Today I am joining the blog tour for the thriller novel, Reckless by Gemma Rogers. Many thanks to Gemma, and to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources, for inviting me to take part in the tour, and for providing me with a copy of the book.
BLURB:
English teacher Izzy Cole wanted a fresh start.
A new town, a new home, a new school.
But when sixth former Nicky Stevens sets his sights on her, he begins to reel her in at a time when she’s most vulnerable. Soon Izzy is risking her family, her career and her life as she finds Nicky wants more than she ever planned to give.
PURCHASE LINKS:
REVIEW:
Reckless is a cleverly thought out thriller, and I certainly got a lot more than I bargained for when I sat down to read it. It is not filled with the multitude of twists and turns that a lot of thrillers seem to feel the need for these days, but this is not a bad thing. Knowing the “enemy” as it were means that you can become totally absorbed in the sinister, malevolent feel of the book without having half your attention on trying to figure out what is going on.
The two main characters posed something of an issue for me, as I found I quickly formed quite opposite opinions about them, and I am not entirely sure if these were the opinions that the author was aiming for.
On the one hand, we have Izzy, the main character, who, in all honesty, I struggled to like, never mind feel any sympathy for. For a large part of the book, I just wanted to shake her. Maybe it is because I am a similar age to her, and maybe it is because my oldest friend is an English teacher, but I struggled with the serious of insanely bad decisions she made, and the way in which she justified them to herself.
One the other hand, there is Nicky. Manipulative, narcissistic, and maybe even bordering on psychopathic, I found him to be a fascinating character and reading about him was utterly compelling. With Nicky, I found a character who I wanted to know more about, and although we discovered something of his past in Reckless, I would love to know the full story there, as well as what happens to him beyond the end of the book.
Despite my totally opposing feelings about the two main characters, or perhaps because of them, I found Reckless to be a gripping read, and I couldn’t wait to see how events unfolded.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Gemma Rogers was inspired to write gritty thrillers by a traumatic event in her own life nearly twenty years ago. Stalker was her debut novel and marked the beginning of a new writing career. Gemma lives in West Sussex with her husband, two daughters and bulldog Buster.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Don’t forget to have a look at the other blogs taking part in the tour for more thoughts on Reckless.
Mai's Musings 