All That Is Lost Between Us

I received an ebook copy of All That Is Lost Between Us by Sara Foster from the publisher Simon and Schuster (Australia) via Netgalley for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

My attention was grabbed immediately and was held the whole way through. The story was so riveting that I could hardly put it down and finished reading in 3 sessions over 1 1/2 days.

Through the 4 members of the Turner Family, Anya and Callum and their two teenage children (almost grown-up) Georgia and Zac, the story unfolds. It is a compelling story told from these main characters points of view - though I was initially puzzled why only Anya’s story was told in first person, while all the others are told in the third person. I say initially because as the story progresses the perspective of Anya, the mother, is quite dominant as she is the one who has unselfishly made sacrifices and focused on the family but her relationship with her daughter is an ongoing issue as is the dynamics of family relationships and the dramas of teenagers growing up and learning from their own mistakes. As the story progresses we find out what has happened in the past and how it impacts on the present with the added dimension of giving depth to each of the characters and insights into their personalities.

This intense story is set in England’s Lakes District which, in itself, sounds dramatic:
“The sheer scope of the Lake District, the steadfast backdrop of soaring peaks, hid myriad small changes among its slopes and valleys.”
The area attracts lots of tourists for hiking but particularly for fell-running and walking. Georgia’s training for the interschool fell-running championships and Callum’s involvement with the Mountain Rescue team are important elements of this story.

There are several threads to the story with many twists and turns that maintain the momentum of the drama as it unfolds.

Besides that story itself, there were many issues about families and relationships that were raised that provided a lot of food for thought. Sara Foster has a lot of sensitivity and depth in her writing.

I was thoroughly absorbed in this story from the beginning. The setting is amazing and draws you in such that you believe yourself to be in the Lake District. The twists and turns kept me enthralled and i couldn't put the book down. A very pleasant surprised. I can't wait for the next book by Sara Foster.

Loved it!
Watch out for this one in 2016 netgalley ARC, review to be posted closer to release date

rating 5 of 5 stars bookshelves read status Read from October 10 to 18, 2015 format Paperback (edit)
review Very evocative read. Even reading it in a balmy Brisbane I could feel the ends of my fingers tingling with cold, the sun on my face was replaced with drizzle and I could actually smell the lakes. My husband grew up by the Lake District and I fear him reading this and jumping on the next plane home. A tense thriller that is impossible to read in more than 2 sittings - enjoy!

I received this ARC and while I know the publish date is a bit far out, I felt it was worth reviewing to start a "buzz". This story epitomizes all that is going on in families today. We are disconnecting from each other on a disastrous level. The rise of the “smart” phone technology is leading us down a path that is anything but smart or helpful to the socialization of society. We “share” ever more and yet, face to face, we cut ourselves off.

The story centers around one family, however, it will be revealed that the similarities are in many households.

So many secrets. So much anxiety.

The story focuses on the Turner family. The mother, Anya, is a counselor at the school her 17 yr old daughter Georgia and her younger son Zac attend. The father, Callum works full time for an engineering firm but devotes almost as much time to the local Mountain team. Everyone is focused on escaping their everyday lives and communication is the last thing on each ones minds.

This is a typical town with typical people and issues. Ones that effect lots and lots of people but when we have problems we tend to think that they are unique to us and out of embarrassment, we tend to internalize rather than seek out help.

A night out for a teenage girl and her cousin brought to a frightening end when a car hits the teenagers. This starts a snowball effect that no one can see coming.

Technology has enriched our lives. We have more information available than ever before. We give our children the gift of this information and then leave it to them to sort through. Unfortunately so often, they do not know how to process the lion’s share of the info they are taking in and these days, they believe themselves so grown up that seriously talking to someone about something that just doesn’t seem right makes them afraid to seem less grown-up and feel silly. So they just keep their emotions and anxiety to themselves.

This is a psychological story. It is not, in the standard way, a thriller but if you look at this family and too much of society as it is today, it will chill you to the bone.

Ms Foster has honed her craft to make us look at ourselves and hopefully find a link to our own world. A great read for anyone, young or old, parent or teen/preteen.

Georgia is a teenage girl in her last year of school and school champion at running the Fells in the Lake Country in England. Her mother Anya is a school counsellor at the same school. Georgia has a younger brother Zac and their Dad is Callum who spends a lot of his time volunteering in the local search and rescue team to save unwitting tourists who get into trouble climbing the fells.

