Clare Mackintosh

I Let You Go

Jackie Cunningham

Best psychological thriller I've read in quite a while. Beats both Girl on the Train and The Widow for me. Fantastic.

Everything you want for a great thriller!

Aims

Deepika Ramesh

It started slow, but became super addictive by 'Part Two'. 

Full review here: https://worncorners.wordpress.com/201...

Emma Wärnberg

First half was a bit slow but i really loved the second half. So glad I didnt DNF and pushed through the slow start.

Alexa M

this was boring but the twists were good.

Vanessa Arenas

** spoiler alert **
           Sooo goood! At the beginning this book was kind of slow and I'm not gonna lie, I wanted to quit it and go to another book, but due to reviews, I had seen I decided to give it a chance. Around 200 pages in, the book gets very good, it has juicy plot twists and it is impossible to put down. It is very well written and as a reader you even hate Ian. I def. recommend this book!

Kelsey Lynn

3/5
I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh, is a quiet but intriguing novel. A wonderful debut thriller, that explores the emotions people feel in the aftermath of a heartbreaking event, as well as peoples relationships to each other. I found the story interesting and a page turner and enjoyed it, however I didn't feel as 'thrilled' as I hoped and there was definitely room for improvement.

The story follows multiple perspectives of people in the wake of a hit and run that resulted in the death of a small child. We primarily follow Jenna Gray as she flees to the sea side to start a new life in a cottage and reflect on her life, and the loss of her son. She struggles to come to terms with her life as it is currently and is a very broken person. In this little town, however, she begins to make friends, find herself again as she slowly begins to pick up the pieces. The problem is she's purposefully picking up certain pieces and refusing to face her past.

We also follow investigators, Ray and Kate, from Bristol who refuse to give up on the hit and run case. They juggle red tape, dead end leads and a missing mother of the victim with an increasing attraction to each other and current cases. In addition to this, Ray is struggling with his home life and how to balance what he wants for them with what they need, as well as understanding his own needs.

Jenna, who is trying to run away from her pain, and the investigators who refuse to give up on it all collide and turn everything we think we know upside down.

This story was very well done. I loved the perspective changes, switching from Jenna to Ray. It gave me as a reader both sides of the situation. Having both sides however wasn't enough in this Whodunit story, leading me to question everything I was reading and look deeper in the situtation. This book was written with a quiet and ethereal quality, fitting of the grey sea-side setting. It was a tense calm, one you could cut with a knife. However this didn't slow down the read, the story progressed and a nice pace and I read it in two sittings. The characters were interesting, true emotional and flawed people. I was interested in them and it fueled my need to know their story. 

 However, I found it difficult to connect with their thought process. Often in the story decisions were made that just didn't seem logical to me. Once that logical connection was broken I had a hard time connecting with the wake of their choices, because the base of it was faulty and unbelievable to me. I believe they could have been developed better and their actions backed up more. The weak base for their actions felt sloppy.

With this said however, it didn't ruin it for me. I still devoured it and wanted to know more. But I also have this ache for the logical version. Because if this is as good as it it is, then that version would be amazing.

My major disappointment with this story was the thriller in itself. I must admit I read many reviews in advance and had steeled myself for a thriller that would scare me, make me cry, make me feel nervous and anxious. I just didn't feel that way. This book was primarily quiet, which is fine, but even though the tension was present in never got to a boiling point for me. There was one major twist for me that made me go "What, Oh my god, what" I tell my boyfriend the twist even though he had no background. It was great, it rekindled my desire to keep going and took my completely by surprise. The problem is after that surprise, that was kind of it. Then it was just the story, just the result of that. Their was an attempt to add more tension but I found it forced (interesting and enjoying to read) but forced. It followed some tropes and began to fall into a bit of a soap opera-y ending. The second major "twist" just didn't phase me because it came out of nowhere and wasn't needed. It didn't add to the story, it didn't help it in anyway but it upped the soap opera level to plain old soap opera. 

It was a good read, an interesting look at characters and loss. But it wasn't a thriller to me, and the soap-opera thrills that over-powered the second half of the book overshadowing the actually well done plot twist of the first half. I found it hard to connect to the characters choices (I connected with characters themselves just fine) but their actions and thought processes seemed illogical and uninspired.A good debut. I believe she had great ideas and ability, and I look forward to her future books to see if these two things ever come together a little smoother.

Clodagh Nolan-Smith

I absolutely loved this book and have recommended it to everyone that would listen and have had the same responses, in fact I recommended to my sister who had kind of fell out of love with reading for a while and this book launched her straight back into the zero housework/TV way of life! so much so that she sneakily finished reading the book on her phone at work. I have several friends that work in the police force and told how refreshing it was to read something that was procedurally accurate, due to Clare's expertise. One of my best all time reads... can't wait for Clare's next book.

