By Rob Gittins https://www.robgittins.com/ @Gittins2Rob
Published by Hobeck Books https://www.hobeck.net @HobeckBooks
428 pages ISBN 9781915817228
Publication date 10 October 2023
I was sent an electronic copy in exchange for a fair review. I would like to thank Rebecca at Hobeck Books and the Author for the invitation to participate in the Blog Tour.
The Cover
I love the cover, it conveys so much, wistful, concern, self-reflection on the face of the woman and then there is the real reflection in the train window. Captures perfectly what much of the novel is about.
My thoughts
I guess most of us have experienced déjà vu, the strong sensation that we have lived through a situation before, that things or people are familiar to us when we a coming across them for the first time. For some people this can be a real neurological problem, associated with epilepsy, but for most of us it’s the brain’s wonderful ability to make connections that we are unaware of. Usually, a fleeting experience it might feel a little unsettling at the time but just occasionally it can have lasting effects, as it does for Axel Petersen in this story.
Axel’s perceptions are pushed into overload when he lets his mind wander whilst on a train journey. A young woman sits opposite him and he is convinced it’s his daughter Cara and reaches out to her. It is not Cara but looks just like her, greatly embarrassed he steps off to the toilet to clear his head. How could it be his daughter, she vanished without a trace twenty years ago putting her parents through hell in the process. If it was Cara then she would have aged considerably over those twenty years, this young woman looks like Cara did when she disappeared. It’s the twentieth anniversary of her disappearance, surely his subconscious is making spurious connections and convincing him he was back in the past. On returning to his seat there is a message pencilled into the book he is reading “can I trust you” but who wrote it? This becomes a recurring motif. When the train pulls into his station, at the end of a rural line, its dark and the weather is foul, the combination of the need to apologise for his mistake and a lack of taxis lead him to offer a lift to her holiday cottage. With few options available she accepts the lift and they exchange a few words, she is Penny.
The following morning there is a police presence near where he dropped Penny off. He was clearly one of the last people to see her. At this point he makes the split-second decision not to mention the events of the previous evening, a decision he will come to regret. For the second time in his life a young woman has disappeared and once again he will become the prime suspect in the investigation. This is not déjà vu though, but something real and disturbing.
A simple but gripping idea, that two women go missing on the same date twenty years apart. It could be one of life’s many coincidences, not that the investigating police officers believe in those, nor does Axel as he becomes convinced that the current disappearance has its roots in twenty years ago.
The recurring themes of the novel are those of escape, search, family ties and close friendship. Several characters feel the need to escape for various reasons, for safety, liberty and to literally save their life. We see Axel’s original search for Cara, helped by wife Donna and the pressure of this that results in their separation as all family ties become severed. The second search for Penny also takes its toll and he briefly becomes a fugitive, like Richard Kimble, as he tries to investigate whilst being the prime suspect. Friendships can have binds as tight as those of family and so it proves here, bringing safety and protection at a cost to all those involved.
The story is told on the two timelines of the current day and twenty years ago. These move along rapidly as there is much ground to be covered in both periods. The chapters are very short and for much of the novel alternate between the two timescales. This means that secrets are revealed slowly and the reader can never get to far ahead of themselves, but I found it rather jerky as times failing to move the narrative enough before the next switch. I’m sure other readers will love this style of storytelling. It does build the tension up towards the impressive finale which is both clever and skilfully executed.
The characterisation is interestingly developed. The twenty years back story is well explored as this is the catalyst for what is to come but it is on an emotional level where it really hits the target. At times it is highly emotive and the reader really does get the sense of loss, angst and despair for Axel and Donna’s loss of a daughter who by then was not even a child. That these feelings even extend to the officer who like Axel is going through it for a second time is a real tour de force which other writers wouldn’t have explored. Throughout I struggled to find a character who was truly engaging, I’m not sure if this was any deliberate intent but I found that it really added to the uncertainty and doubt. Even Axel the man we should empathise with is either stupid or mendacious as he makes bad decisions such that the police are right in treating as the prime suspect. Jericho is perhaps the most interesting Character who plays an important role but I will add no more to avoid spoilers.
Can I Trust You is an intelligent, intricately plotted thriller that explores the effects of loss and the need to feel safe.
Can I Trust You can be purchased direct from the publisher here
The author
Rob Gittins is a screenwriter and novelist. Rob’s written for almost all the top-rated network TV dramas from the last thirty years, including Casualty, EastEnders, The Bill, Heartbeat and Vera, as well as over thirty original radio plays for BBC Radio 4.
He’s previously had six novels published by Y Lolfa to high critical acclaim. Rob’s first novel for Hobeck, I’m Not There, is a crime thriller and the first of a new series set on the idyllic, if occasionally sinister and disturbing, Isle of Wight.
Rob’s second book with Hobeck, a psychological thriller, The Devil’s Bridge Affair, was published on 25 October 2022.
Don’t forget to check out the other reviews on this Blog Tour:
Peter turns the page 