Wow, you cant beat Kerry Wilkinson for keeping your heart thumping, loads of twists and turns, another brilliant stand alone book, keeps you guessing all the way through.

my 15 year old daughter read this book and her review follows below:

i adored this book as it’s a psychological thriller with so many sharp turns that shape every sentence that follows.

i would definitely read a novel by this author again. the ending is quite possibly one of the best i’ve ever read and i read a lot!

many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book started off great, and I enjoyed the beginning a lot. The writing was smart and witty, and I kept trying to copy certain phrases and send them to my friends lol. Ellie is a great character and narrator, and I didn't have a problem reading from her point of view (something I do struggle with a lot if the character is boring/annoying). I liked her relationship with her mum, it was sweet and I liked that her mum was an actual parent. Her friendship with Naomi is great, even though I wish we had more interactions between the two of them. But while the book started off strong, it fell flat after the first fifty pages or so, and only slightly picked up again towards the end.

The title of the book is pretty much the plot, we follow Ellie from the moment of her death, and relive the moments leading up to it, as well as the week after it. <spoiler>Except it is a total cop out, because she isn't actually dead. Great. This is the most frustrating part of the book. It is implied that she was saved by Sarah, but if that was the case, why was Ellie "dead" for the whole week?</spoiler>

I guessed who the culprit was, but only towards the end, so it wasn't glaringly obvious. But it did feel rushed and not well thought out at all. A lot of the characters and their relationships with each other were not explored properly, even though there was more than enough time to do it, and there was a whole lot of unnecessary high school drama.

This book could have been improved by cutting out huge chunks in the middle, explaining the murderer's motives better and keeping <spoiler>Ellie dead</spoiler>

This was such a unique, chilling story! I felt like I was on the edge of my seat throughout, and I never really knew what to expect next nor who to trust! The mystery element was so enthralling and atmospheric, I felt like I could visualise everything that was being described!

The book starts with Ellie, or Eleanor, waking, unaware of what happened the night before, but despite this, she believes she has drowned, and yet she is still seemingly alive and well?

What follows is easily one of the most chilling and perplexing books that I’ve ever read! Instantly, I adored Ellie and I felt like I was drawn into her story throughout, her relationship with her mum and her brother, albeit strained, were very natural and they all felt like everyday people that I could relate to. I enjoyed Ellie’s relationship with her mum, the scenes were very well written and throughout I definitely felt emotional for them both, Ellie’s mum had her own grief she was still coming to terms with (it’s mentioned that Ellie and Ollie’s dad died when they were younger), and given what Ollie had gone through (having dated Sarah, who was murdered prior to this story, a murder that is still yet to be solved), there was not a moment in this story where I felt bored!

I love the mystery elements woven throughout! I mean, some mystery books feel like they’re seemingly leading up to the end on a clear path, but this was just so interesting and mysterious throughout! I felt like I was right there with Ellie, trying to piece together what had happened to her. Was she still alive? Dead? Oh reader, if you’re looking for a fabulous, chilling mystery, this is for you!

The mystery aspect was just too good! Eleanor noticed early after returning home that she has lost some of her senses; taste, for food tastes earthy and non flavorful to her and touch, when her mum tries to comfort her, noticing that she doesn’t seem too well, Ellie can’t feel her presence. I hadn’t read anything where the narrator had gone through this before, and it was just such a chilling and unique reading experience! The book is told in first person point of view, so throughout this book, I felt like I was easily in Ellie’s shoes, feeling as she felt, thinking as she thought! Who could we trust, who are our real friends? What is Ollie up to? What really happened to Sarah all those years ago? This book grabbed me from the start and I was wholly intrigued!

I felt like the twists and turns throughout this book were aplenty, I never really knew what was going to come next nor did I know who to trust, and by the end I was so desperate to know who the culprit was, and why everything tied together, I was shook when the book reached its penultimate conclusion!

I feel incredibly excited that I had an opportunity to read this book before release, and thanks again to NetGalley and the Publishers for an eARC in exchange for review.

This is a very strange sort of novel. For starters, the concept is extremely odd to say the least, although I am pretty sure I have heard of it being used before in other titles - that's nothing new though. We all know it's nigh on impossible to produce a completely original idea for a book as everything has been done to death by this point.

"The Death and Life of Eleanor Parker" skirts the line between the young adult and mystery/thriller genres - equal parts coming-of-age novel and murder mystery and one that I found challenging to begin with but once I became accustomed to the storyline and what the author was trying to achieve it all clicked into place. As a result, that was the time I began to enjoy it more, too.

Eleanor (Ellie) Parker wakes up cold, wet and alone in the river that runs through her small village. She has no idea how she got there but she does remember that another girl was drowned in that same river last summer. Her killer was never caught and still noone knows exactly who carried out this shocking murder. Ellie cannot think of who would wish to inflict harm upon her, she's just a normal teenager who delights in doing all the things young girls enjoy doing. She begins to wonder if something links her assault and the drowning the year before. Can she find out the truth before it's too late?

