“One life changing moment of madness…” Mrs Robinson meets Fatal Attraction (thankfully no bunny boiling here!) where a near miss car accident sets off a chain of events that sees our lead Izzy having an illicit affair with Nicky Stevens, a student at the school she has just started at as the new English teacher. Other books I have read with this particular subject, it is usually a male teacher and a female student, so I liked this point of difference and perspective. The first party of the story moves at a more gentle pace in the lead up to the affair, but things really kick in when it begins then subsequently ends, making for a more thrilling second act. Izzy is a complex character, quite vulnerable and not in a good place with her husband. Nicky is a narcissistic, manipulative, arrogant little you know what and is relentless in his pursuit! Whilst I don’t condone Izzy’s actions, which were reckless and morally wrong, I did understand why it happened. My first book by Rogers, The Teacher was a good introduction to her work for me. Whilst it won’t be to everyone’s taste and could make for uncomfortable reading for some, I found it to be very well done and believable.

I read, loved and reviewed Gemma's previous two books and I had high hopes for 'Reckless'. I got a copy of the book as soon as I could and settled down to read. 'Reckless' was a somewhat difficult read for me at times for reasons I will explain shortly. However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Reckless' but more about that in a bit. I have to say that I didn't take to the lead character of Izzy one bit. In fact I frequently wanted to jump inside the pages of the book to give her a slap or to shake her by the shoulders. She wants a fresh start but at times makes some very questionable decisions. I didn't really feel as though I could fully trust her either. Nothing she did endeared her to me. Now for the explanation as to why I found this book difficult to read at times. In a previous work life, I used to work as a Decision Maker at what was then the Independent Safeguarding Authority but which is now the Disclosure & Barring Service. Without giving too much away, cases such as Izzy's used to regularly land on my desk. I have fixed ideas as to boundaries and what crosses them. Plus the fact that I actually knew somebody who did similar to Izzy and who should have gone to prison but didn't. For me there can be no excuse for crossing that line. In other words, I had to read this book with two different hats on- my safeguarding hat and my psychological thriller loving hat. I had my own suspicions as to what was going to happen in this book and of course I had to keep reading to see if my suspicions were going to be realised or not. This wasn't a book that I could binge read over the course of a day because I found myself getting too annoyed at the behaviour of certain characters and wanting to give them a talking to. In that sense I found myself trying to interact with the book as if the particular characters could hear me. The pages turned over increasingly quickly as I raced my way through the story. 'Reckless' is well written but then I think that to be true of Gemma's other books too. She has a way of grabbing your attention with an eye catching synopsis and she then draws you into the story from the very first word on the very first page. Once Gemma has your attention, she won't let you have it back until you have read the last word on the last page. For me, 'Reckless' is very tightly plotted with several twists and turns along the way. Gemma has a knack of writing books in which she pushes the boundaries and challenges people's beliefs and perceptions. Gemma has written a cracking psychological thriller that certainly kept me guessing and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Reckless' and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Gemma's work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.