Wow! This one had me hooked from the beginning and was full of twists and turns right to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege to read and review this book.

Another excellent read by the brilliant Jo Spain! You always know there's going to be an unexpected twist and in this one, we have twist upon twist!
I find her style of writing very engaging. It keeps you spellbound from the first page till the last.

How far would you go to protect someone you love?
Luke's wife unexpectedly fetches him from work and tells him she booked tickets for them to go away on a holiday to the Caribbean. All goes well but on the day they are supposed to return home, she tells him he must leave without her. Something terrible happened and she's not able to go back.
This is when all the twists start. How well does he know his wife?
With Mickey's help (a friend with whom he shares a complicated past) they try to figure out what is going on.
Who is hiding what from whom?
What I love about most of the characters are that they are all flawed and that makes them very relatable.

Highly recommended!!
Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

This was one rollercoaster of a book,I read it in a day. Rose meets Luke one night out with work mates,and there's an instant connection. Luke is totally transfixed with her. But Rose knows it can't go anywhere. She's too damaged. Her abusive Ex has ruined love for her. Luke can wait,he's that adamant they're meant to be. Both have secrets from their pasts but in order for them to get out of the latest bind they're in(and it's a biggie!!),they must come clean with each other.
Luke acquires the help of mickey,his ex who was once a lawyer..they haven't spoken in ages either so his call was a shock.
Just when you think you have this plot sorted....no you don't. I was back and forward guessing the guilty party. I won't say if I got it right but I will say stay focused. Its a really good read.

This is one of those arcs I starts without having read the blurb as Jo Spain is a favorite. This was a favorite thriller: well plotted and gripping.
The characters are fleshed out and the tightly knitted plot never drags.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

My thanks to Quercus Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Don’t Look Back’ by Jo Spain.

I very much enjoy domestic noirs/psychological thrillers and Jo Spain’s latest definitely hit the spot.
The narrative follows the viewpoints of a few characters and there’s occasional flashbacks to events in the recent and more distant past. These shifts are announced in the chapter headings.

Luke Miller has been experiencing a perfect life (oh-oh watch out Luke). His wife, Rose, had surprised him with a belated honeymoon and for the last week they have been luxuriating on the Caribbean island of Saint-Thérèse. But as they pack their bags to return home, Rose breaks down and confesses that a violent man from her past had tracked her down and broken into their home. In her terror, she had accidentally killed him and now there’s a dead body in their posh apartment.

Luke naturally freaks out and reaches out to Mickey Shiels, a former flame who had been a solicitor but now works with victims of domestic violence. Luke knows that Mickey won’t deny a woman who needs help. He is right and she promises to deal with things. Of course, this is just the start of a twisty tale full of secrets, lies, and revelations.

The narrative moves between London, the island of Saint-Thérèse, and County Donegal, Ireland. Aside from Luke and Rose, there are chapters from the points of view of Mickey as well as her business partner, Elliot Ibekwe, who travels to Donegal in order to look into Rose’s past life.

Overall, I found ‘Don’t Look Back’ an engaging read and the kind of book that is easy to curl up with. I expect many will find it a great summer read.

Don't Look Back is a fast paced, twisty story that I could not put down. I was completely hooked from start to finish and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for my ARC.

WoW.......Don't Look Back by Jo Spain was a brilliant fast-paced thriller from start to finish it was so addictive, with great characters. I ended up reading it in one long sitting. (so glad it was take away night!)

Jo Spain's book have all been an excellent read and I highly recommend them especially this one. Its another 5 star read,

Big thank to NetGalley, Quercus Books and the author Jo Spain for my ARC of Dont Look Back in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable, fast paced thriller with interesting characters. I liked the action switching from London to the Caribbean and then to Ireland. Though some of the story was a little unbelievable, it is a a great holiday read.

I haven't read anything by Jo Spain before but after reading Don't Look Back, I will certainly be keeping my eyes open in the future as I enjoyed this.

