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Mini Reviews: Sleep Tight and The Back Road by Rachel Abbott



Book: Sleep Tight

Author: Rachel Abbott

Pages: 300

Read on: My Kindle

Read in: 3 hours

Plot Summary: When Olivia Brookes calls the police to report that her husband and children are missing, she believes she will never see them again. She has reason to fear the worst; this isn’t the first tragedy that Olivia has experienced.

Now, two years later, Detective Chief Inspector Tom Douglas is called in to investigate this family again, but this time it’s Olivia who has disappeared. All the evidence suggests that she was here, in the family home, that morning. But her car is in the garage, and her purse is in her handbag – on the kitchen table.

The police want to issue a national appeal, but for some reason every single picture of this family has been removed from albums, from phones, from computers.

And then they find the blood…

Has the past caught up with Olivia?

Sleep Tight – if you can. You never know who’s watching.

Note: We picked up both these books as a part of our Kindle Unlimited Subscription. I am working on a review post for Kindle Unlimited- wanted to try it out for a month or so to review it properly- so, look out for that pretty soon. 

Quick Review: This was an easy-breezy book. The premise is interesting and creepy-  a stalker story taken to very scary extremes. There are some interesting characters and the book moves really quickly, which is always a good thing. The writing is competent and the narrative flows quite smoothly. 
There are two twists in the plot, one that is fairly obvious and another one, which is guessable but a good one nevertheless. 

Rating: 3/5 



Book: The Back Road

Author: Rachel Abbott 

Pages: 429

Read on: My Kindle 

Read in: 4-5 hours (over two days)

Plot Summary: One girl is fighting for her life.
One village is struggling to hold tight to its secrets.

When a young girl is knocked over and left for dead at the side of the road, the small community of Little Melham goes into shock. Why was Abbie out so late at night, and why wasn't she missed?

For Ellie Saunders, the truth about that night could put her marriage and even the safety of her children in jeopardy. She has to protect her family, no matter what the consequences.

Former DCI Tom Douglas thought that Little Melham would offer a peaceful retreat from the daily trauma of his work for the Met. But as he is drawn into the web of deceit, his every instinct tells him that what happened to Abbie was more than a tragic accident.

Only one person knows the whole story - why Abbie was out that night, and who was driving the car. For that person, the accident spells disaster, and somebody has to pay.

Quick Review: This was a pretty interesting book with several interesting (hah! that word again!) gripping plot points. The book is based in a small town and so, there are a bunch of characters with their own issues, pasts and so on. The premise of a gruesome crime in a small town and the implications of having too many secrets is engaging and is executed in a fairly competent manner. 
I had two gripes with this book- first, there was a whole lot of unnecessary detail (429 pages!) and secondly, the actual perpetrator and everything this person did and got away with was way too convenient. 

Rating: 3.5/5

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