I enjoyed this book immensely. It is full of carefully crafted tension and has so many surprises! Every time I thought I had it all figured out, I was jerked in another direction and forced to reconsider basically my entire life.

I really liked the segments of the book from the perspective of Brinley. It was such a fresh and interesting take on "the friend of the murderer." She tugged at my heartstrings so much, her position in the whole thing is just unthinkable.

The end of this book came together in such a beautiful way, and each new revelation unfolded in perfect time. Nothing felt rushed or forced, and even when something was a surprise, it also made all the sense in the world. Just a really remarkable piece of writing.

I enjoyed this book, and couldn't put it down. This was a shocking and dark story. A great thriller.

So many involved characters and so much pain. I wonder where the author got the inspiration.

I wasn't expecting the ending. Although i didn't feel it add much to the story.

This was a tough read to get into, and it took a long time. But eventually I was hooked and whilst it was obvious what was going to happen, there was still a little twist at the end.
Will definitely be recommending!

4.5* an excellent read. Gore score 2/5
It’s a very striking cover.
Sara and Shannon Carter’s lives are shattered when one of the sisters stabs and kills both the parents, one ends up in foster care, the other in a secure unit.
On the anniversary of the deaths one of the sisters breaks the silence and does a tv interview. Hot on the trail of the breaking story is journalist and an old school friend and neighbour Brindley who has her own secrets and problems.
It drew me in straight away. It’s got a good pace, and plenty of early revelations for interest.
I warmed to Brin early on.
The girls early story is heartbreaking. It is from half way in that I was absolutely riveted to the book and totally emerged in the story. It just keeps getting better and better, what an ending!
Felt the Heathcote story was an unnecessary diversion.
There’s a small niggle in the plot for me,nothing major, and I don’t want to risk a plot spoiler.

Has you on the edge of your seat, A brilliant read just couldn`t put it down.
How far would go to protect your friend or sister?
Shannon and Sara suffered from mental and physical abuse from their well liked parents witnessed by only their friend Brinley.
The three friends are found next to the parents who were stabbed 14 times, Sara confessed to the murder.
Years later Sara is married with a daughter of her own but has not told her husband anything of her past life.
Brinley is a reporter sent to the interview of Shannon telling everyone what happened, but it`s not as Sara said so the twists begin.

love the twists, well worth a read.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

She had lived a lie for thirteen years, and the perfect life as she had known it was about to change forever.

Everyone remembered Sara and Shannon Carter, the little blonde haired sisters. Their Dad was the local GP and they lived in the beautiful house on the hill.

This was a very disturbing but good read.

Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and could not get enough of.

This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good thriller!!
Absolutely loved the characters, the plot, the tension -  impossible to put it down.
Certainly recommended!

A gruesome double murder made national headlines at the time, sensationalised by the fact that the killer of the respectable GP and his wife was one of their daughters. One, nicknamed the Angel of Death spent years in a children's secure unit after confessing to the killing, while her sister made her way through the foster system. Years later, a documentary team tracks down one of the sisters and as she speaks about the events of that night, they come back to haunt everyone involved.

Let's start off by saying that I'm writing this at gone 4am, having stayed up to finish this book after it turned into a monster of a page turner about a third of the way in. The start may have been a little difficult to get into, due to the vagueness of the writing, however the reward when the twists and the drama truly start hitting were worth it.

I won't go into much detail in terms of plot for fearing of spoiling anything, but will say that I had a more than one real double take moment, almost exclaiming "wait... what?!" out loud. The mysteries unfold at a perfect pace, drawing the reader in further while keeping some tantalisingly out of reach.

Definitely recommend this for thriller fans, although it's not for the faint of heart.

Content warning for child abuse, which made for some difficult reading. However, it's not gratuitous and is important for the story.

4.5 stars, rounded up

This one is difficult to write... The retelling of child abuse is horrific, whether it be in real life or in a work of fiction. Cummins has written this with the right amount of gentleness and should be applauded as I can only imagine how hard it must have been to write when it was heartbreaking to read.

With the child abuse storyline aside, this was well done - I didn't see the twists coming, I was completely off with how I thought this story would play out. Very well done!

