Dark Saturday by Nicci French (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Thirteen years ago eighteen year old Hannah Docherty was arrested for the brutal murder of her family. It was an open and shut case and Hannah's been incarcerated in a secure hospital ever since.

When psychotherapist Frieda Klein is asked to meet Hannah and give her assessment of her she reluctantly agrees. What she finds horrifies her. Hannah has become a tragic figure, old before her time. And Frieda is haunted by the thought that Hannah might be as much of a victim as her family; that something wasn't right all those years ago.

And as Hannah's case takes hold of her, Frieda soon begins to realise that she's up against someone who'll go to any lengths to protect themselves ..."

My Thoughts:

Wow. Wow. Wow.  I have to say that this was the perfect book to read to help break this nasty reading slump I've been in lately!  I couldn't (and didn't want to) put this book down.  It is so funny how you can be struggling just to find the time or will to settle down with a book....and then you pick up the right one and it is like you never stopped reading at all.  I found myself absolutely immersed in this book and just so excited about reading in general after I finished.  I love when that happens!  I also really appreciated that it happened with this book as this is a well established series that I started right in the middle of.  Did I miss certain things from not reading the previous books?  I'm sure as there were references to other cases that Frieda was involved in.  But for me if just has me super pumped to go back to the beginning to see how it all started.  I love the fact that I have all of these other books to look forward to now.  It's a great feeling!

One of the things that I enjoyed most about this book was the premise of the story.  It was both horrifying and compelling to think about the idea of a young girl convicted of the murder of her entire family with the possibility that it was a wrongful conviction.  Add to that the setting of a psychiatric hospital and a mystery and I was basically hooked from the very beginning.  I mean how could I resist??  I really enjoyed Frieda's character.....there was just something about her that pulled me in as the reader.  I found myself intrigued by everything that has happened to her - yet another reason why I'm so excited to go back to those earlier books.  I just really enjoyed by entire reading experience with this book.  The bonus was a completely surprising ending and this book turned into a five star read for me.  I haven't had many of those this year which is why I can't say enough good things about this book!

Overall, I really loved this one and am so excited to see what other readers think about it as well.  I should have listened to my book blogging friends and started this series sooner!  I've already got the first book on my library holds list so I won't be waiting too long before I go back to the beginning.  I thought that this book was both fast paced and intense which are two of my favorite things to have in a mystery.  I would recommend this book to both mystery and thriller fans.  You can definitely do what I did and start with this book (it obviously didn't affect my reading enjoyment at all).  I do think that there are things you miss not reading in order but that just gives me an excuse to reread this one once I catch up on the rest.  Ha!  Highly recommended!

Bottom Line:  Very likely to become one of my favorites of 2017!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher as part of a TLC book tour.

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble