The Walls

Goodreads Description

Single mom Kristy Tucker works as press agent for the Texas Department of Corrections - handling everything on death row, from inmate interviews to chronicling the last moments during an execution. Her job exposes Kristy to the worst of humanity and it's one that's beginning to take its toll. So when Kristy meets Lance Dobson, her son's martial arts instructor, she believed she finally found her happy ending. She was wrong. Kristy soon discovers that Lance is a monster. Forced to endure his verbal and physical abuse, Kristy is serving her own life sentence . . . unless she's willing to take matters into her hands. Perfectly poised to exploit the criminal justice system she knows so well, Kristy sets out to get rid of Lance - permanently. THE WALLS explores domestic violence, the morality of murder and how far one woman will go to protect her family.

My Review

I was really confused about how to rate this book, and what my review would say. Even though I finished the book a few days ago, I needed time to think through it. I didn't know whether to give a a 3 star or a 4 star review.

On the one hand, I found this book very entertaining, easy to read, I loved the subject matter and the questions raised around the death penalty, the fact that with the death penalty there is always the possibility of an innocent person being put to death, and so on. And then on the other hand I found the book a little longer than it needed to be, I thought that not that much actually happened in 400 odd pages, and I thought that some of the scenes involving Clifton were a bit pointless, and I didn't really understand the point of the letters. Okay, so I understood them a bit, but not totally. I also would have liked a bit more of a "thriller", which is what I was expecting.

So, in an ideal world this book would probably score a 3.5 stars from me, but seeing as I don't award half stars I needed to ask myself: would I recommend to someone that they buy the book, or would I recommend that they borrower it from a friend or the library. I found myself leaning towards borrowing this book. Thus, this one notches up 3 stars.

In a nutshell, Kristy's job is dealing with convicted felons who have been sentenced to die. She deals with the criminals themselves, and the general public and reporters who have questions around each execution. She works for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and although, for obvious reasons, she doesn't love her job, she has gotten used to it. And then Lance walks into her life, a breath of fresh air, and the man of her dreams. But is he exactly who he claims to be, and how well does she actually know him when she walks down the aisle?

This is a book that deals with a number of sensitive issues and topics. Everything from the death penalty, to domestic abuse, to murder and other hideous crimes are touched on in this book. I really enjoyed it, and it did get me thinking. However, I found that it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I had probably heard too many rave reviews and so I probably expected too much. But overall, a really good read that I recommend.

My Rating: * * *

Publication Date: August 2017 (South Africa)

Genre: Domestic Thriller

Format: Paperback

Source: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Hollie Overton and Penguin Random House SA for my copy. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.