[BOOK REVIEW] The Good Ones by Polly Stewart @harperbooks @pollystew #TheGoodOnes

The cover of this book is so eye-catching, wouldn’t you agree? Yes, that’s what caught my attention first, then having read the blurb I knew that this was the type of book I would like to read. Having read the book now, I appreciate the cover more because it’s not just there to be pretty. Well done, book designer and author!

The Good Ones is about Nicola Bennett who, after nearly twenty years, comes back to her Appalachian hometown to finally shed some light on the disappearance of her friend Lauren Ballard. Lauren mysteriously vanished one night and the last time Nicola saw her was when she was keying someone’s car. The next day, she was gone, there were traces of blood and signs of struggle. Nicola believes that going back to her hometown and getting a job there will help her uncover more information relating to her friend’s sudden disappearance.

“What choice did you have, after all, when the person who had stood at the center of your sense of self wasn’t there anymore? You grew around that loss like a tree wrapped in barbed wire. You let it bite into you. You shaped yourself to the new reality, until it was hard to tell what was you and what was the hole she’d left.”

What I found to be most interesting when it comes to The Good Ones was the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Lauren and how we got to see the main character investigate many possible leads and explanations as to what might have happened to her because it lead the reader to many interesting possibilities. The book being set in a small town provides the author with tools to go in-depth when it comes to examining the characters and what role they play in it. I feel like the author did a good job when it comes to showing us each character and their role in the book. Our main protagonist Nicola is a character one doesn’t sympathize with very much (at least in my case), I found her willingness to find out the truth to be more about herself rather than truly getting the answers she was looking for and putting the whole story to rest. When it comes to certain twists, I have to say that I enjoyed them, although some were very predictable and they made me want to yell at the main character, I was pleasantly surprised by other twists though. The author knows how to write and create an engaging story which I find to be very important in these kinds of books. What surprised me was the ending! Although I had a feeling that something wasn’t right in my judgement, I was pleasantly surprised by the last twenty pages!

“It was always a surprise how vulnerable people were in sleep, even the ones who showed you almost nothing of themselves during the daylight hours.”

The Good Ones has everything I look for in a mystery novel and I found it to be completely enjoyable! If you’re someone who likes reading thriller/mystery books I’d recommend adding this one to your TBR!

I would like to thank the publisher (Harper Books) for providing me with an advance reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions reflected in this review are my own and aren’t influenced by the fact that I got this book for free from the publisher.

The Good Ones by Polly Stewart comes out on June 6th 2023 from Harper Books

My rating:

Add ‘The Good Ones‘ to your TBR:  

*Pre-order ‘The Good Ones‘ here:

*Pre-order ‘The Good Ones‘ here:

**I am in no way compensated by these sites. I am simply sharing it so people can find this book easier.

Polly Stewart is the author of The Good Ones, forthcoming from Harper Books in June 2023. As Mary Stewart Atwell, she’s also the author of Wild Girls (Scribner 2012). Her essays have appeared in the New York Times and Poets & Writers, among other publications. She runs the Craft of Crime Fiction interview series, formerly published on Fiction Writers Review and now appearing on Instagram.

Find her on: Website, Goodreads and Twitter.

[Q&A with the author] The Good Ones by Polly Stewart @pollystew @harperbooks #TheGoodOnes

I’m so excited to be sharing this Q&A with Polly Stewart, author of The Good Ones forthcoming from Harper Books on June 6th 2023.

Q&A

Q: What inspired you to write your novel ‘The Good Ones’?

A: When I started The Good Ones, I really wasn’t thinking about it being published. I just wanted to write a book that was so much fun that I’d feel excited to get up and work on it every day. My way of doing that was to put together a bunch of things that I could talk about endlessly: true crime, complicated friendships, the landscape and culture of the Southern U.S., etc. I didn’t outline this book, and I really didn’t have much of an idea of where it would go. I’m just lucky that it came together as well as it did.

Q: How long did it take you to write your novel?

A: From the original idea to publication will be almost five years. I hope the next one will be a bit faster!