What I loved about this was the ease at which I got into the story once I grasped what it was all about and the direction it was heading in. It starts off quite pedestrian in order to build up the tension and the various layers of the mystery but soon picks up and pushes forward at a strnger pace until the conclusion arrives.

All in all, a perfect summer read which will appeal to youngsters and adults alike. I have came across the name Kerry Wilkinson before but this is my first book by him that I have taken te plunge with. I will be placing the rest of his past works on my rather mountainous to-be-read pile and will no doubt pick them up in the future. Recommended.

Many thanks to Bookouture for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This is a slow burn mystery. It starts with Ellie waking up in a river, where she was drowned? She’s not sure, but she can feel/remember someone pushing her head under water and nothing else. Who killed or tried to kill her? She has a list of suspects and with her spotty memory she can’t be sure who to trust. I couldn’t put this book down and wanted to know what happened to Eleanor.

This is my first Kerry Wilkinson book and probably won’t be my last. I received a free ARC of this book on NetGalley.

While I don't read many mystery novels this one definitely caught my attention, from the get-go the writing is beautiful and plot enthralling. I've never read anything from Kerry Wilkinson before, but his writing beautiful and interesting leaving me willing to try more of his works. I particularly love the small village vibe and the different relationships we see explored. Eleanor and her mother's relationship I found especially realistic and relatable, without being to cliche, however, her boyfriend, Robbie's relationship felt rather flat and unnecessary. While I didn't see the ending coming I did find it rather implausible with several loose ends left untied.

Eleanor Parker has, as the oxymoronic phrase goes, woken up dead. She comes to in a river in the wee hours of the morning and has no recollection of the events that put her there. She embarks on a mission to uncover the events that led to her watery death and, more importantly, solve the mystery of who drowned her.

The following week is very lonely for Ellie. She is unable to confide in any of her friends or family about her death and a few of them end up on her list of viable suspects. In order to solve the mystery of her own murder, she may have to solve another murder as well as a kidnapping. A year earlier, Sarah Lipski was found dead in the same river where Ellie woke up. At the time of her death, Sarah was dating Ellie’s brother, Ollie. Ollie quickly became the prime suspect and his reputation still has not recovered. Then, when Helen James goes missing several days after Ellie’s death, Ollie is arrested.

Throughout her investigation, Ellie has to come to terms with mistakes that she and the people around her have made. She also has to reject the insider mentality of the small village she lives in and seek the help of a couple of outcasts. The Death and Life of Eleanor Parker is a coming-of-age story of growth and acceptance combined with a suspenseful murder mystery… but I guess you have no choice but to come of age when you’re trying to solve your own murder.

The Death and Life of Eleanor Parker is for fans of Lily Anderson's Undead Girl Gang and Karen McManus' One of Us is Lying. I've added the title to my favorites list on Goodreads and while this is the first novel I have read by Kerry Wilkinson, I look forward to reading others.

Eleanor Parker wakes up cold and without memory in her village's river. She's covered in bruises and most importantly - she's dead. But who could have killed her? And why? Just a year earlier, her brother's girlfriend, Sarah, was murdered in the same way. Her brother, Oliver, is the only connection between Eleanor and Sarah - could he have murdered his own sister? Or was it Eleanor's best friend? Or boyfriend? Her list of suspects only grows as she seeks the answers to her own murder.

I love a good mystery. And for a while, this book delivered. I've never read a book from the perspective of a dead girl trying to solve her own murder, brought back to "life" by some unknown force. Although the secondary characters weren't really well-developed, I thought they all served a good purpose in the story. I liked following Eleanor as she drifts through her life - or what remains of it - and discovers secrets involving the night she was murdered and the people she thought she knew.

My only qualms with the story were random asides that had nothing to do with the story (i.e. how someone eats a gingerbread is some indication of them being psycho) and that it dragged a bit. Also, the murderer was super obvious. I'm not saying that because I'm a super Sherlock Holmesian sleuth. I usually never see the answer until it's presented to me. But seriously, I saw Eleanor's murderer from a mile away. And when the murderer's reason was revealed, I honestly wanted to roll my eyes because this is the second book I've read within the last month using a specific trope as motivation for murder, and it's not cool. And the ending didn't make much sense, even with a supernatural backbone to the story.

Overall, if you're looking for a light mystery with a clique of teenagers and an interesting supernatural premise, then I recommend this book to you!

This book moved slowly but did not bore me. Eleanor narrates throughout and we learn about the death of her brother Ollie’s girlfriend a year prior. The town is on edge because the killer was never caught. Eleanor thinks someone killed her, and another girl has gone missing. Is Ollie responsible? Is it the mysterious Hitcher? Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Part ‘whodunnit’, part thriller, The Life and Death of Eleanor Parker will delight fans of the Jessica Daniels series. In many ways it reminded me strongly of After the Woods by Kim Savage with a twist of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars. Waking up to drag herself marked with bruises from a river, the MC must work out what exactly happened to her since she has no memory of the event. In a fast paced, page turning narrative we follow the heroine in a race to find out the truth, but few people can be trusted. Could the town be hiding a secret? Thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommend.

