4.5 stars.
I really enjoyed If I Die Before I Wake when I read it a while back so I was quite excited to get my mitts on this, the author's follow up book. Where it didn't quite read the heady heights of its predecessor, it was a good solid read for me.
We start with an incident at a multi-story car park where a boy loses his life. Another boy is arrested for murder. But it isn't really their story. It is more the story of their mothers. Indigo is determined that her son Kane is innocent. Alice is desperate to find the truth of what happened that night and why her boy, Lou, is dead. A chance meeting between the mothers with one withholding her identity leads to an investigation aside from that of the police who seem determined that they have got the right suspect.
The narrative is split between the two mothers and follows each of them in the day leading to and the days following what happened. We also see glimpses in flashback and hear from others who were there that night to fill in some of the gaps. It's gripping and will tug at your heartstrings all the way through as we see two mothers who previously thought they were close to their sons start to realise that there were some things they didn't know. It starts off quite slowly, there is quite a bit of scene setting and running about chasing tails, but all this is wholly necessary to set things up for when the book really get going towards the end. This slow burn adds a layer of frustration to what the characters are going through which is wholly in accord with the narrative all the way through. Basically, pacing fits the story throughout!
Characters are all very well crafted and play their respective parts well. I really felt for both mothers with what they were going through. It's quite an emotive read all told.
And the ending when it came, after the rollercoaster ride the book had already taken me on, was perfect. It left me both satisfied and spent...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Two mothers the son of one dead and the son of the other accused of his murder. Each mother sense there is more to it than meets the eye. Told through the perspectives of Alice and Indigo the narrative follows their search for the truth - only one mother knowing who the other is.

For me the story rumbles under the surface but fails to fully capture the rising tension, it just never really erupts onto the surface for me. I enjoyed the characterisation of both mothers but the idea of the one helping the other always felt just a bit off kilter.

I think this author has much to offer but for me this just fails to reach the mark

I loved Emily Koch's previous book so I had high expectations but unfortunately I just didn't enjoy this as much. It just wasn't the thriller I was hoping for and I felt it was lacking depth in the plot . I did like the main characters and it was well written but for me it didn't live up to being a good psychological thriller.

A good premise but too slow paced storyline. I found this hard to keep wanting to read it so it took a lot longer than usual to finish it. I did persevere but it was a struggle. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it. 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars

Alice had two children: Benny (well, Benoît, actually) and Louis. Lou's seventeen and he's just got his A level results and he and his brother are going out to celebrate. Someone has to find something to celebrate in the letters, D, D and E. Alice has always had a good relationship with nineteen-year-old Benny but it's a touch problematic with Lou and being honest, he's not terribly likeable. The letters which kept coming to my mind were ADHD.

Indigo has just the one child, Kane, and he's the same age as Benny. She's got something in common with Alice in that they're both single parents, but when we join the story they don't know each other. That's about to change, though. As Benny and Lou head out to celebrate they meet up with Kane and at the end of the night, Lou will be dead and Kane will be in a police cell, accused of his murder.

Alice had always felt that she's struggled to love Lou: she felt that she's never quite loved him enough. She's conscious that she did consider aborting him, and Lou's father, Etienne, has told him about this. Alice is understandably worried that this might have been on Lou's mind on the night that he died. She needs to understand more about Lou.

Indigo needs to understand more about Kane, too. Kane's admitted to being responsible for Lou's death and seems determined to accept whatever punishment is coming to him. He knows that he'll not be heading off to university in October. But Indigo knows Kane to be a gentle, peaceable boy whom she couldn't imagine hurting anyone, least of all pushing them off the third floor of a multi-story car park. She's relieved when a kind stranger offers her help, but that stranger is Alice and she has her own reasons for helping.

I struggled a little with this book and that was because I really didn't take to Lou at all. Emily Koch's portrait of him is masterful and it's brave to base a story around someone who is not entirely going to appeal to readers. For me, it didn't quite come off. I was also unconvinced by Alice offering help to Indigo: she just didn't seem like that sort of person. I know: I'm nitpicking. The book is well-written and engaging - and I'll certainly be looking out for what Koch writes next and I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag see a review copy.

An intriguing mystery into family relationships and guilt, this is a gripping book from start to finish. I would strongly recommend this

A slow paced family drama/psychological thriller. Two women one dealing with the death of her son, the other dealing with her son admitting to killing another.

Alice is a single mother to Benny and Lou, Indigo is also a single mother to Kane. The story is told in alternate chapters through the mothers. Two different mothers, each wanting to know the truth of what happened that fateful night, who pushed Lou? Did he jump? What really happened?

Indigo is determined to get to the bottom of things, as she is helped by a kind stranger, but what does the stranger really want?

Who should know their children better than a mother? But do these mothers really know their sons?

When you have spent 18 or more years raising that child, how do you come to terms with losing them? Like Alice I would have had to know what happened, but equally as Indigo I would have wanted to know if my son had killed another!

The characters are all well rounded, the passion the mothers have to get to the truth, their backgrounds, troubled relationships, each having complex backgrounds.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #VintageDigital for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

A single mother has two sons they both go out one night and only one returns. He is being charged with the murder of his brother. Now mum goes on a crusade to find out the truth no matter what the cost. This book starts off well then it really slows down. Well written but it just did not hold my attention. I am sure other readers will enjoy it more just not for me.
Thanks to Random House UK and Netgalley for the ARC.

