I was drawn to this book by its cover and blurb, but it didn’t deliver for me.

Clementine is on the run from her past, she got out of jail and headed to a small rural town in Australia. She applied to become the footy coach. She has great succes with the team. In rural Australia where there is still tension between indigenous people and the whites she has a mixed team, but when here best player, Clancy, quits a series of dangerous events take place. Clem is in the middle of all this and tries to figure out why her best player, an indigenous player, suddenly leaves and gets fired. It’s a dangerous undertaking and Clem doesn’t want anyone to find out about her past.

I feel Clem is rash and I don’t really like her character, nor did I find a liking for other characters in this book. I guess that’s why I had a hard time liking it. The story itself is nice, builds up pretty well, but that’s it.

I was surprised that Lapse is a debut novel by Sarah Thronton. The main character Clem is trying to live a low key life, accepts a job offer as a coach for local football team. When she gets settled in, Clem smells something fishy and starts her investigation which reveals a bunch of secrets! I was hooked right from the first chapter, to know what happens next. Fast paced and even after introducing so many characters into the story, the importance of Clem didnot diminish. Lapse is a first book in the series, I am really looking forward for the next books in the series.
Thank you NetGalley, Sarah Thronton and Text Publishing for a reader’s copy of this book. The review is purely based on my opinion.

A fabulous debut from an Australian author. Suspenseful and gripping. I really enjoyed reading this and got caught up in the action, to the point where I almost missed my train station and had to make a mad dash for the door (sorry to the lady sitting next to me 😬). The mystery is plausible and the main character likeable.

I’m not a huge sports fan, but luckily for me I know enough about Australian Rules football to be able to understand the descriptions of matches and the sports terminology. There’s a description on a football match towards the end that’s very exciting!

I really enjoyed this and hope to read more about Clementine Jones in the future. (I wonder if the author is aware that her character’s namesake, Clem Jones, was a Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 1961-1975, was credited with getting rid of all the “thunder boxes” in Brisbane back yards and has a major tunnel named after him).

This was a very well- written book but I initially struggled to get into the story. There was more emphasis on the sport and coaching than on the personal incident affecting the main character and I felt it took a long time to actually reveal the cause of her upset.

It was not particularly a book I would choose to read again.

What a great debut novel.

Set in country Australia, with a background of the local footy (AFL) season, this is a taut, well plotted, well written and gripping mystery/thriller.

The characters are interesting and well developed, especially the lead Clementine Jones, who despite her past, is someone to be admired.

I loved this story, and hopefully there will be more to follow.

Lapse by Sarah Thornton, published by Text Publishing, is book one in her Clementine Jones Series. Lapse can easily be read as a stand-alone.
The storyline is set in rural Australia and tells the heart wrenching story of Clementine.
Clementine Jones is on the run from her past. She's new in toen and just started coaching the local football team.
Lapse is a fst paced read, a thriller of it's finest, excellent written and beautifully thought out and beautifully told. Lapse kept me in suspense from start til the end.
I recommend the book and can't wait for the next one. 4,5 Stars.

Exciting! Addictive! Thrilling! Suspenseful! Everything you could want in a debut crime drama from a promising new author. I'm now a confirmed fan!

#Lapse #NetGalley

A riveting debut novel with a gripping plot, wonderful characters and true to life dialogue. I can't wait for the next story.

Clementine Jones is a newbie in the small bush town of Katingal. In spite of her plan to hide away in solitude in her cottage outside of town she got bored and landed the job of football coach to the town Aussie Rules team. Now she is the town star as the team is winning for the first time in half a century and the whole town is counting on her to bring them home the Grand Final trophy. Just as they are about to hit the final series her Aboriginal star midfielder quits the team with a wholly unconvincing excuse.

Clementine just can't stop asking questions to try to get him back in the team and save her player and team. In the process she finds out more than she ever wanted to know about small town politics, racism and drugs. More than that she realises that she and others may be in increasing danger.

Clem's questions invite others to ask questions about her too and that's a big problem. Clem has a secret so big it has torn her away from her family and previous life completely. Can she stay alive, stand up for her team and keep her secret?

Clementine is a wonderful character and you will really enjoy the characters you meet in Katingal. If you've never lived in a small Australian town, you'll come away knowing how they work. If you have, you'll love how well Sarah Thornton paints a completely recognisable picture. She also injects some great humour: I laughed out loud on occasion and loved the tattoo shop scene.

I loved the way that this novel illustrated experiences of racism, the issues for women leaders, as well as the effects of drugs and crime on country communities without in any way preaching or making them the focus of the story. It's also a love story about footy as the great equaliser and it's ability to change the lives of those who love it.

Altogether this exceeded my expectations and I highly recommend it.

Review submitted to Amazon.com but not up as yet.