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sarahrita's review against another edition
5.0
I received a copy of this book free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This novel was absolutely riveting. It does not take the path you expect it to AT ALL. It was only in the last quarter that I started having stronger suspicions and putting things together. Honestly, I would LOVE a sequel to this. The second perspective was so menacing and then so... clarifying. It totally threw me.
I can't say too much about this novel without giving away all the twists and turns!
The note I want to end this review on is that the characters were absolutely fantastic. I had mixed feelings about one, not because she was poorly written but because she was so well written - she felt SO real and she was so frustrating! I related so strongly to Em, the way she feels things and internalises, and I adored the side plot with Rosie. I would totally re-read this and I can't wait to see more reviews. Five stars.
This novel was absolutely riveting. It does not take the path you expect it to AT ALL. It was only in the last quarter that I started having stronger suspicions and putting things together. Honestly, I would LOVE a sequel to this. The second perspective was so menacing and then so... clarifying. It totally threw me.
I can't say too much about this novel without giving away all the twists and turns!
The note I want to end this review on is that the characters were absolutely fantastic. I had mixed feelings about one, not because she was poorly written but because she was so well written - she felt SO real and she was so frustrating! I related so strongly to Em, the way she feels things and internalises, and I adored the side plot with Rosie. I would totally re-read this and I can't wait to see more reviews. Five stars.
thereadingparamedic's review against another edition
4.0
As the story builds, you have little niggles about something not being quite right. The final 100 pages were so bloody tense, my heart was racing & my anxiety building in case I got interrupted before I could finish! Tense & fabulous!
kba76's review against another edition
3.0
Neurotic mother, desperate to atone for past errors, makes for an easy victim here. A gentle nudge, odd comments at the right time and a lot of carefully planned interventions. Before you know it, everyone around her thinks she’s falling apart.
The story begins with a young girl being attacked on her way home. Her mother is powerless and hates the fact that someone has got away with this. When her daughter fails to pick the suspect out of a line-up she’s advised to move on and get on with her life. The mother, unfortunately, can’t let it go and starts to tail the person she thinks is responsible. Egged on by Frances, the young woman who helped her daughter that night, our narrator gets more desperate to prove her point.
Lines are blurred left, right and centre. Slowly learning about her past means we come to be suspicious of our narrator and I did wonder quite where this would go.
However, there are sections throughout by a new voice that we gather will be important, and there are enough seeds of doubt sown to keep you waiting to see exactly where the twist will come.
Unfortunately, the main character was not presented sympathetically enough to really get my full support. She did some stupid things, and her reactions didn’t always seem to make sense. I don’t want to blame the victim, but her behaviour does bring about a fair amount of her troubles.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to review this in exchange for my thoughts. It felt predictable, which is a shame as the concept was intriguing.
The story begins with a young girl being attacked on her way home. Her mother is powerless and hates the fact that someone has got away with this. When her daughter fails to pick the suspect out of a line-up she’s advised to move on and get on with her life. The mother, unfortunately, can’t let it go and starts to tail the person she thinks is responsible. Egged on by Frances, the young woman who helped her daughter that night, our narrator gets more desperate to prove her point.
Lines are blurred left, right and centre. Slowly learning about her past means we come to be suspicious of our narrator and I did wonder quite where this would go.
However, there are sections throughout by a new voice that we gather will be important, and there are enough seeds of doubt sown to keep you waiting to see exactly where the twist will come.
Unfortunately, the main character was not presented sympathetically enough to really get my full support. She did some stupid things, and her reactions didn’t always seem to make sense. I don’t want to blame the victim, but her behaviour does bring about a fair amount of her troubles.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to review this in exchange for my thoughts. It felt predictable, which is a shame as the concept was intriguing.
faysieh's review against another edition
5.0
I LOVED this book! No murders or gruesome details, no complicated police action or stake-outs, just a pure domestic, subtle, insidious, totally readable tale of how one person, Frances, supposedly a 'hero', can turn one family, and in particular one woman's life upside-down, by her desire to be involved and help.
This storyline plays with your mind, is poetic in its description of domesticity, of being a dog-owner, of a mother's love so powerful that Tessa really will Stop at Nothing to protect Em (and Rosie) even though she's lost her editing job, hit fifty, is menopausal and her husband cruelly left her for another woman.
It is a perfectly credible plot that makes you worry about what we post online, how private our 'private' lives really are and whether we can ever trust anyone with who they say they are! With an ageing parent who has dementia thrown into the mix too, there are many emotional layers added to this story that create a depth and empathy with many modern day challenges that readers will have experienced in some ways themselves.
A highly recommended read!
This storyline plays with your mind, is poetic in its description of domesticity, of being a dog-owner, of a mother's love so powerful that Tessa really will Stop at Nothing to protect Em (and Rosie) even though she's lost her editing job, hit fifty, is menopausal and her husband cruelly left her for another woman.
It is a perfectly credible plot that makes you worry about what we post online, how private our 'private' lives really are and whether we can ever trust anyone with who they say they are! With an ageing parent who has dementia thrown into the mix too, there are many emotional layers added to this story that create a depth and empathy with many modern day challenges that readers will have experienced in some ways themselves.
A highly recommended read!
khawarm's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
charnyreads's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
snazzybooks's review against another edition
4.0
Book reviews on www.snazzybooks.com
Stop at Nothing is a gripping story which touches on a very important topic, It’s a suspenseful character development, exploring the need a parent feels to protect their child, and what this might lead to – with some surprises along the way!
