Just Between Us by Adele Parks

 

Kylie Gillingham is missing, presumed dead. Her husband is a suspect, the only problem is, which one? It turns out Kylie is a bigamist. As the police focus on her second husband, Daan, he is determined to prove his innocence by tracking down the real killer.

I have a couple of confessions. Firstly, I didn't realise this was a sequel to Both Of You, it was only when I'd finished the book and read a "Spoiler Alert" by the author that I found out that Just Between Us continues the story of Kylie Gillingham. The fact that I hadn't read the first book makes no difference as Just Between Us works well as a standalone novel.

My second confession is that I always assumed that Adele Parks wrote "chick lit". Well, this book has proved me very wrong, I'll certainly put the author on my reading list in the future.

Now to my review. I liked the opening, it was very ambiguous. We quickly learned about bigamist Kylie Gillingham and the fact that she was missing, presumed dead. The police know where Kylie was held captive, beaten and starved but the whereabouts of her body is unknown. The fact that we don't know for sure if Kylie is alive or dead, and exactly who is responsible, is what draws you in.

The story is told from a number of different perspectives. We get the thoughts, feelings and actions of both husbands, the best friend, the detective and Kylie's two sons. The constantly changing narrative made the story feel very fractured for me, I couldn't seem to get any flow. This was then complicated by jumping to a seemingly unrelated character and story-line, that of Stacie.

I had a lot of empathy for Stacie. Recovering from a brain tumor, she has lost her memory. Nursed by her aging father in a remote cottage, you really feel her struggle as she tries to dredge up memories of her earlier life. Stacie's father does his best, recounting her early life and showing her photographs. While this part of the story feels completely unrelated, for a seasoned reader of thrillers it was obvious where this thread was heading. The main questions being how and why?

Around about two-thirds of the way through I found the story began to coalesce. As Stacie began to have vague memories and the action shifted to Dorset I was finally gripped and began to worry that the killer would be increasing the body count. A race against time, involving a number of characters, puts a lot of people at risk and increases the tension. 

The final part of the conclusion ties up all of the loose threads and I can honestly say that I was happy about the way that things worked out. I'm sure that if I'd read Both Of You I'd have come to the same conclusion.

Just Between Us by Adele Parks will be published on 17th August 2023 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and HQ for a review copy.