Disappointed and another weak ending to a thriller
I wanted to love this book and at times the story really gripped me and I couldn't stop reading, if only to confirm my suspicion that this was too similar to other books I have read recently.
The main character having a secret in her past that comes back to haunt her seemed a cliche and I couldn't warm to any of the characters. Katherine's inner voice and thoughts just drove me mad and don't get me started on how much I disliked the end.

Katherine Baxter wants to become a writer. She has two young children and a husband who controls everything she does. After enrolling on a creative writing course, she gets taken under the wing of the tutor, writer Samuel Morton. When Samuel introduces Katherine to his wife, literary agent Viola Matthews, Viola is certain that she has met Katherine before, but just can’t figure out where.

I enjoyed this book, although I did find the pace a bit slow in parts. Katherine is quite a likeable character and to be honest I felt quite sorry for her. She has always wanted to be a writer, but her husband Paul is quite dismissive of her dreams and doesn’t support her in this. Nonetheless, he has agreed for her to attend a writing course and when she starts to become involved with the tutor who has offered to help her with writing a manuscript, she begins to hide these meetings from her husband. As the book moves on it’s obvious that there is a secret from her past which Katherine is hiding and as this threatens to be revealed the pace picks up to a point where I just couldn’t put it down.

I have to admit, I did work out what the big reveal was before I had got to it, but it was still an enjoyable read to get to it! The plot of this book was well thought out and all the little bits that you may not have noticed before were all so well researched that it just added so much more reality and drama to the story.

A truly dark psychological thriller which will set your nerves on edge. Would definitely recommend!

Thanks to Dawn Goodwin and publisher Aria for an ARC of this book.

THE PUPIL is the newest thriller from Dawn Goodwin, an author whose books I really enjoy, and it is definitely an entertaining page turner.

Katherine is a stay at home mom who decides to do something for herself...take a writers workshop. Famous author Samuel Morton is running it, and he offers to mentor her and help her finish her novel. His wife, Viola, is a successful publisher. Viola seems to think she may know Katherine from a long time ago. If her suspicions are right, she'll want to make her pay for what happened years ago.

Dawn Goodwin writes in a way that always keeps me turning the pages, and this book delivers on an engrossing plot, interesting characters, and start to finish suspense that slowly builds to the end. I would definitely recommend.

This book is slow to start but once it gets going it is a gripping read. I found the narrator, Katherine, to be an annoying wimp initially, but not only do reasons for this become clear, but her character strengthens as the book progresses. There are a few irritating Americanisms that grated on me, such as'gotten', and 'intersection'. I also thought it was unrealistic that a primary school would ever let a class out a few minutes early! However, ultimately these should not detract from what is a well written story with a very satisfactory conclusion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The humour and sadness is an excellent mix. It made me laugh and cry. Commendable imagery captured with authentic settings and characters. Katherine (alias Katie) has always wanted to write a novel. Nobody understands her compulsion to write. How well it displays the vulnerabilities of writers. I bet there are a lot of potential "bestseller" authors who for one reason or another have not taken the bull by the horns. She's surrounded by negativity from her mother, her friend, Helen and her husband, Paul. Paul is a dull, selfish Victorian husband with a detached interest in his family. He exercises a subtle control reducing Katherine into a subservient role. At times his control is blatant until Katherine recognises she is living HIS life by his rules instead of her own life. She's lost track of her real self and feels stifled. Her self-esteem is rock-bottom. She meets Sam, a writer in a writers' group who enthusiastically encourages her with an irresistible offer of mentoring her to write a novel. This project is backed up by his pincher-sharp wife, Viola. Katherines loves the thrill of doing something she loves for a change rather than something she has to do. Paul opposes her ambition, but she goes ahead secretly instead. Her duplicitous behaviour and secrets are like a teenage rebellion under the domestic suppression and suffocation of her intellectuality that she's endured. Paul wants his little woman at home tending to his needs and the children. His moods keep them all toeing the line. Then the threatening notes keep arriving reminding her of a past she's wanted to forget. Who is sending them? What is so awful about her past? Who is watching her? Will she achieve her goal and at what cost? Thank you to Netgalley and Aria.

