Title: Just Between Us
Author: Adele Parks
Publisher: HQ
Synopsis:
Kylie Gillingham’s disappearance has gripped the nation: the woman with a shocking secret – married to two men at the same time – is missing, presumed dead. And both her husbands are suspects.
DCI Clements knows the dark side of human nature and that you can’t presume anything when it comes to crimes of the heart. Until a body is found, this scandalous and sad case remains wide open.
Stacie Jones lives a quiet life in a small village, shielded by her father from any upsetting news as she recovers from illness.
But when these two very different worlds collide, can anyone ever rebuild their lives in the wake of tragedy?
My review:
Just Between Us is the sequel to Adele Parks’s novel Both of You. It is not essential to read Both of You first, but it will enrich your enjoyment of Just Between Us and help you understand the characters and their motivations.
The novel picks up where Both of You left off, with Kylie Gillingham having disappeared after her bigamy was discovered. The story follows DCI Clements as she investigates Kylie’s disappearance, while Kylie’s two husbands, Mark and Paul, try to come to terms with what has happened. The reader knows what happened to Kylie, but the police are still in the dark.
The story is full of twists and turns, and the reader is kept guessing until the very end. However, some of the twists are a bit too far-fetched, and others are quite predictable. For me, it felt a bit over-dramatised at points and I didn’t find myself connecting with the story as much as I had done in other novels by this author.
I did, however, really like that the characters in Just Between Us are not black and white. They are all complex and flawed, and this makes them more interesting to read about. Kylie is a particularly interesting character, and I would have liked to read more about her (and readers who have not read Both of You can go back to that novel to find out why Kylie married both men).
Overall, Just Between Us is a solid, entertaining read. I don’t think it is one of Adele Parks’s best novels – which are always of such a high standard – but it is still well worth a read.
My rating: 3/5
Many thanks to the publisher, HQ, for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest review.
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