The Escape | C L Taylor #bookreview #pyschological thriller #TheEscape

Published by Avon

ebook and paperback: 23 March 2017

432 pages

“Look after your daughter’s things. And your daughter…”

When a stranger asks Jo Blackmore for a lift she says yes, then swiftly wishes she hadn’t.

The stranger knows Jo’s name, she knows her husband Max and she’s got a glove belonging to Jo’s two year old daughter Elise.

What begins with a subtle threat swiftly turns into a nightmare as the police, social services and even Jo’s own husband turn against her.

No one believes that Elise is in danger. But Jo knows there’s only one way to keep her child safe – RUN.

The Sunday Times bestseller returns with her biggest and best book yet. The perfect read for fans of Paula Hawkins and Clare Mackintosh.

C L Taylor creates the most realistic of unreliable narrators and, with The Escape, I think we have the best one yet in Jo Blackmore.

When at the beginning of the story, Jo is approached by a stranger who clearly knew private details about her family and, before walking away issues a threat, you just know that this sinister encounter will lead to something even more gripping and it was this hook that made me want to read on.

This experience quite understandably sent Jo over the edge. Jo appears to suffer from extreme anxiety; battling her own personal issues and the feeling of being watched and not knowing who to trust forms the basis of the story.

It’s difficult to talk about the story without revealing too much detail and I would hate to spoil the anticipation and enjoyment for anyone else so I will zip it!  Suffice to say, this is an exciting and suspenseful story that will surely make you doubt each character in turn. My allegiances were constantly shifting – from feeling sorry for Jo, and then to being irritated by her constant paranoia; at times thinking that that some of her reactions were to say the least, unwise and rather OTT. Then my sympathies would shift to her husband Max in having to deal with such an unpredictable and apparently unstable wife when it seemed that his main priority was to protect his young daughter. Adding to the suspense is an unknown voice interrupting the narrative with their own sinister observations – this alone will give you the shivers.

Running alongside the ‘Jo’ part of the story, there are other strands and characters involved, however all these threads are pulled together to form a suitably dramatic conclusion. There was one part of this that I thought I had worked out; however the author got the better of me again and after feeling so sure that I was on the right path, I reluctantly had to admit defeat! I have read and reviewed all three of the author’s previous thrillers here on the blog and The Escape is probably one of my favourites so far. It has the excellent characterization that Taylor is so good at, a fast paced, thrilling and dramatic plot and will definitely keep you engrossed. Oh and did I mention the twists. Well there are – of course there would be – this is a psychological thriller! Do put this on your reading pile, you won’t regret it

My thanks to Avon for the paperback ARC to review.

About the author:

CL Taylor lives in Bristol with her partner and young son. She studied for a degree in Psychology at the University of Northumbria, Newcastle and has worked as a sales administrator, web developer, instructional designer and as the manager of a distance learning team at a London university. She now writes full time.

CL Taylor’s first psychological thriller THE ACCIDENT was one of the top ten bestselling debut novels of 2014 according to The Bookseller. Her second and third novels, THE LIE and THE MISSING, were Sunday Times Bestsellers and #1 Amazon Kindle chart bestsellers. Her fourth pysychological thriller, THE ESCAPE, was published in March 2017. She is currently writing her first young adult thriller, THE TREATMENT, which will be published in September 2017.

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For previous reviews, please click these links:

The Accident (2014)

The Lie (2015)

The Missing (2016)