The Blame by Kerry Wilkinson is another flawless tale of suspense that will have you firmly in its grasp from the very first page. When I indulge in any of this author's work, I clear my schedule immediately knowing that I will not be able to put it down until the final sentence has been read. This latest offering proved no exception.

Harry is living in Canada when he receives a call from Paige, his childhood friend who is still living in the same village in the UK where the two grew up. Their mutual friend, Richard, has been accused of murdering a teacher from their old school, and Harry soon wonders if the crime could be connected to another murder that took place during their school days, one that the three friends had mutually agreed to never speak of again. Until now.

This is a tale of suspense that will keep you engaged throughout, with many moments of palpable tension. Punctuated with the author's trademark sense of humour, this novel makes a clear case for the legitimacy of the old adage, you can never go home again.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC of this title.

Harry is living in Canada when he receives a call from Paige that their friend Richard has been arrested for the murder of a head teacher from their school. Harry returns to the UK immediately but realizes that he has no plan on how to help Richard, so he essentially tags along with Paige wherever she goes, on a mission to find the real killer. Paige meanwhile, is separated from her husband (Richard's brother), has no job, barely has any money, and is addicted to painkillers. Never having been in a romantic relationship, it's hard to see why Harry feels such a pull to stay with Paige on their crusade to free their old friend.

The town has already determined that Richard is guilty, mainly because he and Harry discovered the body of a classmate twenty years ago. If that doesn't seem to make sense, it's because it doesn't. Harry was barely ever mentioned back then or now in connection with the classmate, even though both he and Richard found the body. So why was the focus all on Richard?

And that's pretty much it, Harry and Paige go about town talking to everyone who knew the head teacher and Richard, trying to find someone else to pin the blame on. I would have been more invested if I liked the characters, but there wasn't much appealing about them. Paige is a mess who's full of lies, Harry is bland, his younger sister that he stays with, Evie, barely tolerates him, and we hardly see Richard to form an opinion one way or another. The friends have barely stayed in touch over the years and the ways in which they've changed are a main theme of the story. Will Harry and Paige be able to help Richard when they barely know each other any more? And what if Richard actually is guilty? Can they be sure they know him well enough to trust in his innocence? It's not the most suspenseful page-turner but the mystery of who is guilty and why is enough to keep you engaged until the end.
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Wow another brilliant book had to complete in one sitting. Twists and turns a real page turner. Cant wait to read your next book

#TheBlame #NetGalley
A good read.
Paige, Richard and me. We thought we’d be friends forever. But everything changed the day we took the short cut home from school along the old railway line. I wish we’d gone the long way. I wish we hadn’t seen our classmate, pale and still in the undergrowth. And I wish we hadn’t promised to keep one, awful detail a secret just between us…
Twenty years later, I have a brand-new life, and try never to think about my old one.
But I’m dragged back when Paige calls out of the blue. Richard has been accused of something terrible. Everyone back home is whispering about the body we found years ago, and saying Richard deserves to be locked up…
I just adored it. Although it was long.
I'm doing more promotion on its release date among my fellow Authors Bloggers Family Friends and followers.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me an advanced copy.

I started this on a Saturday morning and I’d finished it by early evening. Within the first few pages you are invested in the characters and the plot. Harry whose own life is at a bit of a crossroads, answers a call from his childhood friend Paige, and next thing he’s on a flight back from Canada to the town he grew up in. One friend has been arrested on a murder charge, another is drug dependent, and his only close family is less than welcoming. Beautifully observed his struggle with returning from being away, that feeling you no longer fit in in either place, and where everything, yet nothing has changed. The plot unfolds and you can feel the claustrophobia of his being back, his remembering a horrific occurrence in his school days and the reverberations it still has on the community. “People change. Then they change again”
Another great read from this author whose work I love

I spent all of the Friday reading this thriller. It’s a winner. The plot kept me on the edge of my seat until the last page and the characters were mesmerizing. I highly recommend this one.

“ People change and then they change again” .Harry has flown back from Canada as one of his school friends Richard, has been arrested for murder. He meets up with the third member of their group as was,Paige, not really sure what he can do other than be there for support. He and Richard went to school eighteen years ago and found another child under a bush on their way home. Social media being what it is has put the two together although the police don’t yet have anything to link the two murders. Paige is now the estranged sister in law of Richard having been married but now separated from his brother Oliver. Richard and Paige try to find out anything they can to clear their friends' names. Harry suspects that Paige is an addict and is hiding more than a few small baggies. Can they clear Richard before it's too late and who is the real perpetrator of both murders and why? I enjoyed this. It's a tale of old friendships, and trying to reconnect with people we had so much in common with at one time and now they are practically strangers. Harry comes across well as someone you could trust and rely on- something he can't say the same about as Paige sadly. A cleverly crafted, well thought out plot and believable characters which comes across very well. A highly recommended read.
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