Q: Do you have a routine for writing – do you write at a certain time for a couple of hours or do you do it spontaneously?

A: A teacher I had in high school used to tell our class we should write every day. I was an obedient student, so I started doing writing every day back then and I’ve done it ever since. Right now I teach full-time and my kids are still pretty young, so that means from four to seven on weekday mornings and whenever I can on weekend mornings. I really like it. It’s like those early-morning hours give me permission to immerse myself in the story I’m trying to tell.

Q: Does your job influence your work in any way?

A: I teach British literature and creative writing at the college level. The connection with creative writing is pretty obvious, but I also see a connection to my literature courses. There are a lot of references to Jane Eyre in The Good Ones, and I was teaching that novel almost every semester when I was writing the book. Next year I’m teaching a course on Victorian literature where we’ll spend a lot of time on some of the earliest crime and suspense novels, and I’m really excited about that.

Q: Was there a particular scene which you found hard to write (spoiler-free if possible)?

A: I have to trick myself into writing scenes with a lot of action or violence. I think it’s just that I wrote literary fiction for a long time before I came to suspense, and I still feel less confident when it comes to those areas. Usually I make myself bang out a first draft of the scene as fast as I can, Bird by Bird-style, and then at least I know I’ve written something I can come back to later.

Q: Do you see yourself in any of your characters?

A: My main character, Nicola, and I don’t have much in common. Like me, she went to grad school, but after that her life went in a very different direction than mine. The character I relate to most is Nicola’s friend Jessi Westcott. Like Jessi, I have a child on the autism spectrum, and I want to write about the challenges and also the great blessings of being a special needs mom. Jessi is also the first person to call Nicola on her self-absorption and navel-gazing, and I was definitely speaking through her a little bit at that point.

Q: What authors have influenced you and made you fall in love with reading and eventually writing a novel?

A: Oh, so many! My absolute favorite novel of all time is Middlemarch by George Eliot. I’m fascinated by small towns where everyone is connected, and the way she structures the plot to interweave all these different perspectives is astonishing to me. She also writes the most beautiful sentences—I’d probably get one as a tattoo, except they’re so long it would cover my whole body. The Secret History by Donna Tartt, like Middlemarch, is part of my DNA—I listened to it on audiobook recently and I realized I could quote big sections of the text that I’d never made any effort to memorize. There’s also Tana French, Laura Lippman, Megan Abbott…I could go on.

Q: Are you currently reading anything – if so, what are you reading at the moment?

A: I just finished Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You, which was so good that I read it almost in one sitting. I’m about the same age as her main character and grew up in a similar setting, so it was deeply nostalgic for me, but also just an amazingly good story.

Q: Is there a lingering idea for a future novel?

A: I’m going to get back to work on it just as soon as I send off this email! It’s about small towns and family secrets—again, a bunch of things I’m obsessed with all rolled into one book.

Thank you so much to Polly for taking the time to answer these questions for Breathing Through Pages!

If any of the U.K. folks are interested in this book it will be out on June 6th 2023 from Constable.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this Q&A! Make sure to check out my review of the book which I’ll be posting very soon!

THE GOOD ONES

Forthcoming from Harper Books on June 6th 2023

All the buy/pre-order links for The Good Ones are below!

Add ‘The Good Ones‘ to your TBR:  

*Pre-order ‘The Good Ones‘ here:

*Pre-order ‘The Good Ones‘ here:

**I am in no way compensated by these sites. I am simply sharing it so people can find this book easier.

Polly Stewart is the author of The Good Ones, forthcoming from Harper Books in June 2023. As Mary Stewart Atwell, she’s also the author of Wild Girls (Scribner 2012). Her essays have appeared in the New York Times and Poets & Writers, among other publications. She runs the Craft of Crime Fiction interview series, formerly published on Fiction Writers Review and now appearing on Instagram.

Find her on: Website, Goodreads and Twitter.

