Review: Nowhere to Turn by Lynette Eason

She thought her days of hiding were over . . . but the danger has just begun.

The day Danielle Harding takes her eleven-year-old son and flees from her abusive husband is the same day Kurt Harding dies. A relieved Dani believes she and her son are finally safe--but in reality, things are just heating up. When Kurt was alive, he took something important from a mysterious individual--who wants the item back and believes Dani now has it. As she and her son run for their lives, they have nowhere to turn, until she hires Adam Buchanan of Operation Refuge and goes into hiding. Unfortunately, she won't be able to hide for long . . .

From the first breathless scene, this tension-laced story will hold you in its iron grip as bestselling author Lynette Eason propels you along in a race to discover the truth.

Well, no. I yawned through the first quarter of Nowhere to Turn, then put it aside for a couple of months before forcing myself to finish it. Romantic suspense is my favourite genre, so I should have enjoyed this, but I didn’t. I didn’t relate at all to Dani, and I didn’t understand why it took her twelve years to leave Kurt. Yes, I know her husband threatened to murder her son in front of her if she ever left, but there are ways to hide from the authorities. Criminals do it all the time, and women’s refuges exist to help (we know there was a refuge—her neighbour gave her the details).

And I know this is fiction, but I found Operation Refuge too unbelievable, with their seemingly never-ending resources and hot line to the state governor (because, you know, the governor has nothing better to do than wait for telephone calls from ex-US Marshals who need a favour). It was Hawaii Five-O without the sunshine and scenery.

However, I do have sympathy for Dani and other women in her situation. Around a third of the way through the book, Dani thinks:

Was she really that needy? Was she so brainwashed that she was actually afraid to be on her own?

I think the answer is “yes”, and that’s why she couldn’t leave. But as a reader, I needed to understand this from the beginning. It was at this point where I (finally) felt able to engage with Dani.

But this wasn’t enough to rescue the novel for me. There were parts of the plot which were excellent, like the twist at the end about who was behind everything. Then there were parts which just seemed contrived, like the other plot twist at the end. And there were a couple of other plot devices which were simply too obvious. Overall, not a book I enjoyed.

Thanks to Revell and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.