The Life I Left Behind: A Novel

by Colette McBeth

Overview

Six years ago, Melody Pieterson was attacked and left for dead. Only a chance encounter with a dog walker saved her life. Melody's neighbor and close friend David Alden was found guilty of the crime and imprisoned, and the attack and David's betrayal of her friendship left Melody a different person. She no longer trusts her own judgment, she no longer trusts her friends. In fact, she no longer really has any friends. She's built a life behind walls and gates and security codes; she's cloistered herself away from the world almost entirely.

And then, soon after David is released from prison, Eve Elliot is murdered in an attack almost identical to Melody's. With the start of a new police investigation, Melody is suddenly pulled from her ordered, secluded life and back into the messy world around her. But as she learns more about Eve's murder, Melody starts to wonder if perhaps David hadn't betrayed her after all...if perhaps the killer is someone else entirely, someone who's still out there, preparing to strike again.

Narrated alternately by Melody and by Eve's lingering ghost, The Life I Left Behind is a taut thriller and an intimate look at two young women bound together in ways neither of them could ever have predicted. Colette McBeth has proven once again that she is a master of suspense.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250041234
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/12/2016
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

COLETTE MCBETH was a BBC TV Crime Reporter for ten years. She lives in West London with her husband and three young children. She attended the Faber Academy Novel Writing Course in 2011. Precious Thing is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

The Life I Left Behind is a rare thing; a well-paced, meticulously-researched thriller which is not just gripping but compassionate, too. McBeth's characters are three-dimensional, their motives psychologically convincing, and this includes the victims: much more than mere bodies on a slab, they are real and much-beloved characters with families and friends to mourn them.” —Paula Hawkins, author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Girl on the Train

“Colette McBeth digs deep into a childhood friendship that goes dangerously awry. What happens next will chill you to the bone. Precious Thing will make you wonder about your own friends…and whether they just might be your worst enemies.” —Tess Gerritsen

“[A] haunting first novel…McBeth imbues her characters with layers upon hidden layers, keeping readers guessing until the end.” —Publishers Weekly

“[A] spellbinding thriller.” —Kirkus

“Friendship, betrayal and secrets too big to bear: a book to race through, breathless, in a sitting.” —Alex Marwood

“Keep your eyes peeled this summer for an astonishing new talent in the form of hack-turned-novelist Colette McBeth…Gone Girl but with a Brit voice.” —David Mark

“An excellent debut, well-written, gripping and tense which skillfully weaves an unfolding nightmare with a dark past.” —Cath Staincliffe

From the Publisher

The Life I Left Behind is a rare thing; a well-paced, meticulously-researched thriller which is not just gripping but compassionate, too. McBeth's characters are three-dimensional, their motives psychologically convincing, and this includes the victims: much more than mere bodies on a slab, they are real and much-beloved characters with families and friends to mourn them.

author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Girl on Paula Hawkins

★ 12/15/2014
Trust, obsession, and survival provide the foundation for British author McBeth’s outstanding second novel, a standalone like her 2014 debut, Precious Thing. Melody Pieterson nearly dies during an attack by a London neighbor and friend, David Alden, who was convicted of the crime and sent to prison. Six years later, Melody’s physical pain has abated, but she still feels the emotional pain of being betrayed by David. She lives with her fiancé, but seldom leaves their secluded house a few miles from London. Melody is forced to relive the violence when another woman, Eve Elliot, is murdered shortly after David is paroled. McBeth smoothly alternates points of view among Melody, who struggles to rejoin humanity; Eve, who speaks from the grave; and Det. Insp. Victoria Rutter, who investigated both cases and begins to question David’s guilt. The author avoids gimmicks as the action realistically builds to a surprise finale. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-12-07
From beyond the grave, a brutally murdered woman watches as her killer's accidental survivor begins to piece together disturbing clues. McBeth (Precious Thing, 2014) returns with a taut, mesmerizing thriller. Six years ago, Melody Pieterson's nearly dead body was found in the park, clutching a bird on a gold chain, but she retains no memory of the attack. After having served time for attempted murder, David Alden is finally free—free to begin clearing his name. Eve Elliott, a senior producer at the recently canceled investigative news program APPEAL, meets David at a party. Although she's skeptical at first—after all, the evidence in Melody's attack pointed his way—Eve quickly finds herself seeing that evidence through David's eyes. Maybe there wasn't enough time for him to commit the crime. Maybe he wasn't just Melody's next-door-neighbor-with-a-jealous-streak but truly her friend. Maybe someone else had a better motive. Before Eve can help David, she's murdered, and the crime scene looks familiar. Meanwhile, Melody strives to keep the pieces of her life from shattering. She lives on the edge of town with her attentive fiance, Sam, in a light-filled, thoughtfully reconstructed farmhouse that she rarely leaves, vigilantly fabricating the illusion of a normal life. Even her best friend from college, Patrick, hasn't realized the extent of Melody's trauma. News of Eve's murder hits too close to home, however, and Melody can no longer maintain her fragile facade. McBeth ratchets up the tension, notch by exquisite notch, with chapters told from Melody's perspective alternating with chapters narrated by Eve's ghost. Melody must question whether David was truly her attacker, whether those closest to her may have misled the investigation, whether she can trust anyone. Spellbinding and surprising.

Kirkus Reviews