3.5 stars. This author is new to me but I enjoyed this book. This was quite a slow burner and there were a few red herrings in there but it was well worth a read. Will look out for more of her books in the future.

I absolutely loved this author's debut book My Sister's Bones when I read it a couple of years ago so I was quite excited to see what she had in store for her highly anticipated follow up - OH MY! I was not disappointed. This book hit the ground running, held me captive throughout and left me satisfied at the end.
Maggie wakes up from a coma to the realisation that daughter Elspeth is dead. She was trapped in Maggie's car which then rolled into the river. Despite Maggie's every effort, she was unable to save her daughter, those efforts nearly killing her. She has even missed her little girl's funeral which happened whilst she was unconscious. To cap it all, husband Sean has also disappeared, last seen on the day of the funeral. Maggie remembers little of the events leading up to the tragic accident but is desperate for the truth, but will that truth allow her to heal? As she starts to peel back the layers of uncertainty, it soon transpires that there is much more to her story than just what happened on that fateful day.
There is so much I would love to say about this book but spoilers prevent me from doing so. Suffice to say that there are secrets and lies aplenty and more than just a little duplicitous behaviour. Scratch the surface of anyone's life and who knows what will be exposed and, let's just say that Maggie has a more than colourful past that she is desperate to keep hidden but is forced to confront to get to the truth.
Characterisation was once again spot on and with some of the characters in this book being a little, shall we say, shady, that's no mean feat! But they all came across as completely real and well fleshed out. The plot was expertly crafted and matched the pacing of the narrative every step of the way. Enough information was drip-fed in at exactly the right moments for the story to flow but still retain a level of intrigue and confusion, but not too much withheld to frustrate me.
All in all a perfectly plotted pacy thriller that had me on the edge of my seat throughout and left me exhausted but satisfied at the end. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Really enjoyed this book, can't even imagine finding myself in the same situation being in a coma and not knowing anything that happened before I woke up scary !!

As Maggie starts to unravel what happened that day so does the secrets and story just comes alive... Its so well written and i love reading this book to the very end.

Maggie wakes from a coma to be told her beautiful little girl, Elsbeth, was killed in the car accident that left Maggie in the hospital. My heart ached for Maggie. Later Maggie also learns her husband, Sean is missing.
This book kept me on the edge of my seat, it kept me guessing right up till the end. It is an excellent read that I highly recommend.

Heartbreakingly intriguing and I loved it! Can you imagine waking up from a coma and your whole world has been blown apart? I can’t but this is what happens to our protagonist Maggie. Her daughter is dead, her husband has vanished and their family home has been sold. Life as she knew it is over for her. As Maggie attempts to find out exactly what happened on ‘that day’ secrets and lies abound, who should she trust? I heartily recommend this for fans of twisty tales with potentially shocking undercurrents. My thanks to Penguin and Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Maggie wakes from a coma to be told that her beloved daughter, Elspeth, is dead. She cannot understand the details of what she has been told. Apparently she had taken her daughter out in the car to a pub which she didn't normally visit, left Elspeth in the locked car with the handbrake not fully engaged and the car had rolled into the river. None of it adds up and to make matters worse her husband, Sean has disappeared. But there's worse to come and Maggie finds herself homeless, bereft and without money. In addition, an old adversary from the past has reappeared to tell her she knows what she was going to do that night at the pub.. Small wonder then that Maggie is depressed. This is a skilfully written book which I found hard to put down. Maggie is a damaged woman; we find out early on that she spent time in a psychiatric ward. She's also obsessed with writing and feels that she neglected her child which adds to her sense of guilt. Her story is interspersed with letters written by a child to her mother. Who is the mother, who is the chlld? It all comes together in a disturbing denouement. An excellent read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC>

In a hospital bed, Maggie wakes from a coma struggling to remember how she got there. Within minutes she discovers that she has been in a dreadful car accident & her daughter died. Shock follows shock as she then finds out that their home was never theirs Her husband has given up the lease and disappeared without trace.

As she struggles to remember what happened & struggle to build a life she is not sure she wants, there are niggling thoughts that she can't quite grasp hold of.

Maggie's story is interspersed with heartbreaking letters from a little girl to her mother. The child is struggling to understand why she has been abandoned.

This was a book that kept you guessing right to the end. It is a good read & I thank Netgalley for giving me the chance to read & review it.

