Kim Morgan, a lecturer of English at Seagrave College and also a local councillor, attends a protest meeting at a church hall about the proposed construction of a golf course in the area. When a fight breaks out, Kim is rescued by handsome Freddy Medwin, with whom she enjoys a romantic dalliance. Soon after she discovers that he’s actually a student at her college. If anyone finds out about their relationship, it could be a disaster for her career. The problem is someone has found out. Someone saw them. Someone took photos. As Kim fights to stay one step ahead of her blackmailer, her life begins to spiral into a maelstrom of deceit, murder and twisted revenge.

We Were Seen is the sixth thriller by Mark West and published by The Book Folks. This one, like the others, is a fast-paced psychological suspense novel, filled with twists and turns. West has a commanding ability to create believable characters and pitch them into extraordinary circumstances. His writing is assured, his characterisation masterful, West is one of those writers who makes the craft look effortless, yet I’ve been on this Earth long enough to know he works incredibly hard to be this readable. His prose demands you power on, just one more short chapter…

We get to spend more time in Seagrave, which is always a good thing. And there’s always a warmth to West’s protagonists, so we root for them in the midst of the darkness that lurks around them. This one is particularly dark, and it touches on societal prejudices and gender politics, as well as toying with our expectations relating to environmental issues, but deep down We Were Seen is a mechanism solely to provoke thrills, chills, and page-turning shocks, and at that it excels.