What I read in October…
*This post includes advance review copies gifted via NetGalley. This post contains affiliate links*
The seasons are changing, the nights are drawing in, and suddenly I find myself reading a lot more than normal. Partly because there is nothing better than climbing under the duvet and switching off before bed, but also because my sleep hasn’t been great again at the moment. At the time of writing we are in Tier 2 covid restrictions in Solihull and its more than a little overwhelming wondering what the next few months are going to be like. Reading is a great escapism, and I’ve read a great bundle or psychological thrillers this month. Here’s my round up of what I read in October.
A Lie for a Lie by Julie Corbin
A Lie for a Lie starts with a bang. Anna Pierce, a nurse at a private school where she lives with her family (husband and two children Isabel and Noah) is accused of hitting a child. Tori, the child in question has always been a bit troubled – her Mum is an alcoholic and her Dad absent and lying has been her way to get attention. Anna has always had an outstanding reputation, so surely people would believe her and know that she would. NEVER hit a child.
Suddenly however, Anna finds herself suspended from the job she loves and being investigated by the police, She is confident it will be over soon and she can go back to work and life return to normal.
In the middle of the investigations she gets a text from Tori saying she has something important to tell her and assumes that she is going to withdraw the charges against her; but acting sensibly and concerned about aggravating the situation, she ignores the message and simply informs the police.
The next morning however, Tori is found dead, and suddenly Anna’s battle to prove her innocence becomes even harder – as its her words against Annas! What was Tori going to tell her?!
There’s no spoilers here, but this book has a number of twists and turns as we build up the back story – what really happened that night? Did Anna hit Tori? And who killed her, because if Anna didn’t, then someone else did!!
I found the pace of this book a bit slow in parts and it lacked some of the tense gripping page turning moments that I seek from a psychological thriller, however, I enjoyed the storyline and the ending which I hadn’t predicted in advance. 3/5
The Vow by Debbie Howells
The Vow introduces us to Amy, a herbalist living near Brighton. She is two weeks away from her wedding day when she gets stopped by a stranger on the street. She tells her that her life is in danger. Thinking the woman is simply a mad old lady, she ignores the message and goes home to finalise her seating plan with her fiancé, something they’ve been looking forward to for weeks.
She then receives a call from her finance Matt saying that he’s having to work late. This isn’t abnormal as his job often involves entertaining clients, but when he signs off the call with the phrase ‘take care’, her instincts start to feel that something isn’t quite right.
That night, Matt never returns home and concerned, Amy reports him missing to the police. Things then take a sudden turn when another lady reports her lover missing – a lover with the same name and same description. When the reality dawns on her that the man she was due to marry has been living a double life, she is determined to find out what has happened to Matt so she can understand the truth once and for all.
This book held a lot of promise for me. I loved the concept, the storyline and this felt like quite a unique thriller, nothing like others I have read before. The book is told between the viewpoints of Amy (fiancé) and Fiona (lover) as well as Amy’s daughter Jess and the different dialogue helps build up a tension and back story.
However, there is a lot of repetition in this book – with the same information being repeated multiple times as Amy speaks with someone else, and as a result I found myself skimming a bit. Some bits just aren’t believable either and I found the ending a little lacklustre, with some parts that I felt would be more crucial to the plot being simply glossed over or dismissed.
Sadly it didn’t blow me away as a result, but a good read none the less. 3/5
Unfollow Me by Charlotte DuckworthÂ
When Violet Young, a huge online YouTube vlogger and influencer with over 1 million subscribers social channels disappear overnight, the GoMama message boards go crazy with speculation. Has her husband Mark hurt her? Remember that bruise she once had? Is she dead?
This book follows two of Violet’s biggest fans, both of whom are determined to find out what’s happened to her – it’s not hard to use the information that’s been shared about their lives to hunt down the truth. But is their obsession with Violet a healthy one?
I loved Unfollow Me so much I gave it its own stand alone review which you can read here.
5/5
All Your Little Lies by Marianne Holmes
Annie is invisible. She’s content enough, but she goes through life being ignored and rejected. She has very few friends, is socially awkward and always seems to make the wrong judgement, say the wrong thing or get herself into tricky situations. She longs for someone to pay her some attention, to appreciate her for who she is, but when she gets drunk at a works do and the man she thought was interested humiliates her, she finds herself acting irrationally, letting herself into his flat with the spare key she knows he leaves outside, before waking up with very little recollection of the night before.
Then when a young teenager Chloe goes missing – Annie discovers that the CCTV footage showing Chloe’s last movements has her car in the background, and the headlights are on, making Annie one of the last known people to see her. Was she abducted? Did she run away? Why can’t Annie remember? She can’t tell the police because then she’d have to admit that she was in her boss’s flat, and that she got in her car after drinking far too much alcohol! What if she was involved somehow? Is she a witness, or a suspect??
Suddenly Annie finds herself thrust into the limelight, linking up with the search party and speaking to the police about what she knows, but is she making it worse? The last things she needs is them to dig up some of the shocking secrets of her past!
I really enjoyed All Your Little Lies and although I found Annie very odd, I think she was perfectly written – this is her personality, and as the book progresses, we learn more about Annie’s childhood and her constant need for acceptance which explains some of her unorthodox behaviour.. It’s quite dark and distressing in parts.
For me the ending let this book down a little, as I ended up going from fast page turning on the edge of my seat moments to feeling somewhat disappointed and undewhelmed’ however I may simply have been expecting another twist which didn’t materialise. Overall however, I still enjoyed All Your Little Lies. 3.5/5 from me.
The Stranger in my Bed by Karen King
The Stranger in My Bed (released 23rd November 2020) tells the story of Freya and Phil – who have a turbulent relationship. Their relationship started off perfectly; a whirlwind romance, an amazing wedding and honeymoon; but then when they start a life together at home he became angry and violent, and Freya sees a side to Phil she’s never seen before. One night they have a huge row where a vase gets thrown and Phil storms out the house. Freya packs her bags ready to leave Phil for good, but then receives a phone call to say there’s been an car accident. Phil’s car has crashed into a lorry and he’s unconscious in intensive care.
When he wakes from his coma he is suffering from retrograde amnesia – he has no recollection of the last 2 years of his life – his last memory stepping off the plane when they returned from honeymoon.
Freya battles with whether she should give Phil a second chance – after all he cant remember his violent and aggressive outbursts. But when Phil returns home and elements of his history start to return, the cracks start to show again – can Phil be trusted?
One things for sure – Phil’s car crash was no accident. Someone had cut the breaks. Then the hate filled notes start to appear. But who are they for? Is Freya in danger, or is Phil?
This book has a LOT of questions posed in every chapter and you find yourself second guessing everything you read not knowing whether to believe one persons perspective over another. The dialogue shifts between Phil and Freya’s viewpoints as we learn about their history.
I enjoyed this book – the first psychological thriller from this author. I felt the twist at the end was slightly upsold, but despite that, I found the conclusion of the book to be enjoyable if not somewhat abrupt in its final moments. I should add a trigger alert as this book covers domestic violence (physical and psychological) in some detail which some readers may find upsetting.
3.5/5
