Review: The perfect family on the outside..
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 13, 2014
Abbott's writing is maturing like a fine wine. The plotting is very meticulous and well thought out.The story takes the reader along the entire perimeter with a twist in the path there and a barrier in the plot there. In the end all the threads link together to create the entire jigsaw puzzle.The author has a keen understanding of the mind, behaviour patterns, thought processes and personality of a stalker, who evolves into a controlling abusive partner. He seems like the perfect husband and the adoring father to outsiders. Inside the life of his victims it is an entirely different story.  Robert is controlling, obsessive and almost compulsive in his need to dictate the behaviour of his loved ones.Olivia, like many others in those types of domestic abuse situations, doesn’t comprehend at first that Robert is actually being abusive. Her opinion changes when he decides to teach her the one lesson most likely to frighten her into a lifetime of submission.Kudos to the author for picking a hot topic and crime, that happens all too frequently in our society nowadays, when a parent takes the worst revenge ever. Something so viciously wicked that it is hard to fathom.The cat and mouse game between the wife and husband is drawn out like a laborious chess game. A game that seems to have nothing more than a lose-lose situation for everyone involved.Seemingly arbitrary there is a sub-plot with the male lead detective and a burglary. That happens to be the neatly constructed storyline for the next book featuring Tom.Without revealing the extremely well planned ending, I just want to say that although the reader slowly figures out where it is all going, the trip to get to that place is a very good read.I received a copy of this book courtesy of the author.