I Let You Go

This book seemed to be prominent on bookshelves over the last year, it's presence always hovering and intriguing me as this author's debut seemed to have gripped so many other readers I decided it was worth a try.

The opening of the book immediately takes us into the story as the opening chapter walks us through the hit and run that kills young 6 year old Jacob whilst his mother walks him home from school. The driver fleeing the scene is shocking and the heart wrenching grief of his mother means we are instantly engaged in the characters and the resolution of the crime which has left this innocent young boy dead.

From there we are led into alternating chapters between the police officers investigating the incident and trying to piece together what happened and that of Jenna, who having lost her son is fleeing her grief and running away to a small Welsh village to escape her past. It is clear the police are having no luck finding the perpetrator of the crime and we follow them over the course of a year as they seek to find new leads whilst the victim's mother has fled her home seeking to forget the incident.

Many of the reviews I read of this book spoke of amazing twists in the tale approximately half way through and said it's story ‘blew them away', maybe I was reading a different book as from the outset I had pretty much gathered what this major ‘twist' was going to be and also how this arc in the story was going to then be played out.

The character of Jenna is written really well and I can understand why people become so engaged in her story of grief and distress. As a character I really liked her and was invested in her seeing justice, I wanted her to be able to see the person who killed her child brought to justice. I liked the small Welsh village she escaped to and the people she met there and how they all closed ranks around her and helped her start again.

For me I could only give this book 3 stars because whilst I enjoyed it there wasn't the same sense of suspense I'd been led to believe the book would give me. It didn't take me somewhere I wasn't expecting to go. The clues were there in the chapters if you read closely enough you would guess where the story was headed and I wish the secrets had been guarded a little more closely so as to hit me more unexpectedly.

The other reason I only gave a 3 star review was the ending of the book and the revelation of the true story and reasons for the hit and run had one aspect that left me feeling the author had tried one twist too far. There was a link between victim and driver that didn't need to be there, it didn't make it feel real for me.

I'm trying very hard in this review not to give away anything more about the story of this book than is absolutely necessary because whilst there were aspects I didn't enjoy there was much to like about the book and it is worth reading if you've enjoyed thrillers such as The Girl on The Train or Gone Girl.