Anything for Her

What’s it about?

Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you.

Louise Leighton’s life has fallen apart, all because of one fateful night. Her husband is an adulterer, her sister is his mistress, and soon, Louise will lose everything she owns. But she never imagined she would lose her daughter.

Eighteen-year-old Brooke Leighton is missing. It’s up to Louise and the Metropolitan Police to find her. Has Brooke run away? Or has she been taken against her will? And can Louise aid the investigation without mentioning the night where all of her troubles began?

If she mentions that night, she will incriminate her daughter for heinous crimes. But if she doesn’t, she may never find Brooke; and if she has been abducted, the person who took her may come for Louise, too.

Sometimes the past comes back to kill you.

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Review

After reading My Girl I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Jack Jordan’s first novel.  His debut novel is all built up around the events that happened one particular night. The only ones who know about it are Brooke and her mother Louise. Michael went to bed with an outgoing daughter and a loving wife but they’ve become different people overnight and he feels powerless to do anything about it. Brooke is a recluse, never going out anymore, even having lost touch with her friends. Her mother Louise doesn’t fare much better, the distance between her and Michael grows bigger with each passing day and pushes him into the arms of another woman. His admission to having an affair is the opener of this book. I disliked Michael from these very first pages when he pointedly states that the affair is nothing but a minor blip in their relationship. I was happy to see that Louise shared my exact same thoughts and just up and left him to have a good think. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea though because someone who knows about that night is following her and leaving little presents for her to find. The problem is that she can’t risk telling the police for there’s a chance the truth about that night could come out. Am I frustrating you yet with my mention about ‘that night’? Well that’s exactly what I felt. The plot was really well thought out but it took a bit too long to find out about ‘that night’. It takes up almost half of the novel before the big secret is revealed. It made me already make up different scenarios in my head what could have happened. My thoughts were not that far off, they were pointed in the right direction, only it was much more horrifying than I initially thought. I wasn’t much of a fan of Louise before – I mean who leaves her children behind and doesn’t even call her 10-year old son all this time while she’s in her holiday home – but she lost all credit with me after reading about that night and how she dealt with everything. Brooke being missing made me fear the worst, and I wanted to shake some sense into Louise. I couldn’t believe she still hesitated to get the police involved if her daughter’s life might be at stake.

The ending was really strong and came with another shocking twist that I really wasn’t prepared for. In the final chapters it is all tied up neatly through entries of Louise’s journal where we finally get every question answered about what happened that night. I’m also a huge fan of hidden meanings and symbolism in novels and I was really satisfied here too.

This novel astounded me yet again. Jack Jordan is not afraid to go a step further than most authors dare to go and I’ve now added him to my list of favourite authors. He does not restrain, he does not hold back which is much appreciated here. The shock-effect was very big again and I love him for it as long as he promises to keep away from animal abuse because that’s the only thing I can’t take. The novel is set to evoke a lot of emotions and thoughts, and you can – again – really feel the events and characters affect you. You’ll dislike people with an unimaginable vengeance. I had high expectations and they were all met. He delivers another compelling, dark story and it held me in its grip, even more so when I knew what ‘happened that night’. He’s a new promising author that I can highly recommend and I already look forward to reading his next novel.

I received a free copy of this novel from the publicist through Netgalley.