Cover Image: The Accusation

The Accusation

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Member Reviews

The story was a slow burn to start with but then the pace picked up.
The ending was unexpected and there were many twists
An addictive psychological thriller

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Good read that kept my attention. Jenna life was going on as normal until that fateful night walk through the park. This one event set the unraveling of everything she held dear. The book is Jenna’s search for the truth and her looking to reclaim the life she had.

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Brilliantly addictive - couldn't stop reading it. Great characters and lots of tension. Looking forward to reading more from the author off the back of it.

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Providing an opportunity to reflect on how important one choice is and the changes it can make in your life, this book was very thought-provoking. Would you stop to help someone who was hurt and stay with them until help arrived? I think most people would say they would. In this book, we follow Jenna, who stays with someone who has been hurt until the ambulance can arrive, but is then accused of the attack. What follows is the fallout from that choice. Important people in her life have to decide between believing her side of the story and that of the accuser. I really liked this one, and the emotions were powerful and raw.

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Why did I leave it so long to read this book, absolutely brilliant with twists I didnt see coming! Loved the characterisation and really loved the red herrings in here. Brilliant writing and a great story.

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A psychological thriller that lived up to its name.
This was a slow burn... give it time and you'll thank me later!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Victoria Jenkins and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

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i really enjoyed this book, my heart was in my mouth the whole time and i didn't want to finish it. would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a pageturner with great suspense.

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Thank you for the ARC copy of this book.
I was unsure when I first started reading it, and then got into it only for me to be bored for some reason. It was well written and the characters were ok but I've read better. Sorry this is my honest review.

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They say she’s guilty. She says she’s not. Who do you believe?

‘Help me! Help me, please!’

When Jenna hears the cry in the park one night, she feels she has no choice but to run and help. Cradling the injured woman in her arms, the attacker nowhere to be seen, all Jenna wants is to keep her alive until the ambulance arrives and for the ordeal to be over.

But the nightmare begins when the victim wakes up…

Jenna’s relief turns to horror when the finger is pointed at her. There must be some mistake: she’s never seen the woman before in her life, and Jenna tried to save her life. Why would she accuse Jenna of a crime she didn’t commit?

As the case against Jenna grows, her world starts to fall apart. Her teenage daughter is keeping secrets and her husband is growing more distant every day. To save her family and clear her name, Jenna has to prove she didn’t do it.

But someone knows something Jenna did do. And they want to make her pay…

I was instantly drew into this book from the first chapter and knew it was going to be one that I enjoyed. I really liked the author’s writing style and the way that she ended the chapters on a cliffhanger. I raced through this book in two sittings to find out why Jenna had been falsely accused of the crime. I did not guess the ending at all and though that Jenna and Lily were just a mum and daughter who were going through the terrible teens. There were a fair few clues dropped throughout the book that perhaps gave the ending away, but I had other theories of my own - that turned out to be completely wrong. I will be looking for more by this author as I really enjoyed her writing style and development of the characters.

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Great storyline got me into it from the first page. Good twists in it too.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

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A riveting read from an insanely talented author!
Victoria Jenkins has you gripped within the first few pages and it continues right until the last page!
You keep promising yourself you’ll go to bed at the end of the chapter.... before you realise it you’ve read ten more and it’s starting to get light outside!
With well thought out characters and an intriguing and original plot line, this wonderful book will keep you guessing all the way through

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Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book a little slow, to be honest. It did have a good beginning and likeable characters. It dragged out a little too much for my liking, although it did all make sense in the end.

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.WoW!!! The Accusation by Victoria Jenkins is another fantastic book by Victoria. I've loved reading all her books and this one was just another excellent read. It's full of twists and turns that will have you gripped till the end.

I can highly recommend all her books They are just brilliant!

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange of an honest review

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★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

Wow! What a book to end 2020 on!

As tomorrow is my birthday (yes, NYE, I know and I hate it), I won't be reading anything else before the end of the year, so I can safely say that THE ACCUSATION was an appropriate edge of your seat thrill ride to end what was otherwise a horrible year.

