Mum's Monday: The Escape by C.L. Taylor

Jo Blackmore has had a traumatic time of it, and as a result, the people around her, don’t believe her, or thinks she has misinterpreted an incident with Paula. There is a fine line between support and the thinking that Jo has over reacted.

Jo has agoraphobia, and this is portrayed in a way that teaches the reader, that this phobia, doesn’t always result in the sufferer being unable to go outside, but once they are out, they are unable to process normal, everyday, sometimes stressful incidents without panicking.

I always thought if you suffered from this phobia you just couldn’t go out, so this has a learning element to this book and has been well researched.

Paula is clever, Max (Jo’s husband) is an investigative journalist, has this put Jo and their daughter Elise in danger? Should they have called the police? Answer ‘yes’ to both, but due to Jo’s condition it is described and manipulated to look like Jo has an innocent incident all wrong. This is a shame, Jo hasn’t got more understanding and isn’t being taken more seriously by Max, but he has been through so much as well and can’t take much more trying to hold his family together.

It is good we find out early on the truth about what Jo is experiencing.

Just when things look bleak, there is hope. The way this is written, this book has been extremely well researched, going into real depth, of a situation, this adds to the realism and the quality of the story telling.

The first part of this book, sets up a solid storyline for the second part, more representing the name of the book.

As I read part 2, I wandered how it would pan out, in a way Jo was digging a big hole for herself, despite the part, where she finds herself on the beach, realising, she can escape the hole that has been 3 years in the making.

A twist in the storyline, makes for a good read.

It is good to see things work out for Jo, despite having to go through the proper channels of legislation, which again, have been well researched. There is not much information or depth to this, but that would only be rambling and the story doesn’t need it, as it explains enough.

The ending is brilliant; it is good to see Jo take back control at the end of the epilogue.

Well played Jo Blackmore

I didn’t want to put this book down whilst reading it. It keeps you intrigued.