On 15th June 1994, Travis Green stormed the streets of Hartshead murdering eleven of his neighbours before turning the gun on himself. The final victim was four year old Cassie Colman’s father, shot dead in front of his wife and daughter.

Now, 25 years on, Cassie returns to her hometown to care for her ill mother and to raise her new baby. When she is approached by Alison, a journalist looking to write a story on the anniversary of the massacre, all of her unanswered questions about that day come rushing back and she begins to investigate what really happened all those years ago.

The Anniversary is a really captivating mystery thriller and you really feel as if you are joining Cassie and her friends in uncovering the tragic events of that fateful day.

Cassie’s story is so gripping and relatable, with her struggles to adapt to motherhood, the challenges she faces managing her own mother’s declining health and her search for answers about her past.

This book is a real page-turner and the twists and turns keep you hooked right to the end.

I love a good thriller. Something to get the mind working, heart racing and having you on the edge of your seat. Great writing, great characters and a great storyline. Time to clear your schedule for the afternoon, coffee pot on and phone turned off - you won’t want to be disturbed.

I really enjoyed this one. Quite a large set of characters though so I did have to go back and reread a couple of times, so pay attention!
This reminded me of the Hungerford Massacre which took place at roughly the same time. Initially dismissed as a random shooting spree, as the 25th anniversary approaches people are questioning if there was a motive behind the killings. Cassie, who lost her father in the massacre, has returned to the village to care for her mother Sylvia who has early onset dementia. I liked their characters, Cassie is struggling as a new mother and her desperation is written very accurately and having to care for Sylvia is placing a huge strain on her.
Plenty of twists in this story and I especially liked the flashbacks to the day of the shootings. In fact I would have liked more of the backstories, I think they were the most interesting part of the book.
Very enjoyable, I would certainly recommend this book.

Brilliant! I was totally gripped from the first page. The story is a clever one, but still believable, and with very well-drawn characters. I liked the interplay between past and present, and the ending was a complete surprise. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

A very clever plot depicting one event that has a huge impact on a village. Twenty five years later, the reader is party to the experience of each person involved as it happened, which culminates into the mystery that you realise they are all linked, but you are not quite sure how or why. Cassie's life is laid out for us all to share and her emotional struggles at coping with a newborn and a parent who is having her memories and life cruelly tugged away from her are related in a raw and uncompromising manner. The story is lifted with the humorous exchanges between Cassie and old school friends, and Cassie with other new mums, and the romance is ever present with the attractive bartender, who also has a mystery to unfold.

Laura Marshall has written a book that has enough twists to keep you turning the pages, and I have to say that I read this very quickly as I really wanted to know "why" and have that nagging 'but??' answered.

A good solid thriller. Cassie joins forces, reluctantly, to try and find the truth behind the multiple shootings in her village which left 11 people dead, including her father. As the truth unravels you will be satisfied with the conclusions along with the twists along the way. Very enjoyable read.

I was sent a copy of this book for an honest review. I have to say, I loved this book! It was so well written and I couldn't put it down. The intriguing storyline had me hooked. I really liked the characters too. Definitely recommended!

#TheAnniversary #Netgalley

I couldn’t put it down!

It gripped me from the start. There is a lot of secrets and lies, the suspense and mystery until the end. Every time I read a thriller I always suspect of everyone and that’s how it was with this one.

The blurb tells you everything you need to know about the story without giving away anything.

The present is told with a mix of an internet conversation and what the victims might have thought they day they were killed. The characters were well developed and likeable, there is a few themes explored.

4-5 stars.

It’s 6th June, 1994 and Travis Green is a killer in waiting, a few hours later eleven people will be dead including Travis. This traumatic and thankfully shockingly rare event in the UK makes the undistinguished town of Hartshead infamous in the same way as Hungerford. Twenty five years on ‘tragic tot’ Cassie Colman, the daughter of the last victim returns home with baby daughter Amy to care for her mother Sylvia who has early onset Alzheimer’s. To mark the anniversary journalist Alison Patchett is going to write an article in the hope of clarifying some discrepancies from that terrible day. The story goes between 1994 and 2019.

This is a really good and balanced combination of the mystery of what happens on the day in 1994 with Cassie’s personal story coping with a difficult baby and the distress and hardship of losing a parent to Alzheimer’s. She’s an excellent central protagonist, her portrayal is very good, she’s flawed but very likeable and honest and you find yourself totally invested in her story. I particularly like how Cassie is searching for her own identity as she adjusts to the upheavals in her life, it feels relatable and real. The plot unfolds almost organically with Alison Patchett reopening old wounds but equally getting closer to the truth. There are some buried secrets and lies, some by omission, which are revealed a bit at a time. Cassie experiences some nasty threats but is unable to identify who is the source. At times it’s very shocking and there are moments of acute tension where you almost hold your breath. The finale is excellent as it’s so unexpected but when you track back it makes perfect sense. It’s a really good spotlight on what terrible, traumatic events can do to people and places and how it impacts on them, changing them forever.

