One woman’s secret is her neighbour’s opportunity.
Ailsa Tilson moves with her husband and children to Trinity Fields in search of the new.
New project – a house to renovate. New people – no links to the past. New friends – especially her next-door neighbour, the lonely Verity, who needs her help.
Verity has lived in Trinity Fields all her life. She’s always resisted change. Her home and belongings are a shield, a defence to keep the outside world at bay. But something about the Tilsons piques her interest.
Just as her ivy creeps through the shared garden fence, so Verity will work her way into the Tilson family.
And once they realise how formidable she can be, it might well be too late.
About the Author:
Sabine Durrant is a journalist and the author of the best-selling HAVING IT AND EATING IT and the CONNIE PICKLES series of children’s books. Her first psychological suspense novel, UNDER YOUR SKIN, was published by Hodder in the UK and Simon & Schuster in the US in 2014. Her second, REMEMBER ME THIS WAY, was also published by Hodder in the UK and Simon & Schuster in the US in 2015. Both novels have been translated into more than 12 languages. Her third novel, LIE WITH ME, a Richard & Judy pick and Sunday Times bestseller, was published in July 2016. Her new novel TAKE ME IN, was published 28 June 2018
Sabine has written for the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph. She lives in south London with her partner, the writer Giles Smith, and their three children.
My Review:
I’ve adored Sabine Durrant’s previous books and was delighted to be invited on to the blogtour for her latest thriller Finders, Keepers.
Our story is narrated by Verity, an elderly single woman who has lived in the same house her entire life. Having cared for her mother until her death a few years ago, Verity lives a very insular life which comprises of working from home researching the history of words for the Oxford English Dictionary and going to the local pub quiz on a weekly basis. She has no family or friends and when new neighbours, The Tilsons, move in next door she becomes obsessed with them.
Finders, Keepers is an exceptionally atmospheric and creepy story full of tension and suspense. The reader finds out early on in the story that someone has been murdered and Verity slowly unravels her version of events through chapters leading up to the murder and then present day.
Verity didn’t just “speak” to me, she jumped out of the pages into my imagination and I could “see” her clear as day. A lonely and potentially vulnerable older woman who has spent her life being ignored and unappreciated, putting her mothers ailing health above her own needs and life and finding herself at the age of 50+ alone in a dilapidated house full of junk with no-one to care for.
This book contains some heart-breaking moments which made me feel such emotion towards Verity, yet at times towards the end I wasn’t sure whether to pity her or fear her as the author cleverly keeps the reader on their toes with Verity’s strange and compelling narrative.
I was absolutely GLUED to my kindle and whilst I had my suspicions about who did what to whom and why I was constantly being surprised throughout. Full of twists, red herrings and some absolutely dis likeable characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who likes dark, domestic noir.
