The Fear - C. L. Taylor

About the book… 

The million copy Sunday Times bestseller returns with a taut, compelling psychological thriller that will have you glued to the edge of your seat.

Sometimes your first love won’t let you go…

Lou Wandsworth is used to being headline news as, aged fourteen, she ran away to France with her 31-year-old teacher, Mike Hughes.

Now 32, Lou’s life is in tatters – and she resolves to return home to confront Mike for the damage he has caused. But she soon finds that Mike is unchanged, and is focussing his attention on 13-year-old Chloe Meadows.

Determined to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself, Lou decides to take matters into her own hands. But Mike is a predator of the worst kind, and as she tries to bring him to justice, it’s clear that Lou could once again become his prey…

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About the author… 

C.L. Taylor lives in Bristol with her partner and son. She started writing fiction in 2005 and her short stories have won several awards and have been published by a variety of literary and women’s magazines.

In 2014, The Bookseller named C.L. Taylor as one of the year’s Bestselling Adult Fiction Debut Authors for The Accident. The Lie and The Missing were Sunday Times top 10 bestsellers in paperback, and both books hit the #1 spot on the Kindle bestseller list. She has sold 1 million books to date.

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/callytaylor

My thoughts…

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review by Avon Cally Taylors publishers.  This is some thing I am more than happy to do.

When you see that tweet and Cally Taylor says she has submitted her final draft of a new book to her publisher the tense wait begins.  I received a copy of the book in the post and nearly died and went to heaven, it's fair to say that friends of mine who saw it on my coffee table literally died - they are totally in awe that I had my hands on The Fear before it was published!

I have loved every single one of CL Taylors books ever since I read The Lie and went to the book Launch in London - to hear her talk about the writing process and back story to the plot was incredible.  Each of her books take her up another notch in the WOW stakes.  How high can she go, there seems to be no limit.  The depth of feeling and emotion that is evoked when reading any of her novels is beyond palpable.

The Fear is centred around Lou a young woman who, as a fourteen year old thought she was in love with her 31 year old Judo instructor Mike, they runaway to France at his instigation and when the police catch up with him he is sentenced and sent to jail for a pitiful five years.  At fourteen, Lou couldn't see he was grooming her, he was able to because her esteem was low and her home life was a mess.  

Lou hadn't been back to her home town in fifteen years since her mum left her dad and they moved to London.  She returns, her father has dies and she moves back to her childhood home to confront Mike - she wants him to see how he ruined her life.

Her first glimpse of him on her return is like a camera shutter snapping closed - he's there, older, less fit but other than that unchanged - she's glimpses him kissing a young girl. This tips Lou over the edge and her life unravels as she sets out to save the girl from the life she has had to live because of Mike.  Little does she know she is really trying to save fourteen year old self.

Cally Taylor took me on a dark twisted journey that made my heart bump with fear, Lou is very vulnerable both emotionally and physically.  Her childhood home is remote and out of range of mobile signals, not an ideal place to entice her 'nemesis' yet at the same time the perfect place. 

This is a book that will touch your heart, will make you gasp and cry out, the sheer emotion leaps from the pages with Lou teetering on the edge, she thinks she wants to stop history repeating itself and isn't aware how vulnerable she still is herself. It's shocking yet true to life, a story that we have sadly seen the basis of previously in the news. When actions are driven by emotion and that emotion is fear and revenge anything is possible. I'm sure I stopped breathing several times as I read The Fear - a title that is perfect for the emotions and feelings evoked for both the characters and readers alike.

I highly recommend this book, C. L. Taylor is an author to put on your favourites list she has a writing style that is dark and twisted yet demonstrates an insight into the complex psyche of people that we live alongside every day.

The Escape - C L Taylor

About the book… 

The new psychological thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Accident, The Lie and The Missing.

"Look after your daughter's things. And your daughter…"

When a stranger asks Jo Blackmore for a lift she says yes, then swiftly wishes she hadn't.

The stranger knows Jo's name, she knows her husband Max and she's got a glove belonging to Jo's two year old daughter Elise.

What begins with a subtle threat swiftly turns into a nightmare as the police, social services and even Jo's own husband turn against her.

No one believes that Elise is in danger. But Jo knows there's only one way to keep her child safe – RUN.

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About the author… 

C.L. Taylor lives in Bristol with her partner and young son. She started writing fiction in 2005 and her short stories have won several awards and been published by a variety of literary and women’s magazines. Cally has a degree in Psychology, with particular interest in abnormal and criminal Psychology. She also loves knitting, Dr Who, Sherlock, Great British Bake Off and Margaret Atwood and blames Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected for her love of a dark tale.

Her dark psychological thriller THE ACCIDENT was published in the UK by Avon HarperCollins in April 2014 and as BEFORE I WAKE in the US in June 2014 by Sourcebooks.

Her second psychological thriller THE LIE was published in the UK in April 2015. It became a Sunday Times bestseller and hit the #1 slots on Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play and Sainsbury ebooks. It will be published in the US in June 2016.

CL's third psychological thriller THE MISSING was published in April 2016 and was another Sunday Times and ebook bestseller. 

Contact Links: 

www.twitter.com/callytaylor 

www.instagram.com/CLTaylorAuthor 

www.facebook.com/CallyTaylorAuthor

My thoughts…

I was given a copy of C. L. Taylor's latest book The Escape in exchange for an honest review, something I am more than happy to provide.

I have read all of Cally's books and the time in-between finishing one and the next being published is torturous. She is an author that gets inside your mind with characters that are engaging and demand to be heard.

The Escape was a book that I flew through, I lost all sense of time as I flicked through the pages at a rate of knots as the lives of Max and Jo Blackmore and their daughter Elise unravelled.

They are a family that are no strangers to heartbreak and tragedy having lost their first child Henry, their second chance with daughter Elise should be glue that holds them together when in actual fact the very fabric of their family is fractured. Both trying to live their lives together but, are in fact; very much apart. Living lives with increasing difficulty by Max and his job as an investigative journalist and Jo with her panic attacks and agoraphobia. 

To say this was an intense, fast paced read would be an understatement.  I picked this book up and literally didn't put it down until I had read the very last page.  Jo is living a manic existence and her life finally starts to unravel after reluctantly offering - though offer wouldn't really be the right way to describe the situation, a stranger a lift.   She finds herself racing against the clock to pick her daughter up from nursery and in a situation she clearly doesn't feel comfortable in - reluctantly agreeing to giving a lift to a person who once in the car - makes threats and demands of Jo, telling her to keep her daughter safe and telling her to pass a message to her husband Max telling him to return what he took!

The sheer desperation of Jo as she struggles to understand the situation she finds herself in leaps off the page and she appears to be slowly going mad.  There are so many twists and turns I couldn't decide who to trust and see-sawed back and forth trying to decide who was on Jo's side and who was double crossing her. 

A mother will go to any lengths to protect her child and Jo's ability to do just that is stretched beyond belief.  Cally Taylor is an author with huge insight and attention to detail,  She has a writing style that is dark and twisted yet demonstrates an insight into the complex psyche of people and situations that makes every chapter plausible and real.

My heart literally broke in two whilst reading this book, the pain and shear desperation shone through this novel as true stories both past and present became apparent.  

I highly recommend this book to all readers of psychological thrillers who will appreciate the sharp eagle eye of an author who is going from strength t strength with each book published.  I lent this book to a friend before I read it and a couple of days later burst through my front door hardly able to speak ' this is book of the year, you have to read this now!'.  Gill, I have to agree an easy five stars from me!