Kindle British Mystery Book Club discussion

Just finished this one, I really felt the portrayal of Milly was well done and did a good job exploring the impact of childhood trauma on person. I felt the Mike (therapist) character was also well fleshed out and interesting in that he couldn't/wouldn't deal with the dysfunction in his own family.

I just didn't feel any surprise with this. It was pretty obvious to me where this was going and so most of the beginning I was just waiting for something to happen. Once the depth of Milly's own mental health issues become more and more evident the pacing seemed to pick up and I liked how the rest of the book played out.

I did find it frustrating that they drop in the news about her brother who escaped and then we never really hear anything about him...is he still in a secure unit? Wouldn't he have been interviewed and perhaps reevaluated in light of his mother's crimes? Why was there no discussion of a reunion of the siblings?

This is a psychological thriller which I couldn’t put down. It was disturbing, chilling, even paced and I read it in one day. I thought the dialogue was well written and the bullying at school/meanness of Phoebe and her gang was believable. What's wrong with kids these days?

Once Milly was placed in the home of Mike I wondered if she would be abused more. Both Mike and his wife are sad characters and frankly, none of the characters were especially likable.

One thing I wish the author had resolved was the fate of Milly’s brother. He was fleetingly mentioned as part of reason Milly’s mother started killing children. The brother was charged with arson and I suppose incarcerated, but his story isn’t delved into near enough, nor what happened to him. The end was slightly predictable yet chilling enough.

Good selection for November - I would read more by this author. Also, this gives me another new author for the challenge!

Tina wrote: "This is a psychological thriller which I couldn’t put down. It was disturbing, chilling, even paced and I read it in one day. I thought the dialogue was well written and the bullying at school/mean..."

I really wanted to know what happened to her brother as well. You would think that with her testimony, he would have been interviewed or something. It definitely sounded like he was the mother's first victim of abuse and torture.

This book was OK but it did not grab me to be honest. I think it was the stilted dialogue of Milly that put me off. I think this book would of been improved if the chapters were split into the POV of Milly and Pheobe. Like Angrycat the endng of the book did not surprise me. When Mike told Milly that Pheobe had fallen downstairs I knew she was responsible. However I did not expect Milly to try take Pheobe's place in the family as a replacement daughter.

Insomnia was a can't put down book. The accident in the prolog had to have something to do with what was happening to Emma. When Caroline came into the story, I guessed that Caroline was involved in that auto accident in the prolog. I assumed the accident happened later than it actually did and Robert was the one who drove the other car . Robert wrecked a car while Emma was away and got rid of the car.
Great Ending!

I found this book really hard to get into at the beginning and gave up once, but went back to it later in the month. I really didn't like either of the sisters, or any of the characters it in at all to be honest. I found the whole thing dragged and was so repetitive. It was obvious that Phoebe was not going to be the culprate as she was being pushed forward so forcefully. So that when Caroline came into the story I had a pretty good idea that it was her. I just didn't know why she would do it. All in all I didn't get on with this author at all and won't be reading anything else by her. I found the concept that they were all seeing into the future a ridiculous twist that didn't work at all. Very disappointing.