I’d give this a 3.5, rather than a 3. I was really excited about this book, because I LOVED Heidi’s previous, however it just didn’t do it for me.

I found the chapter layouts confusing - the constant time hopping (whilst not really giving anything of substance) It felt really slow, with not an awful lot happening, and then suddenly towards the end everything was almost crammed in at once. I mean, I didn’t guess the ‘reveal’ so it was nice to be shocked.

Stella and her family left their island home in the middle of the night never to return. Now years later a body has been found and Stella finds herself once more back on the Island. Who is the body, who killed her and does it have any connection with why her family had to leave in such a rush? Stella is looking for answers but does she really want them?

This book switches between the present and the days leading up to their departure from the island. I liked the changing viewpoints. The story was really interesting. I had figured out bits about the past but not all. The story quickly drew me in and like Stella I was desperate for answers. It also raises an interesting moral question at the end. The ending was well done and interesting. It finished the story off in the only way it could. An intriguing mystery with plenty of drama thrown in.

I finished this book at 2.30am this morning as I really needed to know how everything would turn out. The ending is worth the bags under my eyes this morning. I really liked the two time lines, particularly as they tended to end on a bit of a cliff hanger. The story is well plotted with credible characters and a good pace. There are quite a few characters in the story which I did find slightly confusing initially and I think with hindsight I should have made a brief note of the various islanders and their relationships. This notwithstanding I really enjoyed this book.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

Stella has an idyllic childhood growing up on the remote island of Evergreen, just off the coast of Dorset, with her parents and older brother and sister.

But years later, Stella, as an adult and in the present day, sees a ‘Breaking News’ report of a body found next to the garden of her old family home on the island. Is this linked to why the family left the island in the middle of the night twenty-five years ago?

Stella finds secrets were kept, not just by her parents but by everyone on the island. Everyone on the island is bound together by these secrets, and it’s time to start untying them to get to the truth.

I read the book within two days, as it was so gripping I struggled to put it down at times. The plot drew me in straight away, and I never knew which way it was going to go. Right from the start, I sensed there was something not right about the island and its inhabitants...

The book is set over two timelines - 1993 in the weeks leading up to Stella and her family leaving the island, and the present day. As the secrets emerged and bombshells dropped during the timelines, I found the excitement and tension raised further, making the book hard to put down.

All of the characters felt real and believable to me, and I enjoyed seeing the same characters through Stella’s eyes as a child in the earlier timeline then again as an adult as she tried to put pieces together.

Unputdownable!

A highly engaging read which kept me turning the pages through the night. Great characterisation , good dialogue and a strong plot. Highly recommended.

On a stormy night in 1993, Stella’s parents bundle her and her siblings onto a ferry, desperate to leave their home on Evergreen. Little Stella adores living on the small island just off the Dorset coast, and can’t understand why her parents want to leave. Flash forward twenty-five years and Stella now works as a counsellor. She still reminisces wistfully about her childhood on Evergreen and is shocked one evening to see her old family home on the news – human remains have been found in the garden. Stella is compelled to return to the island but soon discovers she’s not welcome and that someone is prepared to take extreme measures to make her leave.

Come Back For Me is the latest suspense thriller from Heidi Perks, author of Now You See Her – both novels which explore what it means to tell the truth. Like its predecessor, Come Back For Me is quick to pique the reader’s interest with lots of burning questions. Why were Stella’s parents in such a hurry to leave the island that night? Whose body has been found? Who is the killer? The tension amps up when the identity of the murder victim is revealed – it’s someone Stella knew. When her brother, Danny, is implicated in the murder, Stella makes it her mission to prove his innocence.

Heidi Perks is a skilled suspense writer and the book moves along at a cracking pace, building an unsettling atmosphere laden with suspicion. The narrative deftly alternates between timelines – with the scenes from the past shifting viewpoints between Stella’s family – loner sister Bonnie, misunderstood Danny, and parents, Maria and David, as they navigate their relationship with Iona, a mysterious newcomer who seems intent on ingratiating herself with their family.

