Review: Close to Me by Amanda Reynolds

Title: Close to Me

Author: Amanda Reynolds

Published: December 2017, Quercus

Format: ARC Paperback, 384 pages

Source: Publisher

Summary: 

Jo Harding can’t remember the last year of her life. And her husband wants to keep it that way.

When
Jo falls down the stairs at home, she wakes up in the hospital with
partial amnesia. In fact, she finds that she’s lost an entire year of
memories. She can’t remember what she did, or anything that happened the
night she fell. A lot can happen in a year, and she begins to discover
that she may have been leading a double life before the accident.

As
she questions the details of the past year and why her family wants her
to stay in the dark, she begins to realize she might not be as good a
wife and mother as she might have hoped . . . 

My thoughts: This debut novel from Amanda Reynolds is addictive, twisty, and kept me guessing right up til the very end. As many of these types of books as I read, it seems I cannot get enough of them!

I loved the way this story was structured – told from Jo’s point of view from before and after the fall as she tries to regain her memories from the last year. I felt this was a brilliant way to tell the story and added to the tension and suspense, especially as the timelines start to intersect. It seems, though, that as desperate as Jo is to regain these memories, her family, most especially her husband Rob, would prefer she did not. What is it that he does not want her to know? Is it that she is not the perfect wife and mother she thought she was?

As much as I loved the mystery of this book – was Jo pushed down the stairs or was it an accident – I loved the family dynamics that make up this book. This is especially true as she is trying to recover her memories – their reactions and hers are really what make this book stand out as you really aren’t sure who you can trust and who was telling the truth. I love stories like this and this one really kept me glued to the pages. There is the sense of unease at times, there is a sense that things just aren’t right…but is it that Jo did something wrong in the past or someone else?

This is such a great debut novel – it’s addictive and fast-paced and the whole time you are wondering just what is going on. It’s jam-packed with drama and full of twists and turns and filled with just the right amount of creepiness to make you weary of everyone. I definitely didn’t see all the pieces fitting into place the way they did – but I loved the way it all came together and I definitely will be keeping an eye out for what comes next from Amanda Reynolds!