Loved It: I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

Series: Standalone
Format: eGalley
Release Date: May 3, 2016
Publisher: Berkley
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Genre: Cime | Mystery | Thriller

The next blockbuster thriller for those who loved The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl...a novel with "an astonishing intensity that drags you in and never—ever—lets you go." (Daily Mail, UK) On a rainy afternoon, a mother's life is shattered as her son slips from her grip and runs into the street . . .

I Let You Go follows Jenna Gray as she moves to a ramshackle cottage on the remote Welsh coast, trying to escape the memory of the car accident that plays again and again in her mind and desperate to heal from the loss of her child and the rest of her painful past.

At the same time, the novel tracks the pair of Bristol police investigators trying to get to the bottom of this hit-and-run. As they chase down one hopeless lead after another, they find themselves as drawn to each other as they are to the frustrating, twist-filled case before them.

I almost gave up on Clare Mckintosh's small-town procedural crime thriller. The storylines of the detectives, Ray and Kate, investigating the case is a little boring and their underhanded flirting bothered me a little bit. Thanks to Heidi of Rainy Day Ramblings for featuring I LET YOU GO a few weeks ago, her gushing review encouraged me to pick it up again.

I LET YOU GO started as a hit-and-run case and the victim is a 5yo boy, but with barely any leads and what little evidence the Bristol police has, the investigation ran the risk of being shelved as a cold case. Meanwhile, there's Jenna Gray, haunted, almost reclusive, and definitely running away from the Jacob case. Jenna is definitely surprised me, she wasn't who I thought she is on so many levels. I honestly didn't feel anything for her, she effectively kept herself distant and mysterious until her story got and told and that's when she had me. 

It was at around 43% when the story picked up for me when CMackintosh introduced this dude who made my hair raise on end. He's bad news and how he fits into this clusterfuck motivated me to keep reading. When the big picture was finally revealed it's impossible not to be saddened, fearful, and infuriated about this whole evil mess. 

Broadchurch meets Enough, I LET YOU GO is a small town tragedy that will certainly get to you. You just have to be a little patient and allow CMackintosh to tell her story at her own pace and style.

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