The reader journeys along with Stella as she sifts through one murky lie after another. The setting of Evergreen is perfect for a murder mystery – the claustrophobic island setting and the silo mentality of a small town, where everyone knows everyone (perhaps a little too well) and protect each other’s dirty secrets for fear of their own exposure. And although I’ve read many books about secrets, I haven’t come across anything quite like this. The reveal of what is actually going on in Evergreen was unexpected, interesting and written in a believable and authentic way.

Come Back For Me is an engaging read about loyalty and the lengths a person will go to in order to protect the people they love. What happens when lies spiral out of control? Is telling the truth always the best option? In this case, the truth is that this book needs to go to the top of your TBR pile, immediately!

i enjoyed this mystery it kept me guessing throughout as I hopped from one suspect to another. A small community with as many secrets as population and this web of deceit is about to come tumbling down. I had some trouble with the journalist character who just did not feel right bit otherwise the characterisation and pace of the narrative was well plotted.

loved this book by heidi. good characters and story line. look forward to reading more from this author.

This is the second book I've read by Heidi Perks. I found it to be an easy read with lots of twists along the way. Rather slow going at times but still enjoyable.

Stella Harvey lived on the island of Evergreen until one stormy night when she was 11 years old, her family left abruptly in the middle of the night for reasons unknown to Stella.
Years later a body is discovered buried near her old home on Evergreen and Stella is compelled to find out if her family are involved in the death of this person.
Stella decides to return to Evergreen to uncover the mystery of the remains and the reasons that her family left their home so suddenly all those years ago - but it appears that someone doesn't want their secrets uncovered.
The story is told both in the past and the present which is well handled if a bit slow to build but overall I enjoyed this read. Tense and claustrophobic with an unexpected ending, I give this 4 stars and many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the advance review copy.

Some secrets are best kept secret especially one that might effect a special sibling bonding.Sometimes knowing the truth might not be good thing.

Stella gradually finds about more about her past I order to prove the innocence of her brother Danny.

A gripping read but I feel it is too drawn out.Not one of her best but still enjoyable.

Come Back to Me opens with a scene from the past. Stella and her family are leaving the Island they live on in the middle of the night, during a storm. The family are arguing, the sea is angry and the rain is violently lashing down. Its a tense, dramatic start to Heidi Perks latest novel.

I was hooked from the beginning. Books like this are right up my street.

Very early on a body is discovered just outside of the garden of the home Stella and her family lived. Stella, who has never gotten over leaving the island at a young age, becomes involved in the investigation and is pulled back to the Island.

The book flicks between the past and present day to slowly reveal the secrets Stella and her family have been keeping for years. However, maybe some secrets are better left untold and this is a choice Stella will find herself having to make.

The story is really interesting and definitely keeps you guessing. It explores the relationships between Stella and her family members along with other residents of the island. I love the setting of a tiny, remote Island where everyone knows everyone else and seeing the impact that the discovery of a body has on the inhabitants.

Stella as a main character is likable and realistic. I found a lot of the choices she made were ones I would have made myself and could relate to her throughout the book. There are several other fascinating characters and it touches upon the issues some of them faced without going into tons of detail.

This book is nothing new. It follows a tried and tested format of slowly revealing snippets of a secret whilst showing the impact in the present time. True to form the action picks up towards the end, building to an emotional conclusion. It certainly hooks you in and I found it an addictive read. For someone who proclaims to not have time to read I found myself making the effort to read as much of it as I could every evening.

I love island stories (not as small as that in Huckleberry Finn) and this book is centred around an island in Poole Bay and I can imagine where the ferry would leave the mainland from - I live close to that sea so another reason to love the book.

Having said that it really is a good psychological thriller featuring a dead body and some well described island inhabitants. The main character is Stella in whose old houses'' garden the body appears. She makes a few journeys to this house and the area, especially as her brother (Danny) is accused of the killing.

Set between two time zones - 1993 and present day - with Stella's mother telling the older tale and Stella telling the up to date story. her mother has now died. her father is on the mainland but not fully functioning. Thus Stella is left unravelling the mystery with some 'help' from her sister Bonnie who is also on the mainland.

With plenty of island family characters and babies who have grown up, there are some instances/names that need concentration, but on the whole an excellent read.

Thanks to Net Galley and Random House for the chance to read and review.