[BOOK REVIEW] The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson #TheKindWorthSaving

The Kind Worth Saving (2023) by Peter Swanson is the sequel to his popular thriller The Kind Worth Killing (2015). Before I begin, I would like to note that this book can’t be read as a standalone because it spoils the happenings of the first one, so be aware of that when deciding whether to go into this one. I would definitely recommend The Kind Worth Killing because it’s quite fast-paced and thrilling! When it comes to The Kind Worth Saving – well, I found it to be fast-paced and interesting but somehow rushed. This review will be spoiler-free. Before I go in: there’s a trigger warning regarding a school-shooting which plays a role in the book.

The Kind Worth Saving follows Henry Kimball (a character from TKWK) who is hired to investigate a cheating allegation from a concerned wife (Joan). While investigating he begins to form some sort of a relationship with the woman being suspected of having an affair with Joan’s husband. From then on things turn upside down and nothing is what it seems. Having some issues Henry calls for Lily Kintner (character from TKWK) to lend a helping hand. Basically this sounds like a reiterated blurb from Goodreads but oh well!

What can one expect from Swanson? Mystery, yes. Thrillery feels, yes. Fast-paced novels, yes! Swanson knows how to craft a nice thriller and keep the reader engaged. I read this book in three days and found it to be very enjoyable. Whenever I stopped reading I kept coming back to the book, always thinking about what’s going to happen next. Although The Kind Worth Saving was an enjoyable read for me I found it to be a bit rushed, especially the ending and actions of the characters. Having built the psychology surrounding each character I expected more cunningness, more reasoning, more psychological battle that leaves the reader gasping and guessing. I must say that the twists were interesting although after the first one I found the rest to be fine, they didn’t WOW me as much. I absolutely enjoyed reading the first part featuring Joan and her “tender age”. Such an interesting character yet I wish we got more from her. I like how Swanson combined the story from the first book and we got a bit more information regarding our returning characters. I don’t wish to spoil anything so I’ll have to refrain myself from discussing the book further for fear of ruining the experience for future readers.

The Kind Worth Saving is a thrilling fast-paced book, something you can always expect from this author. It will definitely keep you entertained!

My rating:

The Kind Worth Saving is out on the 2nd of March 2023.

I would like to thank the publisher (Faber&Faber) for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and weren’t influenced by the fact that I got this book from the publisher.

Add ‘The Kind Worth Saving‘ to your TBR:  

*Purchase ‘The Kind Worth Saving‘ here:

*Purchase ‘The Kind Worth Saving‘ with free international delivery here: 

**I am in no way compensated by these sites. I am simply sharing it so people can find this book easier.

Peter Swanson is the author of four novels: The Girl With a Clock For a Heart, an LA Times Book Award finalist; The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year; and his most recent, All the Beautiful Lies. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine. A graduate of Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College, he lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with his wife and cat.

Find him on: Website, Goodreads, Facebook and Twitter.

[BLOG TOUR: BOOK EXTRACT] Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson @FaberBooks @PeterSwanson3

Today is my stop on the RULES FOR PERFECT MURDERS blog tour! I am sharing with you a short extract of the book.

EXTRACT

The waiter was hovering, so we both ordered. Agent Mulvey got the eggs Florentine. I wasn’t hungry but ordered two poached eggs on toast, with fresh fruit on the side. After we ordered, she said, “This has me thinking about rules.” “What do you mean, ‘rules’?” “Okay,” she said, and thought for a moment. “If I was the one who had set myself this task…… this goal of committing the eight murders that you described in your list, then it would be helpful to set some guidelines. Some rules. Do you copy the murders exactly? Or the idea behind the murders? How similar do they have to be?” “So, you think the rules dictate that the murderer adheres as closely as possible to the actual murders in the book?” “No, not the details of the murders, but the philosophies behind them. It’s almost as though the murderer is testing these books in real life. If the idea was simply to mimic the books, then you could just shoot someone in a country house library and call it a day. Or, for the A.B.C. Murders, you’d actually copy them exactly. You know, nd someone named Abby Adams who lived in Acton and kill her first, et cetera. But it’s not just about that, it’s about doing them right. There are rules.”

