Review: Fabulous romantic suspense!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 1, 2014
The Elephant Girl is a taut, tense and terrifying thriller from a wonderful new voice in romantic suspense – Henriette Gyland!Helen Stephens has never forgotten the day she witnessed her mother’s murder. Although her mother was killed twenty years ago, Helen is still haunted by memories of that devastating day – and of the miserable childhood which she had to endure in care. For the past couple of years, Helen has sought refuge and escape in India, a country she now calls home. Going back to England is not something Helen even dares to contemplate, however, when her estranged grandmother sends a lawyer to track her down in Goa, she realises that the time has come for her to return – especially as she has just heard that Fay, the woman who had been found guilty of murdering her mother, has just been released from prison. Returning to England will not only enable Helen the chance to ask her grandmother why she had rejected her when she needed her the most, but it will also give her the opportunity to wreak revenge upon the woman who had murdered her mother in cold blood and ruined her life. When Helen learns that Fay is living in a halfway house in London for ex-convicts, she decides to inveigle her way in, gain Fay’s trust and then make her pay for killing her mother. However, Helen hadn’t counted on the owner of the house, Jason Moody, who cannot help but be intrigued by his tenant…Jason has spent most of his life fighting against the constraints which his father had imposed upon him. A self-made man who had climbed his way to the top to become one of the richest men in London, Derek Moody has always wanted his son to follow in his footsteps – yet Jason has always wanted to forge his own path and has spent a lifetime trying to prove that he is nothing like father, a man not averse to dodgy deals and breaking the law. Jason has never forgiven his father for causing the end of his last relationship and he’s determined to keep as wide a berth as possible from Derek. Jason knows that his father doesn’t approve of his halfway house – and he is sure that Derek would certainly frown upon his son having anything to do with somebody like Helen, a woman with a chequered history, a possible criminal record and plenty of dangerous secrets. But the more time Jason spends with Helen, the more he becomes determined to breach the walls she has built around herself and discover what she is hiding from him – and the real reason why she has come to London from Goa…Helen cannot deny that she is attracted to Jason, but she must not let him find out the truth about her connection to Fay nor must he have the slightest inkling about what she is planning to do to her. As Helen begins to investigate her mother’s murder, she begins to unearth shocking secrets and cruel deceptions that seem to acquit Fay of any wrong-doing that day twenty years ago.Will Helen ever discover the truth about her mother’s killer? Will her relationship with Jason put him in serious danger? And will she ever find the happiness and closure she so desperately craves?The Elephant Girl is a superb romantic thriller packed with nail-biting intrigue, heart-pounding suspense, searing emotion, red-hot passion and edge of your seat drama. Henriette Gyland is a terrific storyteller who knows how to amplify the danger, leave her readers breathless with exciting twists and turns and make them care about the characters she writes about. I thought Helen was a fantastic heroine. She was a strong, determined and controlled character who managed to overcome all the obstacles that had been thrown in her way to become the person she wanted to be. I also thought Jason was a wonderful hero – sexy, honourable and charismatic, he is certainly the guy you’d want by your side in a crisis!A spellbinding read that kept me up way past my bedtime, The Elephant Girl is a must-read for fans of romantic suspense the world over!This review was originally published on Single Titles