This is definitely a dark book. When I was thirteen I played with Barbies and spent time at a friend's house and outside, but we didn't even really know about alcohol or drugs and boyfriends and girlfriends were just basically holding someone's hand and going for a walk.
This book truly brings out the darker side of children and teenagers and it definitely reminds me to really focus on my kids (if I have some) when they are that age.
The plot is so good and I pretty much suspected all the adult characters but not many of the kids, but then the kids turned out to be not so nice. In the end, I was not surprised who the attacker was in the end, but I was really surprised with the ending.
The characters are all very interesting and they all have secrets that come out one way or the other. It makes the book more interesting and gives the story the twists that make it so good.
All in all, a very thrilling story.

*ARC received from the publisher via NetGalley

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses.
You’ve known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly.
You think your children are safe.
But are they really?
Midsummer night: a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?

*3.5 stars*

A clever mystery/suspense novel that ticks a number of boxes for me...but also falls into a couple of tropes that I don't particularly like...

There is a lot of very cool twists and turns in the story that gets us to the finale. With a group of kids such as these, there are always going to be multiple suspects. The way they were dealt with throughout the "After" section of this book was smart and well done. The characters, while being a little cliché, were quirky enough to never be boring.

The build-up to the event - the "Before" - wasn't as interesting. I don't know if that is due to the narration or the characters or what - I just found it a little dull in places and wished that it would hurry up so I could get to the good bits. Also, the parents of these kids - what's with them being such wimps? Kids can swear at them and dictate what they are doing at 10 or 12 years of age? Come on, I have trouble believing that!

Finally, the ending was a little anti-climactic (and confusing) - hard to describe why this is so. It just was.

Overall, a very cool mystery and worthy of a read.


Paul
ARH

I am not going to be reviewing this book, but thank you for the approval.