Cross Her Heart - Sarah Pinborough

Through a trail of unnerving twists and unthinkable shocks, I travelled through Sarah Pinborough's new thriller - Cross Her Heart. To say I was shocked is the biggest understatement from my own lips this year. Even now I'm struggling to process it all. The way in which Pinborough has revealed what seem like obvious movements in the plot, it makes you completely bewildered when another twist smacks you deep in the brain and proves you oh so very wrong. The story follows three main women with a lot left unsaid. Lisa - a devoted/anxious mother to her sixteen year old Ava who is desperately trying to break away into her own life and Marliyn, Lisa's bestfriend and work colleague who faces her own demons behind closed doors. The way in which the novel switches between perspectives is remarkable - something I have seen before but never with such clarity. You forget one person has written the whole thing as you're sucked into each of the women's individual tales. The three of them have big secrets. World shattering ones. But none is bigger than what Lisa holds in her past. Through a series of somewhat 'coincidental' events we learn about Lisa's journey to bury her old self, as the past resurfaces in a spectacular fashion. It all starts to go wrong when Lisa sees an all too familiar teddy bear left outside her gate - it could only be Peter rabbit. The toy her two year old brother Daniel could never but down - though eventually, he put his favourite companion down forever. The depth of these characters is astounding. All these linking strands of plot leading to an unthinkable set of circumstances. At first it seems like just an unfortunate family drama - until you are thrown into something else entirely. A horror situation the devil himself couldn't conjure up. Whose side do we take? How easily can we forgive the worst of crimes? And how far will love get us? I'll let you be the judge of that. This has been a hell of a Journey for Lisa and Ava, but eventually the bond snaps as Lisa's true self pops back into focus. Someone is not who they seem. Someone is not who they say they are. Then again, it's not just one. The uncovering of Lisa's past brings up a whole new set of questions for Ava and Marilyn, who feel they never knew her at all. Through twists and turns we reach the pinnacle of the novel, as questions are finally answered, though an all too familiar face emerges in Lisa’s sleepless nightmare.