Book Review - The Walls by Hollie Overton

Amazon UK

Title:  The Walls

Author: Hollie Overton

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Cornerstone

Publication Date: 10th August 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

What if murder is your only way out?

Single mom Kristy Tucker works as a press agent for the Texas Department of Corrections handling everything on death row from inmate interviews, to chronicling the last moments during an execution. Her job exposes Kristy to the worst of humanity and it's one that's beginning to take its toll.

So when Kristy meets Lance Dobson, her son's martial arts instructor, she believes she's finally found her happy ending. She’s wrong.

Kristy soon discovers that Lance is a monster. Forced to endure his verbal and physical abuse, Kristy is serving her own life sentence . . . unless she's willing to take matters into her own hands. Perfectly poised to exploit the criminal justice system she knows so well, Kristy sets out to get rid of Lance - permanently.

210 minutes ago I started to read The Walls. I was pretty much hooked from the first few pages, and have not stopped reading it until I have just now come to the end of the book. 

Completely unputdownable it has taken me on a journey that at times were plain scary and others I was choked up with emotion. 

It tells the story of something that no-one should have to go through and just what happens when you reach the end of your tether.  What grabbed me even more than the shocking story between Kristy and Lance, was the letters that appeared between some chapters. 

They tell the story of one man on death row in Texas who was convinced of his innocence. I may be living on a different planet as until I read The Walls I was not fully aware that the death sentence was still in place in Texas, and reading a story of a press agent who sets up inmate interviews for those on death row, and that visits them in prison and witnesses their executions is completely different to anything else I have ever read. 

All of that along would have made one incredibly interesting story, but add in her new relationship with a martial arts instructor, that has fooled everyone into thinking what sort of man he really is, and you get a truly excellent book. 

I loved Baby Doll last year, and this year The Walls by Hollie Overton stepped up her writing a step further, and I am beyond eager to see what her next release will be.  Any book that has dragged me away from the work that I am obsessed with and won't let me go until I finish it, at the moment truly is fabulous, and I am delighted to have read it.  Of course I suspect I'm about to have some really bad dreams so may not be as pleased in the morning! 

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Cornerstone for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - Baby Doll by Hollie Overton

Amazon UK

Title: Baby Doll

Author: Hollie Overton

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Cornerstone Digital 

Publication Date: 30th June 2016

Rating: 5 Stars

She kept moving forward. She didn't stop. She didn't look back.

Lily has been abducted from outside her high-school gates.

For eight long years she's been locked away from the outside world. During that time she's changed from a girl into a woman. She's had a baby.

And now she has seized her chance and escaped.

Running for her life, with her daughter in her arms, she returns to her family and the life she used to know - to her much-loved twin sister Abby, her mum, her high-school boyfriend - and her freedom.

But is it possible to go back?

Lily's perfect life as a teenager doesn't exist any more. Since she's been gone, her family's lives have changed too, in ways she never could have imagined.

Her return, and the revelation of who took her, will send shockwaves through the whole community.

Impossible not to read in one sitting, Baby Doll is a taut psychological thriller that focuses on family entanglements and the evil that can hide behind a benign facade.

I'm going to dispute the sentence at the end of the blurb about it being impossible not to read in one sitting, as it took me about 3 sittings, but they were all very close together on account of having to go out, so I continued to read on the tube etc... However while I was reading, I was completely oblivious to everything that was going around me, as I raced through this highly addictive sheer book of brilliance. 

How would you feel if you finally after 8 years escaped from the person who has been keeping you captive, and made your way home, to your mother and twin sister? As that is what Lily manages to do at the start, and the story from there takes you through her adapting to life again, and the fight for justice. 

We are treated to chapters from not only Lily's point of view, but twin sister's Abbie, her mother and also her abductor. It is her abductors chapters that really chilled me, as the man shows no remorse what so ever, and feels that he has outsmarted everyone. Although his story is the most shocking in a way, it is also really enjoyable for reasons I can't quite explain. 

Obviously a lot has happened in the 8 years, and in ways that Lily was never expecting, But then showing up out of the blue after all the time, with a child in tow, is a huge adjustment for her family too. 

I'm reluctant to say anything else about the story itself, but I would either give away spoilers, and there are some massive shocks to come your way, or wouldn't be able to do it justice properly. What I will say is that the story seeped under my skin from the start, and anytime I did have to stop reading for real life reasons, I was thinking about the story continually. I just couldn't switch off from it, and I suspect it may also be the sort of book that you shouldn't start too late in the evening, unless you are prepared for no sleep!

As the story progressed I couldn't help but wonder what how I would feel if any part of this was happening to me, and the answer is I probably wouldn't cope anywhere near as well as the characters in the story. They all have hidden strengths of character, that is admirable and made me like them even more (with the exception of the obvious bad guy). 

For a brand new debut author I am incredibly impressed, at this different take on a psychological thriller. I knew from the second I saw the book on Netgalley, that it would appeal to me, and I am so glad I have devoured it, as its pure class. If you like a book that gets under your skin and that is very addictive to read, then I would recommend giving Baby Doll a try. 

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Random House, Cornerstone for this review copy. This was my honest opinion.