Never before have I read the word 'innocuous' so many times in one piece of writing.

A very enjoyable thriller which was a tense roller coaster from beginning to end.
The book centre's on Sue, whose 15 yr old dtr is in a coma after an apparent suicide attempt but Sue finds Charlotte's diary and suspects there is more to it than meets the eye. The question is whether Sue is paranoid about events that occurred 20 years before or are he suspicions justified.
Having heard the author on various podcasts over the years this is the first book of hers that I've picked up but I'm looking forward to trying more.

I have heard so much about C.L Taylor’s adult fiction that I made it my mission to get to some of her backlist. This especially became the case when I read The Treatment, the author’s YA release. I loved that book so thought it was time to get to The Accident. I’m pleased I did because I found it to be a completely addictive read. I think I’ve found another thriller author that I adore.

It centres around Charlotte and her family. Charlotte is in a coma after being hit by a bus. Her mother, Sue, believes it may have been deliberate after reading Charlotte’s diary and finding ‘keeping this secret is killing me.’ Sue is desperate to find out what Charlotte’s secret is. Through Sue’s exploration we find more about Charlotte’s life. We also find out about Sue’s past which is much darker than you first anticipate.

I loved the narration because it had flashbacks to what had happened to Sue in the 1990s when she was with James. A very dangerous partner. As a reader, we learn about Sue’s past and begin to understand her reasons behind her decisions she makes when trying to uncover Charlotte’s secret. I loved reading the diary entries. They were intense and hard to read at points, but still so intriguing to begin to piece the story together. I found Sue to be such an unreliable narrator. She suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which makes you question her every move as a reader. She wasn’t afraid to directly accuse people of being involved with Charlotte’s accident. I loved that her relationship with her husband wasn’t perfect. It was incredibly authentic.

I thoroughly enjoyed the pace of this story. I was constantly turning the pages to try to figure out what had happened to Charlotte. A very decent psychological thriller!

Nice and trashy book to read. Super easy to get into and hard to put down.

Susan's daughter, Charlotte stepped in front of a bus? Why? Was it an accident or a suicide attempt?


I strongly recommend to anyone wanting to read this book to take a minute and look up it's trigger warnings as it becomes quite disturbing at times.

The book has two narration points; one is at the present day, while Charlotte is in a come due to her accident (?) and one from 15 years ago, from Susan's (Charlotte's mother) diary.

Fast-paced, short chapters and characters that you want to scream at. A great combination for a mystery book.

It loses two stars for me only because I think that the ending was a little bit rushed and I didn't get as much info about Susan's ex as i would like. (Hated his guts ofc)

This story hit too close to home for me.