Tuesday 28 July 2015

Books Read: Sinéad Crowley - Can Anybody Help Me?

It was crazy really, she had never met the woman, had no idea of her real name but she thought of her as a friend. Or, at least, the closest thing she had to a friend in Dublin.

Struggling with a new baby, Yvonne turns to netmammy, an online forum for mothers, for support. Drawn into a world of new friends, she spends increasing amounts of time online and volunteers more and more information about herself.

When one of her new friends goes offline, Yvonne thinks something is wrong, but dismisses her fears. After all, does she really know this woman?

But when the body of a young woman with striking similarities to Yvonne's missing friend is found, Yvonne realises that they're all in terrifying danger. Can she persuade Sergeant Claire Boyle, herself about to go on maternity leave, to take her fears seriously?

Amazon Links: Kindle or Paperback

I originally downloaded a copy of Can Anybody Help Me? from NetGalley last year but like so many other eBooks it has sat languishing on my Kindle waiting for me to read so apologies to Sinéad Crowley and her publishers Quercus for the delay in reviewing it. 

Can Anybody Help Me? revolves around new mum Yvonne who having no local friends or family to hand turns to an online forum instead.  They soon become her lifeline and the first port of call when she needs answers or a little support...but are they all who she thinks they are?      

The blurb alone intrigued me about this debut from Sinéad as nowadays most of us have some sort of online interaction on a daily basis, social media is great as a means of keeping in contact with friends and family, but at the same time it's so easy to give personal information away without sometimes realising which is what happens in this book and puts Yvonne and her friends in danger.

So would you notice if someone you speak to regularly online suddenly disappeared or if their online chats seem a little different? This is exactly the situation that Yvonne finds herself in but she struggles to get anyone in authority to believe her suspicions that one of her online friends has disappeared. Meanwhile Sergeant Claire Boyle is investigating the murder of a young woman.  Will Yvonne be able to convince her there that there is a connection with her missing online friend, or will it be too late before she finds herself in danger? 

Athough Can Anybody Help Me? wasn't quite the intense thriller I was initially expecting, it was still an extremely well-written story that had me second guessing with each chapter that I read, every little snippet revealed had me wondering as I tried to follow the clues to try work out just who was the 'bad guy'  

Overall it was an enjoyable debut from Sinéad, even though I wasn't quite sold on the ending, so I'll definitely be adding the next book Are You Watching Me?, which also features Sergeant Boyle, to my future reading list

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