About the book:
“Her thoughts are all she has. They are hers and hers alone.”
Esther Nesbitt seems like an old woman, yet she is only 45 years old. A mere shadow of her former self, she has diminished since her husband and children were killed in a car accident. Once a schoolteacher, now she is semi-reclusive, and suffers from blackouts.
Her only friend is a young neighbour named Amy who works as a nurse and comes to visit Esther on her way to work.
Sometimes Esther’s sister Charlotte visits but she is not welcome. Esther hates Charlotte because of Charlotte’s relationship with her late husband.
Esther has a direct view of the living room window of #19, across the street. She sees some suspect behaviour by the woman who lives there. She views the woman as a monster who is clearly manipulative and mistreats her children. Esther begins to takes notes of dates and times so that she can report the unstable woman to the authorities. She becomes obsessed with the activity of the woman at number 19…
Through her obsession with her neighbour, Esther gradually recovers memories of her own, but makes her wonder who, if anyone, she can trust.
The Woman at Number 19 – Attractive, married, and the mother to two children. She seems to have everything – yet – she suspects that her husband is having an affair. She resents her children, thinking that her marriage was much stronger before they came along. As a result, she abuses them – both physically and emotionally.
Always craving attention, especially that of her husband, she deliberately makes her young son very ill.
“Once they became parents, any time they had for each other was stripped away until they became virtual strangers. So she guesses it’s only right and fair that the kids pay a hefty price for it.”
After reading “Her Dark Retreat” last winter, I was very eager to read more by the author J.A. Baker. When invited by Bloodhound Books to take part in the blog tour for her latest novel, I jumped at the opportunity. WOW! What a corker this one turned out to be!
“The Woman at Number 19” was in every sense a true ‘page-turner’. Though I did suspect what the outcome might be, that didn’t stop me from feverishly turning the pages in order to either confirm or discount my suspicions.
The epitome of the ‘psychological thriller’ which explores the darkness of the mentally unstable mind, giving reader’s an insight into the thought processes of the psychotic and clinically depressed. I’m confident that even the most hardened reader will find empathy for these characters.
With themes of child abuse, mental illness, forgiveness, and healing, this novel is highly recommended by me. I am now eager to read all of J.A. Baker’s backlist titles. I urge all domestic thriller lovers to add this book to their TBRs. Now!
Published by Bloodhound Books ASIN B07V5M2VYV
Born in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, Judith A. Baker developed a deep appreciation of literature and reading from a young age after being introduced to it by her parents. Weekly visits to the library were the norm and after being handed a collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories by her father, her love for the darker side of fiction slowly grew. She is an avid reader of all books but is drawn in particular, to psychological thrillers.
After many rejections (too many to mention!) her debut novel, Undercurrent, was published by Bloodhound Books in March 2017 and made it into the top 100 Amazon chart in both the UK and Canada. J.A. Baker is the author of five stand-alone thrillers, the latest of which The Uninvited was published in late 2018. She is currently working on her sixth novel, The Cleansing, due to be published April 2019.
J. A. Baker has four grown up children and lives in a village on the outskirts of Darlington with her husband Richard, and Theo, their barking mad dog.
J.A. Baker’s website: http://www.jabakerauthor.co.uk/
Our protagonist is Ella Santos – though now she goes by the name of Laine Moreno. When she was just ten years old she was abducted and held hostage for three years – bound – in a cellar. Raped repeatedly, she was finally driven to a roadside and released. Thirteen years old, pregnant, and permanently damaged…
We meet her ten years later. She often has suicidal thoughts, she abuses drugs and alcohol, and she is alone – very alone. She works in a Seattle grocery store by day and at night she works as a bartender in a strip club. She lives a solitary life broken by episodes of being high. She wears long sleeved clothing and boots all the time to hide the scars on her wrists and ankles. She trusts no one and alienates anyone who tries to befriend her.
