The Butcher’s Daughter by Jane E James – Book Review

PUBLISHERS BLURB

Trust no one. Not even yourself.

When Natalie Powers returns home for the first time in thirteen years, she must convince everyone she has fully recovered from the mental illness, which has seen her institutionalised for most of her young life.

But instead of being welcomed back, Natalie enters a baffling world of deception. She must fight her way through the lies in order to discover the truth about her mother’s sudden disappearance sixteen years earlier. To do this, Natalie must also try to make sense of the hazy memories from the past that continue to haunt her.

In the village of Little Downey, everybody appears to harbour a mysterious secret, including her father, Frank, the village butcher, who refuses to discuss the circumstances surrounding Natalie’s mother’s disappearance, but who can Natalie trust if not her own father? Especially when it becomes clear her protector and confidante, Dr Moses, is not all he appears.

Meanwhile, a spate of unexplained clifftop suicides has seen the seaside resort go into decline. Are the villagers somehow involved or is something more sinister at work?

Determined to find out what happened to her mother, Natalie must make sure her own frailty and self-doubt does not catapult her back to the mental institution before she can uncover the truth…

MY REVIEW

The start of this is brutal, Natalie’s Dad wanted her to toughen up, so as a seven year old he told her they were going to a zoo, but instead he took her to the abattoir, where men were slaughtering animals….the blood and sheer terror of the animals was palpable….horrific…

Natalie, is now returning home, after spending thirteen years in an institution….people treat her with caution and her father, Frank is as mean as he was when she left…..refuses to talk about her mother……she died…..didn’t she?

What is in the whitewashed building??…….

Natalie is still self harming as she is so distressed all the time…….will she find the truth of Suicide Bay….

This is one of the most nerve wracking books I have read…..the animal slaughter brings a horror of its own…..but it gets worse…something awful is being done by the inhabitants of Little Downey……or is it all in Natalie’s damaged mind?

Do not read this at night……those blue Little Downey eyes will haunt you…!

Thank you to Bloodhound Books for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the ebook  in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jane is an author of dark fiction and psychological thrillers. She comes from an editorial and marketing background and when she isn’t being mysterious, like her books, she enjoys living the ‘good life’ in the Cambridgeshire countryside with her husband and Jack Russell Terrier.

Her chilling suspense thriller ‘The Crying Boy’, which was inspired by actual events, became an overnight best seller when it was published by Bloodhound Books in early 2017. Jane’s most recent novel, The Butcher’s Daughter (out May 2019) is a tense and haunting psychological thriller.

Visit Jane’s website http://www.janeejames.com or catch up with her on Facebook and Twitter, but bring wine and Monster Munch…

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