Member Reviews
Thea pushes a pram to go to the store ... only the pram is empty. People turn away from her .. or call her names ... or call her a murderer.
She doesn't remember what happened the night Zander died ... beautiful Zander with the white blonde hair and startling blue eyes. But Thea confessed .. or so they tell her.
Still under a doctor's care for her memory lapse, Thea begins to remember ... or is it what she truly wants to believe? Why does she feel that her family, her friends, have all lied .. are hiding secrets? And if she's not guilty of killing her child, then who is?
This is an emotional roller coaster showcasing a family torn apart by tragedy. Thea is a multi-layered character. She's always been a strong woman, having a handsome husband, lovely children, and running her own successful business from home. Today, she's a wreck. Filled with sadness, guilt, missing her husband who has now abandoned her ... she's trying to stay away from the bottles of alcohol in order to survive each day.
The story is told by different voices other than Thea. We also hear from the woman who was her assistant ... her best friend ... a friend and her husband who live close by. They all seem to have issues of one kind or another and they all certainly have secrets .... and several of them have secrets that will destroy more lives.
This one grabbed me from the very first and didn't let go until the surprising ending. The characters are finely drawn and emotions run high throughout.
Many thanks to the author / Killer Reads, Harper Collins / Netgalley / TBC Reviewer Request Group (FB) for the digital copy of this psychological fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
AM I GUILTY? Is a gripping psychological crime thriller by author Jackie Kabler, dealing with a very sensitive subject…the death of a baby left in the car on a hot summer day. I was completely absorbed in this story, told from various viewpoints, about a mother's worst nightmare.
A mother’s job is to protect her child. But everyone makes mistakes...
I never thought it would happen to me…
One moment I had it all – a gorgeous husband, a beautiful home, a fulfilling career and two adorable children. The next, everything came crashing down around me.
Thea had it all, a husband, Rupert and two children-Nell eight-years old and Zander, an infant, living in a beautiful home. Thea ran her own children’s online Clothing Company. But Thea had a drinking problem, and was easily swayed to go out drinking weekend evenings when her single best friend, Isla, the party girl was in town.
Annabelle is married to Greg with three children-Millie, who is best friends with Nell, Oliver eleven years old and Sienna the youngest child, a three- year old toddler. Annabelle runs her own business, an events management company.
Flora worked originally for Thea as a personal assistant, until the tragic event and then went to work for Annabelle, as a personal assistant, live-in, like a nanny, helping with the kids but mostly with the business.
But then Thea’s world fell apart…when she left her infant son, Zander in a sweltering hot car, after a boozy meal out with her best friend. How could Thea do such a horrific thing?
They said it was her fault, the worst mother in the world. And even worse, Thea had memory loss since that tragic day! Even her friends and family think she is a monster.
Now on trial for her son’s murder, she returns to drinking, and pushing an empty pram around with no baby anymore.
Then Thea starts to remember things, fragments of memories different that are starting to flood her mind. These flashbacks/memories are different from what was told at the time. Things about the day Zander died…things that didn’t make sense.
So many secrets and lies…and Thea is determined to find out the truth!
This is an outstanding psychological crime thriller novel, and one of the best reads I have read this year! This novel moves at a steady pace, full of twists and turns, totally gripping the reader for the suspense ride from beginning to end. I kept flipping the pages as I had to know what had happened, the ending a total surprise.
I am not going to say anymore as I don’t want to give the plot away, but this is a very riveting and powerful story. I loved it. All I can say is read this book… I don’t think you will be disappointed.
Many thanks to the author and the TBC Reviewer Request Group (FB) and NetGalley for my digital copy.
I have read and enjoyed one of the Cora Baxter books, but this one is completely different. This time Ms Kabler has excelled herself and given us a superb psychological thriller. The subject matter (the horrific death of a child) is quite disturbing but is handled in a sensitive manner.
The story is completely gripping and very cleverly written, told from the POV of all the different characters, drip feeding the reader little snippets of information, and making the reader want to solve the case. Although there was quite a big cast of characters it was easy to follow. I was half right about whodunnit, but then the ending totally floored me! I think this could be one of my favourite books of the year . Highly recommended.
Am I guilty? By Jackie Kabler.
Wow. This was in the end a fantastic read. I found it slow to begin with but as Thea started remembering from that point I couldn't put it down. I was thrown by the ending too and who it was that did do it. I would never had expected that. Very clever with the twist. 5*. Highly recommended.
I don't really know what to say about Am I guilty? except for the fact that it was an incredibly gripping read from the start. It was wonderfully written and the way in which the author portrayed the characters and story was perfect. She drew you in and didn't let you go until the very end, but even once the story has finished, you are left thinking it through.
A true representation for me of how good a book is how much sleep I lose because I can't put it down...well luckily I read this whilst on holiday so the missed sleep wasn't so much of an issue! Brilliantly written, with interesting characters, a storyline which kept me intrigued and an ending I didn't see coming, what more could I ask for in a book? Fabulous!
This was a new author for me, the cover of the book was tempting, the description interesting so I gave it a go! So pleased I did as I love a good psychological thriller and this didn’t disappoint.
This book illustrates how ones life can be changed so irrevocably in the course of just one day, the ramifications and repercussions for all are profound and far reaching! Such an emotive subject but handled so brilliantly with a real twist that I didn’t see coming!
Thank you so much net galley for introducing me to this new author and for a fantastic read would highly recommend.
Wow, wow, wow, 2 days to read this dark. Frightening, heartbreaking book. So well written, made me cry scream and want to jump into the story to stop the deed happening. How does a mother deal with the death of a baby, especially when it’s her fault, or is it? Life changes forever and you have to live with the grief and guilt. How do you do that? Especially when all your friends and family blame you for the incident that causes the baby to die. No memory of the day so you have to believe what everyone tells you. Thank you THB reviewers and NetGalley for letting me read this amazing book. I would give it 10 stars if I could. All I have to do now is find something to follow this.