When running one day, Georgia meets Leo, a gorgeous hunk who she falls for heavily. Georgia's best friend is her cousin Sophie. One night when Georgia and Sophie and Danny, a school friend, are out together and walking home, a car comes up behind them, hits Sophie as Danny pulls Georgia out of the way at the last minute, and is badly injured. The driver of the car does not stop. And soon we find ourselves involved in a mystery as to why Sophie was targeted in this hit run, as well as the troubled relationships between Georgia and Leo, Anya and Callum.

The structure of the novel builds the suspense slowly but inexorably and is told in alternate chapters by each member of the family. It is beautifully paced and the whole picture doesn't come together until the end. The writing is good with no extraneous patches reflecting careful editing. The characterisation is excellent and we as the novel continues we feel we really know these people. The strained relationship between mother and daughter is particularly well rendered. I really enjoyed this book, its subtlety and realistic portrayals. While one of the main themes is loss in relationships, it avoids being melodramatic or maudlin with a satisfying and hopeful conclusion reflecting the innate resiliency of its characters.

This story could of been written about so many families. What a unique story.

This is a story about family dynamics, love, hate, envy .... even attempted murder.

Georgia is 17 years old and has a secret. Because of that secret, she's withdrawn from her family and friends. Her mother is the school psychologist and has no idea why all of a sudden her daughter has turned away from her. Georgia's father has his own guilty secret that's badly affecting his relationship with his wife. And Zac, the little brother accidentally discovers the secret that leads to disaster for everyone.

The characters are well-defined. Being a teenager isn't easy and when you're trying to grow up too fast and especially if you're keeping secrets from the very people who are trying to help you, it becomes even harder to figure out where you fit in. Having a little brother who looks up to you is great ... until he tries to help and makes things even worse. Mom and Dad have lost their way with each other and neither know how to make things right again.

A hit-and-run accident starts the ball rolling .... who was actually the intended victim...and why? And who was driving the car?

Very well-written book. This was a new author to me and I will definitely be looking at her other books.

My thanks to the author / Simon & Schuster (Australia) / NetGalley who furnished a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

All That is Lost Between Us is the most intriguing novel of all. Readers are left with so much suspsense that it's hard to let go of the book, until every last page has been read. Sara Foster has careated a very realistic, terrorfying and most dangerous story I have seen. The characters are wrapped tighly within their own secrets from one another that it's now comsuming them. Walls that they thought they have built up, to protect those they love, are now being torn apart. Once the secrets are let loose, will the danger stop? Or will it consume them whole? The fear and intensity of this stunning plot will keep luring readers deep into the heart of it all. I loved reading this pyschological thriller. Sara Foster's words come to life and will continue to leave readers on the edge of their chairs. I highly recommend All That is Lost Between Us to readers everywhere.

I couldn't put this book down. Georgia kept me intrigued all the way through, I will be sure to look out for Sara Foster's next novel. I received this book free in exchange for my honest review

I received a digital advance reader's copy from the publisher, Simon and Schuster, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review. Thank you.

This is a first-time author for me. I enjoyed it enough that I would like to read more of her writings. The protagonist, Georgia, is a teenager which is never my favorite lead because of all the angst they seem to possess. However, every main character had his/her own problems so it wasn't all about teens. Most of the characters were well-developed and, those that weren't, didn't seem to matter as the story progressed.

One of the things I liked was how all of the main characters were inter-connected. I didn't like that each chapter was either narrated or was about a different character. It sometimes broke the flow of the story. I also didn't like the slow start, but I hung with it, and found it interesting enough to give it 4 Stars. You will read about family relationships and learn about fell-running, something I had never heard of.

While crimes are committed in this novel, not the least the hit and run that puts Georgia's cousin Sophia into hospital in a coma, crime really isn't the central point of this novel. It is more about the gaps that grows between members of a family: between husband and wife, mother and daughter, when life is too busy, when you just don't talk.

Georgia finds someone who loves running just as much as she does, but she keeps her new relationship hidden from her family and friends, and then her world falls apart when she realises who he is. She has got herself into a situation she doesn't know how to get out of.

A very readable novel, with considerable appeal to young women, who will empathise with Georgia's situation.

I have read and enjoyed Sara Foster’s work before. She’s a writer whose stories take readers on an emotional journey and makes them think about their own lives. All That Is Lost Between Us demonstrates how a family can become so dysfunctional that they totally miss any opportunity to support each other, therefore finding themselves dealing with their own issues in isolation.

