Reviewed by Emma Crowley
She committed the ultimate betrayal. Now someone knows the truth . . .
Eve should never have married Don Hathaway. Yes, he gave her two beautiful children - Olly and Tabitha - but he is a bully. Worse than that, he hurts her.
But, after one drunken rage too many, she has the courage to leave him. Eve is warned that it's a difficult path, yet she needs to give her children hope for the future.
Don, however, is bitter. And getting away from him entirely proves impossible.
Until the day Eve tries to teach him a lesson - and it all goes horribly wrong . . .
Eve loves her children, but now she carries a terrible burden that she dares not share.
Can she protect her family from the truth? Or has she betrayed their trust forever?
Many thanks to EdPR for my copy of Betrayal to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Lesley Pearse’s new book Betrayal tackles many difficult, hard hitting subjects and it’s a lot darker than I had expected it to be. The book centres around Eve who is married to Don who have two children Tabitha and Olly. But life with Don is not an easy or happy one and Eve lives in constant fear of what he may do next. Right from the get go it’s evident that Eve’s life is one filled with terror and brutality as Don has a bad temper with a short fuse that can explode at any moment for no reason at all. He beats her regularly and she has suffered many broken bones. She wishes desperately that she had heeded the advice from her father and many others not to marry Don. But she can’t go back and change the past now but she does have the power to alter her future. But does she have the strength to do this? Fear has made her obedient for far too long and she wonders what would the neighbours say if she left Don? How could she raise two children on her own?
Eve, when we first meet her, was timid and shy but through no fault of her own as Don’s actions made her feel worthless, powerless and useless. She is naturally reserved having being brought up not to tell tales but finally she garners enough courage to go to the police and report what has been happening to her. She knows she needs to get away from Don, for her children not to grow up in a home where domestic violence is common place. Eve is to be admired for having the strength to do the right thing and soon herself and the children are placed in a women's refuge run by Marianne.
Marianne goes on to be a role model/mother figure for Eve always offering good advice and being there for her when she needs it. Spending weeks in the refuge means Eve starts to change and for the better. Gone is the scared women who was afraid of change, meeting new people or even trying to do things for herself as in indulging her passion of curtain making and interior design. When they divorce comes through Eve feels confident enough that she can return to the family home and start afresh but the threat of Don still lingers on.
Eve takes things into her own hands with disastrous consequences. The details of which I will not go into as it would ruin the book. But needless to say, I saw a different side of Eve emerge and this continued for a good chunk of the book. It was as if once she threw the shackles of Don and his reign of terror from her that she took on a new persona and she just went for what she always wanted to do in life. But still she harbours a secret that if it came out it would ruin her and certainly later her new found friends opinion of her. Eve decides to sell the family home and buy a new property which needs extensive renovation but Tom the builder is on hand to help with that and she forms a good and solid friendship with him.
I did find from this point on that given the dramatic first quarter of the book that things levelled out and it all became very nice and happy and things were going well and smooth sailing for Eve and the children. Time passed and it felt as if the chapters were just detailing the normal/usual events in their lives and how they were adapting to their new situation as well as detailing building progress with the new house. Eve embarks on setting up her own interior design business and it goes from strength to strength. But honestly, it all just felt a little repetitive and that there was nothing exciting or intriguing happening. Yes, I was quickly turning the pages but that’s because I was able to read through the chapters quickly as if I was constantly searching for something to grab my attention. After a strong start, I was slightly disappointed.
But then the last quarter or so of the book, things really picked up and god did the book veer off in a direction that I hadn’t seen coming but really looking back on it the clues were there for the reader to see if they had looked hard enough. I was completely surprised by what occurred and found the storyline that unfolded to be creepy and sinister. One scene in particular, although the event is told only in one paragraph had a deep and lasting effect on me and it made the overall tone of the book change. Gone were the chapters where I was growing a bit bored (I hate saying that but that was the way the book was making me feel) and bam here we have an unpredicted twist that really shook things up. Characters are forced to revaluate everything, and secrets are brought to the fore and the subject matter is hard hitting and in your face. The reader is forced to sit up and start forming their own judgements and it was fascinating to see how things were unfolding. I only wish we would have had more of this much earlier on in the book instead of what I would term the lull that did occur.
I’ve read everything that Lesley Pearse has written and for as long as I can remember I look forward each year to the publication of a new book. Betrayal wasn’t my favourite book as I found it too similar in vein to her most recent books. I loved the big epic reads of Never Look Back and Trust Me and would love to read something like that again in the future from Lesley. But it’s Lesley Pearse and I will always read anything that she publishes and the beginning and end of Betrayal made up for a lacklustre middle. If you are looking for a decent read to take away on your summer holidays this year then this is the book for you.
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