Synopsis

AN ORDINARY LIFE

Leigh Coulton has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She has a good job as a defence attorney, a daughter doing well in school, and even her divorce is relatively civilised – her life is just as unremarkable as she’d always hoped it would be.

HIDES A DEVASTATING PAST

But Leigh’s ordinary life masks a childhood which was far from average… a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and finally torn apart by a devastating act of violence.

BUT NOW THE PAST IS CATCHING UP

Then a case lands on her desk – defending a wealthy man accused of rape. It’s the highest profile case she’s ever been given – a case which could transform her career, if she wins. But when she meets the accused, she realises that it’s no coincidence that he’s chosen her as his attorney. She knows him. And he knows her. More to the point, he knows what happened twenty years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades running.

AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT

If she can’t get him acquitted, she’ll lose much more than the case. The only person who can help her is her younger, estranged sister Calli, the last person Leigh would ever want to ask for help. But suddenly she has no choice…

Review

Honestly, I found the story to be decent. Having read several of Karin’s books, I might have become a bit desensitized to her style. This one wasn’t as graphic as some of her others, but there were moments that really got to me. I had to take breaks because some scenes were just too intense and stirred up my anxiety.

The tension of not knowing whether Andrew was aware of the sisters’ actions had me hooked, but it also made me need to step away from the book at times. That’s why it took me so long to finish it.

As for the ending, it felt fitting in a way. I couldn’t see it ending smoothly, especially with Andrew’s involvement. It’s hard to imagine him being cleared without implicating Leigh or Callie. It’s a tough situation, and someone’s bound to end up taking the fall if it ended differently.

Vocab Builder

• Blennies – a small spiny-finned marine fish with scaleless skin and a blunt head, typically living in shallow inshore or intertidal waters.
• Fugue – a loss of awareness of one’s identity, often coupled with flight from one’s usual environment, associated with certain forms of hysteria and epilepsy.
• Iconoclastic – criticizing or attacking cherished beliefs or institutions.
• Convalesce – recover one’s health and strength over a period of time after an illness or medical treatment.
• Gamboled – to run or skip about in
• Dressage – the art of riding and training a horse in a manner that develops obedience, flexibility, and balance
• Impugn – dispute the truth, validity, or honesty of (a statement or motive); call into question
• Preponderance – the quality or fact of being greater in number, quantity, or importance
• Slalomed – move or race in a winding path, avoiding obstacles.
• Winnowed – blow a current of air through (grain) in order to remove the chaff.
• Intransigent – unwilling or refusing to change one’s views or to agree about something.
• Brook – a small stream
• Umbrageous – apt to take offense
• Hasp – a fastener especially for a door or lid consisting of a hinged metal strap that fits over a staple and is held by a pin or padlock.
• Pugilistic – inclined or eager to fight; aggressively hostile
• Compunction – a feeling of guilt or moral scruple that prevents or follows the doing of something bad
• Munificence – the quality or action of being extremely generous.
• Pentobarbital – a drug within the barbiturate class that works primarily on the central nervous system
• Impetuous – acting or done quickly and without thought or care.
• Pithy – brief, forceful, and meaningful in expression; full of vigor, substance, or meaning; terse; forcible
• Acquiescence – the reluctant acceptance of something without protest.
• Agonal – of, relating to, or associated with the act of dying: occurring just before death

Quotable Quotes

If you want to measure the height of a mountain, the hardest part isn’t finding the peak, it’s figuring out where the bottom starts.

Rating: 4/5