A really exciting roller coaster read, with 3 wonderful psychologically flawed and desperate women as lead characters and one rather vile man, who almost had me fooled into having some sympahy for him at the beginning but whom I soon learnt to loathe and despise as he revealed his true colours and I joined in with wishing he'd get his come-upppance.

C.L. Taylor writes mind numbingly realistic - "Oh My God thank heavens that isn't happening to me" scenarios, with believable and relatable characters.

The subject matter is both distasteful yet topical. The grooming of young girls by an older man in a position of trust, who abuses that trust and ruins lives.

That man is Mike Hughes, a teacher, a mature married man. Hardly surprising that young impressionable girls look up to him, hero worship him, fall in love with him. But it's how he misuses that innocent love to his own evil ends that makes this a twisty horrifying thriller.

It's the fact that nearly 20 years after he tried to abduct 13 year old Lou Wansworth, their paths cross again. The experience has left its scars on Lou and she still finds it hard to trust and build a real relationship with a man.

For almost 20 years her hurt has festered and she is about to seek retribution when she discovers the same man who ruined her life appears to be doing exactly the same thing all over again and is grooming another lonely and vulnerable young woman. Well she's not about to sit by and let it happen.

We hear 3 points of view, that of Lou, then Chloe the newest young victim and then there is Wendy, obviously a rather unhinged woman who is to become the 3rd player in this nail biting drama.

I couldn't put this book down, its terribly scary and scarily thrilling. A very entertaining and shiver inducing psychological thriller.

My #FridayReads recommendation is The Fear by @callytaylor I read it on holiday and was so glad I could just keep turning the pages without interruption! It's dark, tense and a truly addictive read.

You are in for such a treat with C.L. Taylor’s latest book, The Fear. The Sunday Times best-selling author delivers yet another tense, dark, gripping thriller.
Lou Wandsworth ran away to France with her karate teacher when she was just thirteen. At the time, she felt that she was in love with Mike but now looking back as an adult, it is clear for her to see that she was a vulnerable young girl, groomed by a predatory paedophile. Lou has finally moved back to her childhood home after her father’s death. She knows that she is likely to run into Mike but she is not prepared for that fact that he is still abusing young girls. When she learns of his involvement with thirteen-year-old Chloe Meadows. Lou can see history repeating itself and she knows that she must put a stop to it, no matter how much danger that puts her in.
I have read C.L. Taylor’s previous books and they are fantastic but this is my favourite so far. I felt as though the author had taken everything up a notch; the tension is palpable from the beginning and the twists along the way are so clever.
I think that the author was brave tackling the subject if paedophilia; it is obviously always relevant but it has been in the media so much recently too. Her handling of the subject felt sensitive but realistic. It was so easy to see how Lou and Chloe were taken in by Mike and how his behaviour becomes more manipulative and frightening.
If you are looking for a dark, page-turning thriller then look no further than The Fear.

I loved this book, about a woman groomed by her karate teacher and wanting to save another girl from the same fate. The book is easy to read, while being gripping and had me gunning for the three main characters. This is my first read of Cally’s work, but certainly won’t be my last.

When Lou returns to her childhood home she plans a meeting with Mike the man who groomed her as a child, things take a dramatic turn when Mike arrives to clear some furniture for Lou. A spine chilling thriller of a read that will keep you turning the pages.

Not my first CL Taylor and certainly not my favourite. The subject matter had been very well researched but left me cold and the writing style was good but the plot had too many implausible situations. I thought the ending was weak too.

This book demands a visceral response to a subject matter that has rarely been written about in such a highly charged fashion. It is uncomfortable and anxiety inducing. It is compulsive reading with twists and turns throughout. I'm a new fan of C.L. Taylor!

Whilst I was at school, I remember being obsessed with stories of teenage girls who 'ran away' with their teachers; we would pour over them when they appeared on the news and pray that girls who went missing would turn up unharmed (including, at one point, a girl from the year below us). Those stories were close to home, both in geography (we were less than an hour from Dover and France was more accessible than even other parts of the UK) and also because they were us, we were them - it was both unthinkable and also too real. As an adult, I am still kind of fascinated by these stories - although thankfully they are few and far between - but my interest was immediately piqued when I found out that it was the topic at the heart of this thriller.