I'm rating this four stars just because part 2 of the book was hard for me to read and it did distress me quite a bit but overall, a very good book.

This is a brilliant thirller that you will enjoy well plotted and crafted a fantastic story that is fantastic.

I enjoy the writing of Fiona Cummins but unlike a lot of other positive reviewers the book failed to grab my attention the way many of her other books have. It was well written and difficult to say what didn’t work for me but I felt it was good not great. The story seemed to drag a fair bit and lacked the excitement I was hoping for.

She had lived a lie for thirteen years, and the perfect life as she had known it was about to change forever. Everyone remembered Sara and Shannon Carter, the little blonde haired sisters. Their Dad was the local GP and they lived in the beautiful house on the hill. Their best friend, Brinley Booth, lived next door. They would do anything for each other but everything shifted on that fateful day when Dr Richard Carter and his wife Pamela were stabbed fourteen times with a pair of scissors in what has become the most talked about double murder of the modern age.

The girls were aged ten and twelve at the time. One, nicknamed the Angel of Death, spent eight years in a children’s secure unit accused of the brutal killings. The other lived in foster care out of the limelight and prying questions. Now, on the anniversary of the trial, a documentary team has tracked down one of the sisters, persuading her to speak about the events of that night for the first time.

Her explosive interview sparks national headlines and Brinley Booth, now a journalist, is tasked with covering the news story which brings to light fresh evidence and triggers a chain of events which will have devastating consequences.

I would like to thank both Netgalley an Pan Macmillan for supplying this novel in exchange for an honest review.

She had lived a lie for thirteen years, and the perfect life as she had known it was about to change forever.

Everyone remembered Sara and Shannon Carter, the little blonde-haired sisters. Their Dad was the local GP and they lived in a beautiful house on the hill. Their best friend, Brinley Booth, lived next door. They would do anything for each other but everything shifted on that fateful day when Dr Richard Carter and his wife Pamela were stabbed fourteen times with a pair of scissors in what has become the most talked-about double murder of the modern age.

This book is so compelling, I could not put it down! The story is told over two parts/two-timeline but it is easy to follow. The book fits the genre perfectly and the description is spot on. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of her work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Where to I start? I had a love/hate relationship with this novel. Three childhood friends, secrets and lies. I was driven along a bumpy road to the end of this book by sheer curiosity. I am exhausted and can't get the characters out of my head! Whew!

The novel has more twists and turns than a Curly Wurly!

I give a 4-star rating.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

I really enjoyed this. I was lucky enough to listen as audiobook as well as have a digital copy.
The narrator on the audiobook was fab, I could understand everything and she helped to add to the tense atmosphere.

The premise of this book is so up my street!! As a teacher, I am fascinated with the idea of child killers. What makes a ten year old brutally murder?
I loved the multiple perspectives, and the unreliable narrator. Unlike a lot of thrillers, I actually feel that this one was quite believable and could actually happen - this made it all the more tense and thrilling.

The only downside was the pacing. I found the ending to drag a little bit - I kept thinking it was the end, then there was more!

Great book, and thoroughly recommend the audio book.

This book is right up my street, a tense and gripping thriller that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading. Incredible plot, great characters and very well written.

I’m fast becoming a fan of Fiona Cummins as I know that I’m going to be in for a good time. A read that will have me so engrossed I won’t mind what’s happening around me.

This was very true with this book.

It didn’t take long to weave myself within the confines of this story.

A child kills her parents.

What?! I hear you ask.

I know. I was exactly like you are now. Gasping and in disbelief.

She owns up to it too.

This is, for sure, a dark and twisted read that I could only give 5* to.
Totally hooked, totally jaw dropping.

I “read” along with this on audio.

The narrator did a good job or throwing her voice to make me stand and take notice lots of times.
Right down to the singing.

This is a psychological thriller that deals with a child murdering her parents. The first third of the book builds a picture of Catherine Allen, who lives quietly in an Essex village with her husband and daughter, who has not told them her secret. They think her family died in a house fire, but her parents, Dr and Mrs Carter, were murdered, and by their daughter.

