Jackie Kabler Book 1

J: BORING! There is no suspense, not even a plot; just a lot of talking and thinking about the death of a baby. I could not even get past Part one, just gave up after two tries. I did give it 2 stars only because I didn't finish it.

I was very interested in what happened to the baby, but when the culprit was revealed, it didn't really work.There was no real motive other than the peep had a tough life and was a psychopath. Some real grievance would have been better. I also thought there we're too many subplots. A number of them didn't have a lot to do with the mystery and were distracting

I've never read any books by this author before this one and I enjoyed this a lot. At first, I was getting a bit confused with some of the names, but once I got that sorted, it got better. What was so weird was I just finished a book about a baby dying in a car and in this novel it was the same situation. How weird is that? This was a thriller of a ride to read and I just couldn't figure out who the "baddy" was. It was a shock and yet not, as you know it has to be one of the people in their circle of friends. All in all, a good read and one I'd recommend. A great 4 star.

This was a slow burner book. I didn’t really get any meaningful content about the story until 40% in. After that it felt like foreverrrrrr for everyone to get their story straight and even when the secrets came out it was popped out quickly. So it went from slow, to confessions, to the end. Hmmm not my jam but it was a decent story. I knew basically who the whodunnit person was but it was all good fun to still figure out more on why.There are multiple point of views throughout the book. Thea- she is the mother of 8 year old Nell and 8 month old Zander who died. She is the notorious mother who is charged for being at fault for her baby’s death. She is sad and depressed and can’t truly remember what happened on that significant day but bits of pieces are coming back and things aren’t adding up.Flora- personal assistant to Thea who then leaves after Zander’s death and is then the personal assistant to Annabelle.Annabelle- she has a successful party planning event and her daughter is best friends with Thea’s daughter.These characters are all intertwined along with Thea’s ex husband, her best friend Isla, and Annabelle’s husband Greg. Many of these people were at the house when Zander was found dead and the big question is if it wasn’t Thea then who could it be and why?As I mentioned it was reeeeeally slow to start with and then the ball started rolling and then it was over. I enjoyed the writing and the plot line I just didn’t enjoy the layout of it all.

It kept me guessing till the end. It’s very well written and the characters were relatable.My only complaint is that there were several typos in the book. The author should fix them ASAP.

My Review:Loved, loved, loved!!!!! This was my first book by this author and OMG. This author sure did not disappoint. That ending was a total shocker. What a twist. My mind is definitely blown.I kept hearing about this author on Facebook for the past couple years and thought I would give her a try. Boy, I’m so glad I did. The Blurb does not do this book justice at all. It was rather vague and left you wanting knowing more. So I picked it up, started reading and couldn’t set it down for the life of me. I went back and forth between the Ebook and the Audiobook so I could continue reading while not feeling guilty about getting nothing done. The Audiobook was fantastic. The narrator really captured the emotions and made me feel like I was right there with all of them. I loved that. I do have to say that this author did a fantastic job with all the characters. As each chapter went on I had no idea who was hiding the biggest secret. Each character had something to hide and I raced through the chapters to find out what it was. I didn’t know which character I liked the least as each of them had an evil side. On to all the twists in the book. I couldn’t believe that ending. I’m like did this author really go there. I wouldn’t have ever guessed it. The last few chapters really kept me on my toes. This author really outdid herself. I can’t wait to read more of her books.Between the plot, characters and all the twists in this book it made it an easy and fast read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I think if i had just liked and understood this main character i would have felt better about what happened to her and around her. But all that self involvement, the drinking, the devotion to a friend and not her own child. I don't know, I just found her behavior inexcusable. And her friend! When did friendship trump motherhood in our culture? A quick read and not bad except for those glaring character problems.

This book was so incredibly plausible. I wasn't entirely sure what happened, even thinking way out of the box for suspects at certain times. As an American mother, I occasionally see road signs or news stories encouraging people to "put an important item in the back seat" so they don't forget their baby. As if anything else is more precious than that tiny life. For me, the characters in this book were terribly authentic. No one is perfect. Doesn't everyone tell a lie now and then?

