The Ties That Bind

by Anthea Fraser

Overview

Are the ties that bind them about to be ripped apart? The Tempest family and friends are gathering for Cassie’s eighteenth birthday party. But as they come together, a series of explosive events will threaten everything they hold dear. Cassie’s sister Jess is about to fly to Italy on holiday, but can she forget the horror of what she saw in her flat that afternoon? Family friend Jenny Barlow has been keeping a devastating secret for years… but for how much longer? And does the discovery of a dead body on the beach spell danger for one of the Tempests? Grief, fear, desire and deception all collide as the ties that bind the family are strained like never before. Can they withstand the ultimate stress test?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448305339
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	07/01/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Anthea Fraser has now written a number of books ranging from suspense to the paranormal and crime fiction. The Ties That Bind is Anthea's fifty-first book.

Editorial Reviews

07/12/2021

Since Rose Linscott, the matriarch at the center of this straightforward standalone from British author Fraser (Sins of the Fathers), is highly critical of her grown children and their offspring, they keep certain family secrets from her, most of which are relatively trivial and, once revealed, easily resolved. One of Rose’s adult granddaughters, Jess Tempest, who recently ended her engagement, is renting a flat in Bristol, England, with Maggie Haig, whom Jess has just met. When Jess unexpectedly returns to her flat before leaving on a trip, she finds a dead man on the living room floor. After hearing someone outside the flat, she hides and hears two unrecognizable people talking in low voices. When she emerges, the body is gone. Convinced her family and the police will think she’s either guilty or crazy, she keeps this grim discovery to herself, until the body washes ashore and makes front page news. The dead man, no surprise, turns out to have a relationship to Maggie, and nabbing the killer proves as simple as resolving the various family issues. Fraser is unlikely to win new fans with this one. Agent: Juliet Burton, Juliet Burton Literary (U.K.). (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

A taut, moving story of love, loss, hate, and redemption that will keep readers enthralled from the first page until the devastating climax

Booklist Starred Review of A Tangled Thread

Fraser is an excellent storyteller, and her latest domestic thriller doesn't disappoint

Booklist on Sins of the Fathers

A page-turner showcasing how lies from the past can create turmoil and peril in the present - Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2021-05-19
An exciting stand-alone by the creator of the Rona Parish series, including Sins of the Fathers (2018).

Jess Tempest is the oldest daughter of Fleur and Owen Tempest, who are throwing a big party for their middle daughter Cassie's 18th birthday. Jess’ cousin Patrick can see that something’s bothering her, but he has no idea how serious it is. Before the party, Jess had returned to her flat in Bristol for a book, found a dead man on the floor, then hid in a closet while two unknown people came into the apartment and spirited the body away. In the meantime, the party is dampened by the fact that Fleur’s brother, Justin Linscott, and his wife, Kathryn, are going through some rough waters that even their son, Patrick, who’s madly in love with globe-trotting Tasha Crombie, notices. Family friend Jenny Barlow, her husband, and their two children are also on the verge of a nasty domestic crisis. Now that a corpse identified as an Australian has washed up on the shore, Jess is afraid she’ll be in danger if the killers know she heard them at work, so she tells the police only that she saw the man entering her building. Although Tasha recognizes both the dead man and Jess’ flatmate, Maggie Haig, as people she’d met in Australia, it’s some time before, urged on by Patrick, Jess finally tells the police the truth, a decision that puts her in a dangerous position.

A page-turner showcasing how lies from the past can create turmoil and peril in the present.

Kirkus Reviews