Published by Inkubator Books on April 16, 2023
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Also by this author: Vanished, It's Your Turn Now, Skin Deep, Blood Line
She thought she knew who she was marrying. But he’s hiding a deadly secret.
After a painful divorce, Madelyne finds love with George, a successful restaurant owner with a charming veneer. Their marriage seems perfect except for one thing: her daughter Connie has taken a strong dislike to her new husband.
Sixteen and smart, Connie knows something is deeply wrong with her stepfather. His behaviour towards her mother is often manipulative and she suspects he’s cheating. The only person she can turn to is her real father, Damon.
Afflicted by PTSD from his time in Afghanistan and facing financial ruin, Damon has every reason to hate his ex-wife, but he still carries a torch for her and wants to help.
But when Connie hatches a plot to expose George's true nature, she stumbles instead on a truth that's a thousand times more horrifying than anything she could have imagined.
Now Connie and Madelyne are in mortal danger. And Damon is the only one who can save them.
The Stepfather, an emotionally charged, nail-biting thriller that will take your breath away.
This is a book that will drive you insane but be so addictive at the same time. You will scream at Madelyne but then take her side! It is a wild ride.
You can tell that this is Cole Baxter’s brother, they have similar writing styles and they both write about women in the same way… I’m not sure if they like them very much 😂
Madelyne drive me insane with her Stepford wife’s behaviour and then her inner dialogue of whether she was wrong or right. But through this dialogue, I questioned the story and wondered if she was right and that her ex Damon was wrong.
Gotta say I did like Damon. Baxter wrote a strong male lead, an alpha male. But it did feel very much like a woman in distress and one can only be saved by a man.
I had no idea what was going to happen in this book as I read it without a blurb. So I was along for the ride and it was a ride! It was a fast-paced, crazy, tea-cup-spinning type of adventure. My head is literally spinning by this book. I don’t know how I feel about it. A part of me loved it and the adventure and intensity. But a part of me found the characters grating….well Madelyne. Her actions and behaviours just didn’t sit with me. She should be defending her daughter, not siding with some man. If some man said the things to my daughter that he did, well he wouldn’t be standing for long. Despite knowing what happened to her, I found it a bit of an excuse and not a reason. It did frustrate me somewhat.
There was also so much inner dialogue, I felt like too much so. Normally I don’t notice these things, but with this book I did. I just struggled because something would be said, and then they would argue with themselves and then they would go back to the original thing and then repeat. It was tiring.
But on the flip side, it was quite intense as you are on a mission to find out what the heck was going on. Although I moaned about the inner dialogue, it did provide the reader with doubt. Did we trust Madelyne or did we trust Damon? Whose reality was real? Was Connie making things up or was George as bad as she said he was?
And when you were happy with your decision, you are constantly made to question it, hence the mind spinning. That element I loved!!
The ending felt a bit flat for me as I was expecting a huge sting in the tail but not this time, although there is a shocker don’t worry before the epilogue!
I quite enjoyed Theo’s first book and will look on with interest for his next book.
Until the next time xxx
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