"When a police officer tells you there’s nothing to worry about, you know it’s time to be concerned."

"Terry says I'm forever misunderstanding the lyrics, but he doesn't realize that there are always two ways to interpret everything in life."

Added to the "Read It, Swap It, Leave It" Bookring #3

Released as part of the 2023 WHAT'S IN A NAME CHALLENGE (#1) (Di is hiding in there!)

Taken from the Read it, Leave it, Swap it Book Box.

An interesting books with a couple of plot twists that kept you guessing.

To be left at Finland Convention

A totally random pick from the book buffet! Will at least give it a go! Thank you for coming to Tampere, shepparm ❤️