One Bad Turn by Sinèad Crowley (Book Extract) @SCrowleyAuthor @QuercusBooks

Good morning and welcome to another exciting book extract shared on Always Trust In Books. Today’s post is part of the blog tour for One Bad Turn by Sinèad Crowley published by Quercus Books. One Bad Turn is a psychological thriller and the extract I have to share is the first chapter of the story. I am on a bit of a PT fix that the moment and this looks pretty good. I can’t wait to pick up a copy later on this year. Check out the extract, enjoy, and let me know what you thought of chapter one. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy.

Book Synopsis

Being held hostage at gunpoint by her childhood friend is not Dr Heather Gilmore’s idea of a good day at work. It only gets worse when she hears that her nineteen-year-old daughter Leah has been kidnapped.

Sergeant Claire Boyle wasn’t expecting to get caught up in a hostage situation during a doctor’s appointment. When it becomes apparent that the kidnapping is somehow linked to the hostage-taker, a woman called Eileen Delaney, she is put in charge of finding the missing girl.

What happened between Eileen and Heather to make Eileen so determined to ruin her old friend? Claire Boyle must dig up the secrets from their pasts to find out – and quickly, because Leah is still missing, and time is running out to save her.

About Sinèad Crowley

Sinead Crowley is Arts and Media Correspondent for RTE, Ireland’s national broadcaster, working for television, radio and online. Her debut thriller, Can Anybody Help Me? was a bestseller in Ireland, and both it and her second book Are You Watching Me? were shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Crime Book of the Year. Sinead lives in Dublin with her husband and two young sons.

Find out more about Sinèad Crowley here: https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/sinead-crowley

Pick up a copy of One Bad Turn here: Quercus Books / Amazon UK / Goodreads

One Bad Turn Chapter One

There was no need to think about where she was going: her feet knew the way. Down the path, out of the gate, a right turn when she reached the pavement. There was no need to make any plans or decisions. Leah just needed to run.

And to think, a little over a year ago, she hadn’t been able to jog for more than five minutes without nearly collapsing. God, the state of her! It made her totally cringe just to think of how pathetic she’d been. Barely able to reach the end of the road without bending over, crippled by a stitch, red-faced, sweating and terrified she’d bump into someone she knew. Now, lacing up her trainers and getting moving had become, quite simply, the best part of Leah Gilmore’s day. Not that she’d ever admit that to her mother, of course. The old dear would ratchet up even more points on the smug scale, and that was the last thing she needed.

Everything else in Leah’s life was a total mess. She had no money, no college place, no one to hang out with now her friends were all busy settling into their new lives. There were no jobs in Fernwood for someone with her lack of experience and references, and her mother had made it quite clear that an allowance was, for the moment at least, out of the question: ‘Not after the way you spent it last time. Come back to me next year and we can discuss it again.’

A year. That was what her mum insisted Leah needed to get her life back in order. A year of studying, living quietly at home and watching TV every night, sharing a sofa with her mother and that pain in the arse she’d married. It would only take twelve months. ‘Nothing, in the scheme of things,’ she kept saying. Leah wondered if her mother realised how ancient that made her sound. Twelve months seemed a hell of a long time to her. The trouble was, though, she had no option other than to go along with her mother’s wishes. After all, as she kept reminding her, there was no plan B. Don’t think. Keep running.

A car passed, a hand waved. Leah couldn’t see the driver, but nodded anyway. It was most likely a friend of her mother’s, or the mother of a friend. That was how it was in a village like Fernwood. You couldn’t sneeze in your kitchen without somebody two doors down asking about your cold. Leah had lived in Fernwood for all of her nineteen years, in the same house for the first sixteen, and now she was back there again, dependent on her mother and stepdad for everything, like some little kid. One day she’d get away but, for the moment, running around the block would have to do.

Slap-pad, slap-pad. She speeded up as she passed the steps to the beach, but the boy’s face still popped into her head, like it always did at this point in the run. Just as quickly, she shoved the memory aside. Obsessing over what had happened wouldn’t change anything. At least that was something Leah and her mum could agree on. There was no point in thinking about Alan Delaney any more. Much better to forget him and to move forward. To run.

Thank you as always for stopping by to check out another amazing book coming out in 2017. I have been really impressed with all the titles I have been receiving from publishers like Quercus. One Bad Turn is out now so go pick it up or add it to your Goodreads TBR. Until next time, happy reading.

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