By: Miranda Rijks
ISBN: 9781837564071
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Publication Date: 07/14/2024
Format: Other
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
Has her husband really left her? Or is someone playing a deadly game?
When Eva’s husband Samuel doesn’t come home from a boys’ night out, she thinks he’s sleeping off his hangover at a friend’s house. So she waits. And waits…
Eventually, he sends her a text – he’s met someone else and needs a few days to get his head together. Eva is devastated. How could he do this? How could he do it to their children? She’d thought her marriage was rock solid.
She tries to go on with her life as best she can. But then things take a truly bizarre turn…
She receives a terrifying photo of Samuel with a knife to his neck and a demand: do everything on my bucket list, or he will die.
As Eva completes the increasingly crazy demands on the kidnapper’s bucket list, every aspect of her life begins to unravel: her children are struggling, she’s not paying attention at work, and her friends and family fear for her mental health. All the while, the threats are mounting. Samuel will die. Unless…
Can Eva save her husband and children or will she lose everything that’s dear to her?
My Review
Miranda Rijks (favorite author) returns following THE GODCHILD with her latest wild ride thriller, EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE —when a husband goes missing, and a wife receives a threatening bucket list of outrageous and deadly demands in this twisty, riveting domestic suspense!
The Wife? The Lover?
Who will win in the end in this deadly, wild, twisted game of cat-and-mouse?
About...
As the book opens, we meet Eva as a teen of thirteen during one summer and an encounter with her older brother Stephen and his friends. She almost drowned. Then someone saved her.
We then jump to the present, where Eva is married and has two children. Eva is concerned that her husband did not come home from a guy's night out. She is worried, and then she receives a mysterious text.
He has met someone else and needs a few days to get it together. What the heck is going on? Is this for real?
Eva is devastated. How could Samuel do this to her and the children? The family? She thought they were on solid ground. She tries to make sense of things. Why can't they talk things out like normal couples? Why is he hiding? He says to tell the kids he is abroad for business.
Samuel has made a mistake. Something must have confused him. Perhaps he has had a head injury or something. She tries calling and goes straight to voice mail. If he were having an affair and has left her why didn't he take any of his belongings with him?
Shortly thereafter, shockingly, she then receives a horrifying photo of Samuel with a knife to his neck.
Then begins a series of questionable sinister demands, a bucket list. Threats. If Eva does not comply, her husband will DIE.
Each one is more serious, far-fetched, and bizarre than the previous one. The first one is: "SHE CANNOT CALL THE COPS." Who has Samuel's phone? Why is this happening?
She has no choice but to follow each demand, from posting false things on social media to pretending she is dating someone. However, when she gets to the last one, it is so mind-blowing that she knows something is seriously wrong!
Who is the kidnapper, and why are she and her husband targeted? What kind of sick game are they playing?
Eva's life is unraveling while trying to handle this on her own, having issues with work, and her children are struggling, wondering what is going on with their dad. She cannot tell anyone about the demands and everyone is worried about her mental health.
Who will win this twisted deadly game? How far will this sinister plan go?
My thoughts...
EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE is bold, edgy, twisty, and mind-blowing! A fun, diabolical, entertaining popcorn thriller.
A smart, wickedly plotted psychological thriller brimming with dark surprises and classic Rijks.
Told from the POVs of the wife and the lover, the author cleverly keeps you in suspense with this deliciously wicked game of cat-and-mouse before unraveling the twisted web of deceit, secrets, betrayal, and lies.
The lover's voice is a deliciously creepy perspective, crazy and spine-chilling! The demands are insane. You will be shocked at the lover's identity and how it all turns out and connects with the past. Things become INTENSE and deadly in the showdown—a clever well-plotted, unexpected twist with dark humor. Eva is smarter than the kidnappers give her credit.
As always, Miranda entertains, and I enjoyed her author's note. It's so wild that the author, at age eight, wrote a story about her ideal home and job, which became a reality with the chalet in the mountains and becoming a writer—I love the twist with the bucket list turned into a list of demands.
Recs...
For fans of the author those who enjoy a little wild and crazy, and those who enjoy authors, Daniel Hurst, Kaira Rouda, Jenova Rose, and Freida McFadden.
Thanks to Inkubator for a digital review copy via NetGalley for an honest review.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: July 14, 2024
About the Author
What would YOU do if you read your own death announcement? That’s the idea that sparked my first psychological thriller, I Want You Gone, and what fun I’ve had!
The last few years have been rather productive. Inkubator Books have published 20 of my psychological thrillers. We’ve sold over half a million books and many have hit Amazon’s best seller lists.
Just in case you’re interested, here are the reasons I’ve ended up writing psychological thrillers.
A long, long time ago, I studied handwriting analysis and wrote a self-help book called, How Compatible Are You? published by Bloomsbury. It was well-reviewed at the time and I was asked to analyse various famous people’s writing for newspapers (including a serial murderer!). Much to my amusement the book is now considered a ‘classic’ for graphologists. One of my fictional character in the Fatal series, Dr Pippa Durrant, is a specialist in lie-detection, micro expressions and graphology. She uses a few of the skills I’ve gained over the years!
In all my books I’ve drawn upon what I know. There’s the bucolic countryside of West Sussex, which was home for the first twenty years of my life and has become home again. The places I love: Switzerland, South Africa and The Peak District (which was home for 17 years). I’ve taken inspirations from my world of work (setting up, running and selling businesses in retail and leisure) and in particular, what fascinates me most: family and friend dynamics.
The one thing I’ve left behind is my experience of having cancer. In August 2015, I was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in my right femur. Apparently there is a one in three hundred million chance of getting that as a 48-year-old woman! It was undoubtedly the hardest year of my life. One day we left our home in the Peak District to move to London for treatment; I never returned. I went through eleven rounds of chemo and had my femur removed and replaced.
Knowing nothing about cancer but a fair bit about writing, I set up a blog (Brain Sparks). I was surprised that there were so few novels depicting the raw, realism of cancer treatments. There are a few fiction books out there about cancer, but they tend to end in death. Fortunately, that is not the reality for many of us diagnosed with cancer today. So I set about writing a novel that gives hope, and, drum roll please…, Don’t Call Me Brave was born.
I did a fair bit of writing before that novel. The Eccentric Entrepreneur, a biography, was reviewed in various newspapers and journals and was long listed for the cricketing book of the year. In between work, I studied for a masters degree in writing and was thrilled to be awarded a first. I’m a member of The Society of Authors and The Crime Writers’ Association.
One of the positives of getting so ill was being given the chance to re-evaluate what I really want to do. Hand on heart, I am LOVING writing novels full-time. If you enjoy reading them just a smidgen as much I enjoy writing them, I will be ecstatically happy!
Finally, please join my Facebook Group where I run giveaways, freebies and we chat about all things psychological thriller. WEBSITE
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Miranda and THE CONCIERGE!
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