What are your thoughts on the extract? Let me know in the comments!

Add ‘Rules for Perfect Murders‘ to your TBR:  

*Purchase ‘Rules for Perfect Murders‘ here:

*Purchase ‘Rules for Perfect Murders‘ with free international delivery here: 

**I am in no way compensated by these sites. I am simply sharing it so people can find this book easier.

Peter Swanson is the author of four novels: The Girl With a Clock For a Heart, an LA Times Book Award finalist; The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year; and his most recent, All the Beautiful Lies. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine. A graduate of Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College, he lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with his wife and cat.

Find him on: Website, Goodreads, Facebook and Twitter.

[BOOK EXTRACT] None the Wiser (Detective Mark Turpin #1) by Rachel Amphlett @rachelamphlett

Hello everyone! This is a new segment where I post a spotlight of a book and share an extract of it. I’ve been asked by the lovely author to share an extract which I expected gladly because I know many of you enjoy reading her books and love mystery/thriller books as well. This is the first book in the Detective Mark Turpin series. I hope you enjoy the extract!

EXTRACT

None the Wiser

(Detective Mark Turpin, book 1)

© Rachel Amphlett

Chapter 1

Seamus Carter dropped to his knees.

His voice was little more than a murmur, rising and falling with the rhythm of the prayer.

Exhaustion threatened, and he tried to take strength from the subtext, a momentary sense of calm easing the guilt that had gnawed away at him for days.He kept his eyes closed in meditation a while longer, savouring the tentative peace that enveloped him.

No-one would disturb him.

He was alone – the pub that stood on the other side of the boundary wall with his church had a live band playing tonight. He had heard the thumping bass line as he had been praying, and none of his parishioners were likely to visit at this time of night.

Easing himself from a kneeling position, he genuflected as he gazed up at the wooden crucifix above the altar, and then bowed his head in a final, silent prayer.

Seamus blinked, his trance-like state leaving him as soon as he moved away from the altar.

Despite his efforts, the self-loathing remained, and he scowled.

It wasn’t meant to be like this.

He stomped along the aisle towards the vestry, reached into his pocket for a bubble pack of antacids, then popped and swallowed two.

His thoughts turned to the Sunday morning service, and the uplifting sermon he wasstruggling to write.

The events of the previous week had shaken him, and he needed to excuse his fear.

Addressing the congregation would be a tincture, a way to soothe the wound that had been opened.

Crossing the remaining length of the nave, he pushed through the door to his office and sank into the hard wooden chair at his desk. It faced the wall, a plain wooden cross above his head.

The room had no windows, which he preferred. The setting enabled him to meditate upon his words as he crafted carefully phrased sentences to spread the word of his God.

He tapped the trackpad on the laptop, and, as the screen blinked to life, he manoeuvred the cursor over the music app, selected a compilation of violin sonatas, and closed his eyes as the music washed over him.

He smiled.

Two years ago, the church cleaner had entered the room and emitted a sharp, shocked gasp at the loud trance music emanating from the computer. After he’d calmed her and tried to convince her that, often, his best sermons were written at one hundred and twenty beats per minute, she’d continued with her dusting, although she’d eyed him warily. He’d resisted the urge to educate her musical tastes further with the progressive rock of 1970s Pink Floyd.

Seamus read through the words he had typed an hour ago, and frowned. He deleted the last sentence, cracked his knuckles and then stabbed two fingers at the keyboard in an attempt to convey the thoughts that troubled him.

Perhaps in sharing his own foibles, he would find retribution.

The stack of paperwork at his elbow fluttered as a cold breeze slapped against the back of his neck, and he rubbed the skin, his eyes never leaving the screen.

He would check all the doors and windows before leaving tonight, but now he had found his flow, the sermon was almost complete.

A shuffling noise reached his ears before he became aware of someone standing behind him, a moment before a rope snaked around his neck.

Seamus lashed out in fear, shoving the chair backwards. Terror gripped him as the noose grew taut.

A gloved hand slapped his right ear, sending shards of pain into his skull, and he cried out in pain as his assailant moved into view.

