‘A Dark Twisted #Mystery’ Noelle reviews Fault Lines by Tsveti Nacheva @guelphed

Today’s team review is from Noelle. She blogs here https://saylingaway.wordpress.com

Noelle has been reading Fault Lines by Tsveti Nacheva

I purchased a copy of this book for a review as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team.

This is a debut novel for Tsevi Nacheva, a Bulgarian born writer now living in Canada. It’s a combination of mystery and what I would call romance/chick lit, with parts being one or the other.

In Fault Lines, the reader is introduced to a TV reporter/producer based in Toronto – Lauri Arbo. Laurie grew up in Solway, a small town some distance from Toronto, with a best friend, Ashley, and her boyfriend, Nate Stone. Following the night of a revelrous and drunken teenage Halloween party at the farm of Nate’s parents, Laurie awakens with a massive hangover, remembering little of the night before. And she discovers Nate’s clothes are covered in blood.

Over the next several days, she realizes that Ashley disappeared that night. Days turn to months, and Ashley is not found. Seven years later, Laurie is established as a well-known TV producer. On the trail of an old and cold case for her show, she finds herself back in Solway, dreading being there, knowing Ashley is gone. She and Nate grew apart and Nate is now not-so-happily-married to a woman who is still insanely jealous of Laurie’s and Nate’s former relationship.

There are several threads woven into this novel that oh so gradually unravel, like a tangled ball of yarn. First is the two mysteries: Ashley’s disappearance and the story that Laurie is working on – the unexplained deaths of a woman and her daughter in Solway in the 1950s. The second thread is Laurie’s live-in relationship with a handsome and sought-after actor. The third is Laurie’s unstated but still recognized love for her ex, Nate.

The pace of the book slows to that of a snail from time to time, then speeds up, only to slow again. These pauses in the pace occurred in the lengthy descriptions of Laurie’s relationships with various people: her production assistant, her lover, Nate’s mother, and Nate and his wife, all dealt with in great detail. Interesting, yes, but had me urging the author to get on with it.

The author is very creative in her descriptive writing and much of it is a delightful discovery. She uses the Canadian backdrop to cleverly create atmospheric tension. Occasionally, though, she lapses into over-the-top prose and nonsensical similes.

Luckily, though, as the character Laurie gets closer to the solutions to the mysteries, the author picks up the pace of the various story lines and the book becomes a page turner with endings that are totally unexpected and satisfying. And ties the threads back together.

I think this is a good book for a first outing and I look forward to watching the development of this author.

Four stars

When the unthinkable happens…
When her best friend disappears from a party at a haunted house attraction, Laurie Arbo fears the worst. Ashley would not just up and leave. As days turn into weeks, it becomes clear that she is not coming back. But without a body, proving that a crime has been committed—let alone unmasking the culprit—is a tall order.

The truth should come first.
All eyes are on Ashley’s boyfriend, who is being cagey. But Laurie’s own partner, Nate, is keeping secrets too. On that fateful night, his clothes were covered in blood, which he swears wasn’t Ashley’s. Refusing to accept the man she loves might be a murderer, Laurie decides to believe him. Yet, unable to put the past behind them, they drift apart.

But what if it’s ugly?
Seven years later, while working on a TV documentary about a local family drama, she reconnects with Nate, and the pieces start falling together. As Laurie draws closer to learning what happened that night, she realizes the truth might be the one thing she doesn’t want to uncover.

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