Thank you to the publisher Orion for the review copy via NetGalley. The publication date is 5th June.

The story is narrated by Emma, a lawyer who seems like a calm, organised type. However, as her fortieth birthday approaches, her life starts to unravel. She had a traumatic childhood and thinks of her abusive mother as dead, rather than confined to a secure mental unit. Now, her sister, who she doesn’t get on with, is back on the scene. Her young son is frightened of ‘mummy’, a nightmare figure. Emma can’t sleep. She seems to be suffering from hallucinations, lost time and memory lapses. She’s reciting weird things. In fact, she’s displaying the same symptoms her mother had. What’s going on and what will happen at the end of the countdown to her birthday?

I thought this was a very intriguing novel. The characters were believable and the psychological element very well done. I guessed one of the twists early on, but the other major twist, which had a supernatural hint, certainly surprised me. I kept noticing how often wine was mentioned, something it has in common with Behind Her Eyes. Pretty much every chapter had the characters gulping wine. The other annoying thing was the cliché of a storm brewing to heighten the psychological tension and then the storm breaking during the action scene / final confrontation. It’s been done so many times, particularly in films, that it doesn’t work for me.

In summary, I recommend this thriller, which I liked more than Behind Her Eyes but not as much as Cross Her Heart.

Thank you to the publisher HarperCollins for the advance copy via NetGalley. The book will be published on 31st March.

The story focuses on Louise, a divorced mum and psychiatrist’s secretary who gets involved with a couple, David and Adele. There are secrets at the heart of this marriage. Louise can’t resist having an affair with David (who turns out to be her new boss) but separately she is drawn into a friendship with fragile Adele, who appears to be a victim of domestic abuse. However, the narrative from Adele’s perspective suggests that she is grooming Louise for some kind of terrible event. This book is mainly a psychological thriller but it does have a supernatural element to it, which seems believable because everything else is realistically portrayed. I thought that the author did a great job in keeping my curiosity high as to what was really going on and how the story was going to be resolved.

There was some things I didn’t like about this book. The story seemed too drawn out, meaning that around the two thirds point I was getting a little bored, although still keen to race to the end. There was animal cruelty (as you know, I very much dislike this in my reading and it does crop up in thrillers quite often). Some of the sentences were clunky. Although people’s dwellings were well-described, I didn’t feel there was a sense of place generally – I think it was set in London but I’m still not sure. What annoyed me were the constant mentions of wine. If you’re a wine fanatic, maybe there’s no such thing as talking about wine too much. Almost every chapter had people drinking wine. I understand that the characters like wine. It just seemed unnecessary to emphasise this.

I would recommend the book if you don’t mind the points I mentioned above and you want an unguessable ending. I liked her subsequent novel better.

First published in 2017.

I can’t say much about the plot without spoiling it for you, but I will say that it’s about a woman, Lisa, who did something terrible a long time ago and still suffers the consequences. She’s an anxious and overprotective single mother. Her daughter Ava wants more freedom and to be valued as an adult who can make her own decisions. And there’s Marilyn, colleague and best friend of Lisa, feisty but trapped in an abusive relationship. The story is narrated from these three viewpoints (with Lisa’s being the main one), plus another later on (who I won’t mention in case you’re going to read it). At first I was a little confused as to who was narrating and I think the voices could’ve been more distinct from the start, but as I got to know the characters, I didn’t have this problem any more.

The pace and plot of the novel are its strengths. It’s not often I finish a novel with “wow!” – so that’s high praise from me. I will say that some of the content is upsetting as it involves child neglect, but it’s not so graphically described that it would put me off. The novel also explores the different outcomes of people’s lives based on their social backgrounds, and how the most privileged in our society can get away with things while the disadvantaged suffer. It’s also about the destructive effects of toxic relationships.

I definitely recommend this novel and will read more from this author.