Black mask, black sweatshirt, black jeans.

‘There’s money in the box in the filing cabinet over there. My wallet is in my trouser pocket.’

Before he could recover from the shock, his right wrist was fastened to the arm of the chair with a plastic tie.

His left fist flailed, then Seamus cried out as he was punched in the balls, all the air rushing from his lungs in one anguished gasp.

He panted as his left wrist was secured to the chair, and tried to focus his thoughts.

‘What do you want?’

The words dried on his lips as he heard the warble in his rasping voice, the unsteadiness that betrayed the lie.

Eyes glared at him from slits within a black hood, but no words came.

Instead, the figure moved behind him.

Bile rose in his throat as the rope tightened under his Adam’s apple.

‘Help!’

His cry was instinctive, desperate – and useless.

Restricted by the rope around his neck, his voice was little more than a croak, broken and shattered.

He twisted in his seat, nostrils flaring as he tugged at the ties that bound his wrists to the arms of the chair.

He couldn’t move.

He gagged, struggling to swallow.

Without warning, the rope jerked, forcing his chin towards the ceiling and burning his throat.

A single tear rolled over his cheek as a wetness formed between his legs, heat rising to his face while his attacker crouched at the back of the chair, securing the rope.

He had known it would come to this, one day.

The figure said nothing, and edged around his body, peering into his eyes before raising a knife to Seamus’s face.

A gloved hand gripped his jaw, forcing his mouth open as the priest panted for air.

The blade traced around each eye socket, millimetres away from his face.

I don’t want to die.

His eyes bulged as the knife moved to his cheek, his plea little more than a whimper.

Seamus gagged at the rope cutting into his neck, fighting against the pressure in his lungs.

I can’t breathe.

A searing pain tore into his tongue, slicing through sinew and tendons before the knife flashed in front of his eyes, blood dripping from the blade, and, as Seamus’s body convulsed, the figure before him began to speak.

‘Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned…’

What do you think of it? Let me know below in the comments!

Add ‘None the Wiser‘ to your TBR:  

*Purchase ‘None the Wiser’ here:

*Purchase ‘None the Wiser‘ with free international delivery here:

**I am in no way compensated by these sites. I am simply sharing it so people can find this book easier.

Before turning to writing, Rachel Amphlett played guitar in bands, worked as a film extra and freelanced in radio as a presenter and producer for the BBC. She now wields a pen instead of a plectrum and is a USA Todaybestselling author of crime fiction and spy thrillers, many of which have been translated worldwide. A keen traveller, Rachel holds both EU and Australian citizenship.

Find her on: Website, Twitter and Goodreads.

[BOOK EXTRACT] A Window Breaks by C.M. Ewan @chrisewan #AWindowBreaks @panmacmillan

I’m very excited to share with you and extract of C.M. Ewan’s thriller A Window Breaks. The e-book version of A Window Breaks is out today!

What do you think of it? Let me know below in the comments!

Add ‘A Window Breaks‘ to your TBR:  

*Purchase the ebook version of ‘A Window Breaks‘ here:

*Pre-order a physical copy of ‘A Window Breaks‘ with free international delivery here:

**I am in no way compensated by these sites. I am simply sharing it so people can find this book easier.

Chris Ewan is the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of many mystery and thriller novels. Chris’s first standalone thriller, Safe House, was a number one bestseller in the UK and was shortlisted for The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. He is also the author of the thrillers Dead Lineand Dark Tides and the Kindle Single short story, Scarlett Point. He is the author of The Good Thief’s Guide to . . . series of mystery novels. The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam won the Long Barn Books First Novel Award and is published in thirteen countries.

Born in Taunton in 1976, Chris graduated from the University of Nottingham with a degree in American Studies with a minor in Canadian Literature, and later trained as a lawyer. After eleven years living on the Isle of Man, he recently returned home to Somerset with his wife, their daughter and the family labrador, where he writes full time.

Find him on: Website, Twitter and Goodreads.

