My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“When you begin a journey of revenge, start by digging two graves: one for your enemy, and one for yourself.”
----Jodi Picoult
Sharon J Bolton, an American bestselling author, pens an incredibly brain-twisting and captivating psycho thriller in her new book, Daisy in Chains that narrates the story of a serial killer who took the lives of four women and is now serving a life time imprisonment in a prison but surprisingly outside the prison world, he has thousands of lady followers even a fan club where people support him and believes that he is not the killer and justice has not been properly served to him, whereas there is a popular lawyer who thinks otherwise and will never ever take up his case since according to her he is guilty but things are changing fast...
Synopsis:
Famous killers have fan clubs.
Hamish Wolfe is no different. Locked up for the rest of his life for the abduction and murder of three young women, he gets countless adoring letters every day. He's handsome, charismatic and very persuasive. His admirers are convinced he's innocent, and that he's the man of their dreams.
Who would join such a club?
Maggie Rose is different. Reclusive and enigmatic; a successful lawyer and bestselling true-crime writer, she only takes on cases that she can win.
Hamish wants her as his lawyer, he wants her to change his fate. She thinks she's immune to the charms of a man like this. But maybe not this time . . .
Would you?
Maggie Rose is a renowned lawyer and she is also the bestselling author of true-crime thriller books. She defends those who are guilty and wins those complicated cases victoriously. She has a reputation to uphold, and lives alone in an almost palatial home. Moreover, she never shows her face either in the court room or in the media. And this Maggie Rose is turning a blind eye towards the serial killer, Hamish Wolfe, who was a renowned cancer doctor but two years ago, he has been convicted of murdering four innocent plus size women. Maggie knows well that there are flaws in the investigation of Wolfe, but she does not want to meddle in a serial killer's fan club's business. But can she stay away from the charms of Wolfe who is quite a ladies man?
First 100 pages:
Maggie Rose = Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) from How to Get Way with Murder
Next 150 pages:
No way, Maggie can't hide her in her basement!
Next 150 pages:
Wait, what, how can..! I mean I did not see that coming, its epic, but wait, don't die, I feel sorry for you, no please don't die, I support you, I hate Hamish! How can he do this to HER??
Last page:
Why haven't I read any books by Sharon J Bolton before? Why? How can I miss her previous books?
The above texts symbolizes the progress of my thought flow from one part of the story to another.
This book is a must read for one and all, also, this book can't be compared with The Girl on the Train as Bolton's book is far better and thousand times intriguing and mind-boggling than Hawkins's thriller.
The author's writing style is brilliant, fantastic, exquisite, eloquent, expressive, articulate (you can add more adjectives here!) and is laced with suspense and twists from the first page to the very last page. The narrative is engaging and mysterious and also bit complex as the author concocted this story with so many layers that are unraveled gradually with the moderate pace of the story. This is the type of the book where the readers can feel an adrenaline rush in their body and also an urge to get to the finale or rather say the unforeseeable climax to identify the real face of the killer.
The mystery is so very well-developed that the readers are left baffled with the misdirection of the unanticipated and sudden twists and turns in the story line, that will undoubtedly keep the readers frantically turning the pages of this book to visualize the peeling away of each layer of mystery. The mystery not only has layers but also has roots and depth as the author descriptively devises it through out the story. Even the regular and the seasoned crime fiction readers will be left puzzled and clueless with the whodunit. Yes, I can pretty much challenge them to figure out the real mystery, as I'm 100% sure that no one else can predict or put a finger towards the real hidden mystery.
The author touched her base with so many social issues through this thriller, like fat-shaming, as the victims are all plus size, and about the lives of such women who are desperate for a little attention from the opposite and would do anything to please the male-dominated society. The author has effectively incorporated this major theme in her story line, as the readers are bound to think about the way they behave towards fat women.
The characters are the best aspect of this book, as they are ones who will misdirect the readers time and again, until the very climax. They are so good in their skin, yes definitely psychologically flawed, and so evil, that the readers can hardly put a guess to their dual mannerisms. The main character, Maggie Rose, is an amazing character who has lots of dimensions as in the beginning, she will strike someone as a mean money-minded clever lawyer but as her each dimension start peeling away with the course of the story, the readers are instead of feeling furious towards her, they will start loving and supporting her, in short, she has already charmed the hearts of the readers half way through the book hence the readers can't think otherwise, even if she is a flawed human being. Hamish is player, yes, he plays games with the minds of the people, and it is very obvious from the way he talks. But I won't say much about him, as it will spoil the fun! There are also another main character, who I would rather like to keep under the wraps, as he is the key player in this whole story. The rest of the supporting characters are very well developed and are extremely realistic as their genuine demeanor proves that whey they act impulsively or too emotionally in a crisis period.
In a nutshell, do give this riveting thriller a read as it will keep you guessing till the turn of the very last page, and will also keep you on your edges when the vivid scenes filled with some gripping action pulls you into the very core of the story. I only wish I could give this book more than 5 stars rating, as it totally deserves it, hence I would like to applaud the author for her effort and for skillfully plotting this story flawlessly!
Verdict: A bewitching and mind-boggling thriller of the year that surely can't be missed.
Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Sharon J Bolton's publicist for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Sharon J Bolton was born and brought up in Lancashire, the eldest of three daughters. As a child, she dreamed of becoming an actress and a dancer, studying ballet, tap and jazz from a young age and reading drama at Loughborough University.
She spent her early career in marketing and PR before returning to full-time education to study for a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at Warwick University, where she met her husband, Andrew. They moved to London and Sharon held a number of PR posts in the City. She left the City to work freelance, to start a family and to write.
She and Andrew now live in a village in the Chiltern Hills, not far from Oxford, with their son and the latest addition to the family: Lupe, the lop-eared lurcher. Her daily life revolves around the school run, walking the dog and those ever-looming publishing deadlines.
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