Really enjoyed this quick read - can't even imagine finding myself in the same situation as the narrator. This story unravels for us as readers as it does for Maggie, leading to an unexpected conclusion. Bravo.

Thank you to Penguin UK, Netgalley and Nuala Ellwood for the chance to read and review this book.

When Maggie Allan wakes in a hospital room she has no idea how or when she got there. She is told that she has been in a coma for ten weeks following a car accident that claimed the life of her daughter Elspeth. Her world shattered, Maggie struggles to accept the truth that her daughter is gone and the further blow that just after the funeral her husband Sean walked out of the hospital and never came back. Her reasons for living lost, Maggie is determined to regain her memory, uncover the truth of what happened that fateful night, and find her husband.

When she’s discharged from hospital Maggie expects to return to the family home but is shocked to discover she has nowhere to go. The house she believed they owned was actually sold by her husband to a company called BH2 Properties seven years ago and he’d been renting it ever since. Then, six weeks ago, he gave notice on the house and then cleared their bank account, leaving her homeless and with less than £200 to her name. Everything they owned is also gone so she has no belongings and none of Elspeth’s things to give her comfort. This extra betrayal gives Maggie an increased determination to find out where Sean is and why he left.

Throughout the book it is clear Maggie is harbouring a secret, something that happened in her teens that she refers to as “the dark thing”. This event led to her attempting suicide, being sent to a psychological ward, suffering from anorexia and forever altered her relationship with her mother. It’s clear to the reader that this incident has affected her entire life but Maggie is in denial, refusing to face or deal with what happened. Barbara, the mother of her boyfriend at the time of the event, has a vicious hatred of Maggie and makes it clear she thinks she should have been locked up for what happened and thinks she killed Elspeth, but we don’t know why.

Overall I liked Maggie as a character. She is flawed but is someone who tries to do the right thing. The big mistake she made as a teenager gave me more empathy for her as she was clearly a desperate young girl who needed guidance but was instead met with anger and accusations. My heart broke for her at the desolation and sense of loss and betrayal she must have felt after being told of Sean’s betrayal. To lose her child and almost her own life in the accident was horrendous but the added loss of her husband and everything she knew.

This was a book that was hard to stop reading. It was gripping from the start and had a multilayered plot full of intrigue and mystery. I found myself full of ideas about what the “dark thing” could have been, why Sean left, what really happened the night of the accident and what the truth was about the letters, but some of them seemed too fantastical to actually be right. The book was so well written that you were never quite sure where it was going or if your theory was right. I liked that in addition to Maggie’s narration we also had another narrator, her daughter who is writing her letters begging her to come save her from this new, awful, place that she’s been left in. These letters are strange as Elspeth’s body was identified so despite Maggie’s denial we know she is dead. Could these be letters she wrote in limbo? Or is there another explanation? I had a few ideas but like with everything else the author kept us guessing right until the end when the big dramatic reveal occurred and blew me away. Even though I’d correctly predicted some of the twists, it was no less shocking and exciting when the truth was unveiled.

Out February 21st

Maggie has woken up after 10 days in a coma to find her whole world utterly changed forever. Her daughter Elspeth dead in an accident she is being blamed for, her house sold, her possessions gone and her husband disappeared. With no memory of how this all came about Maggie is forced to come to terms with suddenly losing her whole family and being sent back to the world penniless and homeless.

This is a very captivating thriller, one to keep the little grey cells working overtime, trying to work out what has happened. She has so many unanswered questions: Why was her daughter locked in the car? Where is her husband and why has he left without a word? Why did he sell their house? I ended up guessing part of the story but certainly didn't see all of the twists coming. The plot is well written and paced and I couldn't help help feeling sorry for Maggie as she tried to cope back in the world, struggling to remember her past and what led up to the day of the accident.

After waking up from a coma, Maggie is told that the car accident that put her in hospital claimed the life of her young daughter, Elspeth. With no memory of the event, she is shocked to learn that Elspeth drowned after the car she was in plunged into the river. Refusing to believe that this could have happened, Maggie demands to see her husband Sean, only to discover that he was last seen on the day of their daughter’s funeral. Just what did happen on that fateful day and where is Sean? Also, why does Maggie seem convinced that her daughter is not dead?

