Arriving in a new city, Megan is on the run from a past that haunts her. Desperate for a place to stay and looking for easy jobs, she finds a small apartment to stay in and some dog-walking jobs to bring in some cash. As she starts to settle down, she stills fears that the man who assaulted her will one day find her, but as time goes on the fear begins to fade. One day, while walking the dogs, she hears a family discussing them and recognises the voice of the father as the man who assaulted her. When it had happened, she never saw his face, only the dragon tattoo on his chest, but when it was reported to the police nothing happened and so she fled to get away. His presence terrifies and disgusts her, but she realises that she has the upper hand, he does not know she is there. Hunting him down, she finds his family home, with his wife and child and an idyllic life, all things denied to her by this monster’s action. Then she finds out his family will be away and he will be alone in the house. Much as she has come to know the people around and feel safe with them, Megan knows that she must make sure he can never do this to anyone again. Once his family has left, she breaks in and waits for him, preparing to do unto him as he had done unto her all those years ago.

This is an excellent novelette with, I will be honest, an excellent twist at the end. The plot starts simply, giving us a chance to meet the characters and set the new scene for both them and the reader as to how they might survive in this new location. The slow start works nicely, as the tension is cleverly ratcheted up through the course of the story to it’s climax. You have a palpable feel of the initial wariness and comfort being slowly replaced by a sense of fear and then revenge on the person who wronged her. The story concentrates mainly on Megan, with the supporting characters there to help show what her state of mind is, instead of being part of the story. This one is all about Megan, the trauma she lived through, and what she feels she must do to survive and keep moving on as she has done so many times before. While never described fully, you get a very real sense of what happened and her actions and their repercussions all stem from the assault as this story comes full circle. It helps that the author keeps a consistent and descriptive tone through the story matching the state that Megan feels through the course of the story.

Looking at the layout and formatting, the book is well laid out and the sections neatly split it. I didn’t see any major spelling or grammar and quite enjoyed this page turner waiting to see how it developed before I go to the twist at the end. I’m not going to spoil it, but needless to say it works well and I applaud the author for making the ending memorable. At the end of the book, there are link to other works by the author, so if you enjoy this one, there are more in the same vein to enjoy.

I certainly enjoyed this story and the others may well be picked up soon. This is definitely one for fans of the genre and perhaps anyone who enjoys a well-written crime thriller.