The Coffin Club by Jacqueline Sutherland
I would like to thank Anne from Random Things Tours and Point Blank for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher- Point Blank
Published – Out Now
Price – £16.99 hardback £6.99 Kindle eBook
Some people would kill for a second chance.
Kat is rebuilding her life. After losing her husband in a tragic accident, moving to the countryside is her chance to start again.
Encouraged by her new and only friend Ginny, Kat joins New Horizons, dubbed the Coffin Club by its members. And that’s how she meets Nico. Instantly drawn to each other, Nico seems like Kat’s perfect match. He is kind, caring, handsome and, most importantly, a father to five-year-old Magdalena. This could be Kat’s shot at the one thing she has always wanted: to be a mother.
BUT SOMETIMES BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR…
As we get older one of our biggest fears is we don’t get the life we wanted. That urge for a second chance can sometimes be overwhelming and lead to positive change but there is also a darker side to following our heart’s desires and that is where Jacqueline Sutherland’s disturbing thriller The Coffin Club tells a tale of a woman whose second chance at a new life ends very messily.
Kat is a young widow after a car accident that killed her husband. Scarred, alone and without purpose she has sank into isolation and alcohol with increasing suicidal thoughts. A chance encounter leads to her meeting Ginny and working at a small independent wildlife hostel gives her increasing confidence and support to try dating again. As part of this she goes to a group for the newly widowed – New Horizons nicknamed The Coffin Club and there meets the attractive Spanish Nico. A new relationship develops between them, and Kat gets to achieve her dream of a new marriage with her becoming step-daughter to Nico’s charming young daughter Magdalene. But Nico’s secretive past starts coming back to haunt him and Kat begins to worry that Nico was more interested in her wealth from her previous marriage than her own happiness and Kat won’t allow her new life to escape that easily.
This is a smart fast paced thriller told to us by Kat as she sits next to the grave of her first husband just to give the story an immediate double check. The first acts of the book are to build up our understanding of where Kat has come from, and it feels very light and positive as we see a young woman get back on her feet. But with Nico’s arrival we start to get some looming shadows added to the story. Nico isn’t always Mr Sunshine and both Kat and Ginny themselves we see have secrets. This is very much a tale of people hiding their true natures from others and even themselves. I really liked the way thar Sutherland gives us different aspects of Kat’s life that shift out understanding of her and how she may respond to Nico’s secrets. Once this happens, we get onto a well plotted descent to a very dark and disturbing ending.
The Coffin Club is an entertaining thriller that works due to the way Kat tells us her tale and her thoughts on what happened. I think perhaps one reveal is a little too soon but I did like the way the story shifts shape once we know more about one character in particular. Worth a look!