Maggie is the ultimate unreliable narrator. Her pre-accident life has disintegrated and she has been left completely on her own to try to pick up the pieces. My heart went out to her as she tried to come to terms with her new life after realising that she no longer had anything she once held dear. I also had much admiration for her as, once her recovery began, she developed a new-found strength to uncover the truth behind the day of the accident.

Throughout the book, we get the opportunity to read letters from an unnamed child to their mother, and this definitely pulled at the heartstrings. It was horrible to read the words of this poor child, seemingly abandoned by her family and yet never losing hope that they were out there somewhere and would return for her one day. This definitely backed up Maggie’s theory that Elspeth was still out there somewhere but also helped to muddy the waters for the readers. Were the letters from Elspeth or was this part of some elaborate game?

It is obvious throughout the book that there are some unseen forces working against Maggie, but who? The author introduces several characters who we don’t really know too much about. Could one of these be responsible? There is also Sean, Maggie’s errant husband – what has happened to make him go or is his disappearance as a result of foul play? One of the minor characters, in particular, was a favourite of mine, and I was desperate to know that she was not involved in any subterfuge.

Day of the Accident is full of twists and turns, some of which I managed to figure out but some I didn’t get anywhere near! This made it an incredibly enjoyable read with a dramatic and satisfying conclusion. My Sister’s Bones by the same author was one of my favourite books of 2017 and I am so pleased that this book, too, was of the same quality.

This is another NetGalley review and a really good one too. Day of the Accident opens with Maggie facing a murder charge before it transports us back in time when she wakes from a coma. Within minutes her world is ripped apart. She finds out that not only is her daughter dead, but her husband is missing having left immediately after the funeral. The worst thing is that she has so idea why she went out with Elspeth that night. The pain that follows is heartbreaking and any mother will have no difficulty in sympathising with her as Maggie tries to recover from the the physical and emotional pain of the accident.

The book follows Maggie as she travels the journey from hosipital bed to courtroom, and tries to find out what really happened that night.

The pace of this one is great and keeps you turning page after page. The chapters are alternated with mysterious letters “from your lovely daughter” which adds another level of complexity as to the fact that not all is as it seems. There are a few things that don’t quite hold right for me, such as the reason that Maggie was really outside that night but overall this is a gripping psychological thriller that will keep you turning page after page.

The books starts in the present day where Maggie is in court where she feels calm and the book takes us through twists and turns to get there.

We jump back to 10 weeks after the accident where Maggie wakes from her coma to find that her whole life has been tore apart, that her daughter is dead and her husband is missing. She finds out her 10 year old daughter Elsbeth died following an accident near a river where she drowned.

Maggie has a nagging feeling her daughter is still alive, but she remembers nothing of the accident, she is released from hospital with no clothes of her own and no money.

A great psychological thriller, with bends and twists, following Maggie and the letters for a girl in care.

Thrilling read which I literally did not put down until I was done.

Thanks to netgalley, the publisher and author for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

This twisting and turning storyline kept me guessing right until the end. There was enormous sadness but eventually there was also hope for the central characters. A gripping story told with great skill.

This book ticked lots of boxes for me.   It's a subject that most of us don't bear to think about, losing everything and everybody close to you, but this is what has happened to  Maggie Allen. She wakes up from a 10-week coma to find that her world has crumbled, her daughter drowned in the accident which put her in hospital.  Her husband has packed up his life and vanished. Her home which she thought they owned she finds was sold to an unknown property company and they had been renting it for years.   Nobody knows what happened to her possessions.  Starting from zero, but not being able to remember the details of the accident that caused all of this.

It's told in the first person by Maggie herself and interspersed with letters from a ten-year-old girl in foster care.  As with most first-person narrations, the character development of the narrator is excellent.  We really get inside Maggie's head and it gradually emerges that she is not the perfect mother, it was not a perfect marriage but she is very relatable.

4.5 stars
The pacing is excellent, so much so that I found it difficult to put down near the end and raced through the last half of the book in less than a day.  There is also a lot of tension built up, especially towards the end.   There are also some wonderful twists, which explain a lot but came as a total surprise.

The subject matter is quite emotional, but this wasn't a traumatic book to read.  My daughter is around the same age as Maggie's and I was expecting it to be harrowing, but it wasn't too bad.

I also feel this is a bit of a cautionary tale about not maintaining a life outside of your family when motherhood comes along.  It's very easy to isolate yourself from the rest of the world as Maggie did and find that you have nothing when your children and or husband leave.

