Bright Lies by A. A. Abbott
She thought she had the perfect stepfather. So why is she running for her life?
Emily longs to be an artist. So she’s thrilled when her famous and talented stepfather offers to act as her mentor. But when his teachings take a darker turn, she flees his fancy home.
Bad boy Jack has made good as a hot DJ. Then he sees thugs attack a rough sleeper, and shocking memories spur him to her rescue. He doesn’t know she’s only 15 and running from a deadly predator.
Emily’s hopes of safety are crushed when her stepfather hunts her down. Now Jack faces the hardest choice of all. If he protects Emily from the fiend who’s stolen her childhood, he’ll kiss goodbye to his future.
What would you sacrifice to save a life?
About the author.
British crime thriller writer A.A. Abbott (also known as Helen Blenkinsop) loves to escape with an exciting and emotional read, and that’s what she aims to write too. Based in Bristol, she’s also lived and worked in London and Birmingham. All three cities feature in her pacy suspense thrillers. Her latest psychological thriller, ‘Bright Lies’, begins in North Somerset with a posh art exhibition in Bath. Young Emily meets the man who will change her life and cause her to run away to a squat in Birmingham, work in a nightclub and get further entangled in a web of lies.
To write ‘Bright Lies’, Helen has had advice from thirty beta readers on subjects as varied as police procedure, drug abuse, grooming, art, music, DJing and clubbing. She’s grateful to them and to her editor, Katharine D’Souza, for making huge improvements to the story.
Helen’s earlier 5 book Trail series is a lighter read focused on a vodka business. Snow Mountain is a premium vodka made in the former Soviet Union, and its owners have blood on their hands. The saga follows the fortunes of two families running the business and what happens when they fall out with each other and with a London gangster. Glamorous heroine Kat is the girl readers love to hate at the beginning of the series, but by the last book, she has won them over. Book research for the series included prison life, hotel research and vodka. Helen especially enjoyed a tour and tasting with the helpful folk at the Chase Distillery in Herefordshire.
Like 10% of us, many of Helen’s family are dyslexic. While she is not, she wants her books to be enjoyed by readers with dyslexia and visual impairment too. She publishes her thrillers in a Large Print dyslexia-friendly edition as well as the standard paperback and Kindle versions. (You can also adjust the font on your Kindle to suit your needs.) Audiobooks are definitely on the cards – watch this space!
Helen likes speaking to book groups, business networks and social circles, and reading thrillers and short stories at live fiction events and on Zoom. If you're a book blogger, litfest organiser, reviewer or simply adore books, she’d love to hear from you.
Helen is a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, Bristol Fiction Writers' Group, and Birmingham's New Street Authors.
Find out more and get a free e-book of short stories at https://aaabbott.co.uk
Review
‘Bright Lies’ is an intense psychological thriller that looks at the issue of abuse, consent and the underbelly of the Birmingham club scene. I could not put this down - if you can say that about an audiobook. I have become more interested in audiobooks in the last couple of months as I can listen to them when working on the bookshop and this is one of the better ones I have listened to! The narrator Eilidh Beaton did an amazing job - just thinking of her saying the word ‘princess’ makes me feel uncomfortable now weeks later!
Emily is 14 and goes to Bath to an art exhibition that her friend's portrait is being shown in. There she and her mother meet the artist, David and they hit it off. Her mother and David Start dating and soon David is her stepfather. He offers to help Emily with her art but soon his intentions become clear and wants more from Emily. She flees his home and ends up in Birmingham. Jack is a DJ in a club in Birmingham and comes across Emily being attacked and takes her in. Soon their two stories become intertwined and reach a shocking conclusion.
I personally think that sometimes with an audiobook that if the narrator does a good job, and they certainly did this time, it adds another dimension to a story. It connects you more to the story as the characters now have a voice in your head and it brings them alive. In this case, it made me hate David even more than I probably would if I had read the book. From the outset, I was thoroughly creeped out by David’s actions - as we should be! But I have the earworm of ‘princess’ in my head now. Even when I read it in a different place it now has his voice, thankfully I am not a royalist! However, this is a positive for me as it means the story has had the effect it should have had - one of horror at the grooming and abuse that takes place. It allows the reader to be educated about the signs of abuse and be more aware if we see it taking place.
I loved the character of Jack in this book. He was a beacon of goodness in an otherwise quite dark book. Although, his circumstances arose from the same themes are the rest of the book he is the ‘shining knight’ of the story. I honestly didn't see the connection to Emily's story coming at the end - AT ALL! That was a very good twist!
This is a terrific audiobook and a dark, twisty, chilling psychological thriller. You won't regret giving this one a try.