It also introduces us to Brinley, a thirtysomething journalist on a national newspaper, who lived next door to the Carters as a child and was their best friend. As the story once again is discussed in the media, Brinley has to decide whether to solidify her shaky position at the newspaper by revealing she is close to the story, and filling in details that her editor hopes will make a big impact.

The second third of the book flashes back to the Carters’ childhood, and the terrible abuse that their parents inflicted on Sara and Shannon, their two daughters. It can be difficult to write about child abuse, but Cummins manages to fill out the full psychological horror of how the girls are constantly victimised, torn down, held as objects of ridicule and antipathy by their parents, and some physical violence, and yet it is not gratuitous, and is central to their story.

The book builds into a thrilling crescendo, with Sara (Catherine), Shannon and Brinley facing up to the choices and actions they took twenty years before.

The only thing which jarred in this book was the side story of an MP, Geoffrey Heathcote, who faces the consequences of his arrogant slip of the tongue on a radio interview, and the exposure of an affair. I understand it’s part of a focus on the media and how chasing a story can affect the people who are part of the story, but I think it was a bit of a trope and didn’t really contribute to the overall arc.

That said, the story focusing on Sara (Catherine) and her family, Shannon and Brinley was built brilliantly, and held some twists which will shock.

When I Was Ten is a chilling and tense thriller with some fantastic twists added in.
When Shannon was twelve and Sara was Ten their lives changed forever as it was the night their parents were murdered.
When Sara confesses to the murders she spends eight years in a children's secure unit and her sister Shannon gets on with her life but after twenty years a new documentary covering the murders is to be released and Sara's sister Shannon speaks out.
Their childhood friend and journalist Brinley watches on but when her boss tells her she has to cover the story Brinley knows that family secrets cant be kept forever.

I thought this was going to be right up my street however I was quite disappointed I found the book dragged on abit and I got confused with who I was reading about at times. Didnt find the story that gripping. Was glad to finish the book.

Everyone remembers the murder. Twenty-one years ago, Dr Richard Carter and his wife Pamela were murdered. Their daughter, ten-year-old Sara Carter – nicknamed the Angel of Death – has. spent eight years in a children’s secure unit and now lives quietly under an assumed name. She even has a family of her own. On the anniversary of the trial, a documentary team has tracked down her older sister Shannon Carter, compelling her to break two decades of silence. Her interview is explosive, sparking national headlines. Brindley Booth, a childhood friend of the Carter sisters, is now a journalist and is tasked with covering the news story. Now all three women are forced to confront what really happened on that blood-soaked night – with devastating consequences for them all.

This was quite simply one of those addictive page turners. My husband kept waking in the night and finding me sat up, fast asleep and still wearing my reading glasses and clutching my kindle! The GP and his wife are killed by stabbing with a pair of scissors and it seemed unlikely that a child would have the strength to carry it out. The story is told through two timelines, across three sections. In 2018 we have Catherine who is desperate to keep her past from her family, and Brindley reinvestigating. In 1997 we travel back to the events leading up to the murder. The tension is tripled because I desperately wanted to know what happened that night, but also how the story would play out now that the story is back in the spotlight, would Catherine manage to stay hidden or will she have to tell her family about her past? Will Brindley find out anything new about the murder, what will Shannon tell her and will she find Sara?

The tension was unbearable, and with it being in different sections I found myself saying ‘just one more chapter...’ it started slow, but the pace builds. Shannon tv plea to her sister sends all the tabloids into a feeding frenzy. Catherine meanwhile is trying to weigh up the odds, enlisting a friend to help her decide what to do. Another clever choice by Fiona Cummins, was to leave some things unseen. We know that all wasn’t okay in the Carter household and I was sure the girls were subjected to abuse, but it’s never explicit. My imagination filled in the blanks and it made it even scarier and the girls anger even more understandable. I lost a weekend reading this, but it was a weekend well spent.

I absolutely loved this book and raced through it!

The writing was well structured and the story flowed easily, with some unexpected twists along the way. I couldn’t put it down as wanted to find out what was going to happen next!

It was an uncomfortable read at times with themes around child abuse and violence, but I thought these were handled sensitively.

I look forward to reading more from this author.