Nothing Left Behind by Hannah Brennan

Nothing Left Behind

 by Hannah Brennan

Nothing Left Behind by Hannah Brennan

was published on 23rd April by Harper Collins.

My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a  copy to review and to 

Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the tour.

Synopsis

‘Emergency. Which service do you require?’

 ‘He’s trying to burn down my house. He’s going to kill me.’ 

Anne Evans was a 'nuisance caller'. She would repetitively dial 999 in desperate panic, screaming down the phone that 'he' was going to burn her alive… But after years of false alarms, people stopped listening. Now, as the smoke clears, DCI Liz Field can only watch helplessly as Anne’s charred home collapses, her body still trapped inside. The blaze leaves scant evidence behind, but the more Field's team uncover in the rubble, the more disturbing the case becomes. This wasn't merely arson, it was murder, tailored to the victim’s worst nightmare. Everyone thought Anne was just a paranoid recluse. But is it really paranoia, if all that you feared comes true?

My Thoughts

It is always such a treat and a revelation to come across a new author who has the ability to pull you into their narrative straight away as though you have been reading, and enjoying, their books for years. Hannah Brennan definitely has this ability in the second novel that she has written , Nothing Left Behind.

The one page Prologue sent shivers up my spine and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on straight and from then on in there was no way I was not going to read this book, or in fact be able to put it down even if I wanted to. This is one very clever plot as you find yourself being taken into the depths of the characters lives and the different aspects of them as the story progresses that you certainly didn’t foresee at the beginning. There are so many threads that weave around and cross each other before finding their ultimate end in ways that you couldn’t possibly work out in this intricate storyline that has you finally looking back on what you have read, exhaling, and just saying “Wow”.

The cleverness of the novel has intrigued me to Hannah’s style of writing. The way she builds up her characters, leaves you guessing as to who the narrative is about in the transcripts, and has you wondering “What next” on every page turn is ingenious in a what is only her second novel.

If you only have time to read a book by one new author you haven’t come across before then I urge you to make sure that it is Nothing Left Behind by Hannah Brennan as I feel this is one young author who is definitely at the start of an incredible writing career.

About Hannah

Hannah Brennan was born in and still lives in South East London, and studied English Literature at Durham University. She is one of the organisers at the Greenwich Writers writing group. Hannah is also a trustee at the Royal Association for Deaf People. Hannah has had OCD since her teenage years, although she is now happily in recovery. She has previously volunteered for and regularly attends groups at the charity OCD Action. No Safe Place was her debut novel.