I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh – a Review

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo/ BAM / The Book Depository

Description:
In a split second, Jenna Gray’s world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever.

Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating . .

Review:

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh is my first book by Mackintosh, and after reading this book, it will not be my last.  I Let You Go is an amazing psychological suspense thriller that had a few twists along the way that totally threw you for a loop.  

The story begins on a rainy night, when a young boy on the way home from school, let’s go of his mother’s hand  to run toward his house, and a terrible tragedy occurs.  The impact of a hit and run which took the life of the young boy is the base of this story, which changes the lives of so many people.

In the aftermath, we meet Jenna, who is struggling with the tragedy, and decides to leave town, unable to handle the heartbreak or to hear the talk about the mother being at fault.  She gets on a bus to Wales, in a small town, cutting off ties to everyone. 

We also meet Ray Stevens, who the detective handling the hit n run case.  Ray and his team try to find clues to the culprit, but there were no witnesses, making it almost impossible.  Ray is also upset that the mother has disappeared, leaving it even harder.  Kate is another detective, who works with Ray, and together they want to give the mother closure, if they can find the person resposible.  But their hands are tied, when management after a few months closes the case. Ray and Kate will work on their spare time to keep researching this case that has affected them both.

Jenna lives quietly in a remote cottage that is a bit run down.  She keeps to herself, only making a friend or two.  She now has a dog, Beau, who helps her when she is in the throes of her constant nightmares.  Eventually, Jenna will become acquainted with the local vet, Patrick, and a slow build romance will begin, though Jenna does not want any kind of relationship.  Patrick cares about Jenna, but senses her panic and fears. 

What follows is a story that builds slowly, allowing us to meet the main characters, with both perspectives.  Everything changes about close to half way through this story that will shock you with a twist which will make you go back a few pages to see if you are reading this right.  This caught me by surprise, and my initial reaction was “What!”  Needless to say, this psychological thriller became so captivating that I could not put it down.  I had to know what was happening, and as I kept reading, there were more twists that blew my mind.  Every time I thought I finally figured it out, along comes another shocker.

To say too much more would be spoilers, as so much happens the rest of the way through this exciting tense thriller.  I will say that this is so well written.  The story was fascinating, holding your breath throughout, and all the characters were great, with the exception of the villain in this story.  If this is Clare Mackintosh’s debut novel, I must read anything else she will write. If you love psychological thrillers that will force you not to miss a word,  I wholly recommend you to read I Let You Go.  It is a do not miss.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher