"Maisie, Joe and Sam. That's how it began.
We were three kids in a care home, too young to protect ourselves/
Three kids who were inseparable until the night Sam went missing.
And all we had ever wanted to know was what happened to him".
"I couldn't explain it but I could sense the danger pouring in, a vortex of all-consuming evil that had no form but threatened to swallow us as we lay there. I knew we were powerless... but was I the only one who saw those spidery branches encircling us from above? Heard the whisper that sliced through the darkness?
"Silence her!"
Lethal Ties by Helen Christmas is a chilling psychological thriller. This shocking dark story is based on repressed childhood traumas.
The author's note tells that "the idea of this novel arose in 2015, when a series of stories appeared in the news concerning the historic child abuse of children by people in power, including TV celebrities and high establishment figures". Some of the allegations were never proved. The author says she has chosen to write her story from two perspectives, "one of the abused, and the long term damage they suffer, including anxiety, low self-esteem and in some cases victims feeling suicidal; but I also had to focus on the effect allegations may have on those who are falsely accused, on how lives can be ruined before they are proven innocent".
Lethal Ties is a fictional account, and the exposė of the abominable cruelty inflicted on the vulnerable children in care.
Maisie works for West Sussex County Council in the childcare and fostering department. As a child, she had been fostered herself, and knows the world of institutions and foster care from inside out.
She is undergoing psychotherapy and worries what if her employers find out about it. Would any exposure of her mental state be a real problem? "My foster mother had suggested this a month ago, through fear my panic attacks and nightmares would forever hang over me, and sure enough, something dark had been prodding at my subconscious mind lately".
Maisie could never forget her arrival at the children's home. "A day when all I wanted to do was retreat. Shut out all the cruelty in the world". But she was left at the mercy of the other inhabitants of the home, both children and grown-ups. Joe, another child in the children's home, came to her rescue.
Joe, Maisie and Sam became close friends and pledged to look out for each other, and they were loyal and constant friends until the night Sam disappeared.
Twenty years later, Maisie's nightmares become recurring pattern. Her mind is unsettled, she sees things that are not real. Trying to understand why she is suffering flashbacks, Maisie keeps confiding to her psychotherapist.
Then one day she meets Joe again in the most stressful circumstances. Joe is now homeless, sleeping rough on the Bognor seafront. She is happy to see him and wants to help him turn his life around.
Now that Joe is by her side, Maisie is determined to find out what's happened to Sam. "Too many years have passed under the bridge to go our separate ways again. We never did discover what happened to Sam but wouldn't it be good to get to the bottom of it? I don't think I can move on until we do..."
Maisie wants to go to the police, but Joe is sceptical, "It's complicated, not to mention dangerous if it means going up against Mortimer [head of the children's home]. We can't prove nothing! I mean who's gonna believe someone like me?"
Maisie is hell-bent on finding the truth, and nothing can stop her now. Before long their past comes back to haunt them. Their investigation opens a sinister can of worms. A mysterious black car trails them, Joe is being trolled on social media, online threats make it clear that the old enemies are keeping a close eye on them.
What has really happened all those years ago at their children's home?
Why is Maisie scared stiff of the woods? What do her flashbacks try to tell her?
Where did Sam disappear? If they can find him, he would be able to provide some answers.
Lethal Ties is not an easy read as it tackles difficult issues of child abuse in care homes.
It is a sensitive exploration of repressed childhood trauma, and its damaging effects on the mental and emotional health of the individual later on in life, and how addressing the past ordeal could trigger severe anxiety, mental daze and emotional upheaval. Creepy, twisty and deeply unnerving.
This book review is part of the blog tour for Lethal Ties.
Many thanks to Helen Christmas and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!
Author Bio:
I’ve had a passion for writing since childhood and wrote my first full length novel in 2011. This grew into a five-book mystery thriller series (Same Face Different Place). I love networking with other authors and the highlight of my writing journey was in 2015 when I was selected as a winner in a short story competition “Write Across Sussex,” judged by Kate Mosse and Peter Lovesey. I love where we live and with a passion for walking and photography, found the inspiration to base my novel in West Sussex
I am active on social media and have written various articles about my characters on my blog. The underlying premise of ‘Lethal Ties’ is to raise awareness of mental health problems and promote a better understanding of conditions such as Asperger’s. Lethal Ties’ is my first standalone psychological thriller and set in my local town, Bognor Regis.
Social Media Links:
Blog https://samefacedifferentplace.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.helenchristmas
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SFDPBeginnings
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helenchristmas7/
Website: http://www.samefacedifferentplace.com/
If you cannot have enough of psychological thrillers, now you have a chance to win a copy of Lethal Ties (see below).
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