I love the cover of this book and the title. I really enjoyed Henriette Gyland’s Up Close, so I was always going to read The Elephant Girl. When I saw it on special offer on Kindle, I jumped at the chance to read it. (It’s still on sale for 99p, by the way I’m not sure when the offer ends. Yes, I did read it really quickly. It would impossible not to).

The mystery at the core of the book is compelling. Helen witnessed her mother’s murder, but she’s beginning to wonder how reliable a witness a 5 year old epileptic, who has just come round from a fit, could be. And then the woman who murdered her mother is released from prison.

It’s a well written mystery, with the drama taking place against a background of auction houses, smuggling, mobsters (both Russian and London) and ex-cons. The hero, Jason is a weird character who is fighting against his background of a privileged upbringing paid for by his father’s ill gotten gains. Helen’s character undergoes a twisting journey from someone obsessed with revenge, to someone who is finally at peace with who and what she is.

This is a very well written book. The plot twists and turns and the four paper knives that are core to the plot appear and disappear so many times that I lost track of one altogether. I did not see the ending coming and I’m impressed at the way it all turned out. I’m especially impressed that there was no shying away from the fact that messing with dangerous people is, well, dangerous.

High tension, high body count, not much gore and high tension throughout. What else can you ask of a thriller?

I gave it five stars. (I should say that my next book will be published by Choc Lit. But I’ve read Choc Lit books for the last few years – way before I even submitted anything to them)