This review is written with thanks to the publisher for my copy of After The Storm via Netgalley.

Blurb:

TWO CHILDREN WENT INTO THE SEA.

When Andrew and Sophie take their daughter and her friend to the beach on a stormy day, they are momentarily distracted and both children are washed out to sea. Andrew dives in, but comes back ashore with only one child – Maria, his own daughter. Joe, the son of his best friend and local police officer, Chris, has drowned. But it was just a tragic accident…wasn’t it?

ONLY ONE CAME OUT ALIVE.

As Sergeant Mike Adams and DS Sue Willmott investigate what really happened in the water that afternoon, the ripple effects of the tragedy tear the community apart. The detectives must discover the truth before their colleague – bereaved and desperate father, Chris – takes the investigation into his own hands…

BUT WHO IS TO BLAME?

Review:

After The Storm has been on my TBR for a while and I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read it! GD Wright’s writing is perfectly paced and full of tension and I was drawn in right from the beginning and found it very difficult to stop reading.

GD Wright imagines a situation which is absolutely horrific, and the emotion of it is conveyed brilliantly. I don’t have children, but I imagine for those who do have children, this feeling is heightened even more. The writing is so visceral and this kept me reading and wondering what would happen to the characters.

There are multiple narrators in After The Storm, including the parents of the children involved in the accident and the police officers investigating it. I loved being able to see the events of the novel from each different perspectives that the characters themselves may not be aware of. There is a definite grey area in terms of where the sympathy of the readers should lie, and this adds an extra layer of tension to the novel.

There is a strong element of mystery around what happened on the day of the accident and I enjoyed the intrigue this created.

As the novel reaches its conclusion, there is a definite sense of danger and the tension increases more and more. I was kept on my toes until the very end!

After The Storm is a great debut and I can’t wait to see what the author’s next book holds!

After The Storm is available from Amazon.