My Husband’s Son by Deborah O’Connor

About this book…

Heidi and Jason aren’t like other couples.

Six years ago, Heidi’s daughter was murdered. A year later, Jason’s son Barney disappeared. Their shared loss brought them together.

By chance, Heidi meets a boy she’s certain is Barney.

But Jason is equally convinced it’s not him.

Is Heidi mad? Or is Jason hiding something? And can their fragile marriage survive Heidi’s newfound quest for the truth . . .

My review…

Since I finished this book I have struggled to get rid of the images that it conjured up for me and it has left me with a somewhat unpleasant taste in my mouth…Yes it’s definitely my kind of book! This is an interesting and well told debut with a rather unique twist on the missing child plotline. It made me remember the feeling I was left with when I first read Appletree Yard by Louise Doughty, that I had been a voyeur watching scenes unfolding before me that I couldn’t tear my eyes away from or step in to change even though they made my skin crawl!

Jason and Heidi are a married couple who seem to have nothing much in common apart from the fact that both have lost a child. Heidi had a daughter Lauren who was abducted and as we read through the book, we are drip fed information about her murder. I found this an inventive tool to use as we gradually come to understand why Heidi is the way she is and her behaviour begins to makes more sense. The information we are given isn’t graphic but for me that made it even more disturbing! When Heidi thinks she has seen Jason’s missing son Barney, she finds it difficult to understand why Jason doesn’t see it straight away. Her determination to investigate further, brings her into contact with Tommy. And this is where the author really “scraped her nails down the black board” and set my teeth on edge. The scenes where Tommy and Heidi were together became more disturbing as the book progressed in my view and I really couldn’t understand what she was doing!

This book plays on every parents fears, that one day, through no fault of our own a child could be lost or taken from us. This has been an overused storyline recently but this has been one of the better ones for me. I love a book that makes me think about the dilemmas it has created and the ending as it approached, had me holding my breath waiting to see whether or not we would have some closure. The twists and turns certainly made me question everything and everyone throughout.

Highly recommended by me!

I received a copy of this book via netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

Publication date for e-book is 16th June 2016
My Husband’s Son: A dark and chilling psychological thriller is available to buy at Amazon UK