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How well do you know your partner? Cass has the perfect life - 2 amazing kids from her first marriage and after her first husband died she found the man of her dreams and they have a son. But things are not what they seem and after they move across the country Cass is isolated and things don't add up. No one believes her when she tells them her husband is poisoning her. What do you do when no one believes you and it is life and death? At times predictable but still a fun read.

Man once I started reading this book it was hard for me to put down. I honestly had no clue which way this book was going to go. A couple that seems to be happy yet the wife seems a bit crazy and ends up becoming sick? You know something is going on, especially with the husband telling white lies and it just builds and builds. I didn't put two and two together until Cass started really putting some thought on to what was going on with her. We see how her husband acts and it just slowly starts to click on to what is truly going on.
In this life you can't trust anyone even if that person is close to you, because they could be dangerous. This marriage is not healthy and we slowly see it start to unravel and yet Cass still holds on strong to making sure her children are safe.
I ended up giving this book a four and not a five because there were some scenes that really didn't seem believable to me. I know, I know this is a book and it is not made to be 100 percent believable, yet when Cass started dealing with her male neighbor just something seemed off.
We get the past and the present of what is going on in the household of Cass and it is not all butterflies and sparkles.
I think the author did a good job with bringing up the way law enforcement and others view women who come to them without proof of being hurt.
I wouldn't really call this book a mystery more like a psychological thriller that will have you wondering how this will end.

Paranoia strikes deep.

Cass Connor is a mother of three lively children and a professor in the Journalism Department of the University of Washington. Juggling the high points of her day is quite the challenge. She and her husband, Ryan, have been married for three years and have taken residence just outside of Seattle. These former New Yorkers are trying to establish new roots.

Cass still carries the grief of losing her first husband, Jason. But life with Ryan is a fresh start in the right direction. They share a child together, Sam. who has just turned two. And life is good until, unfortunately, it's not.

Cass begins to find evidence that suggests that Ryan may be having an affair. Late nights, suspicious texts, the knotted links of untruths. But when she confronts him, Ryan seems to paint Cass' world with his own accusations that perhaps Cass is unstable and her imaginings are unfounded. Just who is standing on solid ground while the other is weaving tales of terrible woe? We will experience a marriage coming undone and each individual caught in the crossfire of severe behavior.

Galt Niederhoffer presents a story that circles around the bulls-eye of truth. Truth seems to take on the shape of the original circumstances as it first emerges. Strangely, truth emits a hue recognized only by the eyes of the beholder. The challenge in this novel is to spotlight this questionable truth and offer it for others to view without life's usual blinders.

Poison is more of a psychological thriller than a mystery. You will find heavy evidence of Niederhoffer's deep research within these pages in order to support the main thread. Poison doesn't carry the weight in a literary sense, but it is lined with constant scientific summaries which will make more sense as you tred further into this book.I also found very contrived characterizations that support Niederhoffer's premise for Poison. These characters track their footprints back to today's headlines. I don't want to throw in any spoilers and will let you find that out for yourselves.

As I always say, take this one out for a test drive and see what you think. There's plenty of creep here to keep these wheels turning. Just very involved. Don't take your eyes off the road.

I received a copy of Poison through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to Galt Niederhoffer for the opportunity.

Loved the book, hated the ending. Liked the characters and their conflicts.

As much as I tried, Poison by Galt Niederhoffer was just not the book for me. I found the plot so unbelievable, the characters actions and responses so far out there, that I was taken out of the story again and again. I typically like domestic thrillers, but this story just didn't work for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to review this ARC. All opinions in this review are strictly my own.

I wanted to love this book after reading the description but I just was unable to connect with this book.

POISON
Galt Niederhoffer

MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️▫️
PUBLISHER St. Martin’s Press
PUBLISHED November 21, 2017

POISON is a compelling story of one woman's maddening struggle to be believed.

