Tuesday 17 July 2012

Review - Somewhere to Hide by Mel Sherratt

Another cracker from the wonderful author that is Mel Sherratt!

Cathy is widowed, not yet 40, and takes in people who need somewhere to live in her “safe” house. Liz is married to Kevin who constantly uses and abuses her even thought they have a child together called Chloe. When Liz realises that enough really is enough, her and Chloe are moved to Cathy’s safe house which she is currently sharing with troublesome Jess. 


On the same day that Liz turns up, so does Becky, a young girl with a secret and although they know she has run away from somewhere and someone, she won’t tell anyone. Cathy’s house is on the Mitchell estate, one side of the estate is where people who like to look after themselves live, with their good jobs, nice gardens and well tended to houses. The other half is full of trouble, unemployed, burnt out cars, run down houses and people who really don’t care about themselves or anyone else for that matter.

Austinis a young man who is planning a big surprise for someone on his 21st birthday. But who is that surprise for and why?

I was first introduced to Mel’s writing last year when I read Taunting the Dead and my review can be found by clicking here
. Once again in this book, her writing is exciting, gripping and mesmerising and I was quickly lost to the real world, deeply engrossed in the story. I could definitely see her books being portrayed in a TV series but I haven’t chosen the characters yet! 

You get stuck into the plot very quickly and totally immersed with the goings-on in this gritty tale of life on a tough estate. The characters are hard and you really wouldn’t mess with them. Cathy was a really strong main character, likeable, gutsy and brave sticking up for the girls in her care, helping them to achieve something in their lives and not take any crap from anyone. She taught them to have faith in themselves and to believe that they deserved better and could achieve more.


There were plenty of twists weaved into the plot, and the finale was quite spectacular and would certainly have made a great ending for a TV programme.
I'm delighted that this was the first of a series of books about The Estate and can't wait till the next one is due in October with a third due in February.

Really enjoyed reading this gritty, fantastically written thriller by this great author who really could compete against some of the world’s top thriller and crime writers.


Mel Sherratt is married and is from Stoke on Trent and has always been interested in reading and writing, winning a writing competition when she was just 11. She has been dabbling with writing for over ten years and it was when she changed her genre from women’s fiction to crime thriller that her writing flourished.

Mel's website can be found by
clicking here.

Mel also hosts a blog called High Heels and Book Deals which can be found by
clicking here where she reviews books, interviews authors and talks about books.

More importantly, you can buy this awesome thriller at Amazon by clicking here.

2 comments:

D.J. Kirkby said...

I have now bought my copy thanks to your awesome review reminding me that I wanted to buy a copy! I am so happy Mel has another book out and it is going to be one of my holiday reads this summer.

Mel said...

Aw, thanks Deej - that's very kind of you to say so. And thanks Kim, once again, for a great review!