Seventeen-year-old Georgia is showing signs of discontent. She has a secret she cannot tell anyone. Even her mother who councils kids at the school is unable to communicate with Georgia and when the brother starts snooping in Georgia’s room the secret has the potential to go viral, ruining many lives in the process.

Georgia’s father has his share of problems—most of his own making--that distances him from his family at the time they need him the most.

The big question you, as the reader, will ask is: is it possible for the Turner family to rise above the lies they have told to betray or protect one another, in order to fight for what matters most of all.

The answer is, of course, a spoiler so I won’t say. However, I will say that this book is an excellent read with an authentic plot that will have you believe All That Is Lost Between Us is the real-life plight of the Turner family. You may even find yourself thinking about your own family.

Set against the stark, rugged beauty of England’s Lake District, All That is Lost Between Us is a timeless thriller with a modern twist.

A clever mix of suspense & family drama. The story is based in the Lake District where Georgia, a high school student, is a champion fell runner. With a crucial race imminent she & her cousin Sophia are victims of a hit & run and as family secrets are exposed it becomes apparent this wasn’t an accident but an intentional act aimed at one of the girls. The reader is kept guessing as to some of the secrets creating an air of suspense as the plot evolves. The story shows how the family fails to communicate with one another each wrapped up in their own world. Full of drama I couldn’t put the book down for the final few chapters. I think this book would appeal to young adult readers as well as an adult audience. Thank you Netgalley & Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read & review Sara’s latest novel.

This review will be posted on the link below approx 25th January

Georgia Turner had felt isolated and alone for a little while – her cousin and best friend Sophia was being distant and Georgia felt a desperate need to talk to her. The secret she held in her head felt like a lead weight, and she needed to talk to Sophia about it before she went mad. The night of the party was when Georgia would talk to her she felt sure – but then on their walk home, there was a terrible accident and Sophia was dreadfully injured. The trauma that Georgia felt rocked her world and sent her towards the edge…

Georgia’s mother Anya had felt the cracks starting to splinter the family unit for some time, and though she tried hard, she was unable to get through to seventeen year old Georgia. Younger son Zac hadn’t had the same reactions to life as Georgia - yet… Anya also couldn’t work out when Callum and she had lost their closeness – the drifting apart had been so gradual; he was never home anymore with his volunteer work with the mountain rescue unit plus his job. It was left to Anya to care for their two children, and she was finding the lack of support numbing.

When Zac unwittingly came across something he shouldn’t have seen, he was shocked. He also had no idea what to do. The decision he made started an avalanche of terror – with a stranger stalking family members, the danger suddenly became intense. What would happen to Georgia; to injured Sophia; to Zac and his parents? Was the shattering of the family inevitable?

All That Is Lost Between Us is a brilliant psychological thriller by Aussie author Sara Foster. Filled with gripping suspense, the tension kept me turning the pages quickly, especially during the second half of the book. The setting of the novel is beautiful, with the rugged hills and mountains of England’s Lake District surrounding the fells; the small town the story is set in. It was a unique plot, one that worked well for me. I’ve loved all this author’s work and her latest release didn’t disappoint. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for my uncorrected proof to read and review.

Sara Foster is the critically acclaimed author of 3 bestselling psychological suspense novels, none of which I have read; her fourth novel is All That Is Lost Beneath Us and I loved it.

The book is set in the atomospheric Lake District of England, where the landscape is lovingly drawn. The Turner family has been in the area for generations and their love of the land is ingrained.

Georgia Turner is a seventeen year old with a secret that she has been carrying for way too long. School holidays are coming to a close and Georgia is desperate to share her news with her best friend, and cousin, Sophia. Unfortunately Sophia is ignoring her for an unknown reason and before she can get to the bottom of it they are involved in a hit and run which leaves Sophia hospitalised.

All That Is Lost Between Us is the story of a family adrift in a complacency that sees them moving further and further apart. Georgia has hit a stage where she just wants to be left alone, she has isolated herself completely from her family and it is really concerning them. Anya is a school counsellor, at Georgia’s school, and struggling with her inability to reach her own daughter when this is what she does for a living.

The novel is written from alternating perspectives to get us inside the heads of the whole family. Georgia, her father Callum and younger brother Zac are written in third person with Anya in first person. I think the four perspectives are all essential because we need to see how things got to where they are and how each of the characters are feeling about the situation.

