Come A Little Closer by Rachel Abbott

Come A little Closer
by Rachel Abbott
Published by Black Dot Publishing (15 February 2018)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the author

Publisher’s description

They will be coming soon. They come every night. 

Snow is falling softly as a young woman takes her last breath. 

Fifteen miles away, two women sit silently in a dark kitchen. They don't speak, because there is nothing left to be said. 

Another woman boards a plane to escape the man who is trying to steal her life. But she will have to return, sooner or later. 

These strangers have one thing in common. They each made one bad choice - and now they have no choices left. Soon they won't be strangers, they'll be family...

When DCI Tom Douglas is called to the cold, lonely scene of a suspicious death, he is baffled. Who is she? Where did she come from? How did she get there? How many more must die? 

Who is controlling them, and how can they be stopped? 

My verdict
Come A Little Closer is a very twisty mix of dark psychological thriller and intelligent police procedural. I hadn't read a Rachel Abbott book for a while and had forgotten what a great storyteller she is. It didn't take me long to get back into her DCI Tom Douglas series, and I'm sure this book could easily be read as a standalone.

The complex multilayered plot features several different strands, compelling writing and realistic characters. A woman, escaping her abusive boyfriend, seeks refuge with a kindly elderly couple she met on holiday. But is everything as it seems? Another woman, about to get married, arranges to meet a man in an isolated location on her hen night as one last fling, but witnesses some disturbing behaviour. When a woman is found dead there, Tom Douglas is called in to investigate. Meanwhile, two women are sitting silently at a table. Who are they, where are they and why?

Come a Little Closer is filled with mystery and intrigue. Rachel Abbott has created an intricate web of lies and deceit, and I loved how all of the strands came together by the end. The book is chilling, with sinister undertones, and plenty of suspense and tension. I predicted a few of the twists, but not all of them. And the ending left me speechless!