The Life I Left Behind - Colette McBeth

The Life I Left Behind by Colette McBeth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

She's dead but she's the only one who knows what really happened;

What your friends have said.

What the police missed.

Who attacked you.

So if you want the truth who else are you going to turn to?



This is an unusual psychological novel in the respect that part of it is told by someone who is already dead. The story is told from 3 different perspectives, Eve the girl who is dead, Melody who has been attacked and survived, and Victoria the DCI who is investigating Eve's murder. A cleverly woven plot that links Eve and Melody together on similar paths, Eve already dead who cannot pass over until she has warned Melody of her impending danger and Melody who after an attack on her life can't quite rid herself of her demons and retreats into a half life. Melody's emotional decline is perfectly balanced against the tension Eve builds up to her own death. Seemingly two separate people who's lives collide in a chase against time to save Melody from a similar fate as Eve is captured very well in this novel.

Secondary characters were not really developed enough for me but since this was essentially about two main characters it did not detract from the overall plot of the novel. I did guess the outcome but for quite a while it could have been one of two people which made it worth reading until the end. I think Colette McBeth could have given more background on the killer than she did - without giving too much away in a spoiler I felt that we knew very little about him and his reasons to turn killer. This I felt was a weakness in the plot line especially since such a lot of time was spent building up another character to look like the killer. I also felt that the novel was a bit too long, lots of padding out which could have been filled with more insight into the killer's mind that was in my opinion lacking.

However overall it was unusual enough to keep me reading; I would give this 3 stars, a good read in parts, not so great in others and a little predictable, certainly not the best psychological thriller I have read and a bit disappointing hence the 3 stars - just didn't do it for me I'm afraid.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.