Thanks for stopping by! I’m delighted to be sharing my review for The Blame by Kerry Wilkinson today! With thanks to the publisher for my copy via netgalley. First things first let’s take a look at the description for the book…

Paige, Richard and me. We thought we’d be friends forever. But everything changed the day we took the short cut home from school along the old railway line. I wish we’d gone the long way. I wish we hadn’t seen our classmate, pale and still in the undergrowth. And I wish we hadn’t promised to keep one, awful detail a secret just between us…
Twenty years later, I have a brand-new life, and try never to think about my old one.
But I’m dragged back when Paige calls out of the blue. Richard has been accused of something terrible. Everyone back home is whispering about the body we found years ago, and saying Richard deserves to be locked up…
Before I know it, I’ve returned to the small town I thought I’d never see again. Paige is almost the same as I remember ¬– jet black hair, slender frame – but why does she seem so nervous? She’s adamant the only way to clear our friend’s name is to tell the truth about what we saw twenty years ago.
Can I really trust that Paige is on my side – or is she hiding her own dark secret? And if we clear Richard’s name, will the blame fall on me?
When we find a strange note in Richard’s flat, one thing is for certain: someone else knows the truth too.
All three of us are in danger…
MY REVIEW
In this book we meet Harry who out of the blue receives a phone call from an old school friend asking for help. He soon finds himself home after years away but he finds the past isn’t staying there and neither are old secrets.
Harry has moved on, he hasn’t been home in ages and has made a new life for himself in a new country. However his connection with his friends is strong and he finds himself pulled back home. There are plenty of secrets hidden in the pages of this book. Secrets from the past and also secrets between this trio of friends that were once close. The book highlights the bond that can be shared when children make an important connection. Showing that even though you may have moved on you only have to hear your friends voice and be transported back to those days.
In a way I’m not quite sure what I was expecting when I first picked up this book. I will say that it didn’t necessarily go in the direction I was expecting. However it was interesting to see Harry and Paige’s back story revealed. I’m not sure I fully connected with them but to be honest the story probably worked a little better for it. As you are never quite sure about their motives or actions. The pace of the story was good for the most part although maybe a touch slower to begin with as the characters were introduced. There was a dark but quiet undercurrent running throughout which helped to keep my attention. The kind where you know something is coming but not quite sure exactly what. The Blame has a little bit of mystery and an even darker edge especially as the story reaches its conclusion!