Book Description:
She begged for two promises.
The first was to save a life.
The second was to take one…
Life changed in the blink of an eye when a man died.
My best friend, Angelica, and I entered a hell on earth: every day was a battle to survive.
I served my sentence, but she had to stay.
Alone, with Angelica’s promises ringing in my ears, I struggled to pick up the pieces of my life while looking into her past.
Stepping into a nightmare world, I met a man so evil, he’d ruined countless lives.
Now I have to decide. Can I kill?
Ross Greenwood’s modern thriller is a story you’ll never forget, with characters you’ll always remember, in a place where gender is nothing… and everything.
My Thoughts:
Having read a few of this author’s books now, I thought I knew what to expect but this was quite different but in a good way. This is actually going to be a hard review to write as there are topics involved in the storyline that came as a surprise so it would be a spoiler to mention them but they are also a big part of the story.
Robbie and Angelica are best friends who after being involved in an incident that leads to a man’s death, found themselves in prison. The author having a background in the prison system shows readers what a scary place it can be in there. Honestly, it gave me nightmares on what life in there is like.
The story flicks around quite a lot going from past to present to a year or so prior, to months, weeks before. This is all integral to the story though to get to know better what happened that fateful day and their time in prison. Robbie after a year is out on probation and it is engrossing to see what life is like on the outside, trying to find a job as well as full-filling the promises that were made to Angelica.
Canaries in the Coal Mine is a thought provoking and at times, extremely moving read. There are some unexpected twists as the story takes a big turn that I hadn’t seen coming and it was great to read a story that highlights a specific topic. Sorry to be so vague, but honestly, the less you know going into this book, the better. It’s actually hard to put a genre on it as whilst there is crime involved, it felt more like a drama. It would make a brilliant television series that’s for sure! A very modern and compelling story that will put you through an array of emotions. Highly recommend.
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