Knowing Anya is feeling an immense chasm between her husband and herself it would be easy to be sympathetic to her and cast Callum in the role of responsibility, but as we read we learn that Callum is feeling that same distance and wondering about the likelihood of them finding their way back to each other.

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It is easy to make assumptions and theorise about situations when you only have one side of the story, learning about all sides can have a major impact on final conclusions.

Suspense and mystery shrouds this story start to finish, there are lots of things going on that we uncover slowly. I wouldn’t say it is a gripping psychological suspense novel but there was certainly a serving of suspenseful family drama as we pieced together all of the secrets and betrayals.

I was engrossed in the story of Georgia’s secret and trying to piece together the clues to see where that would lead. The family dynamic was the element of the story that I most loved. Two people who were so deeply and passionately in love then settle into the routine of married life and parenthood, slowly losing sight of the spontaneity and togetherness they once shared. This is such an everyday issue that many couples will be able to relate to. An issue that could be turned around with some in-depth conversation but the words are hard to find after so long, how do you take that first step?

Much of this story will be easily relatable to those who are married and have teen children, it certainly made me think about what I have to look forward to in the upcoming years.

A novel of family, friendship and the isolation that secrets can bring. Most definitely worth the read and I will look forward to hearing other opinions.

I must say I really felt for Anya, trained to assist teens through their troubles and finding it almost impossible to reach her own daughter when she can recognise an issue; something I’m sure many mothers can empathise with. The love this family felt for one another was palpable even though they had lost a lot of their connection. I couldn’t help but hope that things would start to work out for them.

Georgia has a secret that has been tearing her up inside. She wants to talk to her cousin and best friend Sophia but the girls have been drifting apart. After attending the same party the girls are walking home with another friend, Danny, when out of nowhere a car comes up behind them and the trio become the victims of a hit and run. Danny manages to pull Georgia out of the way but Sophia is seriously injured. Afterwards Danny seems to think that the accident may have been an attempt on Georgia’s life.

All That is Lost Between Us is a psychological thriller that focuses on a family of four and all of the problems and secrets between them. Georgia has withdrawn from her family after an affair over the previous summer. Zac, Georgia’s younger brother feels a bit isolated and doesn’t know what to do after his sister’s accident but ends up making things worse when he finds evidence of Georgia’s secrets. With two teenagers Anya and Callum have drifted apart in their marriage but with their daughter in danger the two struggle to come together for their family.

An intense story of secrets and lies and the struggles of one family when tragedy strikes. Each chapter switches the POV between the different family members and all involved have their own things they are dealing with to keep the reader hooked right from the start. A bit of a mystery with who it is that could be after Georgia thrown into the mix and you certainly a page turner on your hands with this read.

Overall, great writing, an intense plot with intriguing characters, would definitely recommend this thriller.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is so much more than a suspense novel. It's about a family losing their way with their loved ones and alienating those close to them and then trying to find their way back.
Anya and Callum's marriage has lost it's way and neither are really communicating with each other. Callum finds excuses to be over involved with the local mountain rescue team and Anya is a local school counsellor who is struggling to communicate with their 17yr old daughter, Georgia.
Meanwhile Georgia is harbouring a secret that her brother Zac has unwittingly stumbled upon. Neither can tell anyone, who and what are they each trying to protect?
Georgia a champion fells runner is looking for sponsorship and this novel is set over a few days in the lead up to a major schools fells running championship.
Told in alternating chapters of each family member, I really enjoyed getting into each characters head and getting their perspective and it was extremely easy to follow.
While this book does have a number of suspenseful moments, I'm not sure I would class it as a psychological thriller as such.
I feel it's a great family drama that portrays how easy it is to become wrapped up in our own ways and lose sight of what is really important to us.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy to read and review.

This story opens at the beginning of a new school year with cousins Georgia and Sophia starting their final year. Georgia hasn't been herself for the last few weeks although is looking forward to school fell running competition which she has won for the last two years and has been training as hard as ever. But something happened to her during the summer break and she longs to share her secret with Sophia. However, before she gets the chance to talk to her the pair are hit by a speeding car and Sophia ends up unconscious in hospital. Georgia’s family sense something is wrong with her but she won’t talk to them and they have their own troubles and secrets. It soon becomes clear that what looked like an accidental hit and run may have been intentional, but was Georgia the intended victim or Sophia?

