The Leaving Party
by Leslie Sanderson
Every year on the same day, on the anniversary, I receive a single black rose. Thirteen years of dark petals, jagged thorns, dredging up memories I’ve tried to forget…
I’ve packed up my life. All my belongings are carefully sealed in labeled boxes, my suitcases ready for my big move. I’m just days away from a new life abroad with my boyfriend, Ben.
No one knows the real reason I’m desperate to leave.
My best friend, Lena, is throwing me a leaving party. A celebration, to say goodbye. Champagne to toast my farewell. Speeches, full of fond memories.
No one knows what I’m running from.
Then another black rose appears, dragging up thirteen years of buried memories. My passport goes missing. The very people I am trying to escape from turn up to our house.
Someone knows what I did.
This party was meant to be the first night of the rest of my life – but now I don’t know if I’ll see tomorrow.
Someone knows my secret. They’re in my home, at my party, and they’re making me pay for it.
Psychological thrillers don’t get more addictive or gasp-worthy than this! Fans of K.L. Slater, The Girl on the Train and The Wife Between Us will love this unputdownable page-turner.
I’ve packed up my life. All my belongings are carefully sealed in labeled boxes, my suitcases ready for my big move. I’m just days away from a new life abroad with my boyfriend, Ben.
No one knows the real reason I’m desperate to leave.
My best friend, Lena, is throwing me a leaving party. A celebration, to say goodbye. Champagne to toast my farewell. Speeches, full of fond memories.
No one knows what I’m running from.
Then another black rose appears, dragging up thirteen years of buried memories. My passport goes missing. The very people I am trying to escape from turn up to our house.
Someone knows what I did.
This party was meant to be the first night of the rest of my life – but now I don’t know if I’ll see tomorrow.
Someone knows my secret. They’re in my home, at my party, and they’re making me pay for it.
Psychological thrillers don’t get more addictive or gasp-worthy than this! Fans of K.L. Slater, The Girl on the Train and The Wife Between Us will love this unputdownable page-turner.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
Joe had long hair and John Lennon glasses and wasn’t her type at all. He looked as if he listened to old hippy music and played a guitar.
Our eyes meet and her smile flickers at me. It’s one of those unpleasant smiles that looks like it hides a mouthful of rotten teeth.
Our eyes meet and I bat away that sliver of uncertainty about her that wriggles inside me like a tapeworm.
My Review:
This slowly evolving tale was maddeningly paced and zigzagged through two timelines which were thirteen years apart, with frequent vague mentions of a significant event, although we aren’t given the exact details until much later of what that significant antecedent entailed. And I was all about the knowing. So many shifty trick cards this canny author pulled from her sly sleeves. I was totally crushed amidst all the ruthless twists and turns to learn that no one was trustworthy, everyone had their own agenda, and most ended up a bit screwed over, hmm, sounds a lot like real life come to think of it…
About The Author
Lesley spends her days writing in coffee shops in Kings Cross where she lives and also works as a librarian in a multicultural school. She has lived and worked in Paris and speaks four languages. She attended the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course in 2015/6, and in 2017 was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish fiction prize. Lesley discovered Patricia Highsmith as a teenager and has since been hooked on psychological thrillers. She is particularly interested in the psychology of female relationships.www.lesleysanderson.com
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