I liked the way the author gave us mini cliff hangers at the end of the mid to later chapters. The use of multi narrators was also effective. Some aspects of the lead characters relentless self flagellation irritated me especially given that the title implies dubiety around her guilt. I would have liked more detail around her reaction to the horror of the loss as this was only briefly alluded to. My absolute dread in reading psychological domestic fiction is that nine times out of ten- and I do keep a count now- some sicko just has to mutilate and kill a cat!Sorry forvthe spoiler but really this should not come as a surprise as it appearscto be the must- have preferred shocker event for lazy writers as a way to introduce an unhinged predator into the plot. Is there perhaps a paper on creative writing entitled ' Mutilated cats 101 - the only plot device you'll ever need!'I am sick of being hijacked by this device over and over. Writers please push your imaginations a bit more and leave cats alone. What did they ever do to you anyway? Oh and if you really can't write a narrative without killing a feline in the process, don't have one of your dozy characters then bring a kitten in to the plot so that it can most likely happen again! Would anyone be so stupid?Yes it is fiction, but we believe it is real whilst interacting with the narrative. Otherwise the process is redundant. The constant killing of a beautiful animal does not enhance my reading pleasure and in fact it is more likely to make me close the book unfinished.

When we are introduced to Thea in Jackie Kabler’s Am I Guilty? We already know that she has done something terrible. It was in the disgusted glances that people were giving her and the shame that she felt that made me so eager to find out what it was she had done. The truth of what happened to her six months previously turns out to be very horrific, and it makes for a very tense finale as everything came together.This is a very well developed book that takes us into the lives of a group of people who were all witnesses to a tragic event which has since destroyed Thea’s life. But perhaps everything isn’t as it seems. It really does seem impossible to talk about the plot without giving any of the details away. Jackie Kabler has crafted a very twisty story here. On several occasions, I thought I had everything worked out, and I thought I knew how the ending was going to unfold, but I was proven wrong, in a very big way, but it did make so much sense.Thea is a character who I did feel desperately sorry for, not straight away though when I began to understand why she was in the position she was now, but I really did start to connect to her as Thea tried to sift through the puzzle of information that she had to get to an answer. It made for very tense reading as she reached the dramatic conclusion.Sometimes I find that when drama is played out in books, I don’t always find it very believable, but here everything did feel very real and I could totally understand how the characters were behaving the way they were. I thought this particularly towards the end when secrets that had been kept were slowly revealed to other characters who had previously been in the dark.I was desperate to know the truth about what had happened to this group of people and find out once and for all if Thea was responsible. I could sense her own need and desperation to get to the bottom of it, even if it did prove if she was guilty. And some of the scenes were definitely shocking.Jackie Kabler brings her tightly woven story into a very believable, heart-breaking, but satisfactory ending. This is a read which I certainly wouldn’t hesitate in recommending. Jackie Kabler is a name I will be watching out for in the future.

Having been a big fan of Ms Kabler’s Cora Baxter series, I was really looking forward to her new book. And I wasn’t disappointed! Whilst the story line is much grittier and more shocking than her previous novels, her writing style is every bit as engaging. Knowing Cheltenham myself, the inclusion of local references adds to the realism and the character development is complex and draws you in. The story develops to a climax that I genuinely couldn’t put down.

Once again we have a woman who doesn’t want kids and, for this reason, is depicted as eccentric, unreliable, even cruel. Then you have a bunch of liars among whom a couple of self-abnegating women who are ready to forgive everyone who has sinned against them no matter the offence, for no reason whatsoever. What’s the morale of this book? If you care for a quick analysis, the only one who doesn’t forgive is someone who turns out to be a psychopath.

I tried really hard to enjoy this novel, the second consecutive book I have read by the author. As with “The Perfect Couple” I assign 3 stars and for similar reasons. A great plot that I wanted to know the outcome of. But characters seemed not really credible - maybe due to too much switching about of narration by them meant I never really felt I got to know them. This prevented me from making headway or looking forward to my nightly read. I can see from other reviews the admiration for Ms Kabler.