Today I’m joining the blog tour for Five Bad Deeds. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and to the publisher for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

Ellen Walsh has done something very, very bad. If only she knew what it was . . .

Teacher, mother, wife, and all-around good citizen Ellen is juggling non-stop commitments, from raising a teen and two toddlers to job-hunting, to finally renovating her dream home, the Meadowhouse. Amidst the chaos, an ominous note arrives in the mail declaring:

SOONER OR LATER EVERYONE SITS DOWN TO A BANQUET OF CONSEQUENCES.

Why would someone send her this note? Ellen has no clue. She’s no angel – a white lie here and there, an occasional sharp tongue – but nothing to incur the wrath of an anonymous enemy.
Everyone around Ellen – her husband, her teenage daughter, her sister, her best friend, her neighbours – can guess why, though.  They all know from bitter experience that while Ellen’s intentions are always good, this ultimately counts for very little when you’ve (unintentionally?) blown up someone’s life.  Could the five bad deeds that come to haunt Ellen explain why things have gone so horribly wrong?

As she races to discover who’s set on destroying her life, Ellen receives more anonymous messages, each one more threatening than the last . . . and each hitting closer and closer to home and everything she cherishes.

Review:

I’ve never read anything by Caz Frear before, but judging by Five Bad Deeds, I will be reading a lot more from this author in future. Her writing is incredibly clever and I loved the little clues that are scattered in the text and the way she builds up such a complex story with so many layers and twists and turns.

The chapters in Five Bad Deeds are each narrated by a different character. I loved this, as it made me question who was reliable and who was telling the truth. It is clear from quite early on in the novel that it’s not just Ellen (who begins the novel in prison) who has secrets and I really wanted to find out what was going on in what is obviously a toxic community. Caz Frear is really skilled at creating separate voices for each character, which really helps the reader to get under their skin. I liked how a lot of Orla’s chapters were written as WhatsApp threads to add to the authenticity of her voice.

I must admit that at first, I found that Five Bad Deeds was paced a little slowly, but it does burst into life, and once it does, it’s difficult to let go. I enjoyed reading as the plot unravelled and I was really invested in how this story would play out.

Five Bad Deeds is available from Amazon.

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