Release: October 26, 2021
Format: Ebook
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: Netgalley
Find it at Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N
__
__
In this new heart-pounding standalone from the internationally bestselling author that People calls “razor-sharp,” a single mother suspects her young daughter has witnessed a horrible crime when she draws a disturbing picture—but the deadly path to unravel the truth could cost her everything.
Maybe Tess is overprotective, but passing her daughter off to her ex and his new young wife fills her with a sense of dread. It’s not that Jason is a bad father. But it just hurts to see him enjoying married life with someone else. Still, she owes it to her daughter Poppy to make this arrangement work.
But Poppy returns from the weekend tired and withdrawn. And when she shows Tess a crayon drawing—an image so simple and violent that Tess can hardly make sense of it——Poppy can only explain with the words, “He did kill her.”
Something is horribly wrong. Tess is certain Poppy saw something—or something happened to her—that she’s too young to understand. Jason insists the weekend went off without a hitch. Doctors advise that Poppy may be reacting to her parent’s separation. And as the days go on, even Poppy’s disturbing memory seems to fade. But a mother knows her daughter, and Tess determines to discover the truth. Her search will set off an explosive tempest of dark secrets and buried crimes—and more than one life may be at stake.
About the Author:
Nicci French is the pseudonym of the English husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write psychological thrillers.
Their acclaimed novels of psychological suspense have sold more than 8 million copies around the world.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Apdency (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons.
The Unheard Review:
“The Unheard” is one of those mystery thrillers that slowly creep on you, and you have no idea how the story will turn out, and I enjoyed reading it.
This book was strange and creepy, mainly because of Tess and Poppy. Tess was the highlight of the story. If there is a character who acts irrationally due to high levels of anxiety, it is Tess. The author wrote her in a twisted manner, where you don’t know if what she is doing is rational. She is sure that her daughter witnesses something shocking, because of which Poppy is behaving oddly. Speaking of Poppy, the kid also freaked me out. At times, I didn’t know if she was reacting because she witnessed something or because she was possessed. I could imagine Tess’s fear when she felt that Poppy was targeting her.
The author also did an excellent job with the mystery and fitting all the clues. I liked how Tess goes after everyone and tries to get answers independently when she knows that the police also suspect her. I enjoyed the whole theme of the girl falling off the tower and wondered how everything would fit in the end. However, as much as I enjoyed Tess, she got on my nerves at times. I was siding with Chief Inspector Ross when he thought Tess poked her nose into people’s businesses with just a hunch. But, at the same time, it was interesting to see how far Tess would go to find out what is happening.
Overall, “The Unheard” is an exciting book to pick up if you are in the mood for an intriguing mystery thriller with a touch of horror.
