Having been persuaded to buy a copy of Ms Evans' novel by her husband (a work colleague!), I must say that I was drawn in from page one with just the opening line!

I must also confess that I read this book over 2 days as not only is it page turning stuff it's quick reading as it's all in the narrative of a 14 year old schoolgirl, Kate Carr.

I would not agree with the other online reviews that Kate Carr is evil. I believe that she is terribly missunderstood and as the story unfolds it is easy to understand why. Kate is only perceived this way because she is disturbed, but to some extent she's just being a normal teenager only slightly worse! Without giving anything away, Kate has a very oppressive religious father who has some strange habits including receiving strange phone calls at 8.28 every evening, and preaching in Bingo Halls. Together father and daughter share a very unusual relationship, they like to control and manipulate people by using what they refer to as 'It'. Kate is very much her father's daughter but there is more to her than meets the eye. Kate gradually unlocks her memory to discover the truth about what happened to her mother and how Kate got her disfigured leg - two things which she must never talk about.

A really good read, even if it does have a slightly predictable ending. A good introduction to a very talented writer, I shall definitely keep an eye out for Penelope Evans' other novels.

This is one of the more disturbing books I have read in the past month, and what a good book it is. Kate Carr and her little family of father and Gran live a claustrophobic life together hiding secrets that are gently alluded to throughout the book. Kate is the fourteen year old girl holding the mysteries in her head that she works out slowly through dreams and shards of memory. Yes, she is deceitful and manipulative and ever so disturbed, but she is coping in that Gran and Dad world where no one is allowed to talk about her mother, the woman that left her behind. The fact that Kate feels she needs to have her school "friends" divert some of Dad's attention from her to one of them is just one part of the chill in this novel. Penelope Evans has fleshed out the major and not so minor characters so well that each has a place in my mind long after I finished this novel. This is a winner of a mystery.

Kate Carr at 14 lives in Scotland with her father, a preacher of the old puritan school. She is a lucky girl, the center of attention. We hope our own children can be like her. Not much scope for a good read here.... Not so.

Penelope Evans brilliantly recreates parallels with our own school day memories. Schools are the same the world over. There are people we recognize and perhaps still know. But no one will comfortably admit to being at this school.

Children can be manipulative and deceitful. Evans does not take the easy option of brutish teenage behaviour. Small pleasant acts can have great significance.

Why is Kate thinking and behaving like this? Somewhere there is a story of a lost past which is tantalizingly close to the surface. It comes with such power the reader is left stunned.

This book, like The Last Girl, is slow, boring, and not worth the effort to read it. Very little dialog or action. Sorry I bought it.

Having read The Last Girl, I couldn't wait to read another Penelope Evans book. She has a unique style of writing and her quirky and creepy characters send chills down your spine. This book is even more compelling and strange than The Last Girl!

In Freezing, Stuart Park is a 28-year-old photographer at a London morgue. When he's not working, he spends his days in front of his computer playing a heroic character in a game. He also makes sure that his nosy and eccentric father doesn't go near his bedroom. His "life," however, changes the moment he sets eyes on one of the corpses at the morgue -- a beautiful and unidentified drowning victim. There are many strange twists and turns in the story as he tries to find out who she was and why she died.

This haunting psychological thriller is not for the faint at heart. But if you love a well-written, quirky and clever thriller, then I strongly suggest that you read it.

Freezing is original, compelling, interesting, quirky, humorous, intriguing but not morbid or dark. The writing is sensational, description an absolute triumph, not too wordy, using suggestion rather than statement. A great manipulation of the potentially disasterous subject - the best book I have ever read.

Ever since 70-year-old Larry Mann set eyes on 23-year-old Amanda, the new tenant at a boarding house in London, he was convinced that she would be his new best friend. He is lonely and convinced that Amanda is his soulmate. Shy and depressed, Amanda has no idea how to turn his desperate attempts at kindness -- buying gifts, making tea parties, becoming her confidant -- down, especially when Francis, her lover, begins to spend weekends with her. Larry's intentions are good -- or are they? Is there something sinister behind his persuasiveness with Amanda? This extremely shocking, chilling, haunting and original thriller will keep you turning the pages until its disturbing conclusion. I marvel at the unique narration; Larry's voice drips with contempt and obsession. Penelope Evans has written an incredible thriller that should be devoured within days. Read it!

Story of an over-friendly old man, Larry, who showered his young female neighbour, Amanda, with gifts and attention, and thought he knew what she was feeling and what was best for her. What he did not know (but what we readers know), is that his attention was unwanted and that he is clearly a psychopath. The story, told by Larry himself, is all the more creepy as we read Larry's abnormal thoughts, but yet he was able to rationalise to himself that all he was doing was normal. A good book to recommend to people who like suspense which builds up from the first page and does not last end the last page.

This book was a wonderful work of psychological suspense; it showed how a seemingly innocent interest can turn into obsession and from obsession into--well--sheer terror.

Evans shows marvelous insight into the character of Larry, man who is both pathetic and monstrous, yet always human, disturbingly so. A brilliant job!