Book Review – The Walls

The Walls by Hollie Overton (Century) ISBN 9781780895093

Kristy was not living up to her potential – from being a bright girl at school with so many opportunities open to her, to falling pregnant by mistake at a young age and having to drop out of her academics and get a job to survive.

The job was as a press agent for the Texas Department of Corrections, where she had to watch guilty, and some innocent, death row prisoners receive the lethal injection and then answer press questions about the cases. It was a depressing job but she was stuck there.

One day she meets Lance, her teenage son Ryan’s martial arts instructor. He woos her and after a whirlwind romance they tie the knot…and then Kristy experiences the other side of Lance – the controlling, abusive, violent and psychotic side that he reserves only for her…while still being Mr Nice Guy to everyone else in her family and life. How will Kristy escape Lance’s attacks and threats to her son’s and father’s lives?

This is the author’s second novel: her first, Baby Doll, was a Sunday Times bestseller. The Walls is based on personal experience in some instances which adds to the believability.

This is a fascinating read that asks moral questions, and it has a satisfying ending.

Amanda Blankfield-Koseff
4/5