Dead time by Anne Cassidy

For the past five years Rose has been in the care of her grandmother Anna, first while she attended a small all girls private school, and for the past few months at home with her grandmother while she attends the local college.  She used to live with her mother, but she vanished five years ago along with her partner Brendan, and with their dissappearance Rose's happy family vanished almost overnight as her stepbrother Joshua was sent away to stay with relatives and Rose was sent to Anna.  Now, after five years Rose and Joshua have reconnected, and while Anna is definitely not happy about it, Rose isn't sure what she feels - especially when she finds out that Joshua has set up websites to try and find information about their parents, websites that may finally have found some results.  There is also the confusing feelings Rose has for Joshua - he is her stepbrother and she shouldn't feel that way about him, but in the eyes of the law they are not real step siblings because their parents were never married.

At the same time  Rose finds herself faced with a series of strange and twisted circumstances after she is a witness to the murder of a boy from her local college.  He was harassing her and being a jerk, but she doesn't believe he deserved to die.  Drawn into a web of lies and deceipt, Rose tries to help solve the mystery of Ricky's death, but things are more complicated than she thought - especially when another student at the school is murdered.  Rose is facing pressure from all sides, and despite her resolve to keep to herself and just get through the few years remaining until she can collect her inheritance as quietly as possible, the fates seem to be conspiring against her.  There is more at stake than she knows, and if she is not careful the real killer could get away with cold blooded murder.

Anne Cassidy is a great author who packs a lot of punch with her writing, twisting the story into knots at times just to keep you guessing.  In many respects her stories are very British which made it a little difficult to get sometimes about the scene she was setting - college has a very different meaning to us apparently, but it was not so bad that it jolted me out of the story.  The wealth of information she manages to portray in the story makes it a more enjoyable read, and helps you bury yourself in the details, yet she strikes the right balance of not burying you under the evidence.  This was a enjoyable read and is the first book in a series so hopefully there will be more great reads in the future - particularly relating to Joshue and Rose as they are great characters who have an impressive supporting cast that is just starting to find its feet.

If you like this book then try:

• Missing Judy by Anne Cassidy
• Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy
• Forbidden island by Malcolm Rose
• The death gene by Malcolm Rose
• Girl, missing by Sophie McKenzie
• Agent 21 by Chris Ryan

Reviewed by Brilla