Today I’m joining the blog tour for The Aftermath. My review is written with thanks to Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on the tour and to the author for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

The Fire. The Fallout. The Aftermath.

Seamus Monaghan is still haunted by the unexplained fire that killed his vibrant but troubled wife, Carole, three years ago. Why was she taken from him in such a horrific way?

Dominic has protected his brother, Seamus, since they were orphaned as young boys. But is that bond strong enough to survive the fallout from the fire?

Andrea loves her fiancé Seamus, but will the fire’s aftermath destroy their future together?

Time moves on, but can the embers of the past ever be truly extinguished?

Read the stunning new standalone thriller from Paul Gitsham, creator of the DCI Warren Jones series.

Review:

Paul Gitsham was an author who wasn’t on my radar until I met him at Harrogate Crime Festival earlier this year, but now he’s on my radar, he’s definitely staying there! The blurb for The Aftermath hints at a story that’s full of secrets and lies, and I loved trying to get to the bottom of them. I will admit that, at first, it did take me some time to get my head around the timeline, which changes every few chapters, and how all the characters are related to each other, but this is just the author laying the groundwork for a really compelling story, and once everything clicks into place, we’re in for one hell of a ride!

The central characters of The Aftermath are Carole, Andrea, Seamus, Dominic and Marcus. They’ve all known each other since university, but now they’re in their thirties, their group dynamic is much more complicated. It’s difficult to describe this dynamic without giving away spoilers, but I love the way Paul Gitsham shows us how they all react in different circumstances, which made me change my mind about who had done what almost with every page. I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likeable, but I loved the way they were developed over the course of the novel and I was still intrigued to know what had happened to them in the past and what the future held for them. 

I read The Aftermath in less than a day, and the second half of the book in particular had me right on the edge of my seat! The author is a great plotter, and I loved all of the twists and turns as events unfolded.

The Aftermath is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: