The Niece by Georgina Cross
Published: September 2, 2022
Bookouture
Pages: 299
Genre: Psychological Thriller
KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.
Georgina Cross has been writing since she was a child. Notebooks & printed pages filled with stories: adventures growing up in New Orleans and tales from Malaysia & England, where her family lives. After graduating from Louisiana State University, she enjoyed a career in marketing & communications and founded Susie’s Wish non-profit, which sends patients with life-threatening illnesses to the beach. She spends time with her husband and their combined family of four sons watching scary movies and basketball tournaments and is thrilled to be a full-time author.
Walking down an airport corridor I see her. My mother’s sister. There is no mistaking we’re related; we have the same long, black hair and brown eyes. But my aunt is the one person in the world my mother told me never to trust.
Nothing feels real right now. My beloved mother was my whole world—she taught me everything and she said she would always be there for me. My last memory is of her screaming at me to get out. Then the flames took her, and she was gone.
Now I have to live with my aunt and I hope she’s changed after all these years. But when I secretly watch her speaking to her friends, she makes it sound like I’m a stranger in her home.
She leaves her bedroom door open and I hear her on the phone to the police late at night. I start to wonder if she had something to do with the terrible fire that ripped my life apart. And my blood turns to ice when the detective asks, what are you hiding?
Is my aunt trying to protect me, or is it time to teach her a lesson?
“Mark my words.”
Tara lives a quiet life with her daughter, Cassie. When Tara gets a phone call that her sister has been murdered, she is still reeling when she is also told she is now her niece’s guardian. The niece Tara hasn’t seen in 13 years is coming to live with her. Suddenly, the last comes crashing down around Tara and mixing with her present.
Holy smokes. The ending of this book is a free fall off a cliff! I was blindsided, shocked, and deliciously entertained.
The pacing of this novel is done so well. It plays on the reader’s emotions, and boy, does that get in your head! The build-up is so subtle that you don’t notice the shift at first until the floor is ripped away, and you plummet to the ground without a safety net.
The characters were excellent, and their development was strong. I liked how this story was told and how the past was unfolded and sprinkled throughout the present storytelling.
The twist left me with my jaw on the floor. I did not see it coming. The plot was curated so beautifully that just when you think you have figured it out and know what’s going to happen- you discover you were wrong about everything.
With excellent writing, strong characters, and well-placed emotions, this is a worthy thriller!