3 STARS
UNTIL YOU'RE MINE
A Novel
by
Samantha Hayes
INTRO
(from Amazon)
You're alone. You're vulnerable. And you have something that someone else wants. At any cost.
Claudia Morgan-Brown finally has it all. Pregnant with a much-wanted first baby of her own, she has a happily established family of two small step-sons and a loving husband with a great career. But she is also committed to her full-time job as a social worker, and her husband travels often. So when Claudia hires Zoe to help her around the house in anticipation of the baby’s arrival, it seems like the answer to her prayers. But despite Zoe's glowing recommendations and instant rapport with the children, there's something about her that Claudia cannot trust.
Moreover, there has been a series of violent attacks on pregnant women in the area, and Claudia becomes acutely aware of her vulnerability. With her husband out of town for work and her family far away, who will be there to protect her? And why does she feel unsettled about Zoe? Realizing appearances can be deceiving even in her seemingly perfect world, Claudia digs deeper into Zoe’s blurry past and begins to wonder – how far would someone go to have a child of her own?
Riveting from its very first pages, Until You’re Mine is a multilayered masterwork of twisted, psychological suspense. Readers of Before I Go to Sleep and Turn of Mind will be enthralled by this multilayered novel, featuring a twisted plot that ends in a breathtaking and shocking finale.
Claudia Morgan-Brown finally has it all. Pregnant with a much-wanted first baby of her own, she has a happily established family of two small step-sons and a loving husband with a great career. But she is also committed to her full-time job as a social worker, and her husband travels often. So when Claudia hires Zoe to help her around the house in anticipation of the baby’s arrival, it seems like the answer to her prayers. But despite Zoe's glowing recommendations and instant rapport with the children, there's something about her that Claudia cannot trust.
Moreover, there has been a series of violent attacks on pregnant women in the area, and Claudia becomes acutely aware of her vulnerability. With her husband out of town for work and her family far away, who will be there to protect her? And why does she feel unsettled about Zoe? Realizing appearances can be deceiving even in her seemingly perfect world, Claudia digs deeper into Zoe’s blurry past and begins to wonder – how far would someone go to have a child of her own?
Riveting from its very first pages, Until You’re Mine is a multilayered masterwork of twisted, psychological suspense. Readers of Before I Go to Sleep and Turn of Mind will be enthralled by this multilayered novel, featuring a twisted plot that ends in a breathtaking and shocking finale.
- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Crown; 1st edition (April 15, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0804136890
- ISBN-13: 978-0804136891
AUTHOR
SAMANTHA HAYES grew up in the West Midlands, left school at sixteen, avoided university and took jobs ranging from being a private detective to barmaid to fruit picker and factory worker. She lived on a kibbutz, and spent time in Australia and the USA, before finally becoming a crime-writer. Her writing career began when she won a short story competition in 2003. Her novels are family-based psychological thrillers, with the emphasis being on 'real life fiction'. She focuses on current issues, and when she writes, she sets out to make her reader ask, 'What if this happened to me or my family?' With three children of her own, Samantha is well-versed to talk about how the aftershocks of crime impact upon families and communities.
REVIEW
The overview of the book immediately drew me in. Being a mother, I felt this was going to be a real eerie story that puts you on the edge of your chair. A story I could possibly relate to. The story of a pregnant woman and her really weird nanny. The story is told through the eyes of three characters. First there is Claudia who is pregnant with her first child. There had been many years of trying to conceive with nothing but heartache. Claudia had a nanny who just seemed to be perfect. But is Zoe what she seems? There seems to have been a lot of deaths lately in the area. Those deaths were pregnant women.
Then we have the investigating officer on the case, Lorraine. Her husband, Adam, is also a cop working the same cases as his wife. This seems to be creating problems in their marriage.
I felt that Lorraine's character was just an extra that wasn't really needed. The story didn't need any fillers, since it is already a very long book. I just didn't see any connection between Lorraine and me, the reader. I felt, it wasn't needed in the story. The real part of the book that I got intrigued with was Claudia and Zoe. As the story unfolds, more and more about both of the characters come to light. The author wrote a story that held the clues to the ending all through the book but they were very well woven into the plot. You just don't see them at first. Later, if you go back, you see the clues. Very cleverly hidden. The author didn't give you anything. Ms. Hayes was rather repetitive in that Zoe was suspicious. The reader keeps hearing this over and over again. That got boring real quick. There are some things in the story that you can figure out right away. There is a lot of mystery mixed in with this thriller. I found the subjects of the murders rather different. You wonder, why would anyone, even a deranged killer, choose to kill pregnant women? I had hopes that the book, being so long, would have maybe drawn the ending out more. It just seemed way too quick an ending. It was like the story ended so abruptly. The author keeps telling you that Zoe really wants a baby and will do anything to get one. But after you're reading this, I thought, does she really want a baby or is she just psycho? Is the nanny really a nanny, or a murderer or something else? Sometimes I felt confused, especially when the surprise about Claudia comes out. I guess the book is an OK read but I wouldn't go out of my way to read it. It has so many inconsistencies and repetitiveness in it. I think the main idea was a good idea for the book. I just think the author got carried away.
I received a complimentary copy of UNTIL YOU'RE MINE from the author and BloggingForBooks for my view of the book. No other compensation took place.
I would give this book 3 STARS.
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