by Colette McBeth
Six years ago, Melody Pieterson was attacked and left for dead. Only a chance encounter with a dog walker saved her life. Melody's neighbor and close friend David Alden was found guilty of the crime and imprisoned, and the attack and David's betrayal of her friendship left Melody a different person. She no longer trusts her own judgment, she no longer trusts her friends. In fact, she no longer really has any friends. She's built a life behind walls and gates and security codes; she's cloistered herself away from the world almost entirely.
And then, soon after David is released from prison, Eve Elliot is murdered in an attack almost identical to Melody's. With the start of a new police investigation, Melody is suddenly pulled from her ordered, secluded life and back into the messy world around her. But as she learns more about Eve's murder, Melody starts to wonder if perhaps David hadn't betrayed her after all...if perhaps the killer is someone else entirely, someone who's still out there, preparing to strike again.
Narrated alternately by Melody and by Eve's lingering ghost, The Life I Left Behind is a taut thriller and an intimate look at two young women bound together in ways neither of them could ever have predicted. Colette McBeth has proven once again that she is a master of suspense.
"Starred Review. McBeth smoothly alternates points of view among Melody, who struggles to rejoin humanity; Eve, who speaks from the grave; and Det. Insp. Victoria Rutter, who investigated both cases and begins to question David's guilt." - Publishers Weekly
"McBeth's debut novel, Precious Thing (2014), took readers on a fantastic trip into a twisted female friendship, and she again explores the dark area beyond love in this multifaceted portrayal of obsession, loyalty, and control." - Booklist
"Spellbinding and surprising." - Kirkus
This information about The Life I Left Behind was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Colette McBeth was a BBC TV Crime Reporter for ten years. She lives in West London with her husband and three young children. She attended the Faber Academy Novel Writing Course in 2011. The Life I Left Behind is her second novel following Precious Thing (2014).
All my major works have been written in prison...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Harlem Rhapsody
by Victoria Christopher Murray
The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance.
Three Days in June
by Anne Tyler
A new Anne Tyler novel destined to be an instant classic: a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter's wedding.
Beast of the North Woods
by Annelise Ryan
When a local fisherman is mauled to death, it seems like the only possible cause is a mythical creature.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.