From starting out as an interesting family drama set in the English lake district, the story rapidly moves more into the realm of a psychological thriller and becomes a real page turner as the suspense builds and we try to work out who is at risk and why. The author has a real talent for getting into the heads of teenage characters, showing us what it’s like to be at that stage of life where the need to be independent and secretive is overwhelming but competing with the need to still be cherished and protected by their parents. Set amongst gorgeous descriptions of the beautiful but rugged peaks and lakes, tales of mountain rescues and descriptions of the joys of fell running, this is a rich and original family drama and thriller.

All That is Lost Between Us is about family and how they can slowly drift apart. The drift is so slow that one day you realise that you don’t know who these people are and they don’t know you.

The story is told in the changing view points of the Turner family, Callum, Georgia and Zac with Anya’s being in first person. I think this was done so we feel more empathy for Anya or maybe I just did because I’m a mum of a teen and I could relate to Anya and her thoughts more readily.

”Once I start the engine, I don’t say anything more. We might be sitting next to one another, but that’s where the closeness ends. I’m desperate to comfort her, but I can’t find the right words. On the short journey home, each second is riven by our silence.”

“I have so many questions for Georgia- and when she’s not around I wonder why we find it so hard to talk. But whenever I’m with her there’s a force-field around her, holding me at bay, stilling my tongue.”

Foster has captured relationships with such expertise and those interminable years between child and adult. The feelings of a mother of a teen, sometimes being too scared to say anything because it may be the wrong thing and feeling shut out. Also the crumbling relationship between husband and wife due to the slow breakdown of communication.

The Turner family is very likeable and you want things to work out for them and for Anya and Callum to reconnect.

The mystery element of the story was compelling and I found it hard to put the book aside. At times it is fast paced and at other times you are able to sit back and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Lake District.
Clues are dropped sparingly throughout the story which builds on the mystery.

I was amazed how Foster gets into the head of a teenager and the mother of a teenager with finesse and without taking sides.

All That is Lost Between Us is a must read family drama.

Seventeen-year-old Georgia, her cousin Sophia, and her friend Danny become victims of a hit-and-run driver as they walk home from a party one night. While Sophia ends up in hospital, Georgia suffers only minor injuries, thanks to Danny's quick actions. Things become complicated when Danny reveals his suspicion that this was no accident. With everyone in Georgia's family hiding a secret, and with her parents' marriage slowly imploding, it might just take a tragedy to bring this broken family back together again.

The story is told from the points-of-view of all four members of Georgia's family: Georgia herself, her mother Anya, her brother Zac, and her father Callum. Anya's version is told in the first person, while the others are told in the third person. There doesn't appear to be any valid reason for this distinction, except that maybe the author relates most closely to Anya. Anya's perspective, in particular, is overly-introspective, although there are some nice sentiments as she reflects on her first-born child leaving home soon - a situation echoed in my own current circumstances.
In telling her story, the author chooses to use the present tense, with flashbacks in the past tense. Unfortunately, this just doesn't work: the writing is clunky; the flashbacks are telling, not showing; and we hear the same story over and over again - first in the present tense from one point-of-view, then in the past tense from at least one other point-of-view. In addition, the whole story is told in excruciating detail, and none of the characters are remotely likable, with the exception of Danny and possibly Zac.

With all of these drawbacks, the author still manages to maintain suspense by slowly revealing each family member's secret. *Spoiler alert* She throws in a number of red-herrings throughout the story, only to introduce a twist right at the end that no one could possibly see coming; this felt like cheating to me, and I was ultimately left unsatisfied.

While the premise is interesting, this one fails in the execution.

Full blog post: https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.com/2016/02/all-that-is-lost-between-us-by-sara-foster.html

A compelling, beautifully written novel, about family and how easy it is to drift apart.

Highly recommend it.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Australia and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this fabulous book.

"All That is Lost Between Us" is basically a book about a teenager with a secret, an accident that lands another teenager in hospital and the breakdown of a marriage. But it goes so much further than that. It's told for the points of view of Georgia, 17 years old and on the cusp of adulthood who has a huge secret, her younger brother Zac, who discovers her secret but doesn't know what to do about it, and their parents Anya, a school counsellor and Callum, who has an ordinary job most of the time but is a rescue volunteer, a role which has taken over his life.

