This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Susan Lobban
When Charlotte Jackson is knocked over by a bus it is no accident. Her mother Sue has read her diary and knows she wanted to end her life, but why? While Charlotte is in a coma, Sue delves deeper into her daughter’s private life and she begins to mistrust everyone close to Charlotte as her search for the truth intensifies. By dredging up Charlotte’s secrets, she must face her own past, which she thought was buried long ago.
Psychological thrillers are hot just now and this book certainly has all you would expect: indeterminate gender author name, turn of events that are not what it seems, flashbacks to murky past, main character neurosis. The premise of The Accident was excellent and had me hooked from the start. The fact that the chapters alternated Sue’s past with her present kept me reading, as both were equally intriguing. When one chapter ended on a cliffhanger, I would race on to find out what happened next. All in all, I was loath to put the book down.
However, Sue’s character did annoy me a little, as she would be given snippets of information from certain people, but instead of immediately asking the right questions, she would drag it out until later. The storyline was not predictable and kept me guessing, but I felt that Sue could have got the answers she needed a lot earlier. I wanted to scream: “Come on, Sue, why are you not asking that?” She really could have had the whole thing figured out had she had pressed the right person early on, but then I suppose it would have been a short book. There were also obvious red herrings thrown in, which I spotted straight away, but then, I do read a lot of thrillers.
If you are looking to dip your toe into the thriller genre pool for the first time then this book is excellent for you. However, if you are a thriller aficionado then you may be left wanting in parts. I would say C. L. Taylor is an up and coming thriller writer to watch out for in the future and I look forward to seeing what’s next.7/10