WHAT WOULD AIMEE DEAN DO? | Y. M. MILLER

 

Well, hello to you all! I hope you all had a good festive season and the early days of the New Year are treating you well. 

As always Nerd Central is rather busy, but I still continue to read obsessively. Today, it’s something a little different from the usual fare. Y.M. Miller, fellow blogger at The Coy Caterpillar has released her second book at the very end of last year. If you like things to be a little on the darker shade of black, Yvonne reads and reviews lots of things that are horror and crime related as well as SFF. She released her first book, The Therapist in 2022, and subsequently followed it up with this one. It’s a crime drama set in Glasgow.

Aimee has never moved on from that weekend camping trip in the rugged landscape of Glencoe, that saw her boyfriend and best friend disappear without a trace. Each night she takes on the demanding role of a night carer, but her waking hours are haunted by flashbacks from a traumatic childhood and blood, lots of it. Despite her father’s incarceration at Glasgow's most infamous prison Aimee feels a gnawing sense that true justice remains elusive, festering like an open wound within her soul.

As she cares for an ex-QC with terminal prostate cancer but what she finds out about him, chills her blood. Can she ignore her murderous urges one more time or will he push her to her breaking point?

Bea Yorke, an award-winning podcaster revisits the 2001 disappearance. The only way to find out what really happened is to interview the people that were there that night. Her investigations become increasingly dangerous... for everyone.

A psychological thriller about identity, trauma, and obsession.

Aimee Dean has a lot of problems. She has a dark past. In 2001, she went on a camping trip in the mountains with her boyfriend and a group of friends. What she didn’t bargain for was that her boyfriend and another girl would disappear. Never to be found again.

Skip forward to now, she is a recovering alcoholic and substance user. She has got her life back on track and is currently working as a carer.

Bea Yorke is a true crime podcaster who starts to dig into the mysterious disappearance of the two people in that ill-fated camping trip twenty-two years ago.

The past will come to haunt Aimee and Bea with disastrous consequences.

Now I must admit that I am by no means a crime afficionado, but I have read some. However, my knowledge of Scottish crime fiction is limited to Val McDermid and Ian Rankin, so this was a new one for me.

I have to say that I enjoyed this one. The story is set in Glasgow and Y.M. Miller really evokes the grit and grime of the city. I must say that she does not paint a pretty picture of Glasgow, carefully describing the disparity between the haves and the have nots.

I loved the characters in the book, particularly Aimee who is so grey that she is nearly black. She is a morally complex character that is shaped by both past events and what is happening now.

The plot itself goes to places that I did not expect, and whilst there are some of the familiar tropes associated with crime fiction, they are used well and merge seamlessly into the story.
After reading this book, I realised that I have Y.M. Miller’s other book, The Therapist and after reading this book, I will be reading The Therapist as soon as possible.

If you like your fiction dark, and with characters that border on darker side of grey, this is definitely a book for you.

If you have two minutes!

I am currently trying to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK

I am taking part in the Run the Month Marathon edition where I will be running 26.2 miles throughout January for Prostate Cancer UK. Prostate cancer now affects 1 in 8 men in the UK. That's thousands of dads, partners, brothers, grandads, uncles and mates. I'm raising money to help fund lifesaving research and support for men and their families affected by prostate cancer.

If you would like to support me I have a Just Giving Page where you can DONATE. 

I know times are hard these days but any donation will be appreciated no matter how small. In fact, if everyone gave £1, that would make my day.