Author: Merry Jones
Release Date: 3rd January 2017
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Adult Fiction
Edition: E-book
Pages: 320
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing

Rating: ★★★

Blurb:

Since her husband’s murder two years earlier, life hasn’t been easy for Elle Harrison. Now, at the start of a new school year, the second grade teacher is determined to move on. She’s selling her house and delving into new experiences―like learning trapeze.
Just before the first day of school, Elle learns that a former student, Ty Evans, has been released from juvenile detention where he served time for killing his abusive father. Within days of his release, Elle’s school principal, who’d tormented Ty as a child, is brutally murdered. So is a teacher at the school. And Ty’s former girlfriend. All the victims have links to Ty.
Ty’s younger brother, Seth, is in Elle’s class. When Seth shows up at school beaten and bruised, Elle reports the abuse, and authorities remove Seth and his older sister, Katie, from their home. Is Ty the abuser?
Ty seeks Elle out, confiding that she’s the only adult he’s ever trusted. She tries to be open-minded, even wonders if he’s been wrongly condemned. But when she’s assaulted in the night, she suspects that Ty is her attacker. Is he a serial killer? Is she his next intended victim?
Before Elle discovers the truth, she’s caught in a deadly trap that challenges her deepest convictions about guilt and innocence, childhood and family. Pushed to her limits, she’s forced to face her fears and apply new skills in a deadly fight to survive.

Review

Child’s Play by Mary Jones is a thriller and suspense read with a strong plot and great build-up.

The plotline of this book was really good and the pacing was great, but the suspense was quite predictable. There were a lot of red-herrings, and I did like them, but certain situations gave away the main culprit a bit too early for my taste. This is one book I have mixed feeling for because in spite of enjoying the read overall there were a couple fo things that bothered me. For example, when the murderer was revealed at quite-not-the-end, for some reason, it just felt anti-climactic and the reveal’s beauty, even though being predictable, was ruined.

The build-up was good and the writing was good too. They both accented the story really well and even though the main character was built nicely and I could clearly see the efforts that were put into the main as well as the secondary characters, I was not able to feel a connection with the lead, and hence, found the overall reading experience dimmed by the very fact.

I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick suspense and thriller read not minding the predictability.

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