Ria Taylor works at SafeMe, a place that helps domestic abuse survivors (not victims!). She is married to Danny who is away for work and they have two children. A mobile phone is sent to Ria at work and she soon receives bizarre texts. Who is doing this to her and why?

Alongside Ria's story, we have the diary entries from a woman named Tanya who appears to be suffering from domestic abuse although she tries to justify it.

The two stories tie together and although I'd guessed what was going to happen early on, I felt that I couldn't put it down because I just had to see if I was right!

It is written so well with regards to the domestic abuse aspect and it's great to see that all the relevant helplines were listed at the end.

This is such a hard book to review without spoilers and I really don't want to give anything away.

Our main character, Ria is a manager at a refuge for abused women. Her husband has left to work on something abroad. Not long after he has left, Ria is sent a burner phone at work with messages saying that she is being watched.

Is this due to the work that Ria does, something to do with her husband or is there something in Ria's past that has finally caught up with her?

Even though this was another predictable read, it was still enjoyable.

A dark and disturbing read. Triggers for abuse, domestic violence. Harrowing descriptions of abuse, violence, sexual assault. I found this book difficult to read at times, Well written but overall quite traumatising.

Trigger Warning! This was a bitter pill to swallow; domestic abuse and sexual assault. The story was horrifying and emotive but extremely well-written.

Quite a harrowing read, but gave a very clear insight into the horrors of abusive relationships. I was glad that a happy resolution of sorts was given to some characters.

A very nice book by Jacqueline Ward. I’ve never read a book by this author before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the story and the characters.

I actually felt like looking over my shoulder the whole time I was reading this. Tightly wound and compelling. You'll love this.

Life stopped so I could finish this book - even now writing this review months later I can remember the plot and story line. My family had to fend for themselves so I could finish this book in as short a time as possible.

This is an excellent memorable read. Thank you for letting me read pre-publication!

Oh my goodness- what a superb book. I have just finished reading and feel very emotional. This is a really important story with a strong message about abusive and controlling men but woven into a powerful and well written novel. Highly recommended.

This book had so much potential - the outline story is good but its told in the most long winded way possible - it really could have done with a much better edit - it was repetitive and after a while I just lost the will to live. Such an important subject matter really did deserve a better treatment.
It was all rather formulaic and I saw the ending coming a mile away. Sorry just not very good in my opinion.

Entertaining and page turning. This kept me interested right until the end and I read it in 2 days! Definitely recommend

Thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic books for allowing me to receive a copy of this novel for review.

This story centres around Ria, who runs a charity helping women and their families escape domestic violence. Her husband is working abroad for 30 days and during this time she starts receiving sinister text messages and photos indicating someone is watching her and her family.

I did work out who the stalker was and the real identity of Tanya before it was revealed so it wasn’t too much of a surprise.

The characters in this book are mostly likeable and each chapter is a countdown of the 30 days Ria’s husband is away.

It’s readable and well paced, overall a good book.

I struggled with this novel. and it was a hard read. A sensitive story about domestic abuse that I could not finish.

Harrowing and difficult to read at times - I found myself swaying between shock and horror - and anger and frustration.
Well researched and very sensitively approached - I did enjoy it (as much as one can enjoy a book based on domestic violence and coercive control .

Wow this was not a easy read. Featuring plenty of tough topics including domestic violence and rape.
Told from the viewpoint of a woman who runs a domestic violence charity this is not remotely what I was expecting.
A clearly well research book showing people who struggle to start new lives and people go back to their abusive relationships they tried so hard to escape.
A relevant story highlighting domestic abuse relationships with plenty of relevant information but not the fast paced psychological thriller I was expecting.

RIa Taylor works at a refuge for women & children who have been in abusive relationships. Its a safe haven until they can find a new home away from the abuser.
With her husband away for a month and looking after her two children alone, she is starting to feel the pressure which is made worse when she starts getting text messages, pictures and flowers from an anonymous person.

Ria is hiding a secret from her teenage years which stops her from fully reporting the stalker despite its escalation.

She still has to deal with her clients and keeping them safe, running management classes for the abusers and trying to secure funding to keep the SafeMe facility open.

A story of domestic abuse that shows the lengths abusers will go to.

A great read

DNF at 65%. I really tried to like this book but I found the central character just too stupid. She knew what was happening, knew what she had to do but still refused to do it. As a woman who worked in that career and was aware of the signs of stalking and threatening behaviour and yet she didn't act in accordance with her knowledge.
Character too stupid to live.

Although I enjoyed this book to a point, I did find it quite a hard read. The subject matter is a difficult one to read as luckily I’ve
never experienced domestic violence and I couldn’t imagine what it’s like. So I struggled to finish this book and l when I did I found I was depressed by it. I can only give this book 3 stars as I found it a “plodding “ book to read, not my kind of book really.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This is another story about coercive control, physical abuse and rape by husbands against their wives. Very distressing story.

This book was thought provoking with a hard subject to read. Yet it was a good story that kept you wanting to read more to find the links within the characters. A hard but good read