This book started strong and then wandered. It didn’t know if it wanted to be a psychological thriller or a “woman finds new meaning” book. The original premise had a lot going for it: a mom and housewife (Katie) looks for something to do for herself and finds it in a writing class. The author who runs the writing class sees promise and offers to mentor her while she writes a book. The wife of the author is a mysterious figure that causes uncertainty. The fixings for a good psychological thriller are there. But there was a lack of focus. Secondary threads involving Katie’s husband and mother, a secret from the past, secrets from further in past…they all muddle the story and never fully intertwine the way they should. There were moments of absolute dread (in a good way) when hints about events were slowly revealed, but in the end, it didn’t amount to much. The resolutions for each of the threads seemed incomplete, and the focus went from the psychological thriller to Katie becoming her own person. Either story would have been good, but all mixed up, they just made for an uneven plot. That being said, there were enough moments that made it a decent read, just disappointing because it could have been more pulled together.

This is an ok read but if I’m honest I found it a bit boring. I didn’t really find the main character very engaging and the plot became a bit obvious early on.
I actually wondered if the book would have been better if the author has concentrated more on the thwarted author angle and the woman stifled by a controlling husband. The ‘psychological thriller’ aspect fell flat for me and the ending was just rushed.
My thanks to Netgalley for this copy.

I found The Pupil to be an engaging book which drew me into the lives of the main characters and I loved the juxtaposition of main character Katherine's current life and her visits to her mum. Actually, in a lot of ways the bits where she visits 'home' are some of the most compelling of the book.

The 'twists' in the book were, for me, a bit of a non event, they will heavily indicated throughout which made them a bit of a damp squib. I don't think I really liked any of the characters either - the chip shop owner was probably my favourite!

I don't like giving 3 star reviews, it feels rude and disrespectful to the author who has spent so much time crafting this tale for our enjoyment, however I do need to be true to myself and true to those books which I hold up high and say 'this is worthy of 4 or even 5 stars', so the 3 stars signifies that I enjoyed this book - in fact I read it an a day, it has some excellent parts and for me the overall story line - particularly the 'twists' and some of the characteristics of the key players could do with a few little tweaks.

That said, I am going to find myself a copy of 'The Accident' by the same author as it has excellent reviews and I am sure there will be many great works from this author in future.

I enjoyed this book. The suspense built up nicely throughout the book and I enjoyed the different twists that happened. I look forward to reading other books by this author.

Katherine Baxter has a past she has tried very hard to forget, she has also wanted to be a writer since she was a little girl. Katherine has no self confidence . She has two children who are her world and a husband who controls everything that she does. Until she enrol on a writing course and meets the author Samuel Morton and is encouraged to start writing again.
After the course she has a fire in her belly and comes to realise that she can do it. Samuels wife is sure that she has seen Katherine somewhere before and begins to delve into her life. The truth comes out on one fateful day, changing their lives forever.
I read this book in one sitting and I was rooting for Katherine from page one and the ending was explosive. This book was well written and I loved the main characters even Viola. A new author for me and a really good psychological thriller. Will keep an eye out for more of her books.
I would like to thank the author Dawn Goodwin, Aria and Net.galley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for giving an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading this but felt a little let down, although there were understones all the way through it appeared to simmer rather than boil. Even when all was revealed I didn't have the heart stopping moment, it was "ok" that's what it was all about.. I read it all but it didn't live up to the expectations I had from the description. I felt it needed more impact - perhaps more emphasis on the stalking and the results of this.

I loved this book. As the book progresses and you learn about the characters I knew something had happened in the past and one character had to have revenge. Would thoroughly recommend.

