Julia Castleton is a former Times journalist turned activist blogger. She carries the weight of past trauma and struggles to balance the demands of single motherhood with the challenges of her work.
When a man who has approached Julia with a story is found dead, she is drawn into a political and military conspiracy that reaches high into the corridors of power. Facing the battle of her life, unsure who to trust, Julia must fight like never before to protect her son, save herself and expose the conspiracy ranged against her.
Julia Castleton is the creation of an internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed writing duo. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, she takes us into a world that could have been torn from the headlines.
My thoughts: I know nothing about the world of international espionage, politics etc apart from what I’ve read and I’m quite happy with it that way. The protagonist – called Julia Castleton – finds herself embroiled in that world after a doctor and army reservist contacts her with an explosive story, but he’s killed before he can pass anything onto her. At his funeral, a supposed friend hands her a dossier, which she publishes without fact checking it first and then all hell breaks loose.
She’s chased and kidnapped, forced to flee for her life, the police raid her home in the middle of the night, her son is made the subject of a social services investigation. But while the dossier seems to have been dodgy, there’s definitely a story there, and despite knowing how badly it could all go, Julia and her PI friend Joe decide to follow the scant leads.
What they find is much, much bigger than they imagined and they have to go right to the top to get help breaking it, even then it could still be a risk.
Julia is also dealing with the demons of her past, a psychotic break some years before, time on the streets, lost memories and disturbing fragments that invade her dreams. But she wants answers about what happened to her.
I think this could be a really interesting series, though at times it skirts the line of incredulity, and Julia can be a bit frustrating as she prevaricates and abandons her five year old son to her sister’s care for days on end. I think she needs the concept of a work/life balance explained to her.
I really liked Joe, he’s a true friend and always comes through for Julia, as does family lawyer Stone, despite her reluctance to engage with her father. She’s lucky to have people around her, as well as her sister, who really have her back.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 