#Review One Down by Diana Wilkinson

January 20, 2023 Fee Boldwood Books, Rachel's Random Resources

#Ontour with @rararesources
One Down by Diane Wilkinson
#boldwoodbloggers @boldwoodbooks @DiWilkinson2020

One Down
by Diane Wilkinson

I’m not being paranoid! It’s all there in the crossword clues…in black and white. There’s no doubt the threat is real. Today, the answers spell out my murder.

May Third. Amanda. Silver Birch. Noontime. Assassination.

Is Nathan, my estranged crossword-setter husband, really planning to kill me? Or is it someone closer to home?

I check the door is bolted, slither to the ground, and count down the seconds to noon. There’s nothing left to do, and no one I can call. Who’d believe me anyway? The lady on the ground floor has already left the building, and my new boyfriend is on holiday. Or is he?

A tread of footsteps. A rap at the door, and I close my eyes, hold my breath…

Purchase Link –

REVIEW

Amanda is a bit of an alcoholic and we know something has happened in the past year that has caused her and her husband to split. She has become a bit of a recluse and hardly wants to go out but there is a light at the end of the tunnel when she starts to get feeling and develop a relationship with her neighbour Edward. Her ex is one of the cruciverbalist (someone who makes crossword puzzles) for the local paper and it appears that he is speaking to Amanda through the puzzle, as some of the clues are really cutting, then the puzzles basically spells out that something is going to happen on May Third.

We are treated to a past an present story, though sometimes it wasn’t obvious what time frame we were in initially, I loved the premiss that Amanda is being targeted through the weekly crossword puzzle, and the story but what made it hard to read or rather why it took me a while to get through the book was the overly flouncy and long winded words, in hindsight after reading and finishing the book I can see why this was done it just didn’t make an enjoyable read to me in the respect.

Overall it was interesting read and I honestly got it all wrong as to who had it in for Amanda! So that was nice little twist to the tale.

4 stars

Author Bio –

Diana Wilkinson is a graduate of Durham University, spending a short spell in teaching before taking up a full-time career in tennis development. A former Irish international player, she finally stepped off the tennis court to become a full-time writer.