Emily and Elizabeth spend their childhood locked in a bedroom and terrorized by a mother who drinks too much and disappears for days. The identical twins are rescued by a family determined to be their saviors.
But there’s some horrors love can’t erase…
Elizabeth wakes in a hospital, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak. The last thing she remembers is finding Emily’s body in their bathroom. Days before, she was falling in love and starting college. Now, she’s surrounded by men who talk to themselves and women who pull out their eyebrows.
As she delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Emily’s death, she discovers shocking secrets and holes in her memory that force her to remember what she’s worked so hard to forget—the beatings, the blood, the special friends. Her life spins out of control at a terrifying speed as she desperately tries to unravel the psychological puzzle of her past before it’s too late.
Book Info: Print length: 260 pages. Publisher: Kindle Press. Publication Date: 10 July 2017
Dr. Lucinda Berry is a former clinical psychologist and leading researcher in childhood trauma. Now, she spends her days writing full-time where she uses her clinical experience to blur the line between fiction and nonfiction. She enjoys taking her readers on a journey through the dark recesses of the human psyche. Her work has been optioned for film and translated into multiple languages.
If Berry isn’t chasing after her son, you can find her running through Los Angeles, prepping for her next marathon. To hear about her upcoming releases and other author news, visit her on social media or sign up for her newsletter at https://lucindaberry.com/.
My Review:
Lucinda Berry is fast becoming one of my go-to authors for a guaranteed page turner, and the fact that most of her books are available FREE on Kindle Unlimited is much appreciated too!
Phantom Limb contains 3 of my favourite things; twins, unreliable narrators and batshit crazy psycho mothers, so I was really looking forward to this story. Elizabeth and Emily are identical twins, having experienced a really traumatic childhood (trigger warnings: child abuse and extreme violence), they are eventually sent to live with a foster family and attempt to have normal lives as young adults, despite the emotional and physical damage they endured as children.
Elizabeth appears to be the stronger twin, she’s studying at college, holding down a job, has a loving boyfriend and looking forward to a happy future. Emily has always struggled, self harming and deep depression has stopped her from moving on and she spends her days in bed unable to function. The girls live together and one night after an argument Elizabeth finds Emily dead in the bathroom and then wakes up in hospital with no memory of what happened.
Phantom Limb despite the obvious horrific subject matter is a gripping page-turner. With lots of OMG moments, a couple of clever twists and characters you really care about, I devoured this book in a day and would definitely recommend it to any fans of psychological thrillers.