Nina Laurin is the author of two bestselling psychological thrillers, both out with Grand Central Publishing. Arriving in Montreal when she was just twelve years old, she speaks and reads in Russian, French, and English, but writes her novels in English. She wrote her first novel while getting her creative writing degree from Concordia University, and GIRL LAST SEEN was published a year later in 2017. The follow-up, WHAT MY SISTER KNEW, came out on June 19th 2018 to critical acclaim. Nina is fascinated by the darker side of mundane things, and she’s always on the lookout for her next twisted book idea.
Sarah is a mixed race British woman. Jack is an American. Lately, his love for her has taken a sour turn. Sarah knows that this is her last chance to become pregnant. She wants to know, yet she doesn’t …. She runs away to her favourite place on the South Downs to come to terms with her rampant emotions. Jack, goes in search of her. He is distraught, manic, and increasingly desperate.
Before he came here, the Keeper was a war correspondent, then an investigative journalist. Now, he questions no one. All of the sad stories he keeps locked away in his mind. From long experience, he is a good listener.
Naomi Lockhart, the victim, was a twenty-two year old Australian girl who came to London for adventure. She worked as a PA to Joseph Madden’s sister-in-law. Young and quiet, Naomi had recently dyed her hair an attention getting lilac colour in order to overcome her shyness.
Cat works out of Holborn Police Station. Her police family are an interesting lot. Detective Sergeant Luigi Parnell (who she calls her ‘work-Dad’) , and her diminutive yet commanding Detective Chief Inspector (who is aptly named Steele), add interest to Cat’s daily life. DCI Steele, is greatly admired by Cat who views her as a mentor.
Caz Frear grew up in Coventry, England, and spent her teenage years dreaming of moving to London and writing a novel. After fulfilling her first dream, it wasn’t until she moved back to Coventry thirteen years later that the second finally came true. She has a degree in History & Politics, and when she’s not agonizing over snappy dialogue or incisive prose, she can be found shouting at Arsenal football matches or holding court in the pub on topics she knows nothing about.
Introduction by 
Did you know that Stephen King dreamed the entire plot of ‘Misery’ on a plane?
Halfway through the year and I’m starting to wonder how I will get all the reading done that I really want to do. So far, I’ve read 58 books in 2019.
D.I. Kim Stone – An acerbic, brusque, and driven young woman who works as a Detective Inspector for the West Midlands Police, the second largest police force in the country. She is socially inept, and has been known to break the rules, as well as to disregard instructions and protocols in her search for justice. An insomniac, she is fueled by nervous energy and lots of coffee, and is beautiful, but she works hard to hide it. She is 34 years old, brilliant, hot-headed, and damaged. As a child, she suffered horribly, and was shunted from foster home to foster home. Only once did she experience a nurturing, loving relationship – and that was very short lived…. Now, when not working, her favourite thing to do is work at restoring vintage motorbikes. Bikes are her passion, and she uses a Kawasaki Ninja as her regular form of transport.
Other than her second in command, Bryant, she is friendless. Her one real weakness is her fondness for her adopted dog, Barney.
Police team
In DI Kim Stone’s sixth outing we find her working a cold case alongside a former colleague. Some human bones have been found and they are located on the border of two police jurisdictions. Despite years of animosity, Kim is ordered to work with Travis, the DCI of the neighboring police force, in a joint investigation.
Meanwhile, Kim’s team are investigating a recent spate of hate crimes. Blacks, Polish, Pakistanis, Gays, no one is exempt. Bryant and Dawson are out in the field, while Stacy Wood is working at the office behind her computer screen. She resents the attitude of her co-workers who want to shelter her from the ugliness of the case because she is black. She investigates on her own, without telling her co-workers or her superiors. This will prove to be a grave mistake on her part…
Given the strange markings on the girls body, in addition to where and how she was placed in the priory, his superior, Gregson, suggests that he needs an expert in ancient religions, symbolism, and ritual murder. He sends for Dr. Anna Taylor, a local girl who has been living off the island for some years.
The story deals with the murders from the police point of view, while maintaining empathy for those more personally affected. The ancient religions of the area play a part in plot development, as does the small town dynamics. It was a fast-paced read with short chapters and pages that almost turned themselves.
