This book, published by Legend Press, tells the story of a hot summer in1984 where there is a miners strike taking place. Clare Jackson, the local journalist, has been sent over to the Sweetmeadows estate where there has been some trouble brewing. A little baby has been found dead, thrown off the balcony, and Clare takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of the killing.
I chose to read this book from Netgalley because I needed something with a mystery genre to get stuck into. I was also drawn to the fact it was set in the same year I was born!
However, the thing I find with crime novels that are written from the point of view of the journalist is that there is too much too'ing and fro'ing. And this one was no exception. Clare was always in her car driving around town and going back and forth to the Sweetmeadows estate to hunt down new stories. It also felt like she was doing the job of the police without actually being the police but the reason as to why this is becomes clear later on in the story.
Clare meets and befriends a girl from the estate called Amy, who has been neglected and uncared for, and Clare takes her under her wing. However, Amy has a tendency to exaggerate the truth and make things up and unfortunately for Clare she gets very drawn in to this.
At first, I didn't enjoy this book. There wasn't much going on and Clare was going back and forth without actually getting anywhere. I skim read through to about half way and then it picked up. I was desperate to know who the killer was, and although I'd read a few reviews saying that it was obvious from the start, I didn't feel that way and had to read on.
I felt that the characters in the book were developed very well and I ended up sympathising with Clare quite a bit and feeling sorry for Amy. It was well written, and what happened at the end came as such a shock - I really wasn't expecting it!
I would certainly recommend this book to those people who love a good mystery and a book that you can't put down. At the end of the book is says that Bea Davenport has written another novel and I will certainly be giving that one a go too.
