I’m thrilled to welcome you today to my stop on the first day of the blog tour for emotive psychological thriller The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman. Thank you to Anne Cater and Allen and Unwin for giving me the opportunity to read and review this gorgeously written and moving book.
About the book:
A regular weekday morning veers drastically off-course for a group of strangers whose paths cross in a London café – their lives never to be the same again when an apparently crazed gunman holds them hostage.
But there is more to the situation than first meets the eye and as the captives grapple with their own inner demons, the line between right and wrong starts to blur. Will the secrets they keep stop them from escaping with their lives?
About the author:
Charity is the author of six novels. She was born in Uganda, brought up in draughty vicarages in the North of England and met her husband under a truck in the Sahara desert. She worked for some years as a family and criminal barrister in York Chambers, until, realising that her three children barely knew her, she moved with her family to New Zealand where she began to write.
After the Fall was a Richard & Judy and World Book Night title, The New Woman a BBC Radio 2 Book Club choice. See You in September (2017) was shortlisted for best crime novel in the Ngaio Marsh Awards. Her sixth, The Secrets of Strangers, was released on 7th May 2020 and is also a Radio 2 Book Club choice.
Charity loves hearing from readers. Please visit her on facebook.com/charitynormanauthor or Twitter: @charitynorman1
My Review:
The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman is a psychological thriller that not only delves into the mind of an apparent crazed gunman, but also takes a look at the troubled lives of the people he holds hostage. With their lives hanging in the balance, will the secrets they keep have an impact on the outcome of this precarious situation they unwittingly find themselves in? Or will they be able to get through to the troubled young man before more lives have been drastically altered forever?
This is a story that will both move and horrify you, as a normal busy morning in a London Café is shattered beyond repair as a gunman storms in and takes several customers hostage. With each chapter we slowly come to learn more and more about these people and their lives. We learn about the things that mean the most to them and the secrets they’re all keeping. And as each of the captives grapple with their own inner demons, the tension in the Café begins to build.
To reveal too much about the plot would spoil the tense atmosphere of the story as the motives behind the gunman’s actions are slowly and devastatingly revealed. But as uncertain as the outcome is, the lives of these very different people will be forever changed by the events of this day. They will be connected in a way they never would have thought possible when they walked into the Café to buy a coffee that morning.
The Secrets of Strangers is as moving as it is gripping. Each individual story gives us a glimpse into the minds of strangers and how life can change in the blink of an eye. It tells us a story that is real, human and incredibly moving. I had no idea how the book was going to end and, while it is a very bleak and sad story at times, I somehow managed to hold on to a glimmer of hope as I turned the final page.
Charity Norman‘s writing is beautiful as she peels back the layers to reveal a story that will make your heart hurt. A psychological thriller with human lives at its centre, The Secrets of Strangers is a book I would highly recommend.
The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman is available to buy now: Amazon UK
Follow along with the blog tour to see what these other fabulous bloggers have to say about this brilliant book:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Huge thanks for the blog tour support Cal xx
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You’re very welcome, Anne. xx
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