When everyone hides the truth, who do you turn to?
Becca’s had a hard time of it, but she has finally got her life together. She has a nice little flat, a steady job pulling pints, and she’s even seeing someone new: Andy, who keeps his private life to himself but is always good for a laugh. And then Andy vanishes. When his body turns up on isolated Sunk Island, Becca learns Andy wasn’t just another punter. He was a police officer, deep undercover, investigating a drugs ring that he believed operated out of Becca’s pub.
Staggered by the betrayal, Becca turns to the only person she thinks she can trust: her foster mum, Kay. But Kay has problems of her own. She’s just moved into a short-term let in the hopes of finding some peace and quiet. But peace and quiet are hard to come by on Sunk Island...
Before long, both women are drawn into a terrifying world of drugs, money and death.
I'd like to thank Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour and Simon & Schuster for my copy of Someone Who Isn't Me to review.
When I received the email to review Someone Who Isn't Me I didn't realise that it was a follow on from Danuta Kot's debut novel Life Ruins featuring troubled teenager Becca Armitage, a young girl who was in and out of the foster care system until she was finally placed with Kay and Matt McKinnon. I'm glad that I did buy a copy of Life Ruins to read both books although this latest book can be read as a standalone as there is enough background information dropped in to provide you with a recap of events from Becca's past.
Someone Who Isn't Me is very much a character driven novel featuring Becca, Kay, the local police force investigating the murder of their undercover colleague Andy as well as many of the locals that they come into contact with on a day-to-day basis. I have to confess to taking an instant dislike to DS Curwen who was more interested in covering his own tracks for his off-the-books investigation into dodgy dealings at the pub so I was glad that there was at least one officer, DC Dinah Mason, who definitely seemed to care about the safety of Becca rather than putting her in harms way.
Becca lives in the seaside resort of Bridlington in a small bedsit, working two part-time jobs, in a supermarket during the day and as a barmaid at night, but still she struggles to get by and pay the bills. Despite having very little, Becca is a very determined and independent young woman who is trying to make the best of what little she has and reluctant to ask others for help even when life takes a very terrifying turn. At times I really wanted to shake Becca and ask her what she was doing, why was she being so impulsive and putting herself in danger as she certainly seemed to be a magnet for trouble but at the same time she was trying to do whatever she could to find the answers as to what was going on but also to protect those around her.
There was also a real sense of place, both with the depiction of what life is like in a coastal seaside town during off-season as well as the remote location of Sunk Island where Kay has rented a cottage. I'm sure that both locations have their good qualities but throughout this book, nothing was as it seemed and there was a dark undercurrent flowing throughout and danger seemed to lurk around every corner. Maybe I shouldn't have been reading it quite so late especially the dramatic scenes towards the end on Sunk Island!
Having devoured both books from Danuta Kot this week, I'm looking forward to seeing what she has in store for us next. Another book featuring Becca and Kay, although surely they deserve some happiness which doesn't quite fit with the crime genre, or something completely different.
Thanks so much for the blog tour support x
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