Another good thriller from Sibel Hodge.
This was a good story, but not as tense as some of her previous works.

Unfortunately I was left quite disappointed by Sibel Hodge's Beneath The Surface. Excited by the synopsis of a teenager killing his parents and himself, and main character's Holly's insistence that she needs to get to the bottom of exactly what happened to lead Dean the teenager to commit this most heinous of crimes, I started reading this book with fervour. What I was left with however, was a plot line focusing mostly on the scandals of pharmaceutical companies and the cover-ups they use to continue to churn out their multi-million dollar campaigns.

Halfway through the book it was evident that the blame of this incident lay at the foot of a new medication being publicised by one such pharmaceutical company, but I hadn't expected this to be the main focus of more than half of the book. My attention was held and gripped for the first half of the book as I was desperate to know why Dean had commit this murder-suicide, but once the focus of the plot changed to the medication I lost all interest. The book began to read like an attempt to tar all these industries rather than a fictional novel, and so this just did not to it for me. I must admit I had to skim-read the last few chapters as I had lost all interest by this point.

I feel that on the whole the synopsis of the book promises something which is not actually delivered, and this is why I am only scoring three stars. Had there been some mention of the pharmaceutical element of the plot, I would have know what to expect and perhaps wouldn't have chosen this one to read.

Beneath the Surface is a well written suspense novel that focuses on corporate greed. Sibel Hodge obviously researches her topics well, as I found the novel informative as well as entertaining. Perhaps entertaining isnt the correct adjective. The story itself was quite riveting, and I found myself caught up in it easily. The characters arent as complex as I would have liked, but they were interesting and Ms. Hogdge managed to make ne care about them. I thought the story was fast paced, well woven, and the conclusion satisfying.

3,5 Stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked the first half very much. But as soon as the main topic began to unfold I lost interest. I don’t like kiss-and-tell-stories. And I was not aware that this book was that kind of book. I expected something else or maybe a different handling of the topic.

In the first half we meet Holly. We get to know her and learn about her problems. I liked reading the book although I was a bit annoyed by everybody telling her she was paranoid and a crazy drunk. But then the story turns into an action thriller. The exposure of the criminal doings of pharmaceutical companies became more important than telling a story. The author did a great job with her research and the topic is shocking and has to be revealed. But it did not work in this book for me. I don’t know how I can explain it. But I think telling this story, revealing everything, became so important for the author that she missed to form it into a harmonic story.

I am sorry to say that the book did not work for me. It felt like something was missing. I liked the writing and the first half was very well composed. But then it turned into a kind of story I don’t like to read. If I had known that I would not have requested it from NetGalley. But because this is just me and my personal taste I round it up to 4 stars.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R26G0RSUDXZA06/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1611099498
Sibel Hodge champions another cause with big pharma. Spine-tingling suspense in a well-paced psychological thriller. Autism is a no-go here. The rest is a must read.

ohhh my goodness - this book was written so well and I could have easily devoured it in one sitting if my schedule would have allowed me too. This is not the type of thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat, however, it was perfectly layered and I enjoyed pealing back every piece. Looking forward to reading more of Sibel Hodges novels.
* Thank you to the author, publisher, and netgalley for an e-copy in exchange for an honest review*

Once again an excellent story from Sibel Hodge. I enjoy this author's style of writing very much. I liked the characters and especially Holly, who's not perfect, but still easy to relate to. The storyline takes you on a rollercoaster ride of suspense and heart stopping moments and really kept me interested the whole way through. Highly recommend.

Beneath the surface is fascinating story. It was well researched and different to a lot of other books on the market at the moment. The story was fast paced and thought provoking. Sibel is a very talented writer and I can't wait to see what she comes up for her next book.

***4.5 stars****
I really, really enjoyed this book. The main character annoyed me a few times with her decisions, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book. It may have even increased it, as it was very clear that she wasn't perfect (like none of us are). This book kept me wanting to keep reading right until the very end. I can't say much more, as I think it's enjoyed most when you go in blind. Definitely reading more from this author!!!

A very well written psycyhological/big conspiracy thriller. Hodge has carefully plotted her tale and created a good intrepid investigator in Holly. My one complaint about this genre is that I'd really like to see more cooperation with law enforcement. I know it's sort of the point that the protagonist, Holly in this case, can't get anyone to listen to her but I often worry more than I should that these women will get themselves really hurt in the process of trying to figure out a situation. Holly's back story is well done, there are good twists, and the tension is maintained throughout. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Try this one for a good read.

Another enjoyable read by Sibel. Really well written and very hard to put down. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author

If you are going to start reading this book please don't make any other plans for the rest of the day.Ms Hodge really does know her trade and you won't want to put the book down .Holly is an interesting character all the better for her flaws I think, I never like anyone to be too perfect, she drinks too much, not surprising given every thing she has been through and is still going through.This was an intriguing tale and was quite believable in a very dark way why do people go off the rails and kill those closest to them and then kill themselves why indeed ,you like me will have to read the book to find out why,and you won't be sorry you did.Cracking book well worth a read.