As a teenager, Lou Wandsworth ran away to France with her karate teacher Mike Hughes; she thought he was the love of her life but he wasn't what he seemed and left her in pieces. Now, having moved back to her home town after the death of her father, she finds that he is repeating the past with a young girl called Chloe Meadows. Determined to confront him and save Chloe from the same fate she experienced, she quickly gets way in over her head and it's soon unclear whether she will become his prey once again. This is fast-paced and gripping, and definitely didn't end up how I expected it at all (which is a good thing!). I have been vocal about my dislike of the way thrillers often play on violence towards women as a lazy way of shocking the reader, but this was almost the opposite - a woman who has experienced abuse trying to turn that around, which I am very much here for (although I would maybe not condone all of Lucy's methods...).

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This book deals with a very sensitive subject which will stir emotions in many readers but C.L.Taylor has dealt with the topic well. The story centres around Mike, from the perspective of three females who have featured prominently in his life. I was gripped from the start and traveled through a huge range of emotions as we are taken back to the events which lead to his conviction after kidnapping Lou and back to the present day, where he is grooming another young girl in a similar fashion.

The only reason for the four stars rather than a five is because I found the ending to be quite unbelievable and contrived. I was surprised at Wendy's character doing a full 360 from vengeful potential murderess to ally and partner in crime. I was also surprised at Chloe Meadows sudden metamorphosis into an unshakable furie when she had been a wet blanket throughout the book.

Otherwise, a fantastic gripping read.

The Fear is a psychological thriller about Lou Wandsworth who ran off to France when she was younger with her teacher Mike Hughes. Their relationship unsurprisingly didn't work out and now she has discovered he is involved with another teenage girl. Lou is determined he won't do the same again and returns home to confront him. In doing so though, she could be putting herself in grave danger.

The Fear was a very unsettling read particularly when it came to the parts about how Lou was 'groomed' by Mike when she was younger. Mike was an especially unlikable character both in the past and the present, a real creep. At no point did I feel any sympathy for him whatsoever. It was scary to think about how easy it seemed that a young girl could be taken in by an older man, by playing - or preying - on typical teenage insecurities. The fear and terror experienced by Lou as a young girl was mirrored to a certain extent by Mike in the circumstances he finds himself in in the present. 

The Fear is a dark tale of revenge and just when you think you know where story's going, the author takes you completely by surprise!

Excellent read about such a shocking event. Really liked the way the characters panned out.

Incredibly readable, though I did have to stop reading at night time as it was just TOO MUCH for a bedtime read! I devoured it the next day, however, racing to the end because I had to know what happened.
I sometimes find books with multiple viewpoints annoying, but each character in this one was very well defined, and very different, so it was always clear which one I was hearing from. There are also time shifts, as we see what happened in Lou's history against the present day, but again it's done in such a way that I never felt confused about what was happening.
It is, obviously, a dark story since it's dealing with paedophilia, jealousy, kidnapping, manipulation & control. But there were light-hearted moments too, and it is brilliantly written...I had guessed one little part, but that didn't spoil the enjoyment as I still had no idea how the whole story would play out.

I am a big fan of Cally Taylor and while this book had me gripped from the beginning I couldn't help but think it was a bit too far fetched for my liking. I did like the ending though.
3.5 stars

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from The Fear, but it certainly wasn’t to feel as repulsed, sickened and in fear of the man who could manipulate all three of the women/ girls who appear in the novel.
At first, before Lou’s diary entries revealed more details, the reader is just aware that she was in love, excited that her boyfriend was taking her on a weekend break. It is only when you see his mood swings and violence that you see exactly what he was doing. There were plenty of mind games, and it is probably these along with the violence towards her and others that made me feel so on edge. And the ‘fear’ when she realised that his plan is more than a holiday.
Lou, aged 32, shows all the damage that was caused by what she went through. Not being able to maintain a relationship and the guilt at not testifying all come to a head when she finds that he is doing exactly the same again with Chloe and she takes drastic action to ensure that Chloe does not go through what she did.I was desperate for Lou and Chloe to be safe and for Wendy whose true identity isn’t revealed at first, to get some answers and be happy. Wendy’s role in the novel was light-hearted relief. She did make me smile quite often, I never knew what she was going to do next.
Yes, the novel is far-fetched, I struggled at first with the way that both fathers were portrayed as louts who had no respect for wives and daughters but this is a compelling read. There was a certain point in the novel when I couldn’t put it down until I finished it.
Recommended.

