#BlogTour ‘The Wreckage’ by Robin Morgan-Bentley

About the book…

One fatal crash. Two colliding worlds. Three wrecked lives.

School teacher Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to work.

A day like any other…

Except for one man who, in a final despairing act, jumps in front of Ben’s car, turning the teacher’s world upside down in a single horrifying instant…

Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, he develops a friendship with Alice, the dead man’s wife, and her 7-year-old son Max.

But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could he go too far in trying to make amends?

How would you cope, knowing you’d caused someone’s death?

Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers and Orion for my gifted copy of ‘The Wreckage’

In this tale of love, loss, grief and death, the reader is plunged right into the story at the time of the titular car wreck. The intersection of the life of Ben, driving to school and Adam, the man he runs over, are inextricably interwined from then on in, in an ever increasing,claustrophobic thriller.

There is no buildup to the characters, so there is a mirroring of beginning with a crash, then reassembling the parts afterwards- this is Ben’s life, as a teacher, his immediate concern is his professional face, how it effects the school, being late, all the immediate concerns after such a horrific incident that turns the everyday into a living nightmare.

The description of the car crash is not gratuitous, this leaves Ben and the reader shocked and under the impression that this was a pure accident, and that nothing could have been done about it. The proedural analysis by the paramedics, the police, the physical and psychological aftermath on Ben are drawn with swift, deft strokes as you find yourself catching your breath and hoping that Ben is going to be ok.

And then….a massive and swift 360 degree turn is achieved by introducing Alice, Adam’s wife. Again a quick pencil sketch of her and you have the jaw dropping realisation that this was not an accident, Alice has been living in fear of something like this for quite some time. Suddenly, blame and accountability swap places and guilt is a nebulous concept to pin on Ben.

The exploration of grief, loss and trauma is so well conveyed, I had absolutely no difficulties sinking into this novel and tapping into feelings of anguish and pain, the author creates his characters so well, with so many layers that it is impossible not to. You want resolution for both of them, but when out of misplaced guilt, Ben starts spending a little too much time with Alice and her son, you begin to question everything you just read over and over again…..

What is he doing?

Is it a misplaced sense of guilt or is he actually playing a longer, darker, more twisted game?

Wrong footed so many times I had whiplash, but never in the sense that the author is out to trick you, more that he is creating a masterpiece of tension , this is a nail biting, stomach clenching, heart pounding debut of suspense. It’s very visual so I can absolutely see this as tv series in the future,at any rate that is what I am hoping will happen! Very highly recommended for a rainy, wintery night where you can just switch off and read through till morning. Great stuff!

About the author…

After graduating from Cambridge with a First Class degree in Modern and Medieval Languages, Robin Morgan-Bentley worked for five years at Google.

Since 2014, he has been the Senior Editorial Manager at Audible, responsible for deciding which audiobooks they promote to their customers and how. He also runs their podcast, Audible Sessions, and has interviewed multiple authors including Fiona Barton, Clare Mackintosh, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Anthony Horowitz and Jeffery Deaver to name a few. His conversations with them are what inspired him to start writing.

Links-https://robinmorganbentley.com/

https://www.compulsivereaders.com/

Twitter @rmorganbentley @orionbooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n