With thanks to Netgalley and Bookoutre for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.
I discovered KL Slater this year and she had definitely joined my list of favourite authors. I feel so lucky to have read this book before the official release of 04/10/17.
Rose lives in the small village where she was born and works as a librarian. Her brother Billy was murdered sixteen years earlier. Rose is still guilty about her brother's death and as a consequence suffers from crippling anxiety and eating issues.
When Rose was 16 she was in a relationship with Gareth an older man in his thirties. Gareth was a controlling man who told her what to wear and who to speak to. At a party he told Rose she looked cheap. BF Cassie was angry by this and asked for an apology. Gareth asked her to choose between him and Cassie. When Gareth heard Cassie describe him as controlling and told her to leave him Gareth said she would live to regret it. Days later Cassie was raped at home and consequently committed suicide. When Rose realised what a dangerous man Gareth was she tried to break up with him but he drugged and kidnapped her. Later Billy went missing and later found murdered. Gareth was arrested and sentenced to life in prison.
16 years later Rose lives next door to Ronnie who along with his wife was a friend of the family. When Ronnie is rushed to hospital he tells Rose not to go upstairs. A couple of days later she goes upstairs and finds Billy's blanket in a cardboard box in the spare room. She was always sure of Gareth's guilt, was Ronnie responsible for Billy's death?
The Mistake was a quick read but it was an amazingly well thought out plot. The authors depiction of Gareth really scared me because he controlled not just Rose but her father Ray. Part of me felt sorry for Rose because she was a young girl who was under Gareth's spell. Another part of me wanted to shake her for staying with him despite alarm bells. I loved the ending of this book when Rose no longer felt afraid of Gareth and got her own back. I look forward to KL Slater's next book.
