One For Sorrow by Sarah A. Denzil

Just when I thought I figured it all out… But nope… Nothing is what it seems.

Published: 12th February, 2018
Genres: Psychological Thriller, Mystery
Goodreads
Series: Isabel Fielding #1
Rating: 4

Within the walls of the high-security psychiatric facility, Crowmont Hospital, reside many violent offenders. To nurse Leah Smith, no matter what, all offenders are patients first and foremost. When Leah is appointed as nurse to Isabel Fielding, she is determined to remain professional despite the shocking crime Isabel allegedly committed in her past.
Seven years ago, six-year-old Maisie Earnshaw was found face down in a duck pond, her body mutilated. Isabel–at age fourteen, found covered in Maisie’s blood–was convicted of murder.
As Leah spends time with Isabel, she comes to know her as a young woman with a sweet, gentle nature, someone she could never see as a murderer. Leah begins to suspect members of the Fielding family of framing Isabel as a young girl, and she’s not the only one. True crime blogger James Gordon thinks Isabel is innocent too.
But is Leah letting her own troubled past taint her judgement as she grows closer to her patient? Or has a young woman been unjustly robbed of her childhood?

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Certain elements when they are present in a story make me automatically reach for the book. Psychopaths, unreliable narrators and long buried secrets are just a few of those.

Leah, a psychiatric nurse, has probably lived under a rock, because when she gets a new job in Crowmont Hospital and is assigned to look after Isabel Fielding, she doesn’t realize she’s the girl who was convicted seven years ago for the murder of a little girl. It was quite a bloody affair and got a lot of attention in the media, and some true crime bloggers are still obsessing over the story. Could Isabel be innocent?

Leah certainly thinks so. She can’t imagine this gentle, lovely girl, who spends her days drawing beautiful pictures of birds being able to hurt a fly. After connecting with James Gordon, the true crime blogger advocating Isabel’s innocence, Leah puts on her detective hat and digs deeper into the mystery.

Not everyone is entirely happy about this however, and soon she finds herself in a dangerous situation. Someone leaves innocent looking things around her house whose ominous meaning only Leah can understand. Her past troubles seem to resurface as well, and soon enough her teenage brother living with her is also swept up in the drama.

Leah is slowly losing her mind, her life is disintegrating, and one little mistake causes an avalanche of misfortune with deadly consequences. Graphic details, and a suffocating claustrophobic atmosphere are also thrown in with a heavy hand.

An enthralling mystery, One For Sorrow is the perfect thriller those who love a bit of family drama thrown into a murder mystery. The book finished with some questions unanswered, and I can’t wait to see what the next installment brings. I have a feeling it will be another delicious page turner.