When I was Ten – Book Review

She had lived a lie for thirteen years, and the perfect life as she had known it was about to change forever.

Everyone remembered Sara and Shannon Carter, the little blonde haired sisters. Their Dad was the local GP and they lived in the beautiful house on the hill. Their best friend, Brinley Booth, lived next door. They would do anything for each other but everything shifted on that fateful day when Dr Richard Carter and his wife Pamela were stabbed fourteen times with a pair of scissors in what has become the most talked about double murder of the modern age.

The girls were aged ten and twelve at the time. One, nicknamed the Angel of Death, spent eight years in a children’s secure unit accused of the brutal killings. The other lived in foster care out of the limelight and prying questions. Now, on the anniversary of the trial, a documentary team has tracked down one of the sisters, persuading her to speak about the events of that night for the first time.

Her explosive interview sparks national headlines and Brinley Booth, now a journalist, is tasked with covering the news story which brings to light fresh evidence and triggers a chain of events which will have devastating consequences.

When I was Ten, follows the story of two sisters, Shannon and Sara who after years of abuse from their parents, killed them in cold blood. One of them was responsible for those brutal killings and was dubbed as Angel of Death, spending years in juvenile center before being released under a new identity. The other grew up in foster care system. Now many years later, the media tracks down one of the sisters and do an explosive interview.

This was a fast paced thriller. And it was quiet unputdownable too. The story was intense and there were many twists and turns along the way. The abuse that both the sisters went through, particularly Shannon was actually disturbing to read. The writing was great and I was literally immersed into the story. The pacing was also great and this was actually a page turning thriller. The story is told mainly in Brinley’s POV along with Catherine’s POV and the past that outline the lives of Shannon and Sara. Overall, this was an intense psychological thriller that will keep you up all night. Worth four stars.