Beneath the Book Club: Deeply unsettling is how I best describe Next of Kin. What are your thoughts?

 By SARA VANDEN BERGE

I was only a few chapters in when I began to think I wasn’t going to enjoy reading Next of Kin by Kia Abdullah.

Beneath the Book Club’s first official read centered around the death of a child after being accidentally left inside a hot car by his doting aunt.

A dead child is never fun to read about.

But I carried on, and before long, a strange mystery began to unfold, a story that ended in a way I never could have predicted.

And believe me, I tried.

If you read Next of Kin, you’ll discover a story about deep secrets, misplaced altruism and how some situations can never be corrected.

This book left me feeling deeply unsettled.

There was no ending that could have erased the ache in my stomach, but it was a story with enough unique twists to keep me on the edge of my seat.

Here are a few questions for all you book clubbers to consider.

DID THE SUBJECT MATTER OF A DEAD CHILD AFFECT YOUR ABILITY TO ENJOY THE BOOK?

WHICH CHARACTER/CHARACTERS DID YOU FIND MOST SYMPATHETIC?

DID YOU EVER SUSPECT THAT WILL AND YASMIN HAD AN AFFAIR? IF SO, WHAT TIPPED YOU OFF?

ANDREW AND LEILA PLANNED TO KILL MAX BY LEAVING HIM IN A HOT CAR BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED HE HAD A TERMINAL ILLNESS. IS THE DESIRE TO AVOID SUFFERING EVER A VALID REASON TO TAKE A LIFE?

SHOULD LEILA HAVE TURNED HERSELF INTO POLICE?

WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM THIS BOOK?