The Victim- Blog Tour

 

Author: Ruth Harrow

Publishing Date: 25th May 2023 

Many thanks to the author and ZooLoo BT for my digital copy and a spot on the tour

Blurb

He’s watching you … but should he be afraid?

Leah should have been enjoying a night in with her best friend and housemate Claire, binging on chocolate and her favourite Netflix show.

But instead, she is suddenly forced to fight for her life when strong hands grab her. A knife is pressed to Leah’s throat and as tears run down her cheeks, she knows she will have to do as she is told if she wants to survive the night.

2 years on …

The community has forgotten about the woman so violently snatched from their midst. Leah’s best friend, however, can’t forget the person who was closer to her than a sister. Nor does she want to believe the shocking secrets she has unearthed about her friend in her absence.

Claire refuses to let go. She won’t forget the only person she ever really cared about. And she will never go about her life as if Leah never existed. She also knows that the danger that took her best friend still lurks unpunished in their hometown. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when Claire is snatched too.

But the last thing she intends is to become one more victim. She feels her abductor should be the one who should be afraid.

Can Claire survive longer than one night?

Will she ever discover what really happened to Leah? 

My Thoughts

Packed with lots of twists and turns this definitely kept my attention going. My first read from the author and I am intrigued. 

We learn that relationships between the women are complex than originally told. As much as Leah and Claire are best friends, Claire was adopted by Leah's mum Helen aged 12. 

But Claires and Leah's relationship is less like sisters and more like friend's and develops further in to a different relationship. I did get a bit confused with the switch in relationships and even by the end not sure if it was the right fit for this story. 

But we get to meet other characters such as Carole Claires mum. And further Along, Crystal, Katrina, Tony and Edward. Each playing a different role in the plot and the story.  I think going a-lot further into the mind of the abductor would have elevated the book and given it that final push. But nonetheless an intense dramatic thriller that I enjoyed reading.