Overall, this is one that enthrals from the start as the plot uncovers what darkness is harbouring under the surface.

With thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group, Sphere for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

25 years after the village shooting that shocked the world, Cassie Colman has returned home with her new baby to be with her mother. Cassie has had to live with the fact that, as a 4 year old, her father was the final victim of the 11 shot and killed that fateful day by Travis Green leaving Cassie and her mum behind.
Now Sylvia Colman is suffering from early onset dementia and Cassie has moved back to take care her as well as the baby she is a single parent too. As if this wasn’t enough to cope with, the upcoming 25th anniversary of the shooting means that journalist Alison is keen to write about the tragedy and its repercussions….but can she be trusted? And what secrets and lies will be dug up about the shooting and the victims?
I couldn’t put this book down. It was engaging, exciting and easy to read, each chapter leaving me wanting more. A few red herrings meant I completely missed the twist until almost upon it….fantastic book.

I raced through this book which gripped me from the start. The twists and turns were all unexpected and left me wanting more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

I really like the characters in this book. They complimented each other in the way of a real community and the motivations they each have for uncovering or hiding the truth were well woven into the story with small reveals, little hints and just enough left unsaid to have you questioning their integrity. I thought the relationship between Cassie and her mum was particularly well described with all of the emotions tied into that relationship and the changes that happen s the child becomes the carer.
The final twist was well worth waiting for!

Completely devoured this book in a couple of days, such an easy to read book even though there was lots of characters to keep up with. Loved this one just as much as ‘Friend Request’! Highly recommend!

This was a well written psychological thriller which I really enjoyed.

The story was written across two time zones, the day of the killings and present day. My favourite parts were the chapters set in the past, they gave tantalising glimpses of the mindset of the characters and where they fit into the story. The reasons for their killings became clear at the denouement. All threads tied up nicely, though perhaps the police were seriously lacking when they decided there were no connections between any of the victims!!!

This is the first time I have read this author and I really liked her style.

Thank you NetGalley.

Interesting angle on a story of what it could be like for those left behind after a catastrophic community event. The plot is carefully woven around how the seemingly disparate lives of others can in fact be woven together in ways which are not always obvious not least because of the lies and omissions we tell ourselves and others. Realistic characters who make you genuinely want to know their real part in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This book focuses on a mass shooting back in 1994, when a gunman killed 11 people. The police put the shooting down as random. And one of the people who was killed was the main character’s father. Cassie was only 4 when her father, Gary, was the final victim of the gunman, Travis. Cassie has moved back to the place where the shooting occurred to care for her mum, who has early onset Alzheimer’s. Cassie now has a new baby herself, Amy, but she isn’t with the baby’s father as he is married to someone else. Cassie is approached by a journalist called Alison, who is writing a piece on the shooting for the 25th anniversary, but she doesn’t believe the victims were random, but they are all linked somehow, and gets Cassie to help her find out the truth, with secrets revealed along the way.

I have been waiting ages for a new book from this author, having read all her previous work, and I was not disappointed. The story had everything you could want from a psychological thriller. The characters were all very relatable, especially with Cassie being a new mum, and being constantly tired, and having a crying baby, and feeling like you’re not good enough. She was quite vulnerable, but was also strong and brave, and determined to get to the truth of the shooting. She also touched on how lonely motherhood can be, which is exactly how it is sometimes. I really liked all the characters, there wasn’t really any I didn’t like, even Della I liked for her straight talking.
The writing was great, and every chapter offered new snippets of information. And the whole way along I thought I knew what exactly was going on, and I didn’t. It lots of twists and turns, and was a real page turner. Another great book from this author.

This was all right. I mean, I read it through to the end and it kept me relatively entertained. But the story itself was, I don’t know, a bit boring? The ‘before’ chapters from the point of view of the victims were probably my favourite part of this book. I kept wanting to read more about these people. The ‘present’ day stuff though… meh. It lacked oomph for me. It felt formulaic and a bit bland. An OK read though - 3.5 stars from me.

What a gripping mystery.

This was a very disturbing but good read.

Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and could not get enough of.

This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good thriller!!
Absolutely loved the characters, the plot, the tension -  impossible to put it down.
Certainly recommended!

A very well written psychological thriller. Absolutely loved the format of flash backs written in multiple voices and the cleverly interwoven storylines, slowly building to a very unexpected final twist. This is my first read by this author - I will certainly be looking out for more.

This is such a fast paced psychological suspense/thriller book and it instantly draws you in.. The plot is nicely paced and I was asking myself questions all the way through - Why did Travis Green go on a shooting rampage? Why did he kill eleven specific people?. What secrets is the town of Hartstead hiding amongst the families of the eleven victims. The story is sad in parts, especially because Cassie's Mum has early on-set Alzheimer's and she doesn't always know who Cassie is. It has some shocking twists and the last twist is BLOODY PHENOMENAL and certainly unexpected. Be prepared to have a long reading session because once you start this book you can't put it down. It's a thrilling ride of murder, mystery, unforgettable characters and plenty of twists, shocks and more twists. I highly recommend because you will not be disappointed.