This book was a slow burner for me , and unusually it took me a really long time to finish it . Two mothers come together , Alice's son is dead and Indigo's son is accused of the murder . Indigo befriends Alice to try and get to the bottom of what happened . This wasn't fast paced but the two leads were written very well and I felt for them both . Just 3 stars for me

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this one

really really wanted to like this one...but for some reason it just did not grab me...i can see its well written on a subject that should interest me but i gave it my best shot...

Good. Interesting characters and concept. A real page turner. Kept me guessing till the end. Love the writing style and how it makes it such a atmospheric book.

I have read Emily Koch's previous novel and enjoyed it but this was one was too slow and filled with tepid characters. Sadly, I could not finish it.

This is a well written story which was really sad in places. The thought of losing a child is beyond comprehension. The fact that Alice befriends Indigo to find out if Kane is guilty is a really good storyline.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Indigo and Alice meet at the worst times of their lives. Alice’s son has been killed and Indigo’s son Kane has been charged with his murder. Alice had a very difficult relationship with her youngest son and is now desperate to find out the truth behind his death. When Alice crosses path with Indigo she conceals her identity to find out the truth. Indigo is desperate to believe her son could not kill anyone and tries to find the truth.
I thought the characters were great and liked the differing mother son relationships portrayed. A great novel that will keep you hooked.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random house, vintage publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley #KeepHimClose

I'm all about giving an honest opinion when I do a book review so I'm going to be very upfront about this book - I didn't enjoy it. I generally love psychological thrillers but I just didn't get into this book at all and it took me easily a month to read it.

There were good points - I loved Indigo as a character. I thought she was sweet and quirky. She had such a kind heart. Also, the premise of the book was great but I felt the plot lagged.

There were areas that could have been expanded on such as, what was Wilko's actual involvement? **I have a theory on that one though!**, where did Etienne go?! It seemed a bit abrupt, I also would have loved to have Indigo's family story with her mother and sister expanded on.

The story was well written, I know people will love it but it just wasn't my cup of tea unfortunately.

I really enjoyed this book! Keeps you questioning throughout, about how you would react / act in Alice’s and Indigo’s situation. The most unlikely but lovely friendship.

Keep Him Close is the first book I have read by Emily Koch, but having devoured this quite quickly, I'm pretty certain it will not be the last. The book opens with a fairly typical interaction between mother and son, Alice and Lou. Typical that is if there is a clear amount of tension and animosity between the pair. Lou is Alice's youngest son, seemingly full of confidence, arrogance and a little bit of menace. This clash of wills, the derision that Lou exhibits towards his mother, is the last conversation the pair will have as by the morning, Lou is dead.

Now whilst this is a story about a young man who has lost his life in suspicious and ultimately tragic circumstances, it is far more than that too. The actual act itself takes place off the page, the first that Alice or the reader knows of it is when she gets that dreaded visit from the police in the middle of the night. As a reader, the prologue gives us that ominous sense of something bad about to happen, but whilst we can guess the who, we won;t know the real how and why for a very long time.

Beyond the how and the why though, which of course intrigued me, this was far more a story looking at the impact of loss upon two very different mothers. First we have Alice, a woman who has suffered the ultimate loss in that her son can never be returned to her. Then you have Indidigo who is faced with a very different kind of loss as it is her son, Dean, who stands accused of Lou's murder. The pair are united in only one thing - the need to know the truth about what happened and yet are brought together in a surprising but believable way, although it is fair to say that secrets are still the name of the game here.

The author has portrayed the two women perfectly. Alice is restrained, almost cold in the loss of her son, unable to express her grief as others might expect her to. It seems odd but. I actually understand her character quite well, can relate to it in a way, and Emily Koch has really captured that intolerance and determination, the way the odd memory forces its way through to the front of her mind when she least expects it. Indigo is Alice's polar opposite, and whilst not overcome by her emotion, her passion for proving her son's innocence leeches from the page and reels you in as a reader.

There are lots of side threads to this story, where we learn more about Dean, as well as Lou and his brother Benny and the world they inhabit. Lots of shady characters about who cast doubt on the account of what happened that night, and who possess vital clues in Alice and Indigo's search for the truth. There are also those who sit on the periphery of Alice's life - her ex husband and her father. They humanise her in a way, but also show the stark contrasts between their emotions and Alice's aloofness.

As I said before, this book is about far much more than the who and the why. It is a keen study of character, of the impact of loss and of two women who work together to find closure and some kind of justice in the most horrible of situations. There are some real emotions wrapped up in this story, moments that will make even a hard hearted woman like Alice take pause. It is not fast paced and it is not high action, but there is an underlying suspense and tension that kept me hooked to the very last page.

Alice is a single mum with two teenage sons. On a night out one of her sons is killed and Alice will do anything to find out how and why.
Indigo is also a single mum with one teenage son. Her son is charged will killing Alice’s son but Indigo can not believe that this is true.
A story of two mothers fighting for their children.
This story started off well but didn’t hold my interest in the second half of the book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the premise of this book as I thought it was a crime novel. It turned out to be far too domestic for my taste and I kept waiting for things to happen that just didn't. Couple that with characters I could not relate to and I struggled to finish the book.

I really tried to like this book, the promise of two mothers and two sons. one dead, the other confessed to his murder. I failed to engage with the characters, the pace was slow but this is more a domestic thriller than a crime thriller. The book had me interested but just not for long enough. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.