42277861._SY475_From Goodreads: “A strange sensation runs through me, a feeling that I don’t know this person in front of me, even though he matters more to me than anyone ever has, than anyone ever will.

You go into your son’s bedroom. It’s the usual mess. You tidy up some dirty plates, pick up some clothes, open the wardrobe to put them away.
And that’s when you find it. Something so shocking it doesn’t seem real.
And you realize a horrifying truth…
Your own son might be dangerous.”

My Review

I really enjoyed this one, the second book by Karen Cleveland, the author of Need To Know.

I took part in a fab readalong on Instagram over the weekend with a group of book bloggers and it was the perfect book to read together. We started on Friday evening and I finished it in the early hours of Sunday morning. I loved the banter between us as we shared our feelings about the characters. There were as the notes left in the book that prompted us to discuss in our stories and posts with the hashtag #trusthim or #fearhim It was a really clever way to get some buzz around a book.

This book made me feel exactly the same way about Need To Know, as it’s a similar situation that the main character finds herself in, a agent discovering something off about a family member. This time it’s Steph, a FBI internal affairs investigator, finding something that shouldn’t be in her son’s bedroom. She can’t believe what she sees and refuses to believe how her son Zach, has anything to do with it, but what if she’s wrong?

Steph is a single Mum who works extremely hard to provide and protect her son, sometimes too hard, as she realises that she doesn’t really know what her boy is up to. Of course she puts that down to him being a teenager, and that it’s normal for teenagers to be aloof and secretive, but what if she’s wrong? Unfortunately Steph only has her mother to turn to and they’re not getting on so well. Poor Steph what is she going to do about it all?

As a mother of a teenage boy this instantly drew me in and hooked me form page one! Was Zach involved in something dangerous or was Steph over reacting because of her job? What would I do if I found something dodgy in my son’s room? Well fortunately I have a husband, family and friends around me to turn to. Would I #trusthim or #fearhim? Teenagers are always a worry as they’re spreading their wings getting ready to leave home eventually. They can be off with you for no reason at all, and secretive because they want and need their own space. I’d like to think that me and my husband have a good relationship with our 18 year old son, and I would be absolutely devastated if we discovered something shocking in his room!

As well as the unfolding drama, Steph has flashbacks to events that happened in the past which she is convinced is linked to this situation. But is she being paranoid or is it connected? With lots of twists and turns this really was a page turner for me. Steph did annoy me at times, my sympathy towards her waned from time to time as she did things I thought she shouldn’t. How did I feel about Zach? Well I felt sorry for him too, but you’ll have to read the book to find out why! 😉

I definitely recommend this one, especially if you enjoyed Need To Know as there are a few clever nods to it.