Holly, a young journalist finds out that her childhood friend Jess and husband have been killed by their son who has then killed himself. This seems way out of character so she decides to find out more. Holly regrets having not been in touch with Jess sooner. Jess’s mother wants answers and Holly promises to do her very best. This is a well told story as always with Sibel where characters come to life on the pages and a story to get into. I would like to award it a higher rating but there are huge factual errors. As this is a work of fiction I will concentrate on the story for my review and disregard the factual errors. I won’t go into them here but if totally fictional then fine, but a mix of fact (by the amount of Pharma info re SPC etc) and fiction may give a skewed picture. I love Sibel’s books and won’t let this one detract from future works.I voluntarily chose to read this ARC and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased

This is a 3.5 from me. It's a very interesting and topical story, but it just didn't keep my attention quite as much as I expected. I'm a big fan of Sibel Hodge, and her book Untouchable was a five star read for me. This one just didn't quite reach that. There's a whole lot going on here, so it would probably be best to read this one in as few sittings as possible so you don't lose track.

Holly is a journalist, but she spends her time writing feel-good stories because her boss won't assign her anything else. She seems to be a bit too sensitive and empathetic to push people in order to get those big, sordid headlines that sell papers. This story is different... she hadn't been assigned it, and is encouraged to stay away. She can't... she knows the victims.

Her old best friend's son has apparently snapped and killed both of his parents before killing himself. Though she hasn't seen him since he was a very small child, she can't wrap her head around it. She feels guilty that she didn't get back in touch with old friend Jess when she moved back to town. She was ashamed that her career wasn't going well and dealing with a break up and a miscarriage. Getting back in touch with Jess wasn't first on her list of priorities... but now she'll regret it forever.

Unable to accept that the teenager simply snapped without a reason, she starts to investigate. Grief and her own problem with alcohol aren't making things easy, and she has a hard time finding allies. People just seem to think she's making excuses for a very disturbed young man.

It's not long before her investigation leads her to the pharmaceutical industry. Turns out Dean had been seeing a therapist and been prescribed some relatively new mediation. When she looks into other teen suicides, she starts to find connections. But one woman against a gigantic industry cannot end well, and there's no end to what some people will do to protect the secrets that keep them rich and successful.

This book managed to surprise me a few times, and made me think. I do think it went into a little too much detail about the drugs and perhaps stuffed too many topics into one book. Still a very interesting read that I would recommend.

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and Thomas & Mercer, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

Honestly, not what I expected, but then that wouldn't be fun... Excellent thriller, many twists that I wasn't expecting, a book that keeps you guessing... YOU NEED TO READ THIS...

After Holly’s love life takes a hit, she returns to Ashfield and works as a local journalist. To her dismay, she learns that her best friend from school, Jess, and her husband have been murdered at the hands of their son, Dean, who in turn, hangs himself. Holly cannot understand what would cause sweet dean to do such a thing and after being asked by Jess’s mom, Barbara, to help, she investigates to find the truth. However, as she gets involved and uncovers an important detail about the anti-depressant prescribed to Dean, tragedy strikes, threatening to harm the life of her and her family. Then she realizes the only way to stop the perpetrator responsible is to find them!

I loved this book until the very last page. The story was new and interesting and had enough twists to keep me guessing, but the very last page talked about the (non-existent) link of autism to vaccines and that killed it for me, and so I took off a star.

3.5 stars. This book started well and had me intrigued from the start. I just found it went into too much longwinded detail towards the end that I found slightly unnecessary.

Sibel Hodge has done it again! She has this way of drawing you into a story and not letting go till you read those two words - THE END.

The story begins with Holly who has recently returned to her home town of Ashfield after a failed relationship and career in London and is working as a journalist for a local rag when she finds out that her best friend Jess and Jess's husband have both been murdered and her son Dean is the one that killed them, before hanging himself. What made this good natured loving teenager commit this heinous crime? Holly cannot believe it's true and when his gran Barbara asks Holly to help her find some answers she is determined to stop at nothing to uncover the truth.

After reading Duplicity I thought it couldn't get any better than that, she proved me wrong, this was pure brilliance! Her writing is seamless and the words just flow, I found that once I picked this one up I just couldn't put it down and read it in less than a day, I was completely hooked and felt like I'd been thrown into the pages of the book and was living the nightmare alongside Holly determined to get justice for her and the family that Barbara had lost in one fell swoop on that fateful day.

I would like to thank Thomas & Mercer for approving me to read this book and will post my review on Goodreads now and on Amazon on publication day, a very worthy 5 stars.

When teenager Dean, kills his family then himself, everyone doubts him. How could he be so evil and violent? Journalist Holly is a family friend, and can't believe the young boy she used to know could be guilty of such a crime. She investigates Dean and the lead up to his crime, and discovers there's definitely more to the story than initially thought.

This is incredibly fast paced, I had an early night and devoured this in a night. I'd highly recommend it