And So It Begins is a darkly compulsive psychological thriller with all the hallmarks of a Rachel Abbott bestseller – a provocative dilemma, richly-layered mystery, knife-edge tension, and brilliant characterization.
So this is how it ends. It is clear to me now: one of us has to die.
Mark and Evie had a whirlwind romance. Evie brought Mark back to life after the sudden death of his first wife. Cleo, Mark’s sister, knows she should be happy for him. But Cleo doesn’t trust Evie…
When Evie starts having accidents at home, her friends grow concerned. Could Mark be causing her injuries? Called out to their cliff-top house one night, Sergeant Stephanie King finds two bodies entangled on blood-drenched sheets.
Where does murder begin? When the knife is raised to strike, or before, at the first thought of violence? As Evie stands trial, the jury is forced to consider – is there ever a proper defence for murder?
About the Author: Rachel Abbott’s debut thriller, Only the Innocent, was an international bestseller, reaching the number one position in the Amazon charts both in the UK and US. This was followed by the number one bestselling novels The Back Road, Sleep Tight, Stranger Child, Nowhere Child (a short novel based on the characters from Stranger Child), Kill Me Again and The Sixth Window. Her most recent novel, Come a Little Closer, is available from February 2018.
Rachel’s novels have now been translated into over 20 languages and her books have sold over 3 million copies in the English language.
In 2015 Amazon celebrated the first five years of the Kindle in the UK, and announced that Rachel was the #1 bestselling independent author over the five-year period. She was also placed #14 in the chart of all authors. Stranger Child was the most borrowed novel for the Kindle in the first half of 2015.
Rachel splits her time between Alderney – a beautiful island off the coast of France – and the Le Marche region of Italy, where she is able to devote all her time to writing fiction. For more information, see Rachel’s website, or follow her on Twitter.
My Review: WOW – just WOW that basically is my review. Although I think I should probably try and elaborate slightly: And So It Begins is Rachel Abbott’s new standalone thriller that DOESN’T feature the dashing DCI Tom Douglas, but fear not my fellow bookworms within the first couple of chapters I actually didn’t mind or even remember who Tom is because this book is EXCEPTIONAL.
A tightly woven tale of tension, layered with lies and topped off with tragedy And So It Begins is a fantastic thriller which proves that Rachel Abbott is a very talented storyteller.
And So It Begins is narrated mainly through Evie, a young mother discovered lying next to the murdered body of her boyfriend Mark, Cleo, who is Mark’s devoted and often controlling older sister and Stephanie King the policewoman who is first on the scene at the beginning of the story. This book is split into 3 parts; the murder and the events leading up to the killing; the court-case with both the prosecution and the defence deciding on Evie’s fate and finally the story after the court ruling.
Full of dark and damaged characters And So It Begins literally had me up all night reading. Can’t wait for Rachel Abbott’s next standalone now. 5 HUGE STARS.