About the Book: When Michael decides to track down ex-girlfriend Rae who disappeared ten years ago while pregnant with his baby, he knows it could change his life forever. His search for her takes unexpected turns as he unearths multiple changes of identity and a childhood she tried to pretend never happened, but nothing could prepare him for what awaits when he finally finds her.
Appearing to be happily married with a brand new baby daughter, Rae is cagey about what happened to Michael’s child and starts to say alarming things- that her husband is trying to force her to give up her new baby for adoption, that he’s attempting to undermine the bond between her and her child, and deliberately making her doubt her own sanity.
As Michael is drawn in deeper to her disturbing claims he begins to doubt the truth of what she is saying. But is she really making it all up, or is there a shocking and heartbreaking secret at the root of the stories she tells?
About the Author: Louise Katherine Chapman was born in Somerset, UK, in 1986. She studied psychology at the University of Southampton and has worked as a psychologist creating personality questionnaires for a consultancy company. She has also spent some time volunteering for mental health charity Mind.
Chapman loves to write because she loves learning about people and she loves stories. A major turning point in her life was the day she realised that no matter how strange, cruel or unfathomable the actions of other people can sometimes be, there is always a reason for it, some sequence of events to be unravelled. Since then she is always asking “why” and “what if” and she is fascinated by real life stories capturing the strength, peculiarities or extremes of human nature.
LK Chapman’s first novel, Networked, was a sci-fi thriller but now she’s turned her attention to writing psychological suspense. Her first psychological thriller, Anything for Him, was published in 2016, and her new novel The Stories She Tells was released in October 2017.
LK Chapman lives in Hampshire with her husband and young family. She enjoys walks in the woods, video games, and spending time with family and friends.
My Review: So there I was quietly reading my current book and I get a polite email from LK Chapman saying “I was just wondering if you got round to reading The Stories She Tells? Don’t worry if not, I was just curious!”**, so I replied immediately that I hadn’t yet and would move it to the top of my pile and then I realised I wasn’t actually enjoying my current read so stopped and started The Stories She Tells. Less than 4 hours later I’ve finished it.
This book was an easy and quick read for me (and yes I did sneak off work and lay in the garden all day to read it). It’s my first book by this author and I found her writing style gripping and intriguing. I will admit to not particularly liking the main character Michael. I felt his obsession with tracking down his ex-girlfriend from 10 years ago slightly annoying especially as he has a loving wife and new baby on the way. However I did understand that he felt guilty about the way he treated her and needed to absolve his own personal issues by helping her.
There were several times when I thought “aha” and had worked out what was going on only to realised I was completely wrong (duh!). This book is quite dark, has some rather unsavoury topics and a couple of extremely disturbed individuals which in my opinion make for a perfect psychological thriller. I would definitely recommend this.
** Note to other authors, emailing me to remind me to read your books does NOT normally work, in fact it normally has the opposite effect and moves your book to the bottom of the pile #justsaying.
