Abandoned by Booklikes

Wow. This book had a lot going on but was wonderfully done. We have an unreliable narrator for a good bit, a twist, another twist, and then a slightly dark ending. Will definitely have to read more by Clare Mackintosh in the future.

"I Let You Go" follows Jenna Gray who is shell shocked after a terrible accident. We follow Jenna as she leaves her home and settles into a cottage on the Welsh coast. There she finds herself again though she is haunted. We also follow DI Ray Stevens who is dealing with tracking down a hit and run accident. The bad cases stick with him, and this one was pretty bad. He also is going through some up and downs at home with his wife and finds himself getting more attracted to a colleague than he should.

I have to say that Jenna was an intriguing character, you have to go back and re-read her sections after the first reveal though. Cause I read everything differently and then felt a bit light-headed when I realized the truth of things.

Ray aggravated me a bit. His wife is a former police officer too, but now a stay at home mom. Him ignoring what is going on with his son Tom and starting to think about a subordinate, Kate, made me dislike this character. He is driven by his cases and wanting to get promoted so his wife doesn't have to go back to work. I think the juxtaposition between his domestic scenes and Jenna were a bit jarring at first (why I gave this book 4 stars). 

The writing was very good and the author lets you know about her police experience in the acknowledgements, and I have to say that the way things are spelled out and done seemed very realistic. The flow was a bit off at first, and then smoothed out about around the 30 percent mark.

The setting between Stevens home, office, and Jenna at the cottage in Penfach on the Welsh Gower Peninsula was very telling. Stevens sees his home as a source of comfort until he doesn't based on how he feels as if his wife doesn't understand him and his son isn't trying hard enough in school. Jenna doesn't see the cottage as comfort at all for months until she turns it into a home for herself after having some of the locals force their friendship onto her. 

The ending had me holding my breath and I liked the resolution. The epilogue kind of left things up in the air a bit, but I would like to think that things are going to be good for Jenna and Ray. I would like to read more stories starring DI Stevens, but don't know yet if this is a one off or not.