I have been a fan of Victoria Jenkins since her Detectives King and Lane series and have followed her journey into the psychological genre. Her debut thriller "The Divorce" was average, then came "The Argument" which was pretty phenomenal...and then there is her latest...THE ACCUSATION. And wow! I was pretty much blown away. That is...until the end.

Jenna Morgan finds herself confronted with something of a quandary one night when she hears a woman's cry for help. Would you rush to assist? Of course you would. And Jenna is no different. Taking a shortcut on her way home from dinner with friends one night she hears a cry for help and rushing into the darkened park, finds Charlotte laying on the ground with a stab wound to the neck and a figure running away. She applies pressure to the wound, calls an ambulance and keeps her talking till help arrives. After giving police her statement, she returns home in something of a daze.

The following day, Jenna wonders how Charlotte is doing, as any normal person would do. So picking up some flowers, she makes her way to the hospital to see how she's doing. As she enters the ward, she sees Charlotte laying on her bed, her face turned and looking out the window. But nothing prepares her for the blood curdling scream that emanates from Charlotte's mouth as soon as she sees Jenna, shouting "She did it!"

The next thing Jenna knows is that she is being taken in for questioning in relation to Charlotte's attack. But with her word against Jenna's, who will they believe? Whilst she is in custody, the police turn over her house looking for anything to support the allegation. Whatever happened to innocent till proven guilty? It seems Jenna is guilty until she's proven innocent. And how is she going to do that? She doesn't even know who is trying to frame her! Because that's the only thing that makes any kind of sense here...that someone is out to fit her up for something she didn't do.

However, that is not all. Jenna's husband Damien has been somewhat distant with her for the past couple of weeks and Jenna suspects him of having an affair. But she doesn't expect the other woman to be one of her closest friends, Laura. Or at least, that's what she suspects when her teenage daughter Lily confides in her that she has seen them together. Damien is definitely distant with her.

And then there is seventeen year old Lily, who has recently become moody and distant herself...as teenagers go...but Jenna feels there is something more to it. Lily has been seen in the company of an older man and whilst Jenna thought she had put a stop to it she suspects Lily has been seeing him again. The two of them used to be so close but lately Lily has locked herself away in her room, had whispered conversations on her phone till all hours and hanging up as soon as she or Damien walk in. Although Lily's father died when she was just 3 years old, Damien has been the closest thing to a father she has known. She always adored him and the two of them shared a unique bond in their early years. So it seemed strange that now Lily spoke of him with something like distaste. What had happened between the two of them?

Whilst juggling her home life and running a cafe, the last thing Jenna needs is to be charged with attempted murder. Then when the police turn up one morning at her cafe with a search warrant she is speechless when they discover a blood strained knife hidden behind the fridge. Jenna swears she has no idea how it got there...but the evidence against her, although circumstantial, is slowly building up and unless she can prove otherwise she is looking at prison.

Jenna knows she didn't do this. She only tried to help the woman. In fact, she had never even seen her before in her life...so why was she targeting her? What had Jenna done to deserve this? But then Jenna has a secret that no one, not even Damien, knows. Surely that has nothing to do with what's happening here.

But when Damien shows her the anonymous notes he's been receiving claiming that Jenna is not who she says she is and 'how well do you know your wife', she starts to feel her world begin to crumble in on her. But regardless, Jenna knows she must protect her family at all costs.