The ending was satisfying and a little bittersweet, and I admit it I did shed a tiny tear.

REVIEW WILL BE POSTED ON MY BLOG ON FEB 21st 2019

A very sad story, heartbreaking. I thought it was a lovely book. I read this over a month ago and can still remember it all. Worth reading. Will not say many details because do not like to ruin it.

There must be some limit on tne possible permutations of the "wake from a coma" formula. In this story,
Maggie wakes to find her husband has left her and her young daughter has drowned in a terrible accident, locked in a car which rolls into the water.
Maggie is naturally psychologically distraught and, coupled with her physical injuries and lack of money, this makes her future grim.
Ellwood paints a disturbing but convincing picture of Maggie's rehabilitation as she navigates the social welfare system and tries to recall what has happened to her.
Interspersed with Maggie's narrative are letters from "your daughter" which are intended to link past and present as well as add to the mystery but for me these were unhelpful and felt contrived as a narrative device.
Ellwood opens the narrrative as Maggie enters her plea to manslaughter in court and ends with her response. In the last pages the story is unravelled for the reader and for Maggie. Maggie comes to some self-knowledge as she pieces her life together but as a reader I felt too strongly the presence of the author "explaining" the events. The book is an interesting read in several respects but by no means compelling.

When Maggie wakes up after being in a coma she learns that her daughter Elspeth has died in an accident and her husband Sean has left her. An intriguing premise and read for fans of psychological tales with a clever twist.

Maggie is accused of causing her daughter's death by drowning but when letters she believes have been written by Elspeth arrive Maggie is determined that she is still alive and goes on a search to find her. But Maggie's memory has been lost and she suffers from PTSD as she unravels the truth which dates back to a traumatic event when she was fourteen years old.

I did guess which of the people who helped Maggie was not to be trusted but it didn't spoil the story for me. I'm sure The Day of the Accident will be very successful. Many thanks to NetGalley and PenguinUK for the opportunity to read and review it.

Sixty seconds after she wakes from a coma, Maggie's world is torn apart. The police tell her that her daughter Elspeth is dead. That she drowned when the car Maggie had been driving plunged into the river. Maggie remembers nothing. When Maggie begs to see her husband Sean, the police tell her that he has disappeared. He was last seen on the day of her daughter's funeral. What really happened that day at the river? Where is Maggie's husband? Why can't she shake the suspicion that somewhere, somehow, her daughter is still alive?

This is a very haunting, emotional read, one that stays with you long after you have finished it, the book is full of grief and people hurting, Ellwood captures the emotions perfectly, and I felt every blow and pain that the characters did. To say the emotional side of this is well crafted is an understatement, however the action side is dull. I was disinterested in this plot, I was not thrilled by the events and did not think that a lot really happened in this book. There is a twist but a large portion of it is obvious, I had not worked out everything, but I had worked out enough that I was not shocked by the revelation, thus meaning there was not an injection of excitement into the book.  

Plot wise, although superbly written, I found it weak for a thriller and was annoyed at times by the lack of progress or of anything actually happening. The characters however, are extremely well crafted. Maggie in particular is very well developed, I could really envisage her and understand the mental torment she was going through. She is not always a likeable character but she is very human and the struggles she goes through during this book only endears the reader to her. Maggie has a traumatic past that haunts her throughout the book and I liked how Ellwood weaved this into the main plot, the various threads come together well to complement each other. 

'Day of the Accident' is a very haunting, emotional thriller but it is not an exciting one. I was not wowed by this but I did enjoy the portrayal of human emotion and grief.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for an advance copy.

What would you do if you woke from a coma after 10 weeks to be told your `10 year old daughter had died and your husband was missing? That is exactly what happened to Maggie, only she has no recollection. She has been told that she tried to save her daughter Elspeth but she drowned and Maggie sustained the injuries which left her in a coma as a result. Her world has been shattered everything she knew, gone in the blink of an eye! Maggie has to try to piece her life back together but she was in the depths of grief, what happened the day of the accident? My heart went out to Maggie, she was hearing and seeing Elspeth and then when she receives a letter from her, she is convinced that Elspeth is alive and being held somewhere against her will.

This is an emotional rollercoaster of a ride, a brilliant psychological mystery thriller with shocking twists and a belter of a ending, highly recommend it.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books UK for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.