Don't Look Back is a twisty thriller with great characters, not all of whom are likeable, and an intriguing plot with some great twists. Be warned, it deals with domestic violence so if this is a trigger, I would steer clear.

Travelling from London to the Caribbean and to Ireland, this is one twisty book that is told at a good pace, from multiple points of view and with some flashbacks. The plot is complicated but it all comes to a satisfying conclusion in the end.

All in all, an enjoyable thriller that kept me reading into the night and I must thank Quercus Books and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of Don't Look Back.

This book takes us from London, to the Caribbean, to County Donegal Ireland, and back again. It has a really well written complicated plot that was tied together beautifully by author Spain.

The characters in the book are a) damaged b) on the border of criminality through their connections/actions or c) both. Three of the characters have a history of abuse in their lives that is a unifying theme in the book.

But it is Rose's fear and need to be on the run from her past that drives the story. Even when she's on a Caribbean island for a belated honeymoon she's arranged with her new husband, Luke. But then she presents him with the real reason they're on the island: she's been attacked by her ex, and now there's a dead body in Luke's apartment. She wants to run; Luke wants to stay and fight. He calls in a woman from his past, Mickey, a former attorney and now an advocate who helps women in similar situations.

But now, the unexpected has happened, and Mickey isn't sure whose side she's on. And now there's more than one person running.

I enjoyed Spain's book, The Perfect Lie, and as with that, this book did not disappoint. It's an intelligent story that will keep you riveted.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for an advance reader's copy.

EXCERPT: the expression on her face . . . it's not one Luke has seen before. It's terrifying. She's terrified. As if she's too frightened to speak. And then she finds the words.
'I can't go back,' she says.
Luke suddenly feels very cold. His conscious brain is thinking, whatever it is, it's fine; we can go home and sort it out. Nothing could have happened that warrants this sort of fear.
But Rose is trembling and Luke knows whatever she's about to tell him is not going to be good.
'He's dead,' she says.

ABOUT 'DON'T LOOK BACK': For one week, everything in Luke Miller's life is perfect. Surprised with a belated honeymoon by his wife, Rose, he's had seven days with her in a Caribbean paradise. It's more than he ever thought he'd deserve.

But as they pack their bags, Rose breaks down, confessing that on the day they left London, a violent man from her past tracked her down and broke into their home. He wasn't expecting her to fight back. And, in her terror, Rose killed him. Now there's a dead body in Luke's apartment, and only one person he can think to turn to.

Mickey Sheils never expected to hear from Luke again, not after he disappeared the first time. Luke knows Mickey can't deny a woman who needs help, so she promises she'll deal with things - she'll make sure Rose doesn't have to keep running.

But it turns out, some lies are too big to run from.

MY THOUGHTS: It took me a little longer than usual to become fully immersed in Jo Spain's latest novel, Don't Look Back, but once I was, I was hooked right until the end which, unfortunately, left me a little disappointed.

But the bulk of the novel had me alternately entranced and on the edge of my seat going wtf as Jo Spain's trademark twists took me in unexpected directions. There are some wonderfully suspenseful moments that had me holding my breath and wondering just what was going on and where the truth lay.

I really couldn't get a handle on Rose. She's a chameleon, different things to different people. Sweet? Injured? Needing protection? Or coolly calculating and manipulative? And Luke - too good to be true? Or is he really a great guy. Whatever these two characters may be, each is hiding something from the other.

Mickey and Elliott I adored, and I would love to read more about them, and the same for Detective Marcel Alleyne in Saint Thérèse, a very unusual character.