SUMMARY
Cass and Ryan Conner have a happy marriage and lovely family. They have three wonderful kids, a nice home and both have successful careers. But in the blink of an eye something changes. The betrayal and lies begin, the defenses go up, accusations are levied. The disagreements start small and then they mushroom. The happy marriage falls apart and suddenly it becomes a matter of life or death.

“She feels the power of desire, the power of attraction. He is her poison. The only question is the dose at which he is fatal.”


REVIEW
I struggled with the writing in the beginning of this book, but never one to give up, I thankfully stuck with it. The story was gut-wrenchingly good. It is a frustrating and frightening psychological thriller. It's the story of a perfect crime that leaves no fingerprints and flips the suspicion from the attacker to the victim. Overall, I liked the premise of the story, but found several essential part of the story unbelievable. I appreciated the strength of Cass’s character, but found it incongruent with many of the decisions she made. I highlighted several thought-provoking passages in the book, but found the book heavy on narrative and light on dialogue. Overall, despite its issues. I enjoyed the book

Thanks to Netgalley, St Martin’s Press and Galt Niederhoffer for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“His outrage fuels her outrage, his anger her indignation…Is it possible this is all her fault, that she has created the problem, that her mistrust is the root of their ills, as opposed to his indiscretions?”

I couldn't finish this book. I found the use of adjectives overly used that you ended up skimming the pages to get to the actual story. Maybe that was the style the author was using but it didn't work for me.

Cass Conner is happily managing her family in a Seattle suburb, enjoying her part-time professor position and relishing the joys of motherhood. After the death of her first husband, she was surprised when she met someone as perfect for her as Ryan seemed to be, someone warm and loving who was willing to take on her two children. Having a baby together cemented the closeness of their family, and everything was wonderful.

Then something changed. Ryan became distant, abusive, holding Cass by the throat and telling her she was no longer in his life, though the next morning he acted as if all was well. Cass became ill, with stomach cramps, vomiting, rectal bleeding, and she started to suspect Ryan was involved somehow. Since their relocation from New York to Seattle, Cass had no one she could turn to for help, and she inevitably trusted all the wrong people. Can Cass manage to convince the authorities of the danger and find a safe space for herself and her children?

I’m a bit conflicted on this book. There are so many times Cass failed to protect herself and her children, especially after she realized she was somehow being poisoned. She wasn’t proactive; she simply reacted to whatever craziness Ryan presented to her. I enjoyed the first half of the book. I felt the characters were developing well and the scenes were realistic. And then…I had to suspend belief when the family went off to Bermuda. Holy crap. Your husband is poisoning you with an unknown substance; you’re so ill you’re vomiting and bleeding, and you scamper off to a relatively deserted resort with him? And you take your three kids along?

There’s an interesting premise, along with a compelling and timely issue, but I felt Cass simply wasn’t a strong enough or consistent enough character.

3.5 stars
Cass was a single mother with 2 children. Her world changed for the better for both she and her kids when she met Ryan. Or so she thought. They married and he was a loving husband and a wonderful father to her kids. They also had a baby of their own. Life was idealistic until Ryan started acting strangely but making Cass think she was imagining it and it wasn't his fault their marriage was heading south but hers.
This story was a tad unrealistic at times but also very disturbing. Even with proof of a crime, some times the victim is, not believed for the mere reason her story is crazy and she maybe she is just a deranged person.
This story will show everything this woman went through to show she wasn't crazy but a victim.

Appearances can be deceiving. The Connors appear to be a perfect family however, Poison is spreading through it. Ryan, the husband, turns out to be one creepy freak. Cass is altogether too trusting, forgiving and naive. Cass should have listened to her Mother. Mama was right. A psychological thriller, chilling.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

This one looked really good but the execution just didn't live up to the amazing premise. I just wasn't sure how I should rate this one. The premise screams thriller but I didn't really get that. The pace was very slow and I really didn't care about the MC Cassandra. I really wanted to like this one but it just didn't happen. The writing style and the story it just didn't work out for me. For me, I just cant overall recommend this one.

