I was approached by the publisher who asked if I would be interested in reading this. As someone who had an entire era of reading thrillers and crime books I figured I'd give it a go. To be honest when I started the book I did not expect to give it "only" 3 stars. The beginning started really good, it got a little confusing after the first few chapters until I caught on with what was going on. The twists and secrets this story has really keep you on edge, but at some point I felt like the story was getting dragged out for the sake of adding in more twists and plot points. I was about 46% in and the victim had already been discovered. So that meant that more than half of the book would be centered around the victim being able to escape. Had it been a little further into the book, 60-70%, I wouldn't have minded it so much.

The epilogue was a little disappointing. For me personally, it took away from the last chapter.

I can definitely see the potential though of this book and can definitely understand people rating this book 5 stars. Maybe I would have rated this book differently had I still been in my thriller era.

Meg is all alone, no family and no friends. She spends her time looking over her shoulder, hiding from something terrible in her past. She lives in a small cottage on the edge of a cliff, which she has barricaded against intruders as much as possible, but it is only a matter of time before her past catches up with her.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book, it kept me on the edge of my seat, the twists and turns of the plot kept me guessing all the way through.

The Blackout started with an interesting premise. Two best friends out on the town just wanting to have fun. Then a series of events leaves one dead and the other running for her life. I enjoyed the book, but it seemed a bit predictable and lacked a little something, though I can't say what. I would definitely give the author another try!.

WOW! This book had me looking over my shoulder with every page! I am hooked! I can not wait to read more by Sarah Goodwin! Sarah had me at every chapter! I read this in one sitting and was so mad that I had finished!!

The Blackout by Sarah Goodwin

Meg and Cat had a night out in Bristol. After a few drinks and pill, they decided to go back home. Once they arrived at the bus station, they noticed the wallet was gone and they had no money with them. Walking back home it seemed the only way back and they were not alone. They had to run to save their lives and they thought they were safe when they were hiding in an abandoned house....

One year later, one of them tried to escape the nightmare of that night and hid herself in a cliffside cottage which turned into a safehouse. One night, there was a blackout in the safehouse. The girl knew she was not alone....

I love the idea of the story. The starting pace was wonderful and it was utterly gripping, however, the pace dropped from the middle and it started to drag a bit. This chasing story was enough to put you sitting at the edge!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Avon Books UK and Sarah Goodwin for The Blackout!

Kindle: 384 pages
Pub date: Aug 31, 2023

Short and sweet review. I’m sorry to say this book wasn’t for me. It felt repetitive and long-winded at times which overshadowed the likeable elements of the narrative. The ending just felt forced. I hope others love it, but I will chalk it up to just not being for me.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was my first book from this author and I already know I will be reading more! The overall feeling of this book was very creepy and chilling, it had the reader feeling what the characters were feeling right in the moment. I absolutely loved the concept for this book and the first half with the majority of the set up was very enjoyable and had me quickly turning the pages to see what would happen next. Unfortunately the overall execution of the plot fell a little flat for me, the plot got a tad too muddy and the characters, while entertaining, ended up being too unlikeable for me to root for. However I really enjoyed the author's concepts and her imagination still rang through in the overall plot for me, which interested me in reading more of her work in the future!

3.5 Stars
Entertaining thriller with an easy well-paced writing style.
Atmospheric with flawed characters and two timelines.
Suspenseful plot with twists keeps the pages turning.
I found the ending to be far fetched and the epilogue unnecessary.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

The Blackout is a creepy thriller following dual timelines. I did struggle to fully connect with the plot and characters and found some parts hard to believe with the characters actions sometimes being too "silly" however I do think this is an easy reading book and I would recommend if you want to immerse yourself into a horror atmosphere.

The Blackout begins with Meg and Cat on a night out which results in them having to walk home in the middle of the night when they discover they're being followed.

After the events of that night it then jumps to a year later with Meg in hiding running from her past.

The timeline felt disjointed as it randomly swapped between the night of the event and the present day.

Megs character was quite frustrating, she made a lot of bad decisions and sometimes it felt like it was pointless mentioning something for her to then not bother in that situation.

By the time we learnt more about Meg and why she had a checkered past it was at the point of no longer caring.

