I Made a Mistake by Jane Corry

Blog tour: 15 to 28 May 2020

Synopsis

It started with a kiss.
And ended with murder,

In Poppy Page’s mind, there are two types of women in this world: those who are faithful to their husbands, and those who are not. Until now, Poppy has never questioned which she was.

But when handsome, charming Matthew Gordon walks back into her life after almost two decades, that changes. Poppy makes a single mistake – and that mistake will be far more dangerous than she could imagine.

Someone is going to pay for it with their life …

My review

My first-ever blog tour post was for Jane Corry’s book, I Looked Away, and I started my blog after winning a copy of the book on Twitter, so it’s great to be reviewing her next book, I Made a Mistake, just under a year later!

I Made a Mistake begins with the tragic incident of a person falling under a train at Waterloo Underground Station one January evening in rush hour. Then we jump back to six weeks earlier and meet Poppy Page, who runs a casting agency that provides extras for TV programmes and films. She’s married to Stuart, a dentist, and they have two children, Melissa, aged 17, and 14-year-old Daisy.

While at the Association of Supporting Artistes and Agents’ Christmas party, Poppy is approached by the handsome 50-something Matthew Gordon, her first boyfriend who she hasn’t seen for over 20 years! He still has the same effect he had on her when they were students at drama school and Poppy struggles to resist his charms, especially when they’re both forced to stay overnight at the hotel where the party is being held due to snow.

Poppy and her family live with Stuart’s mum, Betty, 70, who moved in with them after the death of her husband, Jock, when Daisy was two. She is a great help to the family and has always been around to look after the girls while their parents were busy with work. We discover more about Betty in a series of letters that she’s written to Poppy and find out that her relationship with Jock, who she married in 1970 aged 20, wasn’t as idyllic as their son, Stuart, believed.

Poppy’s father lives in a bungalow in Worthing, but her mother left them when she was young and now lives in Australia with her second husband. Poppy hasn’t had anything to do with her since, ignoring all the letters and cards that she’s sent over the years. Her dad is suffering from forgetfulness and Poppy becomes more and more concerned about him as he has falls, looks rather unkempt and seems bewildered. He drives off without paying for petrol, his fridge is too full of milk, he buys lots of cans of beans and leaves food to burn in the oven. It’s difficult for Poppy to keep an eye on him when she lives so far away and her dad is stubborn and refuses to see the doctor for a check-up.

Early on in the book, we learn that Poppy is being questioned at the Central Criminal Court in London about her relationship with the deceased, Matthew Gordon, so we know that something dreadful has happened to him and assume that he must be the person who was hit by an underground train at Waterloo. How does the story all fit together?

This is a fascinating novel and it was intriguing to see all the various strands of the story come together and discover how everything was connected. There were several dysfunctional relationships and it was interesting to learn more about Betty and see the secrets that she’d been hiding for decades. Poppy was also not being true to herself and had been hiding various feelings for years – she still hadn’t really recovered from the disappointment of not making it as an actress when she was younger.

I Made a Mistake is a well-written and cleverly plotted tale! Just when I thought I had things sussed out, there would be another twist that I hadn’t expected! The book had a great pace and tension to it and it kept my attention throughout, with never a dull moment. It cleverly switched between Poppy and Betty’s stories, interspersed with the odd courtroom scene, and it was an interesting look at relationships and made me really care about both women, especially Betty who’d had a tough life. I also felt anger at the rather unpleasant Matthew who appears in Poppy’s life after several decades and starts disrupting everything that she’s built up and coercing her in various ways.

Overall, I really enjoyed this gripping and entertaining thriller and raced through it in a couple of days. I’ve read three of Jane Corry’s books and enjoyed them all but I think this one is my new favourite! I’ve got the others on my Kindle so I’ll have to check them out soon!

Buy the book

I Made a Mistake by Jane Corry can be purchased from Amazon on Kindle now and in paperback on 28 May, and as an eBook from Kobo and iBooks.

About the author

Jane Corry is a former magazine journalist who spent three years working as the writer-in-residence of a high-security prison for men. This often hair-raising experience helped inspire her The Sunday Times-bestselling psychological thrillers, My Husband’s Wife, Blood Sisters, The Dead Ex and I Looked Away, which have been published in more than 35 countries.

Jane was a tutor in creative writing at Oxford University and is a regular contributor to The Daily Telegraph and My Weekly magazine.

Twitter: @JaneCorryAuthor
Facebook: @authorjanecorry
Instagram: @janecorry
Website: https://www.janecorryauthor.com

Blog tour

Thanks to Ellie Hudson from Penguin Books UK for my proof, digital and finished copies of I Made a Mistake and for inviting me to join the blog tour.

See the banner below for more stops on the #blogtour.