Tag Archives: CL Taylor

#BookReview ‘The Escape’ by @callytaylor #thriller

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The Escape by CL Taylor fairly gallops along without time to take a deep breath. It is a tale of escape, pursuit, lies, vulnerability, long-hidden secrets and selfishness. At times I didn’t know which character to believe and I didn’t particularly like any of them. I wanted to sit them down at the kitchen table with a mug of tea and a plate of biscuits, and bang their heads together. There appear to be so many lies it is difficult to sift out the truth, which became a little frustrating after a while. In the end, there are many types of escape. CL TaylorJo and Max have a toddler daughter Elise. Max, an investigative journalist, has just completed a long-running story which resulted in a conviction, and he is jubilant. Jo, who became agoraphobic after the loss of their first child Henry, lives from day to day, her small world surrounding Elise. Jo feels Max is less sympathetic to her condition than he used to be. Max tries to be patient but is finding it increasingly difficult. Into this fragile world steps Paula, a stranger, who threatens Jo and Elise. The first crack appears as Max doubts Jo’s judgement of the threat. Is she panicking again, exaggerating it, imagining it?
Faced with danger to her child, Jo runs. That is the escape of the title. The agoraphobia which made it a trial to take her daughter to nursery every day fades as, driven by her maternal defence mechanism, she packs Elise into her car and flees to Ireland. Ireland, we know vaguely, is where her mother came from years ago but of which she will not speak. More mystery. As she runs, Jo appears more unbalanced, sees threats on all sides and is forever planning escape routes. But where is the danger actually coming from? Is she seeing clearly, could it be that some of the lies which frighten her are actually the truth? And vice-versa. Is she a reliable witness? The need for flight seems to over-ride all historic connections of love and trust, she runs from the people who try to help her. So, is she misguided, confused? Or correct? And in escaping with Elise, in all good intentions to protect her daughter, is she putting her two-year-old daughter in further danger of her life?
This is a psychological thriller which asks some difficult questions. About how we react to stress, how our judgement of others can be influenced, and when to trust your own deep-seated instincts.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON

Read my reviews of these other thrillers by CL Taylor:-
THE ACCIDENT
THE LIE

If you like this, try:-
‘One Step Too Far’ by Tina Seskis
‘The Accident’ by Chris Pavone
‘The Last of Us’ by Rob Ewing

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE ESCAPE by @callytaylor http://wp.me/p5gEM4-2Tj via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘The Lie’ by @callytaylor #thriller

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The title implies this story hinges on one big lie, but actually there are a number of lies told. The Lie by CL Taylor is an examination of the group dynamic between four girlfriends who go on holiday together, seeking catharsis and finding horror. CL Taylor Before, during and after the holiday there is friction and bitching but once in Nepal they find betrayal, lies, bullying, intimidation and violence. Then five years later, the past threatens again.
The story is told in parallel – now, as Jane, who works at an animal rescue centre, receives a mysterious letter; and five years earlier, when Jane [then called Emma] went to a yoga retreat in Nepal with her friends, Daisy, Al and Leanne. When Emma starts to be suspicious of the retreat and the people who run it, it is too late to escape.
Unfortunately I didn’t connect emotionally with Jane or her three friends. I found them unsympathetic at the beginning and inter-changeable, which meant it was longer before I ‘got’ the book. The age of the friends, and their partying, made this feel more like a chick-lit book than CL Taylor’s debut, The Accident. A yoga retreat in Nepal seemed an expensive place for the four of them to go, and when they arrive it is shabby and short of food: all things which set my alarm bells ringing.
It will make you never want to go on a yoga holiday.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON

Read my reviews of these other thrillers by CL Taylor:-
THE ACCIDENT
THE ESCAPE

If you like this, try:-
‘Stolen Child’ by Laura Elliot
‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn
‘The Fine Art of Invisible Detection’ by Robert Goddard

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE LIE by @callytaylor http://wp.me/p5gEM4-24L via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘The Accident’ by @callytaylor #thriller

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The Accident by CL Taylor is the story of an abusive relationship, an accident and a mental breakdown. The action takes place in 1990-1992 and the present day. The tension winds up in both strands so you don’t want to put down the book. I found myself picking up my Kindle every spare five minutes, just to read a few more pages. There is a sense of expectant horror: ‘surely that’s not going to happen,’ ‘surely she’s not going to do this, or that.’ CL TaylorCharlotte, the fifteen year old daughter of Sue and Brian Jackson, is in a coma. Apparently she stepped off the pavement in front of a bus. As Sue and Brian sit by their daughter’s hospital bed, they disagree about what happened. Brian thinks it’s an accident, Sue worries Charlotte had some sort of problem she couldn’t discuss with her parents. And so begins the re-telling of Sue’s dark past, about the demons she struggles with, and the determination she has to fight the past interfering with her present life. The unravelling of the truth puts pressure on the Jacksons’ marriage and Sue’s sanity. The two parents deal with the tragedy in their own way and Sue, emotionally vulnerable, starts to imagine all sorts of scenarios.
From the first page, the pace is fast. “Coma. There’s something innocuous about the word, soothing almost in the way it conjures up the image of a dreamless sleep. Only Charlotte doesn’t look as though she’s sleeping to me.” It is every parent’s nightmare: an accident, a coma. But Sue must unravel the mystery without any help from Charlotte.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON

Read my reviews of these other thrillers by CL Taylor:-
THE ESCAPE
THE LIE

If you like this, try:-
‘Jellyfish’ by Lev D Lewis
‘The Bone Church’ by Victoria Dougherty
‘Wolf Winter’ by Cecilia Ekback

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE ACCIDENT by @callytaylor http://wp.me/p5gEM4-Wj via @SandraDanby