Monday, August 27, 2018

Tear Me Apart

Tear Me Apart by J. T. Ellison
Mira Books: 8/28/18
eBook review copy; 496 pages
paperback ISBN-13: 9780778330004

Tear Me Apart by J. T. Ellison is a very highly recommended domestic psychological thriller.

Competitive skier and Olympic hopeful Mindy Wright breaks her leg during a competition and during surgery the doctors discover she has a form of leukemia. Mindy needs a stem cell transplant, but, shockingly, her parents, Jasper and Lauren Wright, and her Aunt Juliet (Lauren's younger sister) are not DNA matches - and it is clear that Mindy is not the daughter of either of them. Apparently Mindy was adopted, but no one ever told her. In fact, her mother told no one about it, not even Jasper. Lauren and Jasper married when Mindy was an infant. Juliet was so much younger than Lauren that she never suspected it.

Juliet is now at the crime lab for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, so she secretly starts an investigation and asks a few favors trying to figure out if Mindy was switched at birth. Finding a match as soon as possible could mean life or death for Mindy. Now that the truth is out, Lauren needs to explain what happened, but can she be trusted? And why has she never told anyone about the adoption? This is the ultimate story of a mother willing to do anything to protect her daughter.

Tear Me Apart is a well-written, spellbinding, engrossing thriller that held my attention throughout. While some astute readers may guess the truth early on (and Ellison leaves plenty of clues for the reader to do so) the suspense is created by the slow reveal of the truth and additional information to the characters in the novel. I found the plot mesmerizing and the pages flew by while reading. I appreciated the pacing of the novel and how Ellison divulged additional information while developing the characters. The characters are all well developed and complex individuals

I don't want to give away any more of the plot, but I really enjoyed this novel. The disclosure of information along the way lends an intensity to the plot and the old letters slowly shared along the way clearly point to important additional information. This is a thriller that is well worth reading. Even if you think you know what is going on, it is well worth reading to the end for a few surprises you won't guess.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Mira Books.

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