It was hard to find interest in any of the characters and it felt like certain ones needed more fleshing out to truly understand how and why they did what they did.

Also the epilogue seemed a bit pointless and didn't really add anything to the story.

Thank you for Netgalley for the arc but this one really wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! I’ve read all of Sarah Goodwin books and this one was no different she is the queen of thrillers. This book was so captivating one world WOW! It was brilliant , it was a fast paced and kept me guessing throughout a perfect book for psychological thrillers fans alike, from the very first page I drawn and couldn’t put the book down it was so good I read it in a day! The characters were likeable also.

Overall, I throughly enjoyed this book and all the plot twists that it presented! Another cracking book by Sarah Goodwin!

Megan and Cat are gearing up for a big night out. Plenty to drink, a good time, and chips on the way home, sorted!

At the end of a great evening, Cat pops a pill, Megan gets robbed and her phone gets wrecked, so it seems their plans are thwarted. Even the night bus driver won’t let them on without paying. A decision is made to walk home, despite it being a cold night, and with the stilettos, skimpy dresses and only one coat between them, what could possibly go wrong? But even freezing they struggle along.

I really like this author and was looking forward to reading her latest offering.

The premise of this story is good, and it certainly starts off well. Sadly, about halfway through the plot gets really muddy, and the characters too unpleasant to care about one way or the other. Loads of repetition, silly scenarios and a storyline that doubts the reader’s intelligence. As for the epilogue, please ditch it! A real letdown for such a good writer.

I will continue to read Goodwin, hopefully this is a blip!

2.5*

Thank you NetGalley.

Atmospheric creepy thriller that switches between past and present. Overall enjoyable, although some aspects of the story were a bit clunky. The plot started rather quickly, with it being suspenseful throughout the entire book, which helped me fly through the book!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. The one word to describe this story would be atmospheric, I think the author done a fantastic job of building a sense of place and tension given where the majority of this story takes place. There is also a nice midway twist which was unexpected for me.

I think the book did drag a little towards the end. It's not an overly long book, however, so it wasn't a question of it being unnecessarily lengthy but I just felt it could have been finished a little earlier.

All in all a decent read and an author I will look out for. If there are better novels from her then I am open to recommendations.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Wowzers! I loved this book, I really enjoyed that we were finding out the back story pinning the current story bit by bit. BUT what I loved was the back story BEFORE the back story which was really why everything was happening - just brilliant!!! I do still have a question even though I've finished it but I think that has been done on purpose!!

The Blackout is a standalone psychological thriller by author, Sarah Goodwin. This is my third novel by this author and my favorite so far. Told across multiple timelines, this one is sure to shock and chill mystery fans. The author uses the blackout as a way to ramp up suspense and the isolated setting brings all the atmosphere. We know something horrifying has driven our main character to the current predicament but not why and the author slowly drip feeds us information as the book climbs towards the unsettling and intense conclusion. This author knows how to write suspense. I’ll certainly be reading more books by this author in the future.

Maggie did something bad when she was fourteen and retribution is about to catch up with her. Non stop action, heart pounding, can't stop reading book. Just when you thought that's it.....boom!!
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Avon Books for the chance to read and my opinion.

While Goodwin manages to set the scene well with very atmospheric settings, the story was not particularly original or memorable. It was overall fairly entertaining but I don't think it's going to be one I'm going to remember for very long. The epilogue was my favourite section, great ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for an early copy of The Blackout!

This was not exactly what I expected, but in a good way! First we read about two women walking home after drinking too much and finding themselves in trouble. Then as the novel continues, we learn one of them is in hiding a year later and has a questionable past…

This was definitely a pulse pounding page turner! I liked the beginning a lot and I was genuinely creeped out at times. However, I didn’t like the ending. It started to get repetitive and I was left feeling a bit confused. Overall though, I did enjoy this fast paced read!

I thought it was just me but other reviewers were unhappy with this book. It starts off well but half way through it just got messy. Characters changing names, different timelines and generally uninteresting. I kept thinking “ silly little girl why did she do that? “. I will try other by this author, maybe I didn’t connect with the characters or the story. Not for me - DNF. Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for a prepublication ebook.