After reading some of the reviews posted in regards "The Pupil" I didn't hold out much hope for it. In my opinion I find some of the reviews harsh. I quite enjoyed it.
Katherine make one mistake 12 years previous and tries to get on with her life but it eventually all catches up with her when she meets a bestselling author and his wife.

I was drawn to this book by the description but sadly it just didn't work for me. I struggled to believe in the characters and disliked them all. I wasn't drawn to Katherine at all, and found her spineless despite her dark secret. Sadly it all felt a bit too formulaic and slow. It just didn't work for me and I gave up after three attempts and 30-something %.

Book blurb...
One moment of carelessness. Four shattered lives. Psychological suspense that explores a labyrinth of lies, manipulation and revenge. Perfect for fans of Louise Jenson and Katerina Diamond.
Literary agent Viola Matthews is sure she's met Katherine Baxter before. So when her husband and bestselling novelist Samuel Morton introduces Viola to the quiet, unassuming woman he has offered to mentor, she knows their paths have crossed before. The question is where?
As their worlds collide and the bond between Samuel and Katherine deepens, Viola realises she must take control.
If Viola is right, then Katherine needs to pay for something that happened twelve years ago.

My thoughts…
I was immediately drawn to read The Pupil because of the ‘literary’ bent and the blurb’s focus on 'psychological suspense.’ While I did enjoy The Pupil, perhaps the blurb raised my expectations too high. There is strong conflict with the characters but the level of suspense was a tad lacking to warrant a huge rating from me.
The plot starts a little slow and there are a couple of red herrings, which are pretty obvious, but I kept reading, keen to see how the story ended. The ending was, in fact, a very big reveal and it did fill in all of the missing pieces to Katherine’s life. Perhaps some of this important backstory may have been better brought forward.
I saw potential in the ‘stalking’ thread to move the suspense up another notch, but it did not play out.
An interesting storyline and an easy read.

The Pupil is the latest story by by Dawn Goodwin. Slow going at times, there are also times when you find it difficult to believe our "heroine" hasn't put two and two together. However, there are also times when you can't read fast enough to see what happens next. I was given an early copy to review.

Alright, for those that follow me regularly I’m about to really begin repeating myself. I swear that The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin is a completely different book than what I read yesterday but in many ways it was much the same, even the covers are similar.

The Pupil centers around a lady names Katherine ‘Kathy’ Baxter who has wanted to be an author pretty much her whole life but no one has ever believed in her or thought she should pursue her dreams. Married now with children Kathy’s life is very much controlled by her husband down to what they eat or what she wears but finally Kathy has decided to do something for herself and she takes a writing class.

When the short class ends the teacher who is a published author and an idol pulls Kathy to the side and offers to continue to mentor her and work with her on publishing her novel. Of course her husband is completely against the whole thing but Kathy finds ways to hide her meetings from him and continues to work with the author and his wife on her novel.

Now for the part where I begin to repeat myself from what I just read yesterday. This book was one that was incredibly slow and mainly more drama than anything remotely thrilling. It really tried in spots to foreshadow more ominous things to come but what we get for the vast majority is about sneaking around writing the book. I got the general idea in about a quarter of the time if not less than that and had to keep reading until 95% for the boom, bang, final wrap up. So if an incredibly slow burn dramatic suspense is something you love then this may be for you but for me I enjoyed the author’s first book more.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

*4 Stars*

I found "The Pupil" to be a dark and twisted fast paced read by Dawn Goodwin. Katherine is an aspiring writer who takes a writing course held by a famous author Samuel Morton. Katherine ends up being mentored by both Samuel and his wife, Viola, who is a publisher. Katherine has an extremely complex history and upbringing along with a very controlling husband at home, Paul, who is not supportive of her writing. He requires her to be a stay at home mother to their two children and cook whatever he texts her daily for dinner that night. Katherine is torn between pursuing her dream of becoming a published author, and how to do this with her husband's permission. Along with this story comes secrets and twisted drama from Katherine's past and anonymous notes left threatening to expose her past. I thought the characters were extremely well developed and I enjoyed the writing style. I really enjoyed this read and highly recommend it!


