Every Move You Make by C.L Taylor

 

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer…

Alexandra, Lucy, Bridget, River and Natalie. Five friends who wish they’d never met. Because the one thing they have in common is the worst thing in their lives: they are all being stalked.

When one of their group is murdered, days after their stalker is released from prison, time stands still for them all. They know their lives could end just as brutally at any moment – all it takes is for the people they fear the most to catch up with them.

When the group receive a threat that one of them will die in ten days’ time, the terror that stalks their daily lives becomes all-consuming. But they know they don’t want to be victims anymore – it’s time to turn the tables and finally get their revenge.

Because the only way to stop a stalker is to become one yourself…

C.L Taylor is one of my go to authors when I want a unpredictable and gripping psychological thriller so I was eager to dive into her new release Every Move You Make which takes us into the world of Stalking.

The book gets off to a gripping start wasting no time in getting gritty with a murder so I was already finding myself falling into this storyline with intrigue. We get to know four main characters River, Alex, Lucy and Bridget who are all victims of stalking and have formed their own little support network via whatsapp to help each other seen as they all find themselves frightened for their lives but things take a turn when they are at a funeral and receive a wreath stating that one of them will die in 10 days time, question is which one of them is the target?

I have to say though I did struggle a little with this book, for some reason I kept losing my way with whose stalker was who and I continuously found myself getting mixed up between Alex and Bridgets characters now I don’t know if this was just me or if this was actually done on purpose to cause confusion because I found where I was concentrating on trying to follow who was who I took my eye off the ball and wasn’t trying to look for clues to see who could be trusted or if there were cracks in anyone’s stories which would allow me to see if anyone had an ulterior motive.

The book really picks up in the last quarter and I found myself flicking greedily through the pages as things were beginning to come to light and things were taking a darker turn. I can hold my hands up and say I was completely in the dark with the revelation, I hadn’t had an inkling at all so the storyline was completely unpredictable for me which I loved. The author was able to bring the emotions of fear, suffocation and desperation to her characters because she knows firsthand what it is like to have a stalker and her experiences, she has used to bring insight and depth into the subject matter of this book.

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The Fear by C.L Taylor

When Lou Wandsworth ran away to France with her teacher Mike Hughes, she thought he was the love of her life. But Mike wasn’t what he seemed and he left her life in pieces.

Now 32, Lou discovers that he is involved with teenager Chloe Meadows. Determined to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself, she returns home to confront him for the damage he’s caused.

But Mike is a predator of the worst kind, and as Lou tries to bring him to justice, it’s clear that she could once again become his prey…

I have read a lot of positive reviews for The Fear by C.L Taylor and I have previous enjoyed her books so I was eager to track a copy down and see what thrilling storyline she has instore for us this time around.

Louise Wandsworth has reached the ripe age of 32 but she hasn’t fully embraced life as her past is still holding her back. When she was a teenager she ran off to France with her Karate Teacher believing she was totally in love with him but she began to see Mike had another side to him that frightened her.

When Louise heads back to her childhood town she soon discovers where Mike is now working but she also witnesses something that shocks her to the core and shows Mike has not changed his ways.

I was utterly hooked by this captivating read and at the same time I was also disturbed by it too. It really unsettles me to think that this sort of thing is going on in the real world and I often found myself thinking what would I do in the characters situation especially in the last few chapters. I was intrigued to see what way the verdict would go.

Louise was a very withdrawn and damaged character but as we begin to see what she went through I started to care for her character. I was shocked at her actions at time but in a weird way I accepted what she was doing and actually felt sorry for her when she realised she had done wrong but that she felt trapped like there wasn’t a safe way out. She needed to get her justice and have closure to be able to have a chance of living a fulfilled life.

I was a little worried that the storyline was going to be rather predictable as I thought the Wendy situation was very obvious from the start but there were other twists and turns that I didn’t see coming so my attention was still piqued throughout the book.

If you are looking for a fast paced storyline that will have your blood running cold then you will not be disappointed reading The Fear.

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The Escape by C.L Taylor

When a stranger asks Jo Blackmore for a lift she says yes, then swiftly wishes she hadn't.

The stranger knows Jo's name, she knows her husband Max and she's got a glove belonging to Jo's two year old daughter Elise.

What begins with a subtle threat swiftly turns into a nightmare as the police, social services and even Jo's own husband turn against her.

No one believes that Elise is in danger. But Jo knows there's only one way to keep her child safe – RUN.

I have been a huge fan of C.L Taylor her books have always kept me on edge and in complete suspense all the way through so I have been eagerly awaiting the release of The Escape to see what the author has lined up for us next.

When Jo Blackmore finishes work to go and collect her daughter Elise from nursery she is approached by a woman asking for a lift and as she gets into Jo’s car it soon becomes clear that this woman is about to shatter Jo’s world when she makes a threat to Elise’s safety unless Jo gets her husband to return what he has stolen from the woman. As the days go on it becomes apparent that it wasn’t an empty threat and she fears for her daughters safety but will anyone believe Jo or will it just be put down to her mental health issues.