When Tess’ daughter Emma is attacked on her way home one night, Tess is determined to do everything she can to help bring the attacker to justice. When they identify who they think the attacker was, but he’s still out on the streets, Tess becomes more and more obsessed with having him locked up behind bars so he can’t hurt her daughter anymore. Encouraged by Frances, a slightly older girl who saved Emma from further harm, Tess becomes more and more involved, meaning that alarm bells start to ring for the police; they make it clear that they want her to leave it to them to deal with, instead of taking things into her own hands.
As the reader, we see Tess’ determination cross the line into an obsession, and I could feel myself wanting to warn her – I knew she wasn’t doing herself any favours in the way she was behaving, but felt very sympathetic towards her regardless. In this way, Tess really is a conflicted character – she’s definitely behaved questionably in the past when dealing with the upsetting breakdown of her marriage, but there are some really interesting scenes where I felt like I really identified with Tess. I could see exactly why she was doing what she was doing – her frustration and anger at what Emma had gone through must be absolutely consuming – but from an outsider’s perspective I could also see why this would not show her in a great light with the police.
Some parts of the novel feel a bit slower than others, and I guessed some elements of the story from quite early on, but Stop at Nothing kept my attention throughout and I really wanted to see what would happen in the end. I won’t give much more away about the plot but I feel that Tammy Cohen has done a great job of making the reader see how easy it is to become obsessed with something (or someone), especially when it involves close family who might be in danger.
An absorbing, entertaining read with darker elements.
Many thanks to Transworld for providing a copy of this novel, on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.
Stop at Nothing is a gripping story which touches on a very important topic, It’s a suspenseful character development, exploring the need a parent feels to protect their child, and what this might lead to – with some surprises along the way!
When Tess’ daughter Emma is attacked on her way home one night, Tess is determined to do everything she can to help bring the attacker to justice. When they identify who they think the attacker was, but he’s still out on the streets, Tess becomes more and more obsessed with having him locked up behind bars so he can’t hurt her daughter anymore. Encouraged by Frances, a slightly older girl who saved Emma from further harm, Tess becomes more and more involved, meaning that alarm bells start to ring for the police; they make it clear that they want her to leave it to them to deal with, instead of taking things into her own hands.
As the reader, we see Tess’ determination cross the line into an obsession, and I could feel myself wanting to warn her – I knew she wasn’t doing herself any favours in the way she was behaving, but felt very sympathetic towards her regardless. In this way, Tess really is a conflicted character – she’s definitely behaved questionably in the past when dealing with the upsetting breakdown of her marriage, but there are some really interesting scenes where I felt like I really identified with Tess. I could see exactly why she was doing what she was doing – her frustration and anger at what Emma had gone through must be absolutely consuming – but from an outsider’s perspective I could also see why this would not show her in a great light with the police.
Some parts of the novel feel a bit slower than others, and I guessed some elements of the story from quite early on, but Stop at Nothing kept my attention throughout and I really wanted to see what would happen in the end. I won’t give much more away about the plot but I feel that Tammy Cohen has done a great job of making the reader see how easy it is to become obsessed with something (or someone), especially when it involves close family who might be in danger.
An absorbing, entertaining read with darker elements.
Many thanks to Transworld for providing a copy of this novel, on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.
fdhjsk's review against another edition
4.0
Spoiler
I enjoyed this book, and would recommend but the only thing i disliked is the fact that the main character (Tessa) did some questionable actions and some dislikable comments, which made it harder to read at certain points, especially when she tried to find Emma’s assaulter, and keep feeling anxious about it, and feeling stupid about the things she had done, but did nothing about them, but i did enjoy, and it was a very hooking since the end was pretty unexpected, yet it still made total sense :)sarah_faichney's review
4.0
This is the first time I've read Tammy Cohen's work but it certainly won't be the last. "Stop At Nothing" is a solid psychological thriller which explores themes including parental love, obsession, gaslighting and highlights criminal justice procedure. I found it to be an enjoyably compulsive read and particularly liked the author's note at the end, which explains the inspiration for the story.
13rebecca13's review
4.0
I am conflicted about this one. I've rated it 4 but it's really 3.5 rounded up.
The plot is great! Tessa's daughter Emma is attacked by a man when she gets off the bus and it is stopped by a kind passerby, Frances, who ends up bringing her home and builds a relationship with Tessa and Emma. Tessa is divorced and is still coming to terms with the fact that her husband left her for another woman. She becomes fixated on finding the man who attacked her daughter, going as far as finding out his name, where he lives and looking up his social media profiles.
I don't want to spoil the ending but to me it was pretty obvious where it was going to go and Tessa's fixation on making the attacker pay was a bit long and drawn out. I liked it but I didn't love it.
The plot is great! Tessa's daughter Emma is attacked by a man when she gets off the bus and it is stopped by a kind passerby, Frances, who ends up bringing her home and builds a relationship with Tessa and Emma. Tessa is divorced and is still coming to terms with the fact that her husband left her for another woman. She becomes fixated on finding the man who attacked her daughter, going as far as finding out his name, where he lives and looking up his social media profiles.
I don't want to spoil the ending but to me it was pretty obvious where it was going to go and Tessa's fixation on making the attacker pay was a bit long and drawn out. I liked it but I didn't love it.