by Nell Grey
Rating: *****
Find Me is a sequel to Ms Grey’s Trust Me and picks up the story of Claire and Sion. Sion has entered witness protection in New Zealand with a new identity as Shaun Cobain. He had asked Claire to go with him but she refused, unsure of him and her feelings and sets off travelling. Both cannot stop thinking about the other but Sion had made enemies and a new identity is not going to stop them trying to exact revenge on him or anyone close to him…
As with Trust Me, I found Find Me, a grippingly addictive novel. Ms Grey has a real knack for writing that flows; it’s so hard to put down and it’s a solid, dependable read from beginning to end. The plot is efficient and well-constructed; every little nuance, twist and character are accounted for. I thought Shaun and Claire were nicely developed; they were still the characters we met in Trust Me and the plot was believable. Some of the strongest writing is when we met the gangsters, namely Irish. He really is menacing. The scenes with him in the first half of the book reminded me strongly of Martina Cole’s writing. He and his associates were well-realised without being overplayed.
The majority of the novel is set in New Zealand and the island backdrop becomes integral to both plot and characters; it visually comes alive. As with Trust Me there has been an awful lot of research for Find Me to read as effortlessly as it does. I was expecting the main twist but that did not spoil my enjoyment. Ms Grey is such a capable writer that I galloped on wanting to see how she would play it out! I definitely found Find Me more of a thriller than Trust Me and I actually thought that it was better as a result (and I thought Trust Me was excellent). I think Ms Grey really excels at crime/thriller writing.
Although a sequel, there is explanation enough without rehashing Trust Me and I think you could definitely read as a standalone; it was clever to take the two side characters and tell their story rather than continue with Annie and Jac.
The ending was possibly a little too saccharine and happy but that’s probably because I am an old cynic and I also wanted to keep reading. An excellent page-turner from a naturally gifted writer. Highly recommended. Buy from:
Comments