The opening chapter pulled me in immediately and I felt that familiar sinister feel to the authors storylines that I have come to know and love. Interestingly I didn’t warm to Jo and I can’t quite put my finger on the reason why other than possibly because there was a little part of me that didn’t quite trust her. The storyline had me hooked the whole way through and I found myself picking the book up at every spare moment eager to see what was going to happen next.

The only reason I am giving this book a 4 star and not a 5 is that I worked out very early on who I could and could not trust so I didn’t have that constant suspicion that I usually have in this authors books but I still enjoyed watching events unfold but there was still that part of me hoping that my instincts were about to be proven wrong. 

This is another gripping fast paced read by C.L Taylor that will have readers hooked from the first page.

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The Missing by C.L Taylor

I

You love your family.
They make you feel safe.
You trust them.
But should you…?
When fifteen-year-old Billy Wilkinson goes missing in the middle of the night, his mother, Claire, blames herself. She's not the only one. There isn't a single member of Billy's family that doesn't feel guilty.

But the Wilkinsons are so used to keeping secrets from one another that it isn't until six months later, after an appeal for information goes horribly wrong, that the truth begins to surface.

Claire is sure of two things – that Billy is still alive and that her friends and family had nothing to do with his disappearance. A mother's instinct is never wrong. Or is it?

Sometimes those closest to us are the ones with the most to hide…

I loved both The Accident and The Lie by C.L Taylor and when I heard Cally talking briefly last year about The Missing she grabbed my attention with the little snippet she gave us and I have been so impatient waiting for the release.

The Wilkinson family are distraught after 15 year old Billy goes missing one night leaving no clues as to where he has gone. The family have every possible scenario going around in their minds but the main question is he dead or alive. As mum Claire refuses to give up hope she is determined to find a clue as to where her son is and what has happened to him but before long she uncovers secrets that have been hidden from her from those she trusts.

I only meant to open the book and read the first page which is a habit of mine but when I read the first page before long I found myself on page 8 and although I felt guilty stopping my current read this book demanded my full attention. Our main character is Claire and although I don't have children myself I could feel her desperation through the pages, she needed answers just as much as she wanted her son Billy to walk straight back through the door. We follow Claire's events through the book but we also get snippets of conversation told through instant message which builds a vague picture of an unsettling relationship/friendship which the relevance of these messages is cleared up later in the book.

Cally Taylor was very clever pulling the wool over my eyes, at various points in the book I was adamant I knew who was involved but then before long I soon become suspicious of another character which threw a spanner in the works, I actually think I had accused everyone in my mind at some point other than Claire herself! The ending was unpredictable which rounded this book off perfectly.

I was gripped by this storyline, it had a quick pace and a great element of suspense with a family of characters who have their faults but are a typical family. This storyline did have a different feel to it compared with the previous books, I didn't find this storyline as tense and gritty but that didn't effect my enjoyment of the storyline it just showed a different side to the authors writing style. C.L Taylor has done it again and delivered another compelling read.

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The Accident by C.L Taylor

Sue Jackson has the perfect family but when her teenage daughter Charlotte deliberately steps in front of a bus and ends up in a coma she is forced to face a very dark reality.

Retracing her daughter’s steps she finds a horrifying entry in Charlotte’s diary and is forced to head deep into Charlotte’s private world. 

In her hunt for evidence, Sue begins to mistrust everyone close to her daughter and she’s forced to look further, into the depths of her own past. Sue will do anything to protect her daughter.

But what if she is the reason that Charlotte is in danger?

When I met author Cally Taylor at a book event early this year she was telling me about the new direction her writing has taken and that her new book The Accident was due to be released in April. I loved Cally Taylor’s books but I have to be honest and say as much as I loved them I was unsure how I was going to get on with a deeper and darker side to her writing  I was just hoping that I loved it just as much as her previous books.

Sue cannot believe that her daughter Charlotte would just accidentally step out in front of a bus, as she sits there holding her daughters hand now she is lying unresponsive weeks later still in her coma she is determined to get to the bottom of what events occurred before the tragic accident. But as chilling events occur is it her mind playing tricks on her or is what she begins to uncover true?

This book showed Cally Taylor at her best and I am sure that this book is going to be a big hit because it absorbs you into the storyline and then does not let you go! This is a chilling read that will give you goosebumps, it had me on edge I was sure I was going to have to watch Finding Nemo before I went to bed!

This is a thrilling read that keeps you guessing the whole way through. The chapters switch back and forth between Sue’s past and the present day which worked really well in this book. I was so captivated by this book that I was actually shocked when it ended I hadn’t realised I had reached my last few pages.

The author has such a clever way of creating characters who are full bodied but that you never really know. I found myself constantly questioning if I could trust each one or if they had something to hide, the only character I had in the clear was our protagonist Sue everyone else in my eyes were in the line up.

This is by far Cally Taylor’s best book yet and I think this is going to be a hard one for her to beat. Chick lit is where I am most comfortable and what I thoroughly enjoy but this book was an addictive read that I have already been recommending to friends, I wouldn’t be surprised if this book makes it into my top 10 of 2014. I can’t wait for another Thriller by this author.

Get in quick if you have a kindle as it is currently only 99p! ( at time of review)

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