How do you cope when you wake up dead? How does a seventeen year old cope? I wondered when I first saw the title of this book whether it was going to be a ghost mystery, but it isn't. She wakes up - well - dead. It's imaginative, intriguing and, I found it, compelling. I couldn't put it down. Every page drew me on. Loved it.

A good cast of characters that were interesting to read about, with engaging writing. This is not my typical read but I'm glad I gave it a go because I enjoyed it immensely. The narrator my favourite aspect of this book as she is amusing and interesting. I would highly recommend giving it a read.

I really enjoyed this book, it had a bit of everything and it kept you guessing. It flowed really well and I read it quite quickly. Definitely recommend.

Good things first, it wasn't boring and the setting was very strong.

The bad: I know who murdered Eleanor Parker. It was me. For someone who was murdered, she sure didn't act like this was a big deal. Or that she was worried that she was going to go back to be dead.

And there is the hugest cliche of high school life: The Heathers. The three girl cliche that is so tiring to read/see. There was one point when the main Heather is given a reason for being a bitch. And that reason is another huge cliche.

I have read and loved most of Kerry's books, especially the Jessica Daniel series and many of his standalone books.

I must admit I did struggle with this one, I found it hard to get into and the storyline just didn't grip me but this is just my opinion., I am sure many readers will love it.

This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I found that it had a brisk pace and an interesting cast of teenagers who were the right blend of endearing but obnoxious. Eleanor's personality shone throughout the novel, and I did want to know what happened to her.

I just have three hangups. First of all, when waking up and realizing she'd died, she never sought out help for her condition or pushed the boundaries. She didn't seem to know or care if she was full zombie and just went about her life coasting. That was weird. Second, there are way too many asides that feel like the author's own personal thoughts. (We really didn't need a tangent about how sadistic you are based on how you eat a gingerbread man!) Finally, I thought the ending was way too convenient and, to be frank, cheesy. I get that it's YA, but it felt cheap.

Because this is a young adult book, I read it with my students in mind, and that can make reviewing tough! As an adult reader, there were times in the very beginning when I really didn't like Ellie-- she is partly "mean girl," and if I don't like my main character, I have a hard time buying into the story. As an adult, I'm not sure the pieces in this mystery seemed "realistic" (the supernatural elements notwithstanding-- the adults in the story made decisions that didn't always feel "adult," maybe. . . ).

However, it's ALSO true that this novel will be extremely popular with my students. Wilkinson's ability to build suspense and keep the reader hanging on (without it feeling "cheap" or becoming TOO long) is exceptional. He blends supernatural, thriller, and mystery with real skill, and the story has very little "lag" time (I appreciate that the action starts at the very beginning, while still giving the reader some solid bearings regarding the characters and the situation). Some of the things that made me dislike Ellie (such as her ongoing hatred for the (very petty) "Ravens") may even make her more "real" to the young people who are the intended audience. Although some of my students may have trouble with the British-isms ("college" versus "university," for example), I like those because they are an easy introduction to a different culture (and a reminder that this story IS by a British author, who proves that we have the basics in common, no matter where we live. )

I enjoyed Ellie's exploration into the supernatural aspect of her predicament. Wilkinson spends a little time on several "explanations," which might be a really interesting way into further investigation (makes me think of the book Lily Dale by Christine Wicker)! I also appreciate that these parts were brief, and didn't bog down the pacing of the story.

The Death and Life of Eleanor Parker was truly an enjoyable read. I'll have a copy on my classroom shelves, and I look forward to recommending this one to my students!

This was exactly what I needed! I’ve been reading so many “psychological thrillers” with “the surprise twist you won’t see coming” that I’m burnt out. Mainly because these books have been neither thrilling or surprising.

This was something different, but good different. The narrator is amusing and interesting, despite being somewhat long winded in parts. But that didn’t detract from the story.

The solution was one I didn’t see coming. Was it realistic? I guess that depends on the person. I know people may laugh at this response or rationalization but I can roll with it. Some things can’t be explained so easily, or at all. I think even if you fall into the opposite camp you will still walk away happy. I hope you do.

I enjoyed this story and would highly recommend it. I will check out the author’s other works. Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture, and the author. I received this book in exchange for a review. The opinions are my own.

Enjoyed the book and the main character Ellie. She remains so calm, even after she knows that she drowned and someone killed her. From the beginning I suspected who the killer was but I didn't know why.

Ellie wakes up in the river and doesn't remember how she got there. When she gets home she realizes she's dead and remembers someone holding her underwater. She can't sleep or eat and pretty much everyone says she looks awful. Ellie decides to investigate her death. She puts the usual suspects on her list- boyfriend, best friend, best friend's boyfriend, brother and weird guy who works a the diner. Her drowning coincides with one year anniversary of the death of her brother's girlfriend, Sarah. Sarah was also found drowned in the river. Before Ellie is able to solve the mystery another girl goes missing.

I definitely recommend the book. It was a quick read and I didn't want to stop until everything was revealed. I enjoyed the story, characters and writing style. I have enjoyed the previous Kerry Wilkinson books that I read and look forward to reading more. There's always a mystery to solve and twists and turns that you didn't expect.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author, Kerry Wilkinson, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.