4.5 stars Fantastic read. Another great book by this author that I would highly recommend. Her books certainly don’t disappoint

I have been a fan of C.L. Taylor for quite a while now and I have eagerly devoured each and every book she has released. I impatiently wait for news of her next book. So imagine my excitement when I learned that she was due to release ‘The Fear’. It was certainly a cracking book, which in a sense was a difficult read for me, for reasons which I will explain in a bit.
I have to say that I really felt for the characters of Louise Wordsworth and Chloe Meadows. Both were targeted by Mike Hughes when they were school girls, both were groomed by him and both thought that they were having proper adult relationships. There are a lot of similarities between Louise and Chloe. Louise didn’t exactly have the best of childhoods as her father was an alcoholic and the family had to suffer as a result. Louise didn’t have many friends, so when Mike showed an interest in her, she was flattered, she was almost grateful for him taking an interest in her and she was over the moon to think that she was in a ‘proper’ adult relationship. Bear in mind that Louise was 13 or 14 when the romance started and Mike was her karate teacher. He was in a position of trust and she was considered to be a vulnerable child. Slowly but surely she is isolated from her friends and family by the same old patter. Mike convinces her to have a weekend away with him. Both have different ideas about what this is going to be like- she things it’ll be romantic and he just wants to get his leg over. This romantic trip away has far reaching severe emotional and mental health effects on Louise so when she hears that Mike is out of prison and working, she follows him and realises that he is seeing Chloe. Again much the same background as Louise, Chloe is only 13 years old and by this time Mike is in his 50s. Chloe’s father sounds like he is a nightmare and her mother seems to constantly have a debilitating migraine. Mike has even made friends with Chloe’s family and wormed his way in there. Louise becomes obsessed with warning Chloe about Mike’s true character but Chloe, believing that he madly loves her, doesn’t believe Louise at first and so won’t listen to her. What can I say about the creepy paedophile called Mike? Well he is definitely a well practised groomer and abuser of children. He singles them out and gives them the same old patter, which he knows will butter them up and he will ultimately get what he wants. He seems to have an inbuilt radar and targets girls from a similar background. Honestly, if I could have jumped inside the pages of this book to chop his knackers off with a pair of rusty blunt scissors and without anaesthetic, then I would have done. He is one of those characters that makes my skin crawl, my toes curl and my fists itch from the first moment he appears on the page. What follows is a fantastic tale, which shows how things that happened when you were at school can have far reaching effects into adulthood and beyond.
As I indicated at the beginning of my review this was a difficult book for me to read and here’s for why- In my former work life I worked for Childrens Social Services. Although I only worked in admin, I still had to minute some pretty distressing strategy meetings and conduct some pretty distressing research into past cases. After that I went to work for what was then the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) but which is now the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) as a case worker. I had my own little caseload and underwent some pretty heavy training in how to spot an abuser and their psychological thought processes. If I had a pound for how many teachers, coaches, family friends, health professionals and so on were referred to the ISA/ DBS, then let’s just say that I would be a multi millionaire. Even though I don’t work for them any longer, I still have my safeguarding hat on. If that wasn’t enough, then I know somebody who entered into a relationship with an underage child, when really as an adult in a position of trust, they should have known better.
I was addicted to reading ‘The Fear’ from the moment I opened the front cover and started to read. As I said before, I love C. L. Taylor’s writing style and I just know that when I pick up one of her books, I am in for one heck of a read. Reading ‘The Fear’ was no exception. As I wanted to see in which direction the story took, what happened to the central characters and whether Mike got what was coming to him in the end, I just couldn’t put the book down. It wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it came everywhere with me. Once I stated reading, I couldn’t stop because I needed my next fix of one more page, one more chapter and so on and so forth. The pages just seemed to fly past in a blur as did the time and when I looked up, a few hours had passed and I had read a fair chunk of the book but I hadn’t noticed because I was so wrapped up in the story. ‘The Fear’ was one of those books that had me talking or shouting at it. That sounds weird I know, but I find that if I really enjoy reading a book, I start ‘living’ the story and begin shouting at it or talking to it. More than once I found myself shouting/ saying rather rude comments about and to Mike, which attracted some strange looks when I was on the bus. Oops a daisy. C. L. Taylor has clearly done a hell of a lot of research into grooming and child abuse. She also clearly cares about her characters and this shines through in the quality of her writing. As I said before, if I could have jumped into the pages of the book to track down Mike and carry out some surgery on him without anaesthetic then I would have done. Reading ‘The Fear’ was like being on a very scary rollercoaster with twists, turns and moments where you can see what is happening and what is going to happen right in front of you but you can’t do a darn thing to stop it.
In short, I loved reading ‘The Fear’ and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to other readers. This book is an important lesson in child protection that teaches us that we all have a responsibility to spot and report child abuse, spot the signs of grooming and support the victims of such grooming. C. L. Taylor certainly has another winner on her hands, which is sure to be a bestseller. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is 5* out of 5*.