This was a great book that was like a rollercoaster ride. A truly unexpected ending to a book that kept me entertained throughout,
Thea is facing a trial for manslaughter for causing the death of her son - it's a pretty shocking topic to read about. After her son died, her world fell apart - not only did she lose her son, but her marriage broke up afterwards too.
Thea can't remember the day it happened, but knows what happened because of what she's been told after. Her famaily and friends wouldn't lie to her would they? Or would they? Her memories start to come back, but they don't marry up with what happened that day; so what really happened?
This was fantastic. What a great read all the way through- it makes you think all along, exactly who is telling the truth?
Omg I loved this book!!! nothing is as it seems everyone is lying!! it twist and turned all the way!! i am thrilled to be park of the blog tour for this book!
This book is so cleverly written that you find yourself jumping between extreme emotions at almost every page, first with empathy for Thea, who has clearly suffered a great deal wit the loss of her baby boy...then anger and hatred towards anyone so selfish as to get so drunk their actions result in that death...then back to empathy as Thea's story unfolds.
There are plenty of unpleasant characters sprinkled through Thea's life and as the truth begins to reveal itself so do the true colours of many of them, told in the voices of each of the main characters a chapter at a time.
A one-sitting sort of a book because you just need to find out the truth!
A brilliant read full of twists and turns. I did not want to stop reading it. First-rate work. I would love to check out other works by this author.
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It had its twists an turns and kept you guessing till the end. I did like the characters in the story and the way you got to know each one in the chapters.
Thea is accused of killing her baby after leaving him in a hot car whilst she sleeps off a drinking session. She has amnesia brought on by shock and assumes that everybody around her is telling the truth. As her memory returns she starts to wonder if this is not the case. The book is well written with the main characters each telling their story in different chapters. It pulls you in right from the beginning and keeps you hooked to the very end.
Thanks to Jackie Kabler and Netgalley for the early e book copy.
When we are introduced to Thea in Jackie Kabler’s Am I Guilty? we already know that she has done something terrible. It was in the disgusted glances that people were giving her and the shame that she felt that made me so eager to find out what it was she had done. The truth of what happened to her six months previously turns out to be very horrific, and it makes for a very tense finale as everything came together.
This is a very well developed book that takes us into the lives of a group of people who were all witnesses to a tragic event which has since destroyed Thea’s life. But perhaps everything isn’t as it seems. It really does seem impossible to talk about the plot without giving any of the details away. Jackie Kabler has crafted a very twisty story here. On several occasions, I thought I had everything worked out, and I thought I knew how the ending was going to unfold, but I was proven wrong, in a very big way, but it did make so much sense.
Thea is a character who I did feel desperately sorry for, not straight away though when I began to understand why she was in the position she was now, but I really did start to connect to her as Thea tried to sift through the puzzle of information that she had to get to an answer. It made for very tense reading as she reached the dramatic conclusion.
Sometimes I find that when drama is played out in books, I don’t always find it very believable, but here everything did feel very real and I could totally understand how the characters were behaving the way they were. I thought this particularly towards the end when secrets that had been kept were slowly revealed to other characters who had previously been in the dark.
I was desperate to know the truth about what had happened to this group of people and find out once and for all if Thea was responsible. I could sense her own need and desperation to get to the bottom of it, even if it did prove if she was guilty. And some of the scenes were definitely shocking.
Jackie Kabler brings her tightly woven story into a very believable, heart-breaking, but satisfactory ending. This is a read which I certainly wouldn’t hesitate in recommending. Jackie Kabler is a name I will be watching out for in the future.
I loved this book. It had gripped from the very first page. It’s full of twists and turns and the suspense increases with each page.
This is an excellent fast paced well written book.
Three women linked by the death of an 8 month old baby. Thea left her son in the car and forgot about him on a hot summer day. Flora, her faithful assistant has left Thea’s company and is working for Annabelle. Annabelle’s daughter is Thea’s daughter’s best friend. Thea’s world is falling down but she is starting to remember the things others are trying to hide!
At first I struggled with this, a chapter per character was confusing me a bit but then it started to flow and I was hooked! Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks netgalley for,sending me an early copy of this book. It was a very well written story but so sad.
A mother did the worst thing any mother could possibly do to her baby.
She deserved all the punishment that could be thrown at her.
Nell,could not remember what happened that terrible day, but some days she had flash backs and things did not seem as she remembered what happened that terrible day. Nell knew she drunk too much, but had she really done this terrible thing to her baby.
A terrific ending and a great story.
A bit late with this review. I'm being snowed under with assignments at the moment.
Now, I really loved the premise with this book. I haven't read one like it, so I was excited. However, I just couldn't get into this one. I can't entirely pinpoint why that is. The writing was excellent, it flowed well, the characters were developed well, and I actually liked the twist. Didn't see it coming, and I liked that it felt a little... wicked. I won't say anything else because I don't want to give it away. However, at times it felt like words were put down and didn't really go anywhere. It was a little slow. I didn't gel with the characters, in fact I found them a little annoying at times. Almost as if the author tried to do too much, without a lot of scene change. I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong. But it just didn't strike to give it anymore than three stars. For that to have happened, I really need to mesh with the characters; I need to get lost in the story with them. It would have also needed to elicit some physical responses, so gasps, tears, laughter etc. but it didn't.
I definitely look forward to reading the next by this author, because let's face it, we don't always gel with every character we read but there's always the chance next time. I definitely don't want to miss out of that chance!
Thank you Harper Collins UK for my ebook copy in return for an honest review. I really appreciate it.