Am I guilty? by Jackie Kabler #blogtour #ProvidedForReview #BookReview @jackiekabler @officialjackiekabler @rararesources

Book Blurb:

A mother’s job is to protect her child…but everyone makes mistakes.

I never thought it would happen to me…

 One moment I had it all – a gorgeous husband, a beautiful home, a fulfilling career and two adorable children. The next, everything came crashing down around me.

 They said it was my fault. They said I’m the worst mother in the world. And even though I can’t remember what happened that day, they wouldn’t lie to me. These are my friends, my family, people I trust.

 But then why do I have this creeping sensation that something is wrong? Why do I feel like people are keeping secrets? Am I really as guilty as they say? And if I’m not, what will happen when the truth comes out…?

Is your book part of a series / standalone? Standalone.

Are there any possible trigger warnings that bloggers/readers need to be aware of?

The book is about a murdered child.

Am I guilty by Jackie Kabler was a pretty emotional book, it was centred around a tragedy. A heart wrenching tragedy. And as a mother I felt for the main character – Thea, even if I didn’t like her.

Thea was an unreliable narrator. And I generally like unreliable narrators in my fiction, as a plot device I think it can add an interesting twist. Thea was a drunk, a mother who neglected her child, who caused the death of her beautiful son Zander. Or did she? The title asks the question that the whole book, plot, characters all revolve around – Am I guilty? Is she? And the only way to find out is to read on.

Thea, wasn’t the only unreliable narrator. I didn’t much care for Flora or Isla or Greg or Rupert. The whole book was filled with characters that I didn’t like.

But I did like the structure of the book and I thought that the alternating chapters from different character’s point of views worked well. Even if I didn’t like any of the characters. I didn’t trust any of them. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying following their stories as everything came together for the ending. An ending that I didn’t guess! Am I guilty? Kept me reading late into the night. I wanted to know.

The writing was great and the book had lots and lots of short chapters – a favourite of mine. It was a good book, and I would happily read more from Jackie Kabler in the future.

Am I guilty? Well, I was guilty of enjoying the book, but…

The only small criticism I had was – I thought it all started very slow. I love a character driven story and they can tend to be slower reads in general, I think? Or the ones I have read lately have been a bit slower. But I was a little bored for the first 20% or so, I felt that it was all background information and no real substance. I’m glad I stuck with it and I ended up really engrossed and invested in finding out what happened. Finding out who the real evil of the story was. And was Thea guilty?

I would like to thank Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for including me on the book tour and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

About the author:

Jackie Kabler was born in Coventry but spent much of her childhood in Ireland. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then a television news correspondent for twenty years, spending nearly a decade on GMTV followed by stints with ITN and BBC News. During that time, she covered major stories around the world including the Kosovo crisis, the impeachment of President Clinton, the Asian tsunami, famine in Ethiopia, the Soham murders and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Jackie now divides her time between crime writing and her job as a presenter on shopping channel QVC. She has a degree in zoology, runs long distances for fun and lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.