Book Review – Duckling

Title: Duckling

Author: Eve Ainsworth

Genre: General Fiction/ Women’s Fiction

Goodreads Rating: 4.30

My Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Source: ARC

Synopsis:

What if your neighbour asked you to watch her seven-year-old daughter for an afternoon, and didn’t come back?

Lucy’s life is small, but safe. Every day she goes to work, checks in on her unstable, alcoholic father, then spends her evenings watching old Columbo reruns, isolating herself away from the rest of the community on her South London estate.

Her routine is all that she can handle, given what happened in her past.

So when her new neighbour Cassie asks Lucy if she could look after her seven-year-old daughter Rubi, she is reluctant to agree.

Then when the hours pass, and then days, and Rubi’s Mum doesn’t come back, Lucy’s worst-case-scenario is now her reality. Lucy is not only responsible for herself anymore. She is responsible for a scared little girl who needs her help.

Something has happened to Cassie, and Lucy must find her before it’s too late. 

My Review:

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Random House UK for approving me for an ARC of this book.

When I first stated this book I had an idea in my head of what story was to follow but boy was I wrong. Do not let the cover fool you into thinking that this will be a heart warming, cosy read because whilst that does feature in the story there is also a lot of darkness and worry.

At the start of the book we are introduced to Lucy, a reclusive character that is a stickler for routine and keeping herself to herself. She likes the quiet life and is content with how her life is going so when she is asked to babysit Rubi for her neighbour, that she has only met on a few occasions, Lucy isn’t too sure what to do.

It’s from here that the story gets really interesting because Cassie, Rubi’s mum, doesn’t return and Lucy is left wondering what has happened to her and when, if she will come back. Naturally Lucy starts to use the clever skills of her favourite detective, Columbo, to find some answers.

Along the way we meet a whole host of different and interesting characters. I absolutely loved Jimmy and the role he played in the story, Liam was also a diamond in the ruff! I think the most touching aspect of this book though was the relationship Lucy had with her Dad. It is clear from very early on that things are not great between them and there were many occasions when I felt that lump in my throat and the tears threatened to break free. Lucy clearly has something from her past that haunts her and I desperately wanted to know what it was.

This was an intriguing story with an element of mystery, that kept me guessing right until the end. With a rollercoaster of action spiralling us to the finale I’d almost go as far as to say this book belongs in the thriller category.

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