I wasn't convinced this was going to be my type of book, however once I was into it, I just had to finish this!
A story of deep rooted family secrets, and how far people will go to conceal them. A brilliant twist at the end that i really was not expecting. Well written throughout, great read!

Stella and her family leave the island of Evergreen suddenly when she was a young girl.
Years later watching news report she see’s that a body has been found buried near her old home .
Stella decides to return to the island but not everyone is happy to see her.
The story is told in the present by Stella and the past by Maria her mother.
This story takes you down different routes one moment your thinking they had something to do with the body and the next your thinking it’s someone else.
A Brilliant book by Heidi Perks I will definitely be reading more.
Thanks Netgalley

An intriguing book centred around a family who used to live on a small remote island and a dead body.....the daughter who lived on the island is now grown up and wants to discover what happens and digs deep to find out, a good book with interesting characters

Come Back For Me is set in the island Evergreen and although it only has 100 people residing on it, there is a lot going on.
Stella Harvey is the main character in this thriller that bounces from present time to 1993, in this book this layout works well, giving you the background story to add more depth to this family thriller.
Stella left Evergreen at the young age of eleven, it was a stormy night when she was put upon her fathers ferry with her mother, father and brother and sister and sailed away to never return. Twenty five years later and a body has been found on the edge of their old garden, Stella is intrigued and goes back to the island to find out who it was and if she knew them and if so what connection they had. Someone there though doesn’t want her digging around in the past and does that best to deter her.
A decent thriller that I finished in a day as once I got immersed into the past of this book I needed to find out how it ended!
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House Cornerstone, Century, for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Come Back For Me by Heidi Perks is a gem of a domestic thriller guaranteed to keep you guessing, and gasping, until the last page!

The story is told over two timelines – during the early 1990’s when Stella and her family live on the island Evergreen, and in the present day. Their time spent on Evergreen was idyllic, but now their family has been torn apart by the secrets each of them have carried all these years.

The story started out slowly, but I liked this because it just set the scene so smoothly and got you into a comfortable lull when the twists started. The character development was consistent and in-depth, and by the end of the book I felt like I knew and understood these people and could therefore empathise with their decisions.

The premise was completely believable and the unexpected story developments, twists, lies and secrets kept me turning those pages until the very end – and what a fantastic ending it was!

Ms. Perks has certainly done it again, and is now firmly on my favourite authors list!

#netgalley #comebackforme #heidiperks #randomhouseuk #cornerstone

Here is the story of a woman who returns to the small island she was brought up on, after a body is discovered near the grounds of their old home. We follow Stella’s arrival back on the island and her quest to discover what may or may not have forced her family to suddenly depart the island years before. This is an intricate tale of family secrets and forgotten memories that kept me hooked until the end. Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Stella Harvey's family live on an isolated Island, called Evergreen. Only accessible by Ferry - that her dad runs daily to and from the island. They live a happy life, as far as Stella is concerned, how she remembers her childhood, until one day they leave the island, never to return. She's told it was because her Dad got a new job, and yet, everything seems different. Her older sister Bonnie is happy they left, she hated being there. Danny her brother soon leaves home and her parents separate.

Everything she thought she knew and loved has gone, she writes to her best friend, but never hears back and her, her Mum seems sad to have left and yet understands they needed to.


Then twenty-five years later and Evergreen is on the news, a body has been found, right by Stella's old house and she decides to return, but no one welcomes her, no friendly faces are pleased to see her. Her sister is angry she's gone there. By this time Stella and Bonnie haven't seen Danny for over 20 years and their Mum has died. Their dad has dementia and no one knows the answers to all the questions she has.

No one on the island wants to speak to her to answer any of her questions about why they left. So many secrets and no answers leave Stella trying to uncover the truths.


But perhaps, some truths are left unsaid and kept just as they are, it up to Stella to decide this time, if that's the best way to keep them unsaid or left the truth hurt her family even more.


A great thriller that will keep this page-turner going over in your mind long after you've finished reading it. With characters that have to justify their actions and hide the truth, for fear of revealing even more secrets and the descriptions of windswept cliffs and scenery that leave you almost able to smell the sea air. Yet again Heidi Perks has a produced a truly gripping read in Come Back For Me