The Return of Frankie Whittle - Caroline England | Book Review | #TheReturnOfFrankieWhittle | @CazEngland @bullingtonpress @Lovebookstours #BookSky

Frankie Whittle has it all: a career in the City, a gorgeous husband and a baby on the way. It’s the perfect life, but it’s built on sand. In one terrifying night, everything she has worked so hard for unravels.

She needs a fresh start. When she discovers the very place she was born has been converted into a beautiful gated community, it feels like serendipity. After all she’s been through, has she found her dream home?

They say you should never go back, that the past is a foreign country, filled with devastating secrets. How far will those around her go to keep their secrets safe?

MY THOUGHTS

My thanks to Kelly of Love Book Tours for the tour invite and for the digital copy to review. The Return of Frankie Whittle is published by Bullington Press (8 February 2025) and is currently available in ebook (including Kindle Unlimited) and paperback formats.

Oh where to start with this dark and disturbing thriller. Living in London and married to Toby with his awful parents and double-barrelled surname, Frankie has it all, except for a baby which she is desperate for; however Toby’s ambitions don’t seem to exactly align with Frankie’s. Following a terrifying event, Frankie visits her mother in her home town of Didsbury, Manchester where she ends up falling in love with Pavilion Gardens, housing a number of properties within a gated community. Although much modernised the development can’t hide its dark past of a Victorian workhouse however Frankie craves safety and security and makes the decision that this will be their new home.

I think Frankie’s life lesson here would be ‘be careful what you wish for’. Certain parts of this story really creeped me out and it definitely gave me Rosemary’s Baby vibes. Life seems perfect at Pavilion Gardens with its friendly neighbours, but there is a sinister undercurrent and some things don’t add up.

I had mixed feelings about Frankie. Whilst I was hoping that she would end up with everything she wanted – even if that included her rather wet husband, she had a stubborn nature and I did think she was quite self absorbed and very ‘me, me me’. Her difficult relationship with her mother Nina was also a large part of the story and ultimately the lies and secrets of the past find their way into Frankie’s life.

At 339 pages this was a fairly quick read and I raced through this suspenseful and dramatic thriller. Cleverly plotted, there is a slow drip feed of revelations and events, some of which are quite shocking.

The Return of Frankie Whittle is a gripping and atmospheric read, it has some superbly drawn characters – with Pavilion Gardens and its dark history being a character in its own right. This is my first Caroline England book but certainly not my last.

Caroline is the CWA Short Story Dagger shortlisted author of psychological suspense thrillers BENEATH THE SKIN, the best selling MY HUSBAND’S LIES, BETRAY HER, TRUTH GAMES, THE SINNER, THE STRANGER BESIDE ME. Her new thriller, THE RETURN OF FRANKIE WHITTLE, is out 8 Feb 2025. She also writes gothic-tinged psychological thrillers as CE Rose – THE HOUSE OF HIDDEN SECRETS, THE HOUSE ON THE WATER’S EDGE, THE SHADOWS OF RUTHERFORD HOUSE, THE ATTIC AT WILTON PLACE

Caroline writes multi-layered, dark and edgy ‘domestic suspense’ stories that delve into complicated relationships, secrets and the moral grey area.Drawing on her days as a divorce and professional indemnity lawyer, she loves to create ordinary, relatable characters who get caught up in extraordinary situations, pressures, dilemmas or crime. She admits to a slight obsession with the human psyche, what goes on behind closed doors and beneath people’s façades. She also enjoys performing a literary sleight of hand in her novels and hopefully surprising her readers!