Tuesday 28 August 2018

BLOG BLITZ: Finding Eva - J. A. Baker


Eva is desperate to find her birth parents after spending her childhood in foster care. She leaves London and heads to Whitby in search of her mother and father, after breaking up with her boyfriend, Gareth.

Gareth is furious with Eva. He loved her deeply and the disclosure she made when she ended the relationship is eating away at him.

Celia, Eva’s friend, is concerned about Eva. She has stopped answering her calls and when Celia goes to London to find her, she realises Eva has moved without telling anyone. Celia makes the decision to follow Eva to Whitby, concerned that Eva is unravelling. Both women have been damaged by their childhoods.

When Gareth also decides to go to Whitby, it is the start of a lethal situation. 

Who exactly is Eva and why is Celia so concerned?

Some relationships are toxic. Others are deadly.


What did I think?

Finding Eva is J.A. Baker's fourth novel and I found myself horrified that I seem to have missed one, something I shall need to rectify immediately.  It is only 18 months or so since J.A. Baker released her debut, Undercurrent, so it is amazing that she is currently working on her fifth novel.  What a writing machine!  So I couldn't wait to see what Finding Eva is all about.

Eva has left London and headed North to find her birth parents.  Eva has left under a cloud after breaking up with her boyfriend, Gareth, and not telling her best friend, Celia, that she was leaving.  So Gareth and Celia follow Eva to Whitby, both of them desperate to find Eva for very different reasons.  Gareth could kill Eva for what she did to him, and he just might if he gets his hands on her, but what did she do?  I certainly couldn't read fast enough to find out!  Celia, meanwhile, is quite another matter and she really creeped me out.  She sees herself as Eva's soul sister as they were both brought up in care, but with similarities in appearance, it is clear that Celia doesn't just want to be like Eva, she wants to be her.  Creepy!

With Gareth and Celia chasing down Eva, the story is told from these 3 different perspectives.  Each character has their own motivations which taints their point of view so it's up to the reader to decide which one is nearest to the truth.  I really felt for Eva as she just wants to meet her birth parents and find out why they gave her away but, after reading the first chapter, I also worried whether she had some ulterior motive for visiting Whitby.

There's always a keen sense of place in J.A. Baker's novels and Finding Eva is no exception, set on the cold and wet cobbled streets of Whitby, a little fishing village in North Yorkshire.  The setting seems to add to the suspense as Eva finds nowhere to hide, despite there being plenty of narrow alleyways and lots of people visiting during the famous goth weekend.  

I found this book a little darker and more menacing than J.A. Baker's previous novels but there is so much suspense that it's virtually impossible to put down.  Finding Eva is chilling, suspenseful, dark and menacing; it's another superb book by J.A. Baker.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:


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About the author:

J. A. Baker is a writer and reader of psychological thrillers. She was born in the North East of England too long ago to mention and has four children and a grandchild.
Her first book, Undercurrent, was published by Bloodhound Books in December 2017. Two more books followed – Her Dark Retreat and The Other Mother, all of which made it into the Amazon Kindle Top 100.
She still resides in the North East with her husband Richard and dog, Theo. She lives in a village in County Durham. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, gardening and meeting up with friends and family.
She is working on her fifth book which will be published in December this year.

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