Always Remember by Cathryn Grant –#BookReview – #psychologicalsuspense

Book Blurb:

Louise loves her family. To death.

Kelly is married with two kids, enjoying an ordinary peaceful life – until she finds her father-in-law Frank dead in her backyard sauna.

Now, Frank’s grieving widow, Louise, has installed herself in Kelly’s house and shows no signs of leaving. Ever.

In fact, she seems determined to take over Kelly’s role as mother and wife, inserting herself between Kelly and her twin boys, lavishing attention on Kelly’s husband Wyatt.

Kelly tries to be understanding – Louise has had a huge shock, after all, losing her beloved husband of so many years.

But Louise knows exactly what she’s doing, and as her horrifying agenda slowly becomes clear, Kelly realises she has to fight. For her children, her marriage – and her life.

My Review:

Don’t you just hate it when you paint yourself into a corner and then have nowhere to go? I suspect this is what happened with this story.

Kelly and her hubby invited his parents to stay with them while Frank was recuperating from multiple bi-pass surgery. They have twin boys and it was thought Louise, her mother-in-law might be of some help with the three-year olds. Kelly took on the post-surgical care of her father-in-law and discovered him deceased in the backyard sauna, definitely against doctor’s orders, but that wasn’t all.

The grieving widow makes herself to home, caring for the children, cooking meals, light cleaning, even prompting Kelly to return to work which she missed and was happy to do. But Louise begins to make decisions around the household not wholly welcome, including encouraging Wyatt (her son) to take a leave of absence from his job to concentrate on his music and redesigning the former office.

POVs shift from Kelly to Louise to Wyatt each giving their perspective of the household atmosphere which gradually goes from softly benign to cancerous. Kelly becomes increasingly aware something is terribly wrong, Wyatt refuses to acknowledge there could be a problem with his mother, and Louise is playing the self-serving widow.

As the suspense escalates, questions are answered and become shocking, all three on eggshells dealing with the other, Kelly finding no support from Wyatt against his mother. The conclusion is dreadful, but the resolution of the situation appalling, and I had a real problem believing this is how it might play out. The secret this couple would share, untenable. Really? This is how it ends?

The narrative begins rather slowly, setting the scene, getting the reader engaged and involved with the characters. Wyatt would back his mother until you wanted to hit him over the head. Kelly kept pounding at problems, Louise kept conniving—not a person to celebrate on Mother’s Day. All three left me a bit cold. I hated what happened to Jason. Okay until then but I was not a fan of the ending of this novel.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley and these are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thriller, Domestic Thriller
Publisher: Inkubator Books
ASIN: B09J1C87RF
Print Length: 313 pages
Publication Date:  October 17, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
 Title Link: Always Remember [Amazon]

The Author: Cathryn is the bestselling author of twelve psychological thrillers, including THE OTHER COUPLE and THE GUEST, published by Inkubator Books. She is also the author of the ALEXANDRA MALLORY series, featuring a sociopath you can’t help but love.

View the complete list at her website: cathryngrant.com

Cathryn Grant’s fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazines, The Shroud Quarterly Journal, and been anthologized in The Best of Every Day Fiction and You, Me & A Bit of We. Her short story, “I Was Young Once”, received an honorable mention in the 2007 Zoetrope All-story Short Fiction contest.

Her psychological suspense fiction reveals the motives and desires that lead to suburban crime. She’s obsessed with the “why” behind human behavior. In real crime, too many times, the why is left unanswered. Cathryn’s fiction tells the stories of ordinary people driven to commit crimes, especially homicide.

Cathryn also writes ghost stories—The Haunted Ship Trilogy and the Madison Keith series of novellas.

When she’s not writing, she’s usually reading fiction, walking on the beach, or playing golf, trying desperately to avoid hitting her ball in the sand or the water. She lives on the Central California Coast with her husband and two cats.

Sign up for Cathryn’s mailing list to find out when new books are released and receive a free short story about Alexandra Mallory, or contact Cathryn directly at cathryngrant.com/contact

©2021 V Williams