It’s been a bit quiet on the blog recently but that doesn’t mean that reading has stopped, just that I’m rubbish at keeping up with reviews. So I am delighted today to share my latest review which is also part of the recent blogathon celebrating author Isabel Ashdown.

In the Lake Child we meet Eva. She has been in a car accident and is being looked after by her parents. However as her memories of the night of the accident start to come back Eva realises that her parents are not only keeping her in the attic room they are keeping secrets from her. As she tries to piece together the events of the night of the accident she realises that if she wants to find out the truth she will have to escape.

The Lake Child was another great read from Isabel Ashdown. I thoroughly enjoyed this story that mixed family drama with a mystery over two countries with twists and turns that kept me gripped. I found the start of the book to be a little confusing but that reflected the confusion that Eva felt. The story was told mainly from her viewpoint but interspersed with chapters from the mysterious Maxine searching for her missing granddaughter. I did find these chapters a little jarring as I was impatient to get back to the main story but appreciate that they needed to be included to move the story along and it all came together in the end.

The character of Eva was intriguing and it was difficult to get an opinion of her. You could understand the frustration she felt with not remembering what had happened but equally she did seem to act a bit impulsively at times. The relationaships between her, her family and her friends are really the central part of this story and as they fracture the truth starts to emerge.

The setting of the novel was a snowy, remote Norwegian village which gave a sense of isolation and coldness that permeated throughout the narrative as the story becomes more complex. I enjoyed the descriptions of the place and part of the joy of reading an Isabel Ashdown novel is how skillfully the place becomes a part of the story.

A big thank you to Compulsive Readers for inviting me to be part of this blog tour series.

I have enjoyed reading (and re-reading in cases) Isabel’s books and would highly recommend them all.