I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

Sphere | May 2015 | 384 pgs

Purchased

To begin with, I Let You Go is Clare Mackintosh's debut and what a great debut it is!

On a rainy afternoon, five-year-old Jacob is on his way home with his mother and during that short moment of releasing his hand to brush the strands of wet hair from her eyes, Jacob dashes across the street on his own and out of nowhere a car comes speeding by and knocks into Jacob. The driver drives off without acknowledging anything while Jacob's mother screams in desperation and devastation. Jacob didn't live and the driver is never caught. 

What follows after is Jenna Gray has moved from Bristol to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast to start things afresh. Haunted by the accident and from the loss of her child, she is hoping that a new environment will help her escape from her painful past. 

On the other end, the hit-and-run case headed by DI Ray Stevens isn't going on smoothly and without any clues and evidence after six months the superintendent decides the case as closed. DC Kate, who is working together with Ray, thinks otherwise though and the two of them decide to pursue the case discreetly. Aside from this, Ray also feels torn between his career and his family as there are times he couldn't make time for his eldest son when there are troubles in school and this causes a strain between him and his wife, Mags.

There are many layers to this story and while this is a psychological thriller, the writing style and the plotting are unlike any others and this is one reason why I found myself so engrossed with the book. The characterisation is another great draw of the story as they are well developed and add intrigue to the overall story. I couldn't even begin to describe how many times the story caught me by surprise and how my emotions felt like a roller coaster ride. There were heart pain, anger and then sadness as I devoured those pages looking for a closure - a good closure and most of all, justice and law.

I Let You Go is a well written, well crafted story and is one of the best psychological thriller/police procedural I read this year. And oh, I need to mention that Clare Mackintosh will have a new release out in July 2016 - I See You. That would be on my to-buy list, without a doubt.