This is a first book by Elizabeth Diamond. Just as dusk is falling a fatal car accident takes the life of teenager Laura. The driver of the car is Jack Phillips who is a married police officer with two young daughters. The accident was found not to be his fault - no one was to blame It was just an unavoidable accident. The book looks at the effects of the tragedy on Jack and his wife Sam and their two daughters, and Laura's parents Lisa and Derrick Jenkins. Each has to deal with the grief in their own way but the ripples move out and affect their relationships with the rest of their family. The author takes us into the inner lives of her two main characters Lisa and Jack as we travel with them on their journey through to hope and new life and before the book ends Jack and Lisa's paths will cross too in a surprising way. This is a book that I really enjoyed. The characters will stay with me . ( )

I picked this up at random, thought it might be a mystery. It wasn't, but it was a page turner. It had a strong portrayal of how accidentally killing a child affected the driver, Jack. Although told in first person from the point of view of two characters, the other, Lisa, being the mother of the child, the driver was the strongest for me. The accident kicked off a lot of feelings from the past, and I thought the encounters of both characters with family members was done well. Spouses were drawn less well or less intimately, except at the end for Lisa's husband. I enjoyed the portrayal of the Lisa's best friend, and Jack's therapist. It is set in England, and it might be interesting for how Jack's trauma was treated in England (assuming the fiction is more or less an accurate portrayal of what might happen) and how it might be treated in the U.S.). I can't say it was a great book, but I enjoyed it. It is a first novel so it promises of better to come. ( )

"A life can change in an instant...then be haunted by 'what ifs.'"
These are the opening words of Elizabeth Diamond's novel illustrating how lives sometimes clash like que balls, and then what's left? In this story, there's a fatal car accident; lives fall apart, they come together, and the dead girl comes back to prevent another tragedy. Completely absorbing. ( )