ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – I Died on a Tuesday by Jane Corry

Posted on 24th June 2024 By Nicola

I Died on a Tuesday was published by Penguin Viking on 20th June and is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook. My thanks to the publishers for the proof copy.

THERE’S THE STORY EVERYONE BELIEVES . . .

The victim: Eighteen-year-old Janie leaving home for a new life.
The criminal: World-famous rockstar, Robbie, who harbours a shocking secret.
The protector: Witness support officer, Vanessa, desperate to right the wrongs of her past.

They tried to bury that fateful day. Now it’s back to haunt them.

. . . AND THEN THERE’S THE TRUTH.

I Died on a Tuesday is a multi-layered psychological fiction novel with three main strands, that of Janie, Robbie and Vanessa. Each has their own story to tell, their own demons to battle with and their own role to play in this book. When put together, the three narratives made for a compelling read that, despite it being a big book at 480 pages, never let up on pace and kept me interested throughout.

There are lots of short chapters so it was easy to read on to find out about Janie’s accident, Robbie’s shocking arrest and Vanessa’s past. It wasn’t always clear how each was linked to the other and there were one or two very convenient coincidences but it didn’t matter as I was along for the ride and enjoying it very much.

I always enjoy a Jane Corry book and I Died on a Tuesday was no exception. She took me into the murky depths of prison life and into the complexities of a criminal court case. She painted a moving portrait of life for Janie after the accident and flipped all that I believed about Robbie and Vanessa on its head. This is a book that is very easy to read and one that I always looked forward to picking up.

Jane Corry is a prize-winning author and journalist (Daily Telegraph and women’s magazines) who worked for three years as the writer in residence of a high security male prison. This experience helped inspire her Sunday Times Penguin bestsellers ‘My Husband’s Wife’, ‘Blood Sisters’, ‘The Dead Ex’, ‘I Looked Away’, ‘I Made A Mistake’, ‘To Tell The Truth’, ‘The Lies We Tell’, ‘We All Have Our Secrets’ and ‘Coming To Find You’. She has now sold over 1.5 million copies of her books world-wide.

Jane worked as an RLF Fellow at Exeter University and is a former creative writing tutor at Oxford University. She also writes short stories; features for The Daily Telegraph and speaks at literary festivals all over the world. Many of her ideas strike during morning dog-jogs along the beach followed by a dip in the sea – no matter how cold it is!

Jane’s latest novel ‘Coming To Find You’ reached number 7 in the Sunday Times in 2023 and is also published by Doubleday in the USA and Canada. Her new book I DIED ON A TUESDAY comes out this June (Penguin).