#BookReview | #SixWickedReasons by @SpainJoanne | @QuercusBooks

One family
One night
Ten years of lies
– Six Wicked Reasons

[ About the Book ]

It’s June 2008 and twenty-one-year-old Adam Lattimer vanishes, presumed dead. The strain of his disappearance breaks his already fragile family.

Ten years later, with his mother deceased and siblings scattered across the globe, Adam turns up unannounced at the family home. His siblings return reluctantly to Spanish Cove, but Adam’s reappearance poses more questions than answers. The past is a tangled web of deceit.

And, as tension builds, it’s apparent somebody has planned murderous revenge for the events of ten years ago.

[ My Review ]

Six Wicked Reasons is the latest novel from international bestselling author Jo Spain. Due for release on January 16th with Quercus Books, it is described as ‘the most clever and gripping suspense thriller of 2020’ so I was very excited to have been given the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Jo Spain is now a full-time writer and screenwriter with a successful string of novels and a ‘ground-breaking‘ RTE television series Taken Down. With an ascending star Jo Spain is climbing to the top of many readers favourite author lists and it really comes as no surprise. With so many incredible books to choose from at the moment competition is fierce but Jo Spain has achieved something exceptional with her writing. Her words just suck you in from the very opening pages, grabbing your attention and compelling you to keep reading.

Six Wicked Reasons…what a title!! Six children and a dead father.

“Frazer Lattimer, sixty-one years of age, native of Scotland, resident in Ireland most of his adult life, was dead. His children looked at one another, and wondered. Which of them had murdered him?”

The Lattimers are a well respected family living in a countryside home near Spanish Cove, Wexford on the east coast of Ireland. They were always that little apart, living in the big gated house, living a monied existence with the local perception being that they were a wealthy and happy family. But underneath their public persona, the Lattimers had a very different story to tell. In 2008 Adam Lattimer disappeared without a trace. As the search continued, no evidence of foul play was unearthed, no body discovered. His mother always believed that Adam was alive, lost, alone and frightened somewhere unable to return for whatever reasons but after many years she was made to believe that he was dead and she passed away never knowing the truth. Now Adam has reappeared and the family is called back to the family home to celebrate his return and to be as one again.

Adam’s siblings all live very separate lives, their relationships have fractured over the years yet they all descend on Spanish Cove when their father requests. It is clear none want to be there, that they all have something to hide, yet they are willing to make the trip, all with an agenda of sorts.

Jo Spain creates amazing characters. Without exception, her portrayal of every single player in this book, is cast perfectly. As a reader we are slowly drip fed information, but never too much to spoil the suspense. With every twist in the tale, there is an unlocking of a secret, a loosening of the web, just enough to give the reader a tantalizing glimpse, to grab hold of the attention and to keep you well hooked until that final page.

Frazer Lattimer was not a nice person. His words were vicious, his actions were poisonous. His relationship with all his children, without exception, was totally dysfunctional. The Lattimer siblings grew up in a very unstable environment and, following his death, it was a guessing game as to who and why? Was it an accident? Was he pushed? Was it revenge? Was it deliberate? The pendulum swings in many directions leaving the reader guessing right to the finale.

Agatha Christie definitely springs to mind when reading Six Wicked Reasons. The setting, the wealth, the characters, the lies and a flawed family with dark secrets, all combine to give the reader a truly suspenseful and highly entertaining read. Jo Spain writes confidently and succinctly with a plot-line that enthralls and captivates the reader. Six Wicked Reasons sets a standard for psychological suspense with it’s perfect portrayal of a damaged family and a murder….or was it?

“Once upon a time there was a family.
A father, a mother and six children. They lived in the most scenic part of Ireland, in a beautiful house on a hill, and were wealthier than everybody they knew. Rich in every sense, but mostly in the way that mattered. They had class, They had status. They had each other.
And then it all went to hell in a handbasket.”

[ Bio ]

Jo Spain is a full-time writer and screenwriter. Her first novel, With Our Blessing, was one of seven books shortlisted in the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition and her first psychological thriller, The Confession, was a number one bestseller in Ireland.

Jo co-wrote the ground-breaking television series Taken Down, which first broadcast in Ireland in 2018. She’s now working on multiple European television projects. Jo lives in Dublin with her husband and their four young children.

Twitter – @SpainJoanne