A twisty complex read that once I got through the slow start had me gripped and guessing right till the end.
I loved the attention to detail the author truly made you feel you were inside the characters head.
Look forward to reading more by this author.
Thanks to Netgalley and Sandstone Press for the ARC.

I loved being inside Ava/Robin's head. Everyone hated her (including me) because they thought she was the reason a child died. She feels innocent and should be treated that way, it was really easy for me to hate her but the author also made me feel some sympathy too. That was pretty amazing to me. The story itself was very captivating and I was surprised by the emotions I felt reading it. I had so much anger and hate for Ava/Robin.

Although this started a little on the slow side for me it picked up the pace eventually when I new character was introduced and become a psychological thriller that you won't want to put down. Ava/Robin's mind is a scary place to be when she gets going. I love how all the characters (even though there was a small cast of them) were so well thought out and developed, that I cared about them and felt things for them. A very well-done story that I read in a single sitting.

This was a sinister read and I really felt like I was in the mind of the killer and her flawed reasoning. I enjoyed it but the ending felt a little bit flat and the twist of the stalker seemed a bit needless.

Released after 25 years, Ava has a new identity...Robin Smith. A new identity was necessary, as the public think Ava is a monster for causing the death of a child. Ava feels she is blameless, that it was his and his father's fault. Robin hopes this new identity will help her escape her past... but someone has found out who Robin is, and they won't stop until they feel she has fully paid for her crime.

What an absolutely thriller of a book! I was gripped from start to finish. Robin is an easily hated character, but that amount of emotion and hatred works perfectly for keeping me gripped in the book.

Disturbing yet stop reading. This is a book that you'll just want to keep reading.

Such a unique concept and I was very eager to see where it would go. Definitely a complex psychological thriller and it's always a difficult thing to create a character and have people feel empathy or care for them after they've commit such a dark crime as harming a child so it was definitely well done to balance that out

Ava now Robin living her new life with new identity after being realised from prison is trying to adjust to normality but the ghosts of her past haunt her . A compelling read letting you discover the past life of Ava and what led to her imprisonment a complex character and a really well written book that I couldn’t put down

The public think Ava’s a monster. Ava thinks she’s blameless.
In prison, they called her Butcher Bird – but Ava’s not in prison any more. Released after 25 years to a new identity and a new home, Ava finally has the quiet life she’s always wanted. But someone knows who she is. The lies she’s told are about to unravel.A totally addictive page-turner that will have you racing through the pages and reeling at the twists! A fantastic read… Had me guessing till the last pages!

Caged Little Birds by Lucy Banks is the first-person account of Ava, who murdered a child, and her life after release from jail.

Her sentence complete, she is living in the community under a new identity and all she wants is to return to a remote Scottish island to observe the birdlife, as she did in her childhood. Instead, the terms of her probation require her to live in the town, receive weekly visits from her over-worked probation officer, attend regular sessions with her psychiatrist, and try to find a job. Ava has too much spare time and spends much of it dwelling on her ex-lover whose son she accidentally killed (they say 'murdered', she says it was an accident), the boy's cold-hearted, jealous mother, and an ex-cellmate whom she may have encouarged to commit suicide.

Ava becomes friends with her neighbour, an ex-homeless man who asks too many questions about her earlier life. When this neighbour's adult daughter comes to stay with him Ava's world starts to unravel. A letter arrives indicating at least one person out there knows her true identity and Ava is convinced it's from the neighbour's daughter. Ava sees her acting suspicioulsy when out on walks along the river and is further convinced when a brick is thrown through her window. Around this point in the plot, the pace quickens, the tension in Ava's mind increases rapidly, she knows she must act soon before her identity and crime is revealed to everyone, and so she makes the necessary preparations...

This a real psychology novel; the author captures Ava's anxieties remarkably well. The plot is well-crafted and the essential characters are thoroughly developed and feel like they could be people we already know. I like the use of tension and pace, rising and falling as the book progresses. The ending is neatly crafted and satisfying.

This wasn’t what I expected. It was a difficult book to read. There was a darkness to it that made me feel uneasy. It was too close to home. The author did a good job with the theme though.

3.5 stars

Possible spoilers

I started out feeling sympathy for Ava, a lonely childhood, loosing both parents, abused by older man... she had it tough.
But the odd word or two made me rethink that.
It was subtly done.
The continued drug taking, and fall into paranoia was quite the page turner.
The whole thing felt claustrophobic, with only Ava's thoughts and a small cast of characters.

I flew through this, and thoroughly enjoyed not liking the main character.

A good one.

I was closed in together with AVA in her mind twirling and twirling about and believe me, it was claustrophobic. I started out sympathetic to her but then a word dropped here and a word dropped there and I started to wonder, and wonder and wonder.

Very well done.

Ava has a new identity after her prison release. She moves into a new neighbourhood and befriends the man next door. Will she reveal what her life story is?
The book draws you in so deeply that I felt I was Ava.

Thank you to Netgalley & Lucy Banks for an advanced copy.

An enjoyable read that i couldn't put down and read in one sitting. It was perfectly paced with a good amount of tension and it was twosty and unpredictable.