Given that we’d thoroughly enjoyed Mills’ Payback, we wanted to like this one. Like really, really wanted to. But alas! That
was not to be.
Noa Stevens is a London-based artist struggling to cope with
the loss of her wife, Kim. Plus she has not yet dealt with her brother’s
disappearance thirty years ago. Her agent, Marcus Greenly is supportive but now
finally pushing her because she has an upcoming show looming and there are no
paintings from her because she’s not produced any new work in the past four
years. As an intervention, Marcus takes her to a place in Woodbridge, Suffolk,
to get back her groove. What Marcus doesn’t share with Noa is that there are
mildly disturbing messages addressed to her referencing her brother that he has
been receiving. Paige Clarke, a district nurse, was unceremoniously
dumped by her partner, Cass. Leaving just a note for Paige to find, Cass had
driven away with their son, Isaac, towards Isaac’s sperm donor, but an accident
killed both, Cass and Isaac. When Paige meets Noa, she is drawn to the socially
awkward (to the point of rude) almost-recluse and makes an effort to bond with
Noa despite Noa. While the two women are building a relationship, the notes to
Noa continue and at the opening of her show, one of the notes finds its way to
Noa, completely derailing her.
The prologue was exciting setting stage for something exciting.
But that was about it. The mystery aspect and the whole build-up with the notes
was a complete fail. Noa is neither likeable nor someone we could understand or
empathise with. We totally failed to see her appeal to Paige, who wasn’t
half-bad. Noa never really committed to her relationship with Paige which was
evident in all her actions particularly towards the end. Paige surely deserved
better. This one fails on every count including as a romance and as a mystery.
You can safely skip this book altogether.
⭐☆
