Sony Luvs Books

Can anyone be so unlucky? Accidents Happen, honestly I was intrigued by the synopsis. Can one person have that much bad luck. At the beginning its a slow read, the pacing. But a few chapters in  a mystery starts to form. And questions begin to bubble to the surface. Is Kate crazy, and who is this mysterious figure lurking in the background. Just enough drama to keep the reader’s interest as you are spoon fed clues. If you’re smart you’ll pick up the clues fast. I like that its written in the vein of BBC mystery.

 With a slow undercurrent of suspense and malicious intent via the lurking stranger. You know that feeling one gets when you think someone has been in your space, that something is wrong. But you don’t know what it is except that things are off. I have just described how Kate feels all the time. 

Characters. Jack is a typical kid who has lost a parent and dealing with the emotional train wreck of the surviving parent. The mother-in-law was a frump full of passive aggression, and a father-in-law with a sweet nature veneer. Who underneath it all was a manipulative hard arse that loves money. And her sister-in-law is a jealous cow. She is having a hard time of her own. Her marriage is going down in flames. So her attention to Kate is a distraction, and while meddling in her life under the guise of concern. She flip flops between wishing Kate will just stay the same, and jealous that the life is coming back into Kate’s eyes. Jago, the professor is like a refreshing breeze in Kate’s life. He doesn’t look at her like some broken thing that needs to be fixed. He represented hope to Kate of someday being normal again, and she grabs onto it like a drowning woman, but is Jago too good to be true. And just who is creepy neighbor Magnus? Is is he bad or good. I like that characters aren’t who they seem to be, that they’re not clearly defined.

 After Kate’s parents died on her wedding night she was raw for a long time. When her husband died I think that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Kate needed to have some control over her life and the statics gave some measure of control. Until it spiraled into an obsessive compulsive disorder.  I love the way Kate’s state of mind is shown through action. The over-protective nature, the over the top security system. The anxiety attacks. At first Jago becomes a light at the end of the tunnel. With his help Kate undergoes an experimental treatment under his supervision.  The challenges he has her doing are  questionable. Still Kate begins to blossom as this experiment is getting results. I like that the changes are gradual, little, a laugh, letting go of the handle bars of her bike ignoring her own rules of statistics, the most noticeable the change in her appearance.

Kate reawakens the woman in her at the same time. Getting to the premise can a person have such bad luck who or is this the work of malicious   hands. Is someone is out to hurt Kate and her family. As we read these questions begin to raise is Kate crazy, is the danger all in her head.  And just who is creepy neighbor Magnus, is he involved in Kate’s bad luck? The twist, secrets all the plot points of a good mystery.

With an high octane ending that I didn’t see coming. In the end all the pieces fell into to place and the picture made sense. It’s always been a wish of mine to go back and visit England. And through writer Millar’s descriptions of the city of Oxford (by the way more fictional murders take place Oxford in almost all the mysteries i’ve read or watched, fun fact.) its descriptive enough that feel like I’m visiting England for a while. I loved the premise, the mystery, the twist and secrets. I enjoyed Accidents Happen. I gave AH a four out five. And would recommend AH for the  16+ and up crowd. Mystery buffs if you’re like me and watched mysteries like  Misdsomer’s murders ,Inspector Lewis  on BBC or channel 13 ( public television) for N.Y. then you would love this book.