This is the first novel I have read by Fiona Cumnins and I will definitely be looking for more.
This sinister thriller follows the story of 2 sisters aged 12 and 10 years respectively. The younger one was supposed to have brutally killed the parents in a savage attack.
Follow the twists and turns of this novel and hold your breath.
It's gripping!

This is the second book I have read by Fiona Cummins and I loved it just as much as the first one. From the first page I was hooked and had to get to the end very quickly. From the descriptive detail to the twists and turns, I just couldn’t get enough. I will definitely be looking for more books written by this author. It didn’t end the way I thought it would, which to me is the sign of a five star novel. Be sure to look out for this book, for your next read.

Sara and Shannon are sisters and Brin is their next door neighbour and best friend. Sara and Shannon’s parents are the respectable village doctor and his wife but inside their house they are abusive evil parents that make their daughters lives a misery.

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One day the village wakes up to the parents dead, the kids covered in blood. But what is the story behind the story?!

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The book has two time periods running through it. Catherine is watching the news when her life comes to a halt - her sister is on the news talking about when their parents were brutally killed by being stabbed 14 times with a pair of scissors. Brin is now a journalist and is hoping to break the story but she really is the story. There are also flashbacks to the night when the parents were killed and the real circumstances surrounding it.

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Some of the passages may be triggering for some readers as it involves emotional and physical abuse against children. However, I think it needs to be brutal and shocking as it allows the reader to understand the reasons behind the killings. The topic of child killers is an emotive one and Fiona writes with empathy in relation to the victims.

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The characters of the three children are extremely well written - complex, multilayered and leave you asking questions!

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The only part I didn’t get was the inclusion of the politician as part of the narrative. It’s seem redundant to me, it definitely wasn’t necessary and there was enough in the other characters to explore.

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This is a great read with amazing twists! I really didn’t see the final one coming! It is brilliantly written, show empathy while dealing with a difficult subject and is so compelling that you can easily devour it in one sitting!

I did really like this story and the way that Cummins portrayed how cruel parents can be. Even those who appear to be the most wonderful. How they can manipulate a child. I especially enjoyed the characterisation of Sara. However I found some parts unnecessary to keep. I.e. the politician aspect of the story, Brinley's final confession at the end, (she already was an unreliable narrator, this felt very uneeded), and also the night that all these horrible things happened. It felt like doomsday. I also did not really understand the reason why Shannon reemerged all those years later. Nevertheless, it was a thrill ride.

When I Was Ten takes place in two different time settings and from several peoples perspective. Twenty plus years ago two little girls were found with their parent's dead bodies and 10-year-old Sara was charged with their murder. The media and public called for her execution but she was given a new identity after being held in a young offenders institution until she was eighteen. Now it seems like the public have found out who she is and exposed her to her new family, but it seems there was more to the story than people thought. I found this book really enjoyable and the writing and story hooked me in from the start. It was certainly a page-turner and I flew through it in a couple of days- I would definitely recommend it to fans of the genre!

this author is a fabulous writer one sister is living a lie married and a daughter and never told her husband her past the other sister was punished for the murder of there parent s and a journalist who knows more than she letting on what a story very twisty and addictive you wont want to stop reading so recommend

As soon as I read the blurb for "When I Was Ten", I knew that I wanted to read it. I am a huge fan of crime/thrillers, and there is something fascinating about the idea of children who kill. 

I'll say outright that I loved this book. It was well-paced from the start, with characters I was rooting for. The story follows two sisters, Sara and Shannon, who lived in a beautiful house with model parents. Until the night one of the girls stabbed their parents to death with a pair of blunt scissors, a crime that meant one sister was incarcerated in a secure unit for the rest of her childhood and the other was given a new identity. Now, thirteen years later, on the anniversary of the trial, a documentary airs featuring one of the sisters, leading to explosive news headlines. Brinley Booth, the girls' childhood friend and now a budding reporter, is forced to cover the story. But everyone is hiding something, and when the whole truth is revealed, nothing will ever be the same...

I loved the twists and turns the story takes, and I really liked how the reader's assumptions were constantly challenged. I also loved how the two sides of the story were presented: the side told by the girls who were actually involved in the crime, and the side reported by the press. I know that headlines and news stories are manipulated for maximum impact, but it was interesting to see that play out here, with a bird's eye view of what had actually happened and the circumstances surrounding the crime. 

I saw a couple of twists coming, but was totally blindsided by others. If I had one complaint, it would be that the villain of the piece is a little too black-and-white villain for me, I'd have liked to see a little more depth to that character. But on the whole, this was a brilliant read, and I will absolutely be recommending it. An easy five stars from me!

Thank you to NetGalley, who provided me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

a fantastic book great story line throughout .keeps you enthralled right up to the last page .i think its her best book so far .highly recommend .

#WhenIWasTen #NetGalley
A fun read.
Shannon Carter, the little blonde haired sisters. Their Dad was the local GP and they lived in the beautiful house on the hill. Their best friend, Brinley Booth, lived next door. They would do anything for each other but everything shifted on that fateful day when Dr Richard Carter and his wife Pamela were stabbed fourteen times with a pair of scissors in what has become the most talked about double murder of the modern age. But an incident changed everything.
A clever thriller with a flawless narration and creepy characters.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for giving me an advanced copy of this suspense thriller.