She could be cruel (her actions toward Mary illustrate this well) and I found her so difficult to empathize with or like. As the story develops and we learn the full extent of the circumstances surrounding Janets past, I felt even more for her and boy did I want to slap her husband Colin! The story embraces some difficult topics — loss, grief, guilt, blame — but Levin handles them with the utmost sensitivity. If I Let You Go is an unsettling, character-driven novel that introduces us to Janet, a young woman who, after a tragic accident eleven years ago, has spent her life in the shadows, performing her cleaning job to the best of her abilities, keeping house and placating her domineering husband, and visiting her elderly father as often as possible, until one night she decides she’s had enough and by morning her life will be irrevocably changed forever when she wakes to discover she’s a heroine of a train crash she can’t actually remember.

But eventually this slow, steady pace spirals out of control into unpredictable and erratic chaos, in a way that seems outlandish but really is such an accurate show of just how absurd life can become in a moments notice.She acts as our narrator, walking us thoughtfully through everything that happens with occasional glimpses into the darkest moments of the past, showing us little pieces of a much larger puzzle. I also enjoyed Charlotte Levins “ If I Can’t Have You” which was also darkly original and can only say I think this is even better. I really wanted to like this book because I read If I Can't Have You and absolutely loved it, it was one of the best books I've read. A thoughtful, beautifully written book about grief, and ordinary people being thrown into extraordinary circumstances. It’s fast paced and reads like a thriller, I was desperate to find out what really happened to Janet’s daughter and what would happen in the end and it didn’t disappoint.

But all isn't as it seems: can Janet stop come clean and salvage the situation before it's out of her control for good? Her debut novel is one of my all time favourite books and so when I heard she had written a second book I knew I had to read it. She’s in a big hole with nothing to dig herself out with and then there’s the building dread of Colin. She can't remember if she saved the child or not but the CCTV certainly suggests that, and it leads to all sorts of events for Janet.Janet believes she has been redeemed for Claires death, but as she becomes well known for her heroic act, she starts to remember what really happened that night. One evening, she’s had as much as she can take and she makes a break for it channelling her inner Thelma or Louise. In If I Let You Go we meet Janet, a cleaner, a wife and mourning the loss of her daughter eleven years previously.