By: K. L. Slater
ASIN: B073RWKQ5J
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 10/4/2017
Format: Kindle
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC) You think you know the truth about the people you love. But one discovery can change everything… Eight-year-old Billy goes missing one day, out flying his kite with his sister Rose. Two days later, he is found dead. Sixteen years on, Rose still blames herself for Billy’s death. How could she have failed to protect her little brother?
Rose has never fully recovered from the trauma, and one of the few people she trusts is her neighbour Ronnie, who she has known all her life. But one day Ronnie falls ill, and Rose goes next door to help him… and what she finds in his attic room turns her world upside down.
Rose thought she knew the truth about what happened to Billy. She thought she knew her neighbour. Now the only thing she knows is that she is in danger…
The Mistake is a completely gripping thriller that will keep you up all night, from the top ten bestselling author of Blink, Liar and Safe with Me. Perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.
My Review
K. L. Slater returns following (2017) Liar, and Blink, plus her debut (2016) Safe with Me with her fourth hit in a row THE MISTAKE — a twisty psychological thriller with a satisfying conclusion.
For fans of Kaira Rouda’s Best Day Ever, (especially the ending). Gareth and Paul have a lot in common. Payback is a bitch.
Rose is a librarian who lives alone with a cat. Anxiety filled, with an eating disorder (when under stress), she pretty much stays to herself and never goes out at night. Books help her back to some sense of normal.
She used to read crime novels, but she has not touched a book like that in sixteen years. She had a therapist. She had experienced true terror. She now builds her life around food, drink, books, and TV.
"Reading about deceitful personalities, the hidden underbelly of society and unreliable characters who appear to be one thing but are soon found out to be something else entirely . . . all that stuff now fills me with a curdling discomfort that can last for days."
A traumatic event which occurred some sixteen years earlier. Her safe and ordinary life disappeared in the space of a heartbeat.
Guilt-ridden, she was with her younger eight-year-old brother, Billy. She should have been watching him closer the day they were flying his kite.
However, something grabbed him in the woods and after missing for two days they found him dead. Strangled.
Her parents are now deceased, and she still lives next door to an elderly man, Ronnie. He was a nice man who everyone loves and helped search for her brother years ago.
She tries to help him out with picking up food from the market and checking on him. She has a key for emergencies.
Ronnie has some sort of virus and has fallen. She finds in the bathroom and the medical team has arrived and as he is leaving, he tells her not to look in the attic.
Later, Rose decides she will do something to help the kind man which everyone loves in the small village. She decides to clean his house for him so it will be nice when he gets well and returns home.
However, she recalls his warning of the attic. She thinks possibly he is embarrassed because it is messy, so she decided to clean the upstairs as well.
Then she stumbles upon a blanket. The blanket was her brothers. The one he had the day of his death that no one has ever found. Rose is now beside herself. How could Ronnie, this nice man have her brother’s blanket? She desperately needs answers.
Has she been living next to her brother's killer all along?
We revisit the events leading up to Billy’s disappearance and death. Rose had a best friend Cassie. They did everything together. One day walking home with her art, this good-looking guy stops her. Gareth. Cassie encourages her.
Gareth was in his twenties and seemed worldly. He was responsible for the regeneration of the village with new plans. He seemed interested in her. Soon she becomes engrossed with this new guy. However, he soon turns into a controlling narcissist, but not before he charms Rose and pulls her in with manipulation.
Cassie warns her to stay away after she sees how controlling he is. Gareth says Cassie is jealous. He makes her choose. Soon he manipulates his way into their family with her dad, offering him a volunteer job and promises of a paid job.
However, he dislikes her little brother Billy and does not want her to have any friends. He tells her he loves her. Yet he tells her what to wear, how to act, and wants to control everything in her life.
Cassie later is raped and now is estranged from Rose. Rose tried to see her but her protective brother Jeb turned her away. Not until the abuse begins does she realize how deep she is in. She must break things off with this monster. However, it is not so simple. He will not let her go. Threats to her family.
She has lost everyone she is close to. It is her fault for allowing this monster into their lives.
Moving back and forth from past to present in alternating chapters, readers are dying to know about what really happened to Billy. Gareth was in prison. However, was he the real killer? He was a bad person but is Ronnie the real killer?
On her father’s deathbed, Rose promised her dad she would never see Gareth again. However, will she have to face down her worst nightmare in order to help Billy?
She is receiving threatening notes. Someone is watching her every move.
She has to find the courage and find out once and for all who killed him. In the process, she could be trying to help a monster go free. She is only safe with him behind a jail cell. She has to be smart to stay one step ahead of Gareth.
She gets in touch with the detective, Mike North who was on the case.
What about Ronnie, her neighbor? She must solve this mystery to put this nightmare behind her once and for all. Was it Gareth, Ronnie, or someone else? Motive for harming an innocent child?
However, she has to keep Gareth in prison. He is evil, abusive, a psychopath, liar, and a rapist. A killer?
An unputdownable thriller, and as always Kim keeps you glued to the pages. If you have read her other books, you know she is the "Queen of killer twists". The Mistake is another one which keeps you on the edge-of-your-seat. A Sleeping with the Enemy with a twist.
I especially enjoyed seeing Rose stand up to Gareth, after the abusive relationship and everything he put her through. This one will leave you smiling.
A cautionary tale of coercive, manipulative, abusive, and controlling relationships and the lost-lasting effect such a negative experience can have on a person. The author also addresses help for anyone who thinks they may find themselves in this type of relationship full of criticisms.
A special thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.
Review Links:
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Advance Praise
What readers are saying about K.L. Slater:
‘Absolutely brilliant! I sat and read the book in a day and did not want to put it down! … I even text my mum when I was half way through telling her it was a book she NEEDED to read!! … Without a doubt 5 stars – I LOVED it!!' ’ Donna's Book Blog
‘Most definitely one of the best psychological thrillers I have ever read.’ Angela Marsons, 5 stars
‘Wow!! Simply Wow!! What a book, totally fabulous… Each chapter hooked me further… Unputdownable till the end.’ Book Reviews by Shalini, 5 stars
‘There is no way the explosive ending will not completely shock and surprise you!... This story will have you in its claws from the very first page and won't let you go until the very end!’ It’s All About Books, 5 stars
‘Oh my God. This was my first book by Slater and I could not put it down! It was dark and twisted and fascinating.’ The Reading Mommy ‘This is a fantastic well-written psychological thriller. There are twists and turns that leave the reader breathless and unable to put the book down.’ Strong Book Reviews
‘A psychological thriller that exceeds expectations. Your brain doesn't know who to root for, the back and forth kept me in suspense even as the story played out to the bitter end.’ Family Reads First
‘Very, very hard to put down… destined to be a hit.’ Book Reviews by Monnie, 5 stars
About the Author
Kim is the bestselling author of psychological crime thrillers 'Safe With Me,' 'Blink,' 'Liar' and the soon to be released 'The Mistake.'
For many years, Kim sent her work out to literary agents and collected quite a stack of rejection slips. At the age of 40 she went back to Nottingham Trent University and now has an MA in Creative Writing.
Before graduating in 2012, she received five offers of representation from London literary agents and a book deal which was, as Kim says, ‘a fairytale … at the end of a very long road!’
Kim is a full-time writer and lives in Nottingham, England with her husband, Mac.
She also writes award-winning Young Adult fiction for Macmillan Children's Books, writing as Kim Slater.
Author website: www.KLSlaterAuthor.com Twitter: @KimLSlater Facebook: KL Slater Author
