Book Review: Anything for Her by Jack Jordan

Synopsis from goodreads

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.

 

Review

Anything for Her is the second book that I have read authored by Jack Jordan. The first book was My Girl. You can read my review here.

This book is fast paced with short chapters that are full of twists. The chapters end with cliffhangers that that will keep you turning the pages to see what the next chapter will reveal. The book also has multiple narrators. The main narrators are Louise and her daughter Brooke. However, along the story, other narrators are introduced to help build the narrative. There are some who are only featured in a chapter or two and a final narrator whose main story is told in form of a letter explaining all events that took place.

What I liked…

I liked the setting of this book and the eerie atmosphere throughout the story. For instance, the robins that appear on the cover also randomly appear all through the book. I kept wondering what they meant and was pleasantly surprised when this is finally explained at the end. The birds definitely add to the spookiness of the whole story. I also liked the cottage where Louise was during the most part of the story. It added to the creepiness of the narrative by introducing a secluded location where the protagonist was alone.

I also liked how the suspense was built. It was clear that Brooke and Louise had a secret and that something big happened on that ‘night’ when all their troubles started. Clues  to the secret were dropped throughout the narrative and I found myself trying to guess what the two women were hiding. I kept turning pages trying to figure it out, eager to learn about it.I just had to know what the secret was! The secret definitely helped build the tension in the story. It was also not easy to guess who the stalker was. This book definitely had some really good twists and surprises that kept me glued to the narrative until the last page.

The characterization was also done pretty well. I guess it’s becoming the norm to have flawed characters in all psychological thrillers. In this case, I disliked all characters. They were all terrible, well apart from Dominic who is just an innocent kid caught up in the drama. Everyone else was holding awful secrets revealing own despicable acts. However, the flawed characters helped add to the  intrigue of the story as it was interesting to unravel the mystery and establish why the characters were so flawed.

What I didn’t like…

I had one minor issue with this book. There are characters who I feel were a bit unnecessary perhaps because they were underdeveloped. One such character is Louise’s sister, Denise. I was also confused by another character whose role was unclear. This was Brooke’s stalker on the train, the man from ‘the night’. Once you read the events of the night and the identity of the antagonist then you will get my confusion about this man. However, I can’t reveal any more details about this because I don’t want to post spoilers.

Final Thoughts…

Anything for Her by Jack Jordan has everything that makes a good psychological thriller. It has deceit, stalkers, terrible secrets and a haunted family. It also has creepy robins, lots of them. You will understand what I mean by that when you read the story.

I recommend Anything for Her by Jack Jordan to all fans of psychological thrillers. This book is dark though not as dark as My Girl. However, it is  a fascinating read that will keep you guessing to the last page.

 

About the Book

• Title: Anything for Her
• Author: Jack Jordan
• Paperback, 370 pages
• Published May 31st 2016 by JJP (first published June 1st 2015)
• Source: The Publisher through NetGalley