Saturday 21 September 2019

BLOG TOUR: Lake Child - Isabel Ashdown


You trust your family. They love you. Don't they?

When 17-year-old Eva Olsen awakes after a horrific accident that has left her bedbound, her parents are right by her side. Devoted, they watch over her night and day in the attic room of their family home in the forests of Norway.

But the accident has left Eva without her most recent memories, and not everything is as it seems. As secrets from the night of the accident begin to surface, Eva realises - she has to escape her parents' house and discover the truth. But what if someone doesn't want her to find it?


An edge-of-your-seat, atmospheric psychological thriller for fans of Lucy Clarke and Erin Kelly.


What did I think?

What an outstanding book!  Atmospheric doesn't even begin to describe it; Isabel Ashdown perfectly conjured the landscape in Norway, so much so that I felt as if I should have been wearing snow boots and a padded jacket whilst reading Lake Child.

Eva's whole story is massively intriguing from the start; she's recovering from a mysterious accident and her parents have her locked in the attic.  I couldn't read fast enough to find out why she was locked in the attic and to discover the mystery surrounding the night she was involved in a crash.  Then just as the story reaches fever pitch, we are distracted by the interview of a grandmother of a missing baby in England that threw my mind into turmoil and made me put on my virtual running shoes to see how the two stories were linked.  I thought I saw it coming but, with an abundance of family secrets stashed in the closet, I could only see the tip of the iceberg. 

Isabel Ashdown must be part-Viking to have embraced the scandi-noir genre so expertly.  I say scandi-noir but maybe this is scandi-psych as it twisted my brain into knots with the shots of intrigue and surprise being fired at me relentlessly.  As chilly as the landscape is, the warmth of family and friendship shines through, excluding the dysfunctional family in England of course; they wouldn't have looked out of place on the Jeremy Kyle show, that's for sure.  The contrast between the two families is portrayed excellently; they really are like chalk and cheese.

Gripping from the start, Lake Child is filled with mystery, intrigue and dark family secrets.  Set against the backdrop of a cold and beautiful Norwegian landscape, it's a real ice-gripper.  A highly recommended read.

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

My rating:


Buy it from Amazon




Follow the tour:

No comments:

Post a Comment