Review: The Life I Left Behind by Colette McBeth

The Life I Left Behind by Colette McBeth
Publisher: Headline
Release date: 01 January 2015
Rating: *****
Back cover blurb:  

Everyone tells her she's a survivor. 

No-one knows she's dead inside. 

She's dead but she's the only one who knows what really happened; 

What your friends have said.

What the police missed.

Who attacked you.

So if you want the truth who else are you going to turn to?





Ever since I finished 'Precious Thing' I've been looking forward to reading 'The Life I Left Behind'. Colette McBeth writes brilliantly, and has a way of drawing you into her work and keeping you gripped until the very last page.

The Life I Left Behind is told from three main persepectives; Eve (a murder victim), Melody (left for dead by Eve's attacker years previously) and DI Victoria Rutter (investigating officer on Melody's case).

The novel opens with a ten year old boy discovering his mothers lifeless body. You get the sense that it is crucial to the story but you don't quite know why.

Fast forward to the present day and a dog walker stumbles across Eve's body, DI Rutter is called in as part of the investigation, and she immediately sees similarities between Eve's murder and the attempted murder years previously of Melody Pieterson.

Both girls were blonde, slender and full of life, and both were found clutching a distincive and rare necklace-the key to the police enquiry. But what if that police enquiry were botched, and the attempted murder of Melody not properly or fully investigated?

What if the police convicted a man because he was unfortuate enough to be in the right place at the right time. When Melody hears of Eve's murder on the local news she is convinced it is her attacker striking again after his release from prison. But as she learns about the case she begins to question everything and everyone around her. Who is telling the truth? Who can she trust? or does she just need to go back and start again - the life she left behind?

The Life I Left Behind is much more than a 'whodunnit', it is a beautifully written novel that will keep you guessing until the very end.

 

 The Life I Left Behind is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

    Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.