[BLOG TOUR: BOOK EXTRACT] Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin @MichaelJBooks @GarethRubin

I’m excited to share an excerpt from Liberation Square with you as part of my blog tour stop! Hope you like it!

BOOK EXTRACT

Make sure to follow other bloggers on this tour!

Add ‘Liberation Square‘ to your TBR: 

*Purchase ‘Liberation Square‘ here:

*Purchase ‘Liberation Square‘ with free international delivery here:

**I am in no way compensated by these sites. I am simply sharing it so people can find this book easier.

Gareth Rubin is an author and journalist who has written for most British national newspapers. He lives in London, and Liberation Square is his first novel.

Find him on: Publishers website, Goodreads and Twitter.

[BLOG TOUR: BOOK REVIEW] A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas @FaberBooks @BevThomas20

A Good Enough Mother is Faber’s lead debut which comes out on 4^th April. When I got the blog tour invite I jumped right in because after reading that synopsis I couldn’t resist! It ticks all the boxes when it comes to a book for me.

What’s it about? A Good Enough Mother follows Dr. Ruth Hartland who is a director in a well-known trauma unit. Ruth’s job consists of seeing different patients and helping them through their traumas and she’s quite a good therapist. Our main character Ruth has a few issues of her own – her son Tom disappeared without a word and that is something that haunts her daily [understandably so]. On one particular day Ruth is assigned a new case, a boy called Dan Griffin who resembles her son a lot. This is where the line between professional and personal intertwine. Ruth, who has years of experience in her practice knows what is to be done in these scenarios but something in her is stopping her from doing the right thing. She cannot get the likeness out of her head and so she begins treating him. Was that the right choice or the greatest mistake? Well, you have to read the book to find out..

Whenever I come across a book where our main character is a therapist or someone in the field of mental health I immediately add it to my TBR because I can’t resist those books. I love finding out about human psyche and what influences most of our behaviour. The author of this book, Bev Thomas, was a clinical psychologist who worked for the NHS and who’s now a consultant when it comes to mental health. I love how her knowledge as well as many years of practice influenced the book and she even mentioned Winnicotts theory of ‘Good Enough Parent/Mother’ which I wasn’t familiar with before. The characters in the book were well crafted and Ruth’s character had a lot of flaws which made her relatable. Now, when it comes to Ruth’s decisions I wanted to yell at her a few times but I have to take into account that she has went through hell with Tom’s disappearance and that’s something very very stressful and can cloud someone’s judgement. I did find issues with a few of her decisions that I couldn’t credit to her trauma and I seriously wanted to shout ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOOOING!!? NOO!’. The book is very readable and it has a nice pace so you can actually fly through it and experience a lot of emotions. Did I feel for Dan? No, I didn’t. I just didn’t like him as a character although I understood Ruth’s ‘pull’ towards him. This book doesn’t jump straight into the action so if you’re someone who wants a fast-paced read you won’t find it here [although the end is wild]. It’s a slow burner which I enjoyed and I especially loved finding out about Ruth’s job and what she did. Although I didn’t like Ruth’s decisions I enjoyed this book a lot and the last few pages were quite hopeful  which was a bonus for me.

A Good Enough Mother is an interesting look into a life of a therapist who while battlng her own demons tries her best to help her patients and a good study of what happens when personal and professional  lives mix.

I would like to thank the publisher Faber & Faber for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions written here are my own and weren’t influenced by the fact that I got this book from the publisher.

My rating:

Make sure to follow other bloggers on this tour!

Add ‘A Good Enough Mother‘ to your TBR:  

*Purchase ‘A Good Enough Mother‘ here:

*Purchase ‘A Good Enough Mother‘ with free international delivery here: 

**I am in no way compensated by these sites. I am simply sharing it so people can find this book easier.

Bev Thomas was a clinical psychologist in the NHS for many years. She currently works as an organisational consultant in mental health and other services.  She lives in London with her family.

Her upcoming novel A Good Enough Mother will be published by Faber & Faber in Spring 2019.

