In The Dying Minutes - J.A. Baker

Everyone has their secrets, some are more deadly than others.

What is she running away from?

When Leah is involved in a train crash, she goes to a therapist, Will. He attempts to help her through the trauma but whenever Leah is in his presence, strange things occur. She suffers from hallucinations that include visions of her dead brother, Ellis. 

As Leah reveals to Will that her friends Jacob and Chloe wronged her, further flashbacks of her childhood and parts of her life she would sooner forget begin to surface, troubling Leah even more.

But what is actually bothering her and what led Leah to be on that train? 

Nothing is as it seems, and soon she will learn the heart-breaking truth… 

What did I think?

Well this was a psychological thriller with a capital P.  I love J.A. Baker books and In The Dying Minutes feels much darker than her previous books; it's tense, creepy and disturbing which makes it a goosebumpy page turner.

Leah is such a complex character that you can't tell what is real and what is in her head.  Losing her boyfriend, her job and her home in quick succession has sent her on a downward spiral with devastating consequences.  It's not a spoiler to say that Leah is involved in a train crash and I just have to mention that J.A. Baker's writing of this scene was absolutely sublime.  It's not something I ever want to experience but I felt and heard unimaginable things through J.A. Baker's powerful writing.  I don't want to go into any details but there's one thing that stuck in my mind just before the crash and it's one of those sliding doors, what if moments.  I love this sort of thing, like the twist of fate and the possibility that everyone ended up where they were supposed to be.

Although I've focused on the train crash, the story is so much more than that.  It's a deep delve into the psyche of Leah, not just through her therapist but through her own actions.  Leah is so obsessed with her ex-boyfriend, Jacob, that she stalks him and his new girlfriend, Chloe.  I really enjoyed seeing inside the mind of a stalker: the delusions, the obsession and the disturbing mental health.

What really stands out for me is the way that the format of the book seems to mirror Leah's mind.  It jumps around a bit but rather than feel confusing, it just added to the authenticity of Leah's state of mind.  There are quite a few layers of the story as we unearth Leah's past and you can't help but feel sorry for her and think how things could have been different if she'd had counselling at an early age.  The story of Leah's brother, Ellis, really got to me and I loved the final thing that linked him and Leah - I just can't say what it is!!!

Shocking, disturbing and outstanding, In The Dying Minutes is so full of surprises that I feel like I need to read it again to pick up all the nuances that J.A. Baker has woven into her exceptional story.  An intelligent and imaginative story that is highly recommended.

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

BLOG TOUR: The EX-Girlfriend - Nicola Moriarty

SHE WANTS HIM BACK. SHE WANTS YOU GONE. 

Luke is the one. After everything she's been through, Georgia knows she deserves someone like him, to make her feel loved. Safe. 

The only problem is his ex-girlfriend. Luke says Cadence is having trouble accepting their break-up, but Georgia thinks there's more to the story. She has the feeling someone is watching her. 

So when everything starts to go wrong at work, at home, in her old friendships and her happy new relationship with Luke, Georgia starts to feel afraid. 

It's becoming clear Cadence wants what she has. But how far will she go to get it? 

What did I think?

I've been meaning to read a Nicola Moriarty book for a while and The EX-Girlfriend sounded so good that it jumped right to the top of my Nicola Moriarty queue.  It's fast paced and a really easy read that is impossible to put down so I found that I raced through it in two sittings; it would have been one sitting but, rather disappointingly, I had to put it down so I could go to sleep when I was 75% through.

The prologue is entitled 'The Elevator' and it sent shivers down my spine; there's nothing worse than being in an enclosed box with someone you don't want to be in close contact with.  It could be quite innocuous but there is just something so menacing about it and that's before we even get to know the characters of Georgia and Cadence.

I really liked the character of Georgia; the youngest and only girl in a family of boys.  Although she may have been taunted and teased by her brothers when they were all growing up, I had no doubt that they would look out for her and never more so than when she brings her new man, Luke, to her brother's wedding.  The way she met Luke was rather fortuitous as she had been stood up on a Tinder date.  Georgia was just about to leave the bar when she got hassled by some beefy blokes and Luke rode in on his white horse to come to her rescue.  Fate does seem to work in mysterious ways and Georgia happily exchanged numbers with Luke.  She later finds out that Luke comes with a lot of baggage, namely his ex-girlfriend Cadence.

By the end of Chapter Two my bullshit-o-meter was going absolutely haywire.  Maybe I'm just old and sceptical but, apart from his ex-girlfriend issue, Luke seemed too good to be true.  Meanwhile, Cadence sets out on a campaign to get Luke back by stalking Georgia.  This really was very frightening and it just shows how easy it actually is to stalk people these days thanks to Social Media.  I always cringe when people 'check in' to places, sharing every minutiae of their life and not realising that they're leaving themselves wide open and vulnerable.  Georgia didn't seem to be able to go anywhere without Cadence's eyes on her and I really started to worry about how far this would go when it seemed like Cadence not only wanted Luke back, but she wanted to ruin Georgia's life in the process.

Gripping, chilling and scarily believable, The EX-Girlfriend is a firecracker of a read; I couldn't put it down.  Even if I had worked some of it out (and I'm not saying whether I had or not), it didn't spoil my enjoyment one bit and I was immensely satisfied at the girl-power ending.  Nicola Moriarty has definitely earned the full five stars for this The EX-Girlfriend and I'm even more excited to read her other books now.

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon




About the author:

Nicola Moriarty is a novelist, copywriter and mum to two small (but remarkably strong-willed) daughters. In between various career changes, becoming a mum and studying at university, she began to write. Now, she can't seem to stop. The Fifth Letter was her UK debut novel, followed by Those Other Women. 

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