Hi Everyone,
Today is my stop for the Blog Tour of The Grapevine by Kate Kemp where I've a review of her first book. I was thrilled to be asked by Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Reading in conjunction with Phoenix Books who organised this tour to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this so without further ado, here it is:
It's the height of summer in Australia, 1979, and on a quiet suburban cul-de-sac a housewife is scrubbing the yellow and white checkered tiles of the bathroom floor. But all is not as it seems.
For one thing, it's 3am. For another, she is trying desperately to remove all traces of blood before they stain. Her husband seems remarkably calm, considering he has just murdered their neighbour.
As the sun rises on Warrah Place, news of Antonio Marietti's death spreads like wildfire, gossip is exchanged in whispers and suspicion mounts. Twelve-year-old Tammy launches her own investigation, determined to find out what happened, but she is not the only one whose well-meaning efforts uncover more mysteries than they solve. There are secrets behind every closed door in the neighbourhood – and the identity of the murderer is only one of them . . .
Well, where do I start with this review!? I didn't just like it, I absolutely LOVED IT. It was absolutely brilliant and I CAN'T recommend it enough, it had me gripped from the very first page right through to the end, there were some great twists and turns too which I definitely wasn't expecting especially towards the end.
The Grapevine is brilliantly dark, gripping and is very well written with such great and complex charactes, an unforgettable debut novel about secrets, lies and suspicion, and how the ties that bind a community can also threaten to break it. So, put your phone on silent, grab some snacks and whatever drink you fancy, curl up on the couch & prepare to be sucked in from the first page.
This is Kates debut novel and I certainly hope it won't be her last either.
The Grapevine is published by Phoenix Books and is available on Kindle, Audiobooks and is available from all good bookstores and libraries.