Find her on: Goodreads and Twitter

[BLOG TOUR: BOOK EXTRACT] She Lies in Wait by Gytha Lodge @MichaelJBooks

Today is my stop on the She Lies in Wait blog tour! I am delighted to share the first chapter with you! Let me know your thoughts on it below!

BOOK EXTRACT

Thanks for visiting! Make sure to follow other book bloggers on this tour!

Add ‘She Lies in Wait‘ to your TBR:  

*Purchase ‘She Lies in Wait‘ here:

*Purchase ‘She Lies in Wait‘ with free international delivery here: 

**I am in no way compensated by these sites. I am simply sharing it so people can find this book easier.

Gytha Lodge is a multi-award-winning playwright, novelist and writer for video games and screen. She is also a single parent who blogs about the ridiculousness of bringing up a mega-nerd small boy. She has a profound addiction to tea, crosswords and awful puns. When not writing, she heads up a copywriting team at a global translation firm, where she generally tries to keep all the video-game writing to herself. She studied English at Cambridge, where she became known quite quickly for her brand of twisty, dark yet entertaining drama. She later took the Creative Writing MA at UEA. She has signed with Penguin Random House worldwide for the first three books in her crime series featuring DCI Jonah Sheens…

Find her on: Goodreads and Twitter

[BLOG TOUR: BOOK REVIEW] Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson @FaberBooks @PeterSwanson3

Whenever I see a new Peter Swanson book coming out I immediately get excited. Swanson is that author you just love and whose writing pulls you in – he’s seriously one of my favourite thriller writers ever. When I saw that he had a new book coming out I got so excited! When I see a Swanson book I just get so excited because his books are something I love getting lost in.

Before She Knew Him follows Hen who moves in with her husband Lloyd to a new home. One night at a neighbourhood party Hen and Lloyd meet Matthew and Mira Dolamore, a couple with who they can most relate since they’re the only childless couple in the neighbourhood. Both couples agreed to meet up one night for dinner at the Dolamores so they can get to know each other better. While staying at dinner Hen gets a tour of the house from Mira and sees something that shocks her – a fencing trophy. She immediately gets chills because it can’t be! From this point on Hen starts suspecting that Matthew – a seemingly normal professor – is hiding a dark secret. Hen tells her concerns to her husband who dimisses this insane thought but she isn’t sure she’s being irrational in this situation. Hen begins getting interested in Dolamores more and more and this obsession will spark up an unusual bond with Matthew.

Before She Knew Him is out now in both US and UK! Swanson has a way of engaging the reader when it comes to his books. I have to say that of all the works I’ve read by him nothing can top The Kind Worth Killing which amazed me and made me fall in love with Swanson.

Before She Knew Him is such a fast-paced book and I loved spending every hour and every minute reading it. The characters in it have depth and even the side-characters are given a voice which I found to be excellent when it came to this story. I love how Swanson created Hen who even though has mental health problems still stays true to what she believes and doesn’t let it stop her from finding out the truth. The Dolamores as characters were amazing especially Matthew whose mind was so complex. When it comes to the plot I just loved it – especially the last twenty pages which had me gasping! Now, since I’m on the subject of the ending I kind of felt that it was rushed and would’ve loved that it was more thought-out because the whole idea was so amazing but cut abruptly. Something I love about Swanson is the Hitchcock-ian feel that he adds to his stories and this one had that as well – I mean that twist at the end! As I’ve mentioned, the characters are something I loved finding out more about and Swanson did that perfectly [getting into their psyche] but the ending felt a bit rushed for my taste. Although I had an issue with the ending of this book I still found it thoroughly enjoyable and something I would definitely recommend you pick up if you’re a fan of brilliant psychological thrillers!

I would like to thank the publisher Faber&Faber for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions written here are my own and weren’t influenced by the fact that I got this book for free from the publisher.

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Peter Swanson is the author of four novels: The Girl With a Clock For a Heart, an LA Times Book Award finalist; The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year; and his most recent, All the Beautiful Lies. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine. A graduate of Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College, he lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with his wife and cat.

Find him on: Website, Goodreads, Facebook and Twitter.