Madhuri Sridhara

** spoiler alert **
           2.5 stars- I read it only because I felt I had to. Everything about this book is off. From the triggering plot, the off-hand writing to the numb, one-dimensional characters, all of it made me cringe from start to finish. The book is unnecessarily long with side plots. 

That said, the main twist was a great concept though it could have been written better. The abuse portrayed was extremely scary and had me in shivers. I really did want to know what happened to Jenna even if I didn't care about her and in the end, it was a page-turner as a thriller should be. 

But I'm exactly jumping at the prospect of reading any more of MacIntosh's work.

Devastated by a hit-and-run accident that has ended the life of her young son, Jenna moves to the remote Welsh coast to search for healing while two dedicated policemen try to get to the bottom of the case.

I let you go

Cindy

my thoughts:


Awesome book from the beginning to the end! If you read the excerpt then you know that this is every parents worst nightmare, the death of a child, especially if you are a single mom and the child is really all you have.

I liked the way that the story is told from different perspectives of a few of the characters. This is sort of a suspense/mystery story. The story is told so well from the detectives point of view as they try to solve the case and from another character in the book who remains somewhat of a mystery person, I do not want to go into too much detail or I will ruin the unbelievable twist in this book.

I would say that this is one of my favorite, could not put down, books so far this year. The ending really does have quite a surprise twist.

 

 This review was originally posted on

Cindy Lieberman

Impressive first outing from a detective. Listening to the audiobook, there were a number of "Wait. What?" moments that would have sent me turning back pages in a print edition. I powered through and it all became clear in the end...and perhaps more enjoyably so. Although the topic and theme itself were not at all enjoyable. Twists, turns and dogged detectives kept my interest throughout, although it bogged down a bit with the head detective's personal family drama(s), dropping my rating to a 3.75.

Jade Lee

** spoiler alert **
           I LOVED every twist and turn. Such a good book and so heartbreaking too. The different points of view in the book was so refreshing and kept it more interesting. Would highly recommend 😍

Fellowes Cynthia

It was compelling initially, but halfway through it started to lose my attention. Interesting premise.

Jen Estrella

3/5/5 - I liked this book for the most part. I thought the twist midway was really clever, and I liked how it went on a route that I truly hadn't expected (It was wild ride); however, the last "twist" was a bit of a stretch/quite implausible, so that was disappointing. There was a lot going on with the other characters too, and I thought everything was tied too nicely and too quickly in the end at least for most of them. Despite all that, I'm still giving this a 3.5/5 because (1) I was never bored, but more importantly (2) (view spoiler)[the domestic abuse scared the hell out of me; I could relate so much to Jenna's thoughts, and that terrified me the most. (hide spoiler)]

María Belén

This book isn't the type of thriller I'm used to. Actually, for the first half the book I didn't know I was reading a thriller. To me it was a contemporary story with a bit of mystery thrown in, a very good contemporary yes, but not a thriller at all. And then twist came and I was more than surprised.

Mackintosh knows how to write a suspenseful, intricate story in a simple and touching way. Her characters are very well rounded and believable. And the pace complements the story perfectly. 

I Let You Go is an interesting book. A different take on the genre, it's infused with more emotion than the typical thriller story but never loses its touch of mystery. I enjoyed it a lot.

Elena Garcia Navarro

Adrianna Giunta

After all the hype surrounding this book I was excited to read this. I saw the ending coming a mile away and the twist wasn’t that shocking in my opinion. Some parts of the plot (I don’t want to spoil but if you’ve read it you’ll know what I mean) seem a bit too convenient and random. The pacing was all over the place and it wasn’t until the last 50 pages or so that I actually got into the book and it picked up. 
The topics this book covered are important and overall it was an okay read. I will check out more from this author but this was a disappointment for me.

Edit: just to clarify the first big plot twist I did not see coming and was pleasantly surprised by, this is why the book got 3 stars and not 2.5

Carolina Poças

Charlotte Northam

Fantastic book! Absolutely brilliant! I could not put it down!

aila kira 

Judy Hudgins

While I guessed almost immediately who the hit-and-run driver was, how it was woven in was a complete surprise. I felt Jenna's anguish throughout and the secondary story line with the police was interesting. Definitely a good read.

Melea Mullican

My favorite part of this book was the author's ability to switch between different perspectives giving everyone a voice all their own. I think she did a good job keeping things under wraps until the twist, while also giving enough information that the twist seemed plausible. 

However, the book moved incredibly slowly. I think a good chunk of part one could have been removed and the result have been the same. If you're looking for a fast paced thriller with a twist at every turn, this book is not for you. If you want something a bit more drug out, or a domestic thriller with more character driven points than thrill, this book may just be for you.

Jessica De Hoyos

Very slow start, but when the plot does pick up, the twists dont stop!!

I Let You Go

Reviews