#Blogtour Five Bad Deeds by Caz Frear

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Five Bad Deeds by Caz Frear.

About the Author

Caz Frear has a first class degree in History and Politics, and spent twelve years working as a headhunter before she started writing. She hasn’t lost her enthusiasm for networking, and is a popular member of the crime fraternity. She lives in Coventry with her husband. 

Her debut, the number one bestseller Sweet Little Lies, was the winner of the Richard & Judy Search for a Bestseller Competition 2017 and went on to sell over 250,000 copies. It was followed by Stone Cold Heart and Shed No Tears, both of which feature her police detective Cat Kinsella. Five Bad Deeds is her first standalone thriller. Follow @CazziF on X

About the book

One Womans Secret, Two sides to every story, Three deadly betrayals, Four potential suspects, Five bad deeds.

Ellen Walsh has done something very, very bad. If only she knew what it was . . .

Teacher, mother, wife, and all-around good citizen Ellen is juggling non-stop commitments, from raising a teen and two toddlers to job-hunting, to finally renovating her dream home, the Meadowhouse. Amidst the chaos, an ominous note arrives in the mail declaring:

Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.

Why would someone send her this note? Ellen has no clue. She's no angel - a white lie here and there, an occasional sharp tongue - but nothing to incur the wrath of an anonymous enemy.

Everyone around Ellen - her husband, her teenage daughter, her sister, her best friend, her neighbours - can guess why, though. They all know from bitter experience that while Ellen’s intentions are always good, this ultimately counts for very little when you’ve (unintentionally?) blown up someone’s life. Could the five bad deeds that come to haunt Ellen explain why things have gone so horribly wrong?

As she races to discover who’s set on destroying her life, Ellen receives more anonymous messages, each one more threatening than the last . . . and each hitting closer and closer to home and everything she cherishes.

Review

I really enjoyed the vibe of this story - deliciously wicked undertone of authenticity and lack of clarity when it comes to black or white - everyone has their own version of somewhere in between. Sharp wit, thoughtless jibes, nasty intentions - no wonder someone has had enough and wants to expose the hypocrisy.

Interestingly Ellen doesn't really evoke sympathy, empathy or much compassion. I think the majority of readers understand why Orla makes Ellen ragey, why hubby frustrates her, why the twins make her feel as if her life is a constant cycle of chaos. Her sister is somewhere between frenemy and jealous friend, her friends a necessity for appearances - actually that seems to be a lot of negativity, perhaps because it is and she is.

That's without even wandering into the murky secrets Ellen keeps locked away, not well enough it seems. Someone is out to expose her one secret at a time - she isn't the only one keeping secrets though. As the threats pile in Ellen becomes a little less cautious and a lot more willing to keep her life intact.

It's a riveting psychological thriller. The sharp-tongued and brutally honest main character resonates, mainly because life really is just a series of choices, secrets, compromises and challenges. Some of us can cope with them without doing anything drastic, other people not so much. Highly recommend.

Buy Five Bad Deeds at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon and Schuster Uk; pub date 11th April 2024 | Hardback £14.99. Buy at Amazon com.