Unable to resist, I open the box and pick up the uppermost photo: a Polaroid taken by a soft-spoken midwife on the day he was born. Ray and Kate have been investigating something which they found in Jenna's purse whilst she was in custody. Upon Ian's arrival in Wales following the police now knowing who the real hit and run criminal is, he tries to attack Jenna again. On my bedside cabinet is the brass alarm clock Eve gave me when I went to university—“Because you’ll never get to lectures, otherwise”— and I’m shocked to see it’s ten thirty already.

She makes out something about a best friend; a project on space; a new teacher, and she looks down and smiles at his excitement, ignoring the cold that weaves its way through her scarf. The ripples of the accident in the Fishponds area of the city, spread out and affect everyone of them. So elegantly written, flawlessly structured and with characters you care about from the very first page.In her new novel, Before I Let You Go, Rimmer places a microscope on drug addiction, the way it is perceived by others, how it is treated in the health profession, what laws surround it and how family members choose to deal with it. If you’ve read and liked Paula Hawkins’ ‘The Girl on the Train,’ which was excellent, you’ll like this too.

I Let You Go follows Jenna Gray as she moves to a ramshackle cottage on the remote Welsh coast, trying to escape the memory of the car accident that plays again and again in her mind and desperate to heal from the loss of her child and the rest of her painful past. On a dark evening, walking her son home from school, a mother's worst nightmare comes true: he slips from her grasp and runs into the road, where he is hit by a speeding car. At the same time, the novel tracks the pair of Bristol police investigators trying to get to the bottom of this hit-and-run.Just to say that the Welsh haven she escapes to is hauntingly beautiful and Jenna’s escape from Bristol to Wales is a sudden and perilous journey for all involved.

With the investigation hitting a dead end, despite the dedication and tireless work of Detective Inspector Ray Stevens and his team, the case is swept under the carpet, to make way for more high profile cases. The quotes from devastated teachers; the notes on flowers by the side of the road; the inquest—opened and then adjourned.In addition to Kate, Stumpy’s team included the steady Malcolm Johnson and young Dave Hillsdon, an enthusiastic but maverick DC, whose determined efforts to secure convictions sailed a little too close to the wind for Ray’s liking. You can tell a former detective has had a hand in this for the subtle nuances and unique insight into various places in the case. The words burst from him without a break, mixed up and back to front in the excitement of this new world into which he is growing. At the point in the book where Jenna starts taking photographs of the bay, I could actually see it in my head - the beach, the sea, the cliffs - they were all so beautifully described.

One side of the tent was open, and inside they could see a crime scene investigator on her hands and knees, swabbing at something unseen. To the point that it's taken me nearly 24 hours to be able to articulate how this book made me feel. She is desperate to escape the past, but is haunted by the accident, by the loss of her son, and by her own fears. With sharp characterisation and warmth on every page, and a heroine you’ll be rooting for from the word go. When Annie’s newborn baby is in danger of being placed in foster care, Annie phones to beg her sister for help.As the traffic started moving again, she leaned forward as though the movement would propel them forward faster. Although Bethan continues to try to develop their friendship Jenna cannot bring herself to become close to anyone again due to what happened in Bristol.