Bad things happen in threes – or so it seems to Nicola. The death of her mother-in-law coincides with husband Ed losing his job and daughter Kelly getting into trouble with the police. Time to abandon their London lifestyle and start again by the sea in far-away Cornwall.
It should be the answer to everything – a new home, a new job for Ed and a smaller, more personal school for fifteen-year-old Kelly. But the teenager hates her new life, and it doesn’t take long before events spiral out of control and the second set of bad things starts for Nicola.
Some secrets can’t be buried.
Or… can they?
At first they seem like any other family. Their contented life is disturbed by unemployment and teenage angst, but worse things can happen and do. Nicola believes a new life in Cornwall, living in the old house on the cliff which husband Ed has inherited, will help them all, but Ed is not keen and teenage daughter, Kelly, rebels.
Although written in the third person we read the point of view of each of the three character in separate chapters. Our empathy is with Nicola who will do anything for her daughter, but Kelly’s distress is understandable, and Ed is facing horrors from his childhood. Soon life falls apart for all of them. Meanwhile, next door, Dorothy, a grandmother to young Mia, is happy that her son Rob is making a new life with partner, Phoebe. Their life seems idyllic but soon they are filled with the same fear as Nicola.
This psychological thriller gradually builds up to a thrilling conclusion. Will life ever be the same for the two families? A thought provoking story questioning how much we know about other members of our family and how secrets cannot be hidden for ever.
The Runaway at Amazon UK
Lizanne lost in a good book 
Thank you so much, Liz – really glad you liked it!
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