Can in Hollywood the past be truly put behind them?

Synopsis

They’ve made it to the top… but someone is determined to make them pay..

At a glittering after-party on the night of the Academy Awards, author Mirren McLean celebrates her win with her childhood friends Davie Johnston and Zander Leith by her side.

Three kids from a tough street in Glasgow, the dazzling trio rose from the ashes to become Hollywood stars with global fame and vast fortunes.

This is their moment in the spotlight.

But by morning, there’s only darkness.

A secret from their past has come back to haunt them and the shield of stardom can’t protect them from the horrors of their old lives.

Someone is out to destroy them… and unlike the movies, there’s no guarantee that the good guys will win.

My review

Despite their haunting pasts, Mirren, Davie and Zander have found their ways back to each other. What once was a strong friendship, broken by Hollywood, is slowly starting to be rebuilt.
All three now feel more at peace and having the old friends back in their lives, is giving them greater comfort than imagined.
But their peace is short-lived, as apparently the past has come back to haunt them, in the flesh this time. Someone is after blood and no one is safe, because it isn’t always the good guys that win in the end…

You know what I really hate about sequels? That I am afraid that the kind of happy end reached in Book One will be all undone and that the new course of the story is something I won’t like.

And with the way The Catch starts, I began to feel more worried that my fears would be justified. Because this book for sure started with a literal bang! And there wasn’t only one heart that suddenly stopped beating!

However, even if I wasn’t ready for the new avalanche of events, I just couldn’t stop devouring this book. I just had to figure out who was after just everything that went wrong, if the past truly was chasing Mirren, Zander and Davie, and if their fragile new friendship would be somehow strong enough to survive new disasters.

What I kind of liked in this story, is that the characters didn’t act like nothing happened previously. And it may seem strange to like this, but it would just have been weird if Mirren, Davie and Zander would suddenly become best friends, without any issue. Because that is not how it works in real life. Friendship and trust need to be rebuilt again, and that doesn’t happen in just one day.

Unfortunately, this whole story was not good for my poor heart, as each time it felt a little bit happy, it got again a new batch of bad news to digest.
And while I just wanted for our main characters to be able to just move forward… Yes, some decisions made by all three of them weren’t the smartest, but what came on their paths wasn’t in proportion!

Not only did my heart break for Mirren, as it would appear that her past fears concerning her family may be coming back. But also Zander’s issues made me wish that this ‘bad boy’ would proof that my faith in him would be justified, even if evidence claim differently.
And I had my fingers crossed that Davie would show the man he truly is, with prioritizing the right things (and that not being the money).

It was not an easy book to read for me, because I am the kind of reader who wants everybody wants to be happy and with the start this book has, I wasn’t 100% sure that I would get the ending that I wanted.
But it’s also that intrigue, wanting to know the truth and the ending, how devastating it would turn out to be, that kept me turning page after page (or rather swiping page after page).

And the loyalty the characters have towards each other was a silver lining through the darkest moments. And I am not only talking about our three main characters, but also the characters with a smaller role. This showed me that no matter what, there are people around who will always try to do as what they see is the best thing. And that can be from not exposing a devastating revelation, or trying to help out a friend with a problem.

In many books that I have read, I had figured out rather quickly who the antagonist was. But the authors did a marvellous job on misleading me, as the revelation came as a total surprise. So well done to the both of them!

This was a suspenseful story, letting me sit on the edge of my seat until the very end. But it was also a book that put my trust back in people, even if on some occasions it got crushed.
It shows the power of friendship, but it was also about second and even third chances (even in unexpected matters).
I loved it how this second book is absolutely not inferior to ‘The Rise’ and it managed to keep up with the pace and the mystery we got accustomed to.
A real page – turner that I will gladly recommend to anyone who asks!