Ms Niederhoffer's day job is being a very successful producer of award winning films. Her night job is just as successful which is writing books and articles which are published. It is therefore, no surprise that her latest novel "Poison" is mesmerizing, well written and capable of grabbing her reader and not letting go until the end. The book is more than a good novel but also geared to deliver an important message. That has been done for centuries in which fiction is used to point out a fault or faults in society and bringing them home to the reader. Witness the impact that "Gulliver's Travels" had in illustrating the problems inherent in England at the time of it's writing.
Cassandra (Cass) and Ryan Connor were married several years before the book begins. Both are successful individuals; Cass a professor at the university level and Ryan a well established architect. Cass had been married previously and had two children when her husband suddenly passed away. Although she thought that she would never marry again Ryan came into her life and a whirlwind courtship ensued. The couple moved from New York to Seattle in order to get a fresh start with a baby arriving apparently cementing what looked like a fairy tale relationship.
Small problems becoming bigger erupted and the result was Cass actually fearing for her life. Ms. Niederhoffer's point became clear when Cass found no sympathy from friends, authorities and even her own mother. All had the chauvinistic point of view that more often than not women cause most of these problems and the man in the situation is blameless. Without looking at the point of the novel it still is a fascinating, well written book that will entice the reader to stay with it until finished. It is an excellent crime story with a logical and satisfying ending. Understanding the point that Ms. Niederhoffer wants to bring out makes the book doubly interesting and cause for a good deal of reflexion on the injustice women may go through in defending themselves legally against a man.

This book had me at "They both loved The Beatles and Raymond Carver." This was Cass and Ryan when they met. This writer shows great observation, insight, and wisdom into family life. I really enjoyed the narrative style of writing. In the first half of the book, I found the story to be wonderfully descriptive and detailed. The second half was a bit confusing at times, as to the really bad things happening. It was vague and with very little transition. The story was good overall and definitely held my interest.

This was a slow starter for me, but when it took off, it was a wild ride.
Many women facing the medical, legal & police systems face the problems of not being believed, taken seriously, or thought of hysterical or crazy. Cass was able to find a support system that believed her and were able to help her fight her way back.

Will leave a review on Amazon under name of Connie

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, via NetGalley, for an e-Uncorrected Proof in exchange for my honest opinion.

I didn't know much about this novel and I think that's why I enjoyed it so much. So if you plan to read it, don't check many of the reviews because of the spoilers. This is a hard review to write without giving away the points that made it so enjoyable for me. It's a psychological thriller that is fast-paced except for the beginning when the author was setting the story line and characters. Once that was done, it moved quickly for me and I didn't want to put it down. The novel revolved around what seems like the perfect family of five but that plot quickly goes awry because of the protagonist's husband who turned out to be an abusive husband in every way possible.

The author had to have done a tremendous amount of research into matters such as investigative journalism, police matters, psychiatric procedures, lethal drugs and doses, and computer hacking. This novel reinforces how hard it is for women to be believed when trying to assert their rights in reporting crimes.

This book spent over 20% of itself electronically giving too much background detail about these people and repeating itself. It was literally the build up that would not end, so I ended it.

Free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This book has the potential to be a suspenseful read but as it stands has a number of flaws that get in the way. I had a hard time with credibility. I just didn't believe many of the decisions made by the protagonist nor did I think the situations were realistic. This detracted from my overall enjoyment of the story and quite honestly left me frustrated.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for letting me read Posion before the release date. Cass and Ryan seem like the perfect couple, until we start to realize that there is more there than we realized. This is the first book of Niederhoffer's that I've read. She writes beautifully. I really enjoyed the twists and turns, but I feel like the ending was maybe rushed. I still don't quite get what actually happened at the end. The "gotcha" moment didn't really seem like it resolved everything. That said, I would definitely recommend this book, and look forward to checking out more from this author.