The Mistake by K L Slater

 

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Bookouture (2 Oct. 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1786812444
• ISBN-13: 978-1786812445

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

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…

 

Review

The Mistake is the second book I have read by K L Slater, and I loved Liar so this had quite a bit to live up to; and it certainly did, I loved it.  The book is narrated by Rose both in the present and in the past, sixteen years previously when her brother was murdered.  In the present we see the effect the killing has had on her and those around her, and in the past we see a very different Rose, having fun with friends and having a good relationship with her brother, until she meets Gareth.  The chilling details and events of Billy’s murder are slowly revealed, in the past with the murdered in jail, but in the present Rose finds Billy’s missing red scarf in her neighbours house and has to reassess all she thought she knew.

This a character driven thriller, focusing on Rose. In the present she is a troubled young woman, still haunted by her brother’s death.  She still lives in the same house she grew up in, still works in the library she worked in as a teenager, still shops at the same shop and still speaks to the same people who have known her all her life; she needs to feel safe, and the familiar is what helps her feel safe. In a way she is a victim of PTSD, she is anxious, nervous, unconfident and has an eating disorder; she feels the guilt for Billy’s death as she was the one with him the day he disappeared. Now she fears the killer is watching her, and feels she is in danger. In the past she is a typical teenager, doing make up and hair with her best friend, listening to music and going to college, until she starts a relationship with the older Gareth.  Gareth, is not a nice character, he preys on Rose’s innocence, grooms her for a relationship and isolates her.  As a reader it is frustrating to see her fall for his charms and be blind to his controlling and lies.

K L Slater is a brilliant thriller writer who is able to turn plots upside down at the least expected moment with the most unexpected revelations.  There are so many on the edge of your seat moments in this book, and some very uncomfortable scenes, as the reader follows Rose on her quest to find out the truth and we are with her right until the final heart stopping verdict.  The Mistake is a clever, chilling and compelling read.

 

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my review of The Mistake by K L Slater.  Please leave any comments as I really appreciate all likes and shares 💗