When Lou was 14 she ran away to France with her karate teacher, the man she naively thought was the love of her life. Things take a nasty turn and she grows up trying to put it behind her, unsuccessfully in many aspects of her life. When she is forced to return to her home town she realises the man is grooming another teen and she is compelled to try and stop him.

I really enjoyed this book, looking back to what happened in France, intertwined with what is happening now and how that influenced the decisions Lou makes. This story is filled with tension and suspense. CL Taylor writes so well, I have read all her thrillers and this stands with the best of them.

Such an easy read. Couldn’t put this one down. My first from this author and will definitely read another. So well written that the main protagonist had me despising them to my core. Made my blood boil. So many victims and not one ounce of remorse. Would recommend this one

This book was definitely a 5 star read it was just so gripping I was literally on the edge of my seat the entire novel just wondering what the hell was going to happen next. Totally going to be one of my favourite psychological thrillers of the year!

This story definitely brings out a variety of emotions in the reader from fear, anger, disgust, terror, I was just so completely captivated by these characters and their story it is just such a dark and twisted tale and to be honest each character brings there own darkness to it. The short glimpses we get into the past with Louise and Mike are truly disturbing and at the same time totally gripping, it was so unnerving to see how she was completely taken in by him and then her finally seeing him for who he truly was. Such an intense read that I’m still reeling from.

I simply cannot leave this review without a mention of Wendy because to be honest now that I’ve had time to reflect on the story she is actually I think my favourite character in here, she’s just so fantastic, slightly creepy and a little unhinged maybe but totally fantastic non the less. Read it and you’ll see what I mean.

This is actually my first C.l Taylor read and I have to say her writing style is just so perfect, the writing just seems to flow off the page and before you know it you’ve read half the book in 2 hours. I just kept saying to myself one more chapter then I’ll put it down and one became another and another. Perfect writing and a fantastic story that I would highly recommend to any fan of psychological thrillers this one won’t let you down!

I love this author’s books and as soon as I read the blurb and saw the cover I knew it was a book that I needed to get my hands on – I was intrigued and drawn in straight away and I just love that cover!

I found the book to be a really addictive read, I didn’t want to put it down and read it in a few hours. I was gripped by the plot as soon as I started reading and the flashbacks and memories from the main character really drew me further in to the story.

I can easily see this happening and as a new parent it would be my worst nightmare when my daughter grows up, there have been a few news stories of Teachers abducting children and if must be a horrific experience for a parent to have their trust broken in this way. The characters are believable and it is an excellent psychological thriller.

My only warning for readers is that the book covers grooming and sexual abuse and manipulation amongst what is often perceived to be darker subject matter. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but the book won’t be for everyone in view of the subjects covered but they are dealt with very well.

Definitely five stars from me – another excellent book from C.L. Taylor – and possibly her best so far!