I liked Don't Look Back a lot, but I didn't quite love it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#DontLookBack #NetGalley

I: : @jospainauthor @quercusbooks

T: @SpainJoanne @QuercusBooks

#contemporaryfiction #mystery #suspense #thriller

THE AUTHOR: Jo Spain is the author of the bestselling Inspector Tom Reynolds series and several international No. 1 bestselling standalone novels. Her first book, With Our Blessing, was a finalist in the 2015 Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller.
Jo, a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, writes TV screenplays full-time. Her first crime series was broadcast on RTE in 2018 and she's currently involved in a number of TV developments including adaptations of her own novels. In 2021, she co-wrote Harry Wild, starring Jane Seymour, with the Emmy award-winning David Logan (airing 2022).
Jo lives in Dublin with her husband and four young children. In her spare time (she has four children, there is no spare time really) she likes to read. Her favourite authors include Pierre Lemaitre, Jo Nesbo, Liane Moriarty, Fred Vargas and Jodi Picoult. She also watches TV obsessively.
Jo thinks up her plots on long runs in the woods. Her husband sleeps with one eye open. (I can see why!)

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Quercus Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Don't Look Back by Jo Spain for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

I enjoyed reading this book. The pace was good, the story was great, and the characters were well written. I thought it packed a punch, and it certainly kept me entertained. Good book.

Feeling a bit down on the last day of your holiday is understandable, no-one wants to go back to real-life!

But when Luke hears the reason that Rose doesn't want to go home after their spur of the moment getaway, he is stunned.

Luckily he has a contact back home who he trusts, so he sends Mickey to check things out, but unfortunately, she does not find what he was expecting, making this issue even more complex than they thought.

With some great characters, particularly Mickey, and a very twisty story, this was a highly entertaining read!

Likes:
⚛️ Fast-paced thriller
⚛️ Really good characters that I actually cared about
⚛️ Incredible plot twists
⚛️ Page-turner

Dislikes:
🥴 Some things felt a bit cliched
🥴 The end was packed full of twists, and maybe because I read it when I was a bit sleepy I found myself getting confused with all the information overload.

𝕱𝖎𝖓𝖆𝖑 𝖁𝖊𝖗𝖉𝖎𝖈𝖙: Liked this twisty page turner! Recommended for sure ✔️

Thanks to Quercus books & Netgalley for ARC.

Mickey Shell, ex-lawyer, Irish expat in London, now works on the fringes of the law helping people extricate themselves from violent situations and relationships. She's astonished to be contacted by her old flame turned honeymooner Luke Miller, whose new wife Rose has confessed something very dark indeed. Can Mickey make this go away? Against her better judgement, Mickey travels to a Caribbean island to see what she can do. Things go very badly very quickly.
Spain is a master at this kind of stuff and you will be gripped, frustrated, puzzled, and just want to read one more breathless chapter before you put it down. Mickey is a great character, and I wouldn't mind seeing more of her if circumstances permit.

This tense, densely plotted thriller set in some very pricy real estate reminded me of the Somerset Maugham quote about Monaco - 'a sunny place for shady people'. Everyone has a lot of money - and everyone has an equivalent amount of secrets and moral compasses set to 'flexible'.

A fast-pace and action-packed thriller, Don't Look Back constantly took me by surprise with its clever twists and misdirection.

I've only read one other of Jo Spain's other books before so I knew how clever she is a tricking the reader. So I was constantly looking for chinks in the narrative, trying to see if there was anything left to misinterpretation. And while I did guess a few of the smaller twists, there was a lot that I never would have been able to predict.

An addictive read that will undoubtedly keep you on the edge of your seat, this will make a perfect beach read for the summer! I'd also love to read more about Mickey and Elliot who were brilliant supporting characters.

I'm a big fan of Jo Spain's Books, so I went into this with great expectations and I honestly think Don't Look Back is my favourite of hers yet.

Luke Miller has just reached the end of a magical belated honeymoon in the Caribbean that his wife Rose surprised him with and he is literally on cloud nine when she pulls the rug out from under him with the confession that her violent, abusive ex Kevin is lying dead in their London flat after he finally found and attacked her but this time she fought back.