This device allows us to see how, when we stop communicating with each other, problems can be amplified and spiral out of control. What seems to be the case when told from one person's point of view can turn out to be something entirely different when told from another's. So many times while reading this novel I wanted to take one of the characters by the shoulders and give them a bit of a shake "Just say something, for goodness sake!" but so much gets left unsaid and that contributes to the problem.

We know from the beginning that Georgia has a secret, but we have to wait until about three quarters of the way through the book to find out what it is. The facts are revealed to us slowly, tantalisingly and there a so many occasions where someone is finally about to say something and the doorbell rings, or someone else enters the room, and the secret stays secret for a bit longer. And, as it turns out, there is more than one secret.

This novel had me riveted. It's well written, cleverly structured, and a totally plausible thriller that had me turning the pages at a rapid pace. Any book that causes me to nearly miss my train stop has to be a good one. The descriptions of the fells and the countryside around the Lake District were beautiful and added to the atmosphere of danger and tension that builds throughout the novel. The resolution is realistic and doesn't rely on convenient coincidences or dramatic revelations.

This novel is for anyone who likes a good mystery/thriller, and novels about relationships and family and how people work. There are no serial killers or blood and guts, just a rewarding story about love and family ties. I loved it and will be seeking out the author's earlier novels.

With characters to appeal to both a young adult and adult market, this complex, multiple viewpoint novel, gripped me with its twists and secrets. The family relationships with all their insecurities and imperfections were engaging in their vulnerabilities.

All that is lost between us is a psychological novel.
Georgia has a secret that she can not tell anybody she would tell her cousin and friend but the girls are not so close as they used to be.
One night Georgia Sophia and there friend Danny fall foul of a hit and run driver Georgie has only minor injuries but Sophia ends up in the hospital danny thinks it wasn't an accident at all.
Georgia parents marriage is breaking down her brother Zac discovers her secret but doesn't know what to do about it.The facts are revealed to us slowly as the story all comes together and it ends up there is more then one secret to be told.

Thanks to the Author Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book.

I did not really get the book from NetGalley. I received a mail from Susan May about the book, telling us, the early readers of Deadly Messengers, that we were allowed to download it, but it was just before the title was archived. So, I had to look to find a copy of it. I reminded me of Liane Moriarty a lot.
It's the story of a family slow;y falling apart. Of course, Anya has noticed her daughter Georgia was not communicating with her anymore, but she does not know why. Teen age moods, she thinks. Of course, she knows her marriage is lately a bit stale, and her husband spends more time than needed with volunteer work. But talking about it with him? no, out of the question.
So, the show is on, until a bad car accident that will scatter the family in pieces for a while. Georgia is hurt, but not badly. Her cousin Sophia, though, hangs between life and death... The little Zac, still a child but growing up fast, knows more than he says and is unhappy too.
The story is told by multiple points of view, each of the characters speaking after another expressed his feelings. To be honest, this way of writing has got to irritate me slightly, as well as the time travelng used in other books, one chapter in 1970, one in 2015, not because the method is bad, but because it is a way for the author not to share his/her knowledge before he/she decides to. So, when Zac would talk about the secret in Georgia's life, the character having the microphone changes, and we are left in waiting.
It is an interesting book about the dynamics of a family, their weaknesses and strengths. I just wish that techniques created to impress and please the reader were not use so often to prove the power of the omniscient narrator.
Some of the issues the book deals with, like bullying, are certainly familiar to young adulta, for whom the book is intended. But thank God, adults don't cope with that regularly. I always feel a bit out of my element with young adult books, because sadly, I'm getting too old for their games.

I really loved this book. Five stars for being such a gripping ride that had me racing through the story as fast as I could.

It is alternately told by a mother, a father, a son and a daughter. A hit and run occurs on the first page, and we are then taken on a journey with a family that was already about to fall to pieces from the normal growing pains that hit all families. Along the way there are mysteries, secrets, and affairs. Friendships, relationships, extended family, coming of age... there is a lot going on with each character in this book. I was drawn in by a wife and mother's broken heart, a husband and father's search for a connection, a daughter struggling with almost-adulthood, and a son who is scrambling to keep the pieces together.

After all the many mysteries are resolved (in an exciting, thrilling, lightning-paced read) there is still a family left in the middle. The biggest mystery is whether these events will tear them all apart forever, or bring them closer together. The end is tied up nicely, not with a nice pink bow, but with a realistic family whose core has been ripped apart, but whose foundation was built on love.

Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. This is a five star family-driven thriller.

A thrilling book that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire book.