Tuesday Thrillers – The Ex-Boyfriend by Rona Halsall.

I’m delighted to welcome fellow Bookouture author Rona Halsall to my blog today, to talk to us about her edge-of-the seat psychological thriller, The Ex-Boyfriend. I stayed up late to finish this book and can promise you that it is a tense, gripping read with a brilliant twist at the end.

Let’s find out a bit more about it.

Blurb

He promised to love her until her dying day…

When Becca’s first love shows up on her social media feed, she can’t help but smile fondly. Once upon a time Connor was the love of her life, and though it was over ten years ago, he’s always held a place in her heart.

Then he sends her a message. He sounds happy – still kind and funny, still living across the world in Australia. But he wants to know everything about her life now. How can Becca tell him the truth? About her workaholic husband, her stressful job, and the challenges of caring for her elderly father and her longed-for, adorable but exhausting three-year-old daughter Mia?

Becca hesitates, knowing she shouldn’t even reply. But Connor lives on the other side of the world. Just how dangerous can becoming friends again be?

It feels harmless. Until Mia gets sick – in a way that no one can explain. And it starts to become clear – someone will do absolutely anything to make sure Becca never escapes her past…

A completely unputdownable psychological thriller – perfect for fans of My Lovely Wife, The Girl on the Train, and The Woman at the Window.

Let’s take a sneak peek at the Prologue

Prologue

Becca twisted the chocolate wrapper and tied it into a neat knot. Then another and another. Her eyes glanced at the double doors which led into the A & E department before checking the clock on the wall again. Almost forty minutes since her husband, Dean, had arrived and she’d been asked to wait outside. Their three-year- old daughter, Mia, was having tests, and the medical team had insisted that Becca stay in the waiting room to calm down, her agitation making her daughter more anxious than was necessary. To be fair, she had been screechy and loud when she thought she was being fobbed off again – but sometimes that sort of behaviour was needed for people to actually listen and take you seriously.

The waiting room was mercifully quiet, only a trickle of people coming in and going out. She watched them, her nurse’s eye trying to gauge what their problem might be, as a way of distracting herself from what was happening to her daughter. Were they taking the blood tests she had requested so many times now? Doing toxicology to see if they could identify what was poisoning her and causing these acute bouts of illness?

Her leg bounced up and down, her whole body twitching with the not knowing. Okay, she understood why they’d chosen Dean to go with Mia instead of her. He was calm, always calm, and she was so thankful he’d finally arrived at the hospital. But Becca was Mia’s mum, the one who looked after her most of the time, and she felt she should be there, making sure they were checking the right things, telling them the whole story. Dean hadn’t been there half the time Mia had been ill – he’d been working away, as was the norm these days.

She stood and did a tour of the walls, reading the posters, willing her heart to beat at a more sensible rate. What if it was something serious, some underlying condition that hadn’t occurred to her? She’d never forgive herself if it turned out to be an obvious disease. Something a district nurse should be aware of.

‘Becca.’ She turned at her name and saw Dean walking towards her, Mia holding his hand. His face was grim. ‘They want to have a chat with you.’ He nodded his head towards a doctor and nurse, who stood by the door of a little meeting room that opened off the waiting area.

‘Is everything okay? Do they know what’s wrong with her?’

A third person came bustling through the double doors. A woman with a stethoscope round her neck, but not in the white coat used by the A & E doctors. A consultant, Becca thought, her heart leaping up and down now, hands clammy.

Dean sat down and pulled Mia on to his knee. The three people were standing by the open door of the room, obviously waiting for her.

‘Aren’t you coming in?’ Becca asked him.

He shook his head, an odd expression on his face that she couldn’t quite interpret. ‘It’s just you they want to talk to.’

Mia snuggled into his chest, clearly exhausted.

Three of them? Oh God, no, this is serious.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself for bad news. I’m a nurse. I’ve heard bad news before. I can handle this. Giving them a tight smile, she walked into the room and sat in the chair they indicated. Waited while they introduced themselves, not really hearing anything as her pulse whooshed in her ears.

Silence.
‘Have you found out what’s wrong with my daughter?’

They glanced at each other and the woman with the stethoscope nodded. ‘Yes, we think we have.’

Becca waited.
‘We think someone has been deliberately poisoning her.’ Becca swallowed. Her skin prickled as she took in the stern faces, three pairs of eyes fixed on her.

Do they think it’s me?

Hooked? You can get a copy of the book here:

Amazon: https://geni.us/OPJI7x 

Apple: http://ow.ly/DSAs50AM4Me

Kobo: http://ow.ly/sBYU50AM4IH 

Google: http://ow.ly/Yxmw50AM4Pk

Meet Rona

Author bio:

Rona is the author of Best Selling psychological thrillers published by Bookouture. Her challenge in writing is to find domestic storylines with twists that her readers will never guess.

She was born in Nottingham, grew up near Blackpool and went to college in Leeds. She then moved to Snowdonia, North Wales where she brought up her family while working as a business mentor. She now lives on the Isle of Man with her husband, two dogs and two guinea pigs.

She is an outdoorsy person and loves stomping up a mountain, walking the coastal paths and exploring the wonderful glens and beaches on the Island while she’s plotting her next book. She has three children and two step-children who are all grown up and leading varied and interesting lives, which provides plenty of ideas for new stories.

To find out more about Rona and her novels, visit her website: https://ronahalsall.com/

Contact links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RonaHalsallAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RonaHalsallAuth

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronahalsall/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18051355.Rona_Halsall

Thanks so much for dropping by to tell us about your new book, Rona. I hope it keeps soaring up the charts. 🙂

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Published by Bookouture on 23rd November. Now on preorder: Amazon: https://geni.us/B08GKRRPWHCover