The First Cut [Kindle Edition]

A brutal murder never solved and a suspicious death never explained - both victims in a relationship with the same man. Just bad luck? That's a question his new wife would like to find an answer to...

Nicky is married to Greg, the widower of her best-friend, Grace, who was brutally murdered a few years earlier by persons unknown. Greg often has to work out of the country leaving Nicky to lead a somewhat isolated existence. She has fragile relationships with Greg's family, who disapprove of the marriage, and for the same reason she has become distanced from friendships that existed when Grace was alive.

While Greg is away on business, Nicky meets Adam, a young man with an obvious attraction for her. However, what starts as an innocent flirtation leads to something close to obsession, and secrets and lies are revealed. Nicky discovers that Greg's ex-girlfriend also died in suspicious circumstances and she starts to fear that she will be next. Greg asks Nicky to trust him but won't talk about the past. Adam asks Nicky to trust him but behaves erratically, displaying worryingly unstable behaviour (think Misery and Kathy Bates...) In the meantime, there are plenty of other people in both Adam and Greg's families who are working against Nicky and who seem to prefer that she doesn't find out the truth about Grace or Greg's previous girlfriend.

The twists and turns in the plot are predictable at times but the story moves with a fast pace and it is hard not to get caught up in Nicky's paranoia - she has some very good reasons for trusting nobody, especially when a couple of dodgy hitmen get involved! Everyone ends up a suspect at some point and when the truth unfolds, it turns out to be a complicated story of love, betrayal and revenge. I did wonder a couple of times if all the plot strands were too much but the characters are believable and compelling and it's certainly a page-turner to the end.

I loved Wink Murder and was really looking forward to Ali Knight's next one. This did not disappoint at all - in fact, it's even better. I read it in two days - couldn't put it down ... my wife started getting genuinely upset with me. Great characters, page-turning plot, loads of tension. Just fantastic ... Can't wait for number three now!

I thoroughly enjoyed "Wink Murder" and was looking forward to reading this. The start was gripping and intriguing,and I was hooked. Then,fairly early on,we were suddenly plunged into Hitman/Psycho territory,and implausible chase/kidnap scenarios and I switched off completely,I'm afraid.I wanted the psychological build-up and character exploration of the other book,not silly contrived thrills and violence every other page. So disappointed. Was it written before "Wink Murder"?