Life I Left Behind

by Colette McBeth

[Leah]

Earlier this year (I wrote this review in 2014) I read Colette McBeth's debut novel Precious Thing. It was an intriguing read, but it didn't really blow me away which is always disappointing. But when I heard about her new novel The Life I Left Behind, I thought it sounded really great. I couldn't wait to dive in and see if I liked The Life I Left Behind more than I liked Precious Thing, and I'm pleased to say it was a very intriguing, interesting novel.

Psychological thrillers are quickly becoming books I really, really enjoy. The suspense is just amazing, and I love that feeling when my heart starts beating faster because I know I'm about to figure out what's going on or the end is near and the heroine is in trouble - uh oh! And I got that with The Life I Left Behind, my heart was pounding and I was both desperate to keep reading and desperate not to, because I knew nothing good would come of it. It took me a while to pinpoint Eve's killer - I had it down for some one else for a while, until it all became crystal clear, and it was done very well indeed. Thinking back it was too convenient to pin it on who I suspected, but kudos for McBeth for misleading me!

The narrative in The Life I Left Behind was fantastic. It was definitely Eve's voice who I resonated with the most. I've only read a couple of novels from a dead person's perspective (The Dead Wife's Handbook and Heaven Can Wait springing immediately to mind) and it was quite fascinating to hear the events from Eve's perspective as she unravalled what had actually happened to Melody, when she was found half-dead in a bush. It really added an extra edge to the novel to see Eve chasing down leads, and putting the pieces of the jigsaw together. I struggled with Melody for a long time, though. She was prone to letting her mind wander so we got lots of paragraphs about nothing in particular, when I was desperate to get back to the crux of the matter and figure out who was to blame.

In fact, it was only those waffly passages that slowed the book down and halted my enjoyment. With a psychological thriller it needs to be full speed ahead, and there were just times where it halted a little bit, or got distracted from the main goal, which was figuring out who killed Eve. But, apart from that, the book was fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I was faintly satisfied with the conclusion. I did think the novel needed a couple of extra pages just to tell us what exactly happened (yet again - another psychological thriller with no aftermath!) and there desperately needed to be a conversation between David and Eve. How McBeth could exclude that baffled me, that was something that needed to happen regardless of the outcome. But, overall I liked the novel so much. It was thrilling, it had my heart pounding, and as the story all came together, it was just lovely to see because I do love seeing a completed puzzle. And this is completely out of left base - but I really want one of those bird cage necklaces. It sounds like a lovely piece of jewellery, despite what it means in regards to The Life I Left Behind.{Leah Loves} http://leah-loves.com http://leah-loves.com/books-life-left-behind-colette-mcbeth/