Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land

This has been sitting on my bookshelf for a while and I think the gold in the cover called to me during this festive period, but pre warning: this is by no means festive or even to do with Christmas!!

Just a nice shiny book cover… talking of shiny, Annie’s got herself a shiny new name, family and her chance to reinvent herself.

Annie is now Milly. She’s currently being fostered by a psychologist dad, a yoga mum and a sister who’s in the same year as her. Annie could finally have the life she’s craved – stability and normality. And boy, oh boy does she need it, because the reason she’s not at home with her own parents is due to her mother being a serial killer. Her mother is now in prison, and it’s because Annie told on her.

The book tracks the build up to her mother’s trial where Annie must present evidence against her. If that wasn’t enough to give Annie nerves and anxiety, she’s got problems going on in her new house, it seems she’s not as welcome as she first thought. Even so, she knows she’s got a good thing going here and makes it her mission to ensure her new life turns out just the way she wants it to.

Unbelievably haunting and edgy from the start. The writing style has an intensity to it that I’ve never seen before, and the way Land writes it through Annie’s eyes makes you unsure if to trust her or just take pity on her because of everything she’s been through.

This is tense with a capital ‘T’, the build up to the trial created butterflies in my tummy like I get when an important deadline is soon, it looms over you and becomes all you can think about. Even with distractions, Annie’s thoughts always ended up back to her mother and the moment she’ll be in the same room as her again. I loved how Land captured all of this, so that the reader felt as effected by it all, as Annie did – very cleverly done.

Some psychological thrillers I’ve read lately have pushed the boundaries too far with twists, creating plots that are so far-fetched that you know you’re not in the real world. But Good Me Bad Me is something very special – it’s packed full of twists and they all feel so real, making it all get under your skin and you actually begin to feel fear.

I loved this book. Hand on heart.

Good Me Bad Me is published by Penguin and is currently out in paperback and eBook.

Have you read this BEAUT of a thriller? Let me know!

Until next time, Chloé x