I received this book to read and review as part of the 2021 BBNYA competition and the BBNYA tours organised by the TWR Tour team. All opinions are my own, unbiased and honest.
BBNYA is a yearly competition where Book Bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors. If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or twitter @bbnya_official.
Title: Sins of the father
Author: Sharon Bairden
Published: November 27th, 2020
Publisher: Red Dog Press
Genre: Thriller
Age Range: adult
Length: 308 pages
Source: BBNYA
Buy links: Amazon UK || Amazon USA || Amazon Canada
Representation: DID / mental illness
Content Warning
physical, mental and sexual abuse (child and domestic), self harm, mental illness and violence, drug & alcohol abuse
Lucas Findlay thinks he has struck gold when he marries Rebecca, but she married him for one reason only – to destroy him.
TRAUMA RUNS DEEP
When her past comes back to haunt her, Rebecca begins to disconnect from herself and the world around her. As secrets are unearthed, she begins to fear for her sanity… and her life.
TRUTH WILL OUT
With her world unravelling around her, Rebecca clings to her determination to make Lucas pay, whatever the cost.
FORGIVE HIS SINS
But someone must pay for the sins of the father…
A chilling page-turner from a sharp new Scottish voice.
Reasons to read Sins of the father:
- dark and twisted
- morally ambiguous characters to get invested in
- amazing first few chapters
As you can tell from my reasons above, Sins of the father is an incredible book. It reels you right in with a dream Rebecca has, only to wake up and realise her reality is just as dark as her dream was.
Then we start adjourned back in time, visiting her teen years (16 years earlier), and then even further. Back in 1996 we see 10 year old Rebecca and slowly understand the horrors which she has seen and been through. This part is honestly quite hard to read. It’s utterly heartbreaking. But also so powerful, the writing in this part was very immersive and even though not everything was overly described I could see everything clearly in my mind.
I really enjoyed the structure of this book, as it complemented the story very well and was used as a tool to keep us on our toes.
It’s no secret, if you’ve been here a while, that I like my characters morally grey, twisted and complex. And I got everything I wanted. It’s easy to get invested in the characters and yet they all are morally ambiguous. I never knew who to trust and I adored it. These characters probably won’t leave me for quite some time. One thing I really loved as Rebecca’s character development. It was great to see her in different stages of her life to understand her better as an adult.
I got to read Sins of the father for BBNYA and I’m so glad it was one of my assigned books. Winning second place was more than deserved, huge congratulations again! And to think this is Sharons debut novel? I can’t wait to see what we can expect from her next!
Would recommend to:
Everyone looking for a really dark thriller with more than enough complex and morally grey characters (and everyone who can stomach some really tough scenes!)
By day Sharon Bairden is the Services Manager in a small, local independent advocacy service
and has a passion for human rights; by night she has a passion for all things criminal. She blogs
about books at Chapterinmylife and is delighted to be crossing over to the other side of the fence
to become a writer. Sharon lives on the outskirts of Glasgow, has two grown up children, a
grandson, a Golden Labrador and a cat. She spends most of her spare time doing all things
bookish, from reading to attending as many book festivals and launches as she can. She has been
known to step out of her comfort zone on the odd occasion and has walked over burning coals
and broken glass – but not at the same time!
Connect with Sharon Bairden: Twitter || Website
Papertea & Bookflowers 