it used to be mad love
Justine Stone is a gifted prosecutor. She has been putting in the hours, helping on case after case, and her boss finally feels like it’s time for her to have a shot at her own case. It’s a double homicide, Mark and Beverly Rushnell were found dead in their home, both shot in the head. The suspect is Brad Finchley, who has no prior arrests. Justine looks at his photo and knows immediately who that is. She didn’t know he’d changed his name. All she knew is that when she looked him up online, she never found anything. No profile on LinkedIn, no social media. Now she knows why. He had changed his name. But he looks the same.
Brad FInchley is Jake Reynolds. Jake was the love of her life. She hadn’t seen him in almost 20 years. And he’d been living in Maldon, Essex, where they had grown up. Justine didn’t think he’d had it in him to kill two people, so she couldn’t believe he was guilty. She recuses herself from the case because of her prior relationship with Jake. But she feels pulled back home to try to figure out what happened.
Justine decides to stay at her mom’s for a few days and tries to get ahold of her brother Max. She doesn’t have a great relationship with her mother, because of the things that happened when she was young. The toxicity of the home is what made Justine decide to leave in the first place. After she graduated and Jake disappeared on her, she left for London to create a new life for herself. And she did. She became a lawyer, a prosecutor, and got married to Noah. But being back in Maldon brings up a lot of memories. And when her repeated calls to her brother go unanswered, Justine’s worries about him grow.
As she tries to find her brother and searches her memory for why Mark and Beverly Rushnell sound familiar to her, Justine dive deeply into her family’s past, where she finds some truly dangerous things. Will she be able to figure out what happened to the Rushnells, to free Jake from his potential conviction? Or will she have to stand by as the love of her life is put in prison for life?
Bad Blood is a twisty thriller about the past and how it can haunt you from afar. This is a debut novel from Sarah Hornsley, and it’s already been sold to television. This has layers of secrets and reveals, with surprises and suspense coming in hot. I listened to the audio, narrated by Gemma Whelan, who did a phenomenal job with this story. I had a great time with Bad Blood. I saw some of the twists coming ahead of time, but I was still so happy to have bought a ticket for this ride.
Egalleys for Bad Blood were provided by Zando, and a copy of the audio book was provided by Dreamscape Select, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
