Blog Tour: I Let Him In by Jill Childs

Published: August 17th, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
Genre: Psychological Fiction
Format: Paperback, Kindle, Audio

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this entertaining thriller. Thank you to Bookouture for the invitation to take part and the eBook ARC.

********

SYNOPSIS:

Last night I dreamt about the past for the first time in years. I thought I was over it. I thought I’d finally learned to block it out. But I’m right back there, all over again, inside the house. The room is dark, the corners black with shadow. Then, the scream…

When Louise Taylor is hit by a car as she cycles home in the rain following a fight with her boyfriend, she’s left hurt, frightened and confused. And worse, something tells her it wasn’t an accident.

Housebound in her cramped apartment while she recovers, flashbacks to her traumatic childhood begin to resurface, threatening her hard-won self-control. Desperate to keep busy and distract herself, she hires Edward – a friend of a friend – to repaint her shabby living room and, hopefully, keep the past at bay.

But when Edward arrives – quiet, considerate and handsome – Lou instantly feels like they’ve met before, that she can trust him. Tired of carrying the guilt alone after all these years, Lou tells Edward her secret. And to her surprise, he doesn’t pull away. He doesn’t gasp, or grimace or preach about what she did. And Lou is so relieved to finally be free of this burden at last.

Until she learns that Edward has a secret of his own. One he’s been waiting a very, very long time to tell…

A gripping domestic drama from a USA Today bestselling author full of twists and turns, and with a very unexpected ending. Fans of Amanda Prowse, Kerry Fisher and Jodi Picoult won’t be able to stop turning the pages.

********

MY REVIEW:

Recovering from a nasty hit and run, Louise hires decorator Ed to spruce up her apartment. The two are immediately drawn to one another, something they try to resist, but the connection proves too strong. But what is it that bonds them? Could it be the dark, shameful secrets that they both never speak of? Or something even more sinister…

Intriguing, tense and atmospheric, I Let Him In is an entertaining read. A sense of mystery and dread lingers over the pages as the story is told by Louise in the present day, with flashbacks to Ed’s time serving in the Army in Afghanistan. I liked this as it helps Ed remain an enigma, someone whose true self and motivations you really don’t know, his story slowly unfolding. It keeps suspicions high and tension tight, particularly as the two of them get closer.

The suspense increases when Louise’s memories of the accident descend into flashbacks of a night twenty years ago when she did something terrible, something she can never take back and doesn’t speak of, and we learn that Ed is hiding his own shameful secret. What are they hiding? Are they who they appear to be or someone completely different? I loved this unpredictability and how we don’t know who to trust, especially with Louise’s ex Toby lingering in the background trying to win her back in all the wrong ways.

The only qualm I have with this story is the sudden shift it takes at the end. I am still not sure what I think of it, whether it is a stroke of genius or too much of a bolt from the blue. I think it’s a twist that many will love and personally one I just need to sit with for a while. It makes the book a bit of a thinker, and one that definitely sticks in your mind.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Fast paced, tense and mysterious, it keeps you on your toes right until the final pages.

Rating: ✮✮✮.5

********

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Jill has always loved writing – real and imaginary – and spent 30 years travelling the world as a journalist, living overseas and reporting wherever the news took her. She’s now made her home in London with her husband and twin girls who love stories as much as she does. Although she’s covered everything from earthquakes and floods, riots and wars, she’s found some of the most extraordinary stories right here at home – in the secrets and lies she imagines behind closed doors on ordinary streets, just like yours.

********

BUY THE BOOK:

Amazon | Google Books | Apple Books | Kobo

********