ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Her Perfect Family by Teresa Driscoll #BlogTour
I’m kicking off the blog tour for Her Perfect Family by Teresa Driscoll today. My thanks to Rhiannon Morris from FMcM for the place on the tour and for sending a proof copy of the book for review purposes. It’s published by Thomas & Mercer and is available now.
A gripping psychological thriller from the bestselling author of I Am Watching You. The perfect family? Or the perfect lie?
It’s their daughter’s graduation and Rachel and Ed Hartley are expecting it to be one of their family’s happiest days. But when she stumbles and falls on stage during the ceremony, a beautiful moment turns to chaos: Gemma has been shot, and just like that, she’s fighting for her life.
PI Matthew Hill is one of the first on the scene. A cryptic message Gemma received earlier in the day suggests someone close to her was about to be exposed. But who? As Matthew starts to investigate, he finds more and more layers obscuring the truth. He even begins to suspect the Hartleys are hiding something big―from him and from each other.
While Gemma lies in hospital in a coma, her would-be killer is still out there. Can Matthew unravel the family’s secrets before the attacker strikes again?
What if your perfect family isn’t so perfect after all? It’s the day of Gemma Hartley’s graduation with the ceremony taking place in a cathedral. Rachel and Ed, Gemma’s parents, are there, unexpectedly in VIP seats, so they have a very good view of the moment when she is shot. Yes, as she walks across to accept her certificate somebody shoots her. This shocking opener then leads to more revelations as the story progresses.
The chapters are told from the viewpoints of Gemma, Rachel and Ed, and also Matthew Hill, a private investigator I came across in one of Teresa Driscoll’s previous books. I like him as a character so it was good to catch up with him again. There’s also an unknown viewpoint, a rather unnerving one, in fact. I really liked the way the story used different perspectives to bring the story together and also the red herrings that the author threw my way with regard to the identity of the shooter.
This is a fast-paced read that kept me reading. There’s some good old-fashioned detective work which takes the investigation forward until the finale which, whilst not wholly a surprise, was one of several possibilities that I was considering. The author did a good job of dropping hints and clues (when I reflected back on the book) without making it obvious.
Her Perfect Family is a great example of a psychological thriller/police drama. It kept me guessing and kept me interested. I enjoyed reading it.
Teresa Driscoll is a former BBC TV news presenter whose psychological thrillers have sold two million copies across the world.
Her first thriller I Am Watching You hit Kindle Number 1 in the UK, USA and Australia and has sold more than a million copies in English alone.
Teresa writes women’s fiction as well as thrillers and her work has been optioned for film and sold for translation in more than 20 territories.
For decades Teresa was a journalist working across newspapers, magazines and television. Covering crime for so long, she was deeply moved by the impact on the relatives, the friends and the witnesses and it is those ripples she explores now in her darker fiction.
Teresa lives in glorious Devon with her family and blogs regularly about her writing life at her website – www.teresadriscoll.com.