Wow! I have to say, seasoned sleuth that I am, not even I figured out what was at play till just before the reveal. Well done, Ms Jenkins! It takes a writer with a lot of nous to hoodwink me...lol

Narrated by Jenna herself throughout, THE ACCUSATION takes us through Jenna's past and present in alternating chapters as she tells us how she met Damien and leading up to their marriage. She also gives us a little of Lily's father though sensing as if that a secret she prefers to keep we are left to wonder as to just what kind of man he really was. The story is predominantly in the present but I have to say that the chapters where Jenna takes us back to the past could have been titled as "Past" or something relating to that so as not to confuse it with the present...although it was fairly easy to follow anyway. I think I could just be me being fussy. lol

My only real flaw with the book is the ending which I found to be too abrupt. It ended at the bottom of the page followed by three asterixes, which I naturally thought was a break to segue into a more rounded ending. But I was surprised to turn the page and find...nothing. But a plug for her previous thriller "The Argument". After all the build up, the climax, the tension...I had expected a little more to end on.

But that aside, THE ACCUSATION is thoroughly addictive from beginning to end with a fast pace that never lets up throughout and is a thrill-ride well worth the journey. I loved every minute of it and between this and her last thriller, it's hard to say which is her best.

A well written psychological thriller in which Ms Jenkins has certainly found her niche, THE ACCUSATION has all the twists, all the turns and all the tension to keep you guessing right up to the end. With thrillers like this, Jenkins is right up there with the likes of Shalini Boland and Kim Slater.

I would like to thank #VictoriaJenkins, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheAccusation in exchange for an honest review.

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A great read! This had all the right amount of suspense in, with some big twists in the story.
Walking home from a night out with friends, Jenna goes to the aid of a woman being attacked in her local park. The attacker runs away and Jenna stays with the woman, who has been stabbed, until the ambulance arrives. It’s only when she tries to visit the injured woman, Charlotte, in hospital that she accuses her of being the person who stabbed her. Jenna’s life starts to fall apart as she is arrested with a crime she didn’t commit. Evidence is found in her to link her to the attack, but who is doing this to her?
All isn’t quite what it seems however, as Jenna has some secrets that are threatening to surface and they could change everything. My first book by this author, but I’m keen to read more.

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This was indeed quite a compelling read with very good twists that had me turning/swiping the pages to read.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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The Accusation

This was certainly a page turner thriller and as such I read it very quickly and did enjoy it.

However I didn't feel like it was very original...it was interchangeable with many other thrillers I have read and the characters motivations and the twists were fairly easy to see coming.

I struggled with the beginning of the book because the actual titled accusation was so far fetched and ridiculous that I found it hard to take the emotions seriously.  I mean is that all it would take?  I seriously doubt it and I am willing to suspend belief in book on lots of things.

However once I got through this I very much enjoyed the narrative and the writing was excellent ...although I did feel quite removed from Jenna.   I wished I felt more connected with her but her feelings and actions were so alien.

Both the actions of Jenna and Damien were just indescribable....both things they were lying about seemed ridiculous and made their lives difficult for no reason. 

I also think the characters of Nancy, Amy and Laura should have either been enhanced or reduced as  they were just kind of there and Jenna needed either proper allies that were completely on her side (Amy was originally set up as the fun friend who then spent the book being overly cautious and dull) or actual enemies rather than just the inbetweeners that they were.
Nancy could have been a great frenemy for Jenna but instead, again she was just there...I think these supporting characters either needed to be more linked in to the main storyline and to Jenna in particular or removed completely.

Lily was the most interesting character but we only got one side of her character - the dramatic side...I would have liked to have seen more of her.

Overall this is an interesting thriller and a very easy read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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This book was just ok for me. I had a hard time relating to any of the characters, and had to push my way through to the end. It felt disjointed and unfortunately not terribly interesting.

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Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the book in exchange for my honest review.

Victoria Jenkins is one of my favorite author. I have been following her writing since then.

I LOVE this book so much. The writing is very simple and easy catching my attention. The plot is great and the characters all super active and balance.

Overall, I would give this book 4.5 ratings out of 5. Will I reread this book? OF COURSE YES! Will I buy the copy and make it a collection? OF COURSE! Will I read the next book by this author? DEFINITELY YES! CAN'T WAIT to read more from this author!

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This was a compelling read with some twists and turns. Secrets. What if you were accused of something you didn’t do?
Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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