What I read In July 2021
*Advance review digital copies from NetGalley
July was a BUSY month for new thriller releases and with some new books from some of my most favourite authors, I was really excited to see what this month had in store!
Here are some of my favourite titles from July!
Underbelly by Anna Whitehouse
I am a huge fan of Anna and her Mother Pukka account on Instagram. We share similar beliefs and values surrounding the mental load of motherhood, flexible working and women’s equality in the workplace, so I was super excited to read her first ever fiction novel written with her husband Matt.
Underbelly covers some hard hitting topics – so as a bit of a potential trigger alert, be aware of baby loss, grief, motherhood challenges, self harm and abusive relationships. It also follows topics that fans of Anna will already relate to – the challenges of managing the balance of motherhood and a career.
The story is told through duel perspectives – first up is Lo Knox, a mum influencer who runs ‘The Lowdown’ on Instagram and Dyl Raine – a single Mum living on the breadline after escaping from her abusive ex. The pair meet by chance at the start of the school year, and despite their lives being polar opposites, they get to know each other when their children become besties.
Underbelly really highlights some of the dark sides of social media as well as just how often we form opinions of someone just by the little snippets of their life they choose to share. This book highlights in at times quite sinister fashions a reminder that what’s on the surface isn’t always the reality, and when it comes to instagram, one badly worded caption or poorly chosen ad can make of break someone’s career and their livlihoods.
I found the book super authentic and relatable, becoming very engrossed with the characters. I am normally a thriller reader and as such the pace of this book was more of a slowburn than a rapid page turner, but a really enjoyable debut none the less!
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
I have read a number of Lisa Jewell’s books before and always enjoyed them. so I was really looking forward to what her latest release had in store. It didn’t disappoint and I read this from cover to cover in less than 24 hours.
19 year old young Mum Tallulah is living with her Mum and on/off boyfriend Zach who left when she was pregnant, only to return and attempt to make a go of their relationship. One night the young couple head out for the evening leaving their baby son with Tallulah’s mother Kim. After visiting their local pub for a meal, they head back to The Dark Place, the huge remote home of rich pupil Scarlett, for a pool party with friends – they never return.
The book is told through three different perspectives and timescales which at first can be a little confusing, but once established, these switch fairly seamlessly as we learn more about the characters, their history and the events leading up to and after the disappearance.
In the present day, we meet novelist Sophie who moves with her husband headteacher to the local school. As she takes a walk through the woods and discovers evidence which reopens the case of missing persons Tallulah and Zak, 12 months after their disappearance.
Some of the elements are a little far fetched at times and I did manage to work out some of the twists in advance, but that said, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book at all. It’s a slow burn, character built thriller which is all about relationships, control and secrets and the tension builds really well throughout.
Thanks to Random House Cornerstone, Lisa Jewell & NetGalley for the advance review copy of The Night She Disappeared.
That Night by Gillian McAllisterÂ
I loved the synopsis for this book – whilst on holiday in Verona, two siblings Joe & Cathy receive a manic call from their sister Frannie in the early hours – she’s hit someone with her car and now they’re dead. She was on the wrong side of the road and she panicked, calling them rather than an ambulance. Knowing that she could go to prison and leave her young son without a Mother, they decide to cover it up, burying the body and keeping that night a secret.
What follows is a pretty tense and atmospheric read which begs the question, how far would you go to protect the ones you love?
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Once you tell one lie, one untruth, one twist of reality, how easy is it to keep the lie alive and what do you lose as a result?[/perfectpullquote]
The book is told through various perspectives and duel timelines – one in the past and the other in the present day with Jason – a solicitor preparing for trial.
I found the first half of this book utterly gripping and couldn’t put it down. For the second half however I did feel it lost a little energy and some of the twists and reveals weren’t as shocking as perhaps they could have been. That said, I really enjoyed the book overall and would give it a solid 4/5 stars!
The Rising Tide by Sam Lloyd
Daniel & Lucy Locke and their two children live in Skentel – a small seaside village in North Devon and run successful businesses. Daniel – a marine business and Lucy her own cafe and art gallery called the Drift Net.
When Daniel’s business partner pulls out of the deal, their finances are in a bit of a mess, but they love each other and have faced worse challenges along the way.
One morning Lucy hears a frenzied knock on the door and her colleague Bee is alterting her to the fact the family boat The Lazy Susan – is adrift. With the biggest storm of the century imminent, Daniel and their kids are all missing – Daniel having collected Fin from school for a dentist appointment that didn’t even exist.
They’re all saying Daniel has killed himself and the kids…. but Daniel wouldn’t do that. Lucy knows the kids are alive she can feel it – but where are they and what is the truth?!?
The synopsis of this book really grabbed my attention but I found this a bit of a slow burn – the beginning is quite slow paced and as such I found myself willing for something for shocking to happen – it lacked some of the punch I look for in a thriller. That said, the second half of the book picks up pace considerably, with lots of reveals, twists and shocks. I did feel real tension and anticipation in the second half, but ultimately found the reveal a little far fetched.
The format of the book is also quite unique, with short snappy chapters -some of which are only a page long.
I enjoyed the book, but for me it was a steady 3/5
Thanks to NetGalley, Sam Lloyd and Random House UK, Transworld Publishing for the ARC of The Rising Tide.
False Witness by Karin Slaughter
I am a big fan of Karin Slaughter, who in my opinion, never ever fails to produce jaw droopingly good thrillers and this one certainly didn’t disappoint! I think its important to say from the outset that this is probably one of her darkest thrillers yet, with lots of potentially triggering content – so certainly not for the feint hearted!
23 years ago, Leigh and her sister killed a man – a man who had been sexually abusing his babysitter Callie since she was just 12 years old. When Leigh receives a frantic call from her sister that fateful night- she finds Buddy gravely injured but still alive. Unable to cope with the reality that he’d been abusing Callie (and filming it with hidden cameras!) and that Leigh could have prevented it, Leigh finishes the job and together they clean up and cover his murder.
Fast forward to the present day and the sisters lives have gone in very different directions. Callie is a junkie, getting addicted to drugs after a serious cheerleading injury and Leigh is a successful defence lawyer with a husband and teenage daughter of her own.
When she gets a call putting her on to a last minute case, the last person she expects to see is Trevor (now called Andrew), the grown up son of the man they killed. He is accused of sexual abuse and rape and has hired Leigh to work on his defence. It soon becomes apparent that he knows EXACTLY what happened to his father that night and will stop at nothing to make Leigh and Callie suffer.
What follows is a real page turner and I became totally engrossed in the story which at times was a really hard read. I found myself feeling real empathy for the two sisters who have experienced such trauma from such a young age and also strong anger towards Andrew and his sinister smirk! This is also the first book I have read that not only references COVID-19, but actually naturally entwines it into the story – at first I wasn’t sure I liked this (I read for escapism and having it there felt too close to home) but as Karin explains in the epilogue, it is important to cover social issues in her books – and the last 18 months have been pretty hard to ignore!
This was a hard hitting and tense thriller which kept me reading till the early hours with its somewhat inevitable yet equally shocking end!
Another great thriller from Karin!
Thank you to Karin Slaughter, NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC of False Witness.