We then meet Mickey, Luke's old friend, who he reaches out to for help, Mickey is an Irish former lawyer now based in London helping abused women escape their abusers with a lot of help from her wealthy husband and his deep pockets. (I'd love a book just on Mickey)

In true Jo Spain style, you never really know if the picture she paints of the characters is truly who they are, Luke is a successful, driven, ambitious Investment Banker, and hopelessly devouted to Rose and protecting her. Rose is a terrified teacher from Donegal who ran away to London to escape her abusive ex Kevin who comes from a wealthy powerful Donegal fishing family who's wealth is far from legal, she is constantly looking over her shoulder, afraid to let Luke in for fear of him getting hurt.....But is this really who they all are......

This is a gripping, suspense filled thriller full of secrets, lies, twists and turns. Floating between the Caribbean, London, Donegal and over different timelines, you won't be able to put it down, telling yourself just one more chapter. As the story progresses, it starts to unravel quickly with the lies and secrets spilling out, I definitely muttered a few WTF's!!

Random fact about me: I'm from a fishing family in a small Irish fishing village so I found it very entertaining reading about the Davidson family and can confirm that my family and village is very boring compared to theirs.

Thank you to Netgalley, Quercus Books and Jo Spain for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Review also posted over on my Instagram page @ericas_bookreviews

I have heard so much about Jo Spain’s books and how addictive they are. This was my first book by her and now I see what all the fuss is about! I was on the edge of my seat throughout this page turner and had no idea the way the story was going to go until the very end. If you enjoy a good thriller, I definitely recommend giving this one a go.

Luke Miller is surprised when his new wife Rose meets him in a taxi outside his London office in with their passports and a bag packed for an unexpected honeymoon on St Thérèse in the Caribbean. They didn’t have time for a honeymoon when they married, so now he’s making the most of a well-earned break, although Rose is becoming more anxious as their holiday comes to a close. When it’s time to leave, she tells him she’s done something terrible and can’t go home to their apartment.

Rose and Luke first met in a pub when they were with workmates. There was an instant attraction and when Luke got her number and called her, she agreed to meet. However, she told him she had moved to London from Ireland to get away from a violent ex-husband and wasn’t looking for a relationship. However,

Rose and Luke felt an instant attraction when they first met in a pub with workmates and before long had fallen in love. But Rose hasn’t told Luke everything about her past in Ireland and Luke also has a dark secret he’s been keeping from her too.

Jo Spain has written yet another gripping page turner. Fast paced, with sharp, punchy chapters, that keep the reader totally engaged. The plot is cleverly thought out with enough twists to keep you guessing to the end. The action moves between St Thérèse, London and Donegal as Luke tries to work out how to help Rose. He engages the help of an old friend, Mickey, who helps abused women escape from violent relationships. A former lawyer, Mickey has a good network of contacts and great instincts which tell her she needs to learn more about Rose’s past to unravel what is happening today.

In addition to an intriguing plot, the novel is populated with diverse and complex characters. Rose is the most complex of all and her history of domestic abuse makes her the most vulnerable. Although Luke seems gentle and straight forward, working now as a pension funds investor, he previously worked in the more cut-throat world of hedge funding before leaving it abruptly and without explanation. He also has some history with Mickey and she is wary of letting him back into her life. As the mystery unfolds, it becomes hard to know who to trust in this tale of lies and hidden secrets, but it will certainly keep you guessing right to the end.

At first I was a bit skeptical, because the beginning sounded like quite a few other books that I have read. After that it really picked up and the story had many twists and turns, and it was hard to let go of the book. There are some bits that I did not really find realistic, and I decided to not put too much emphasize on them, but since I am still thinking about it, maybe that was a bit of a turn off for me. There were also a couple of inconsistencies along the way, but otherwise the book was very entertaining, it kept me interest, and mostly I enjoyed the pace. It could have been a bit shorter. A bit of a better balance would have made this book nearly perfect. Pretty sure lots of people will love this book!