**Special thanks to NetGalley and Aria publishing for allowing me an advanced ready copy in exchange for an honest review.**

Feels like I’ve read so many of these books lately - “domestic thrillers” with those kind of covers and a “The [insert noun here]” title. (What next? - The Sandwich. The Wardrobe.) Some of these books can be really good, but I’m starting to yearn for a bit more creativity in title and cover design.

Anyway this story follows Katherine, wife and mother and aspiring author who somehow finds herself being mentored by the successful Samuel Morton. However Samuel’s literary agent wife, Viola, appears to have her own agenda.

I neither liked nor disliked the main character who, despite the first person narrative, never gelled as a character for me. Aside from her great big eyes (which everyone kept referring to), she seems to have no particular distinctive characteristics and her allegedly burning desire to write did not convince, still less the notion that she was any good at it. Other characters were no more engaging. Katherine’s husband Paul’s main personality trait seems to be “being patronising and annoying”.

Ultimately it’s all just a bit too formulaic. Mysterious Bad Thing in Katherine’s past? - check. Threatening “I know what you did” messages? - check. Scattered excerpts from teenage diary of initially unknown authorship? - check.

I didn’t really care what the Mysterious Bad Thing was, and given that the blurb refers to “one moment of carelessness - four shattered lives”, it’s not hard to guess the general gist of it, if not the details.

We were obviously meant to think the teenage diary extracts were Katherine’s, but aha, I thought, the dates are wrong (the diarist is 10 when the diary starts in 1996, but Katherine is “nearly forty” in what is presumably - we’re never told otherwise - the present day), and the initials of the diarist were given as KH when Katherine tells us several times that her maiden name was Baxter. Clever me, I thought, spotting this deception. It was someone else’s diary - twist alert! But no, the diary was indeed Katherine’s and was exactly what it seemed, and the mistakes are presumably just mistakes. To be fair I did have an advance copy so maybe this will be corrected in the published version.

There are a number of proofreading errors (eg “you’re” for “your”) which will hopefully be corrected before publication, and a few oddities (I’ve never heard a UK police officer refer to themselves as “Patrol Officer”, and I’m not sure Advil painkillers are available here either).

Ultimately I’m afraid I found this book hard going and was never really engaged by it. However I’m sure many people will enjoy it more than I did.

'I’ve been thinking about your book and I’d like to help. Call me, Sam.'

Best selling novelist Sam Morton sees potential in pupil Katherine Baxter, he could be the perfect mentor in guiding her into a best-selling author. He certainly isn’t producing anything of value, nor meeting deadlines at the moment. Katherine spends her days caring for her two children in a beautiful home, provided by her older husband Paul but writing has forever been her passion, one she’s had to put on a shelf. Paul isn’t supportive of her dreams, if she has any chance of finishing a novel and being published, it will be through Sam, but it will require deception and favors from her friend to keep Paul in the dark. Paul treats her as a fragile creature who could break at any moment, something happened in the past, some sort of breakdown that requires medication to keep Katherine stable but she’s had enough of Paul’s watchful eye. She’s ready to move on. It isn’t only Paul who feels her quiet life is safest, after the ‘incident’, her friend Helen believes her writing, and the notoriety it could bring ‘if’ it’s successful is better left as an unfulfilled dream, more risk than it’s worth. Why can’t Katherine just be happy with her very comfortable, happy life?

Sam is attractive, but it’s his skill as a writer that’s the real draw. He has the life she wants, the sense of accomplishment that comes from attaining ones dream. Then there is the wife, Violet- the power behind the man. The woman comes to know Katherine, and realizes she has seen her somewhere else before. Violet will never allow any woman to come between she and Sam, pupil or lover. She knows something damaging about Katherine, something explosive, unforgiveable!

There are flashbacks of Katherine’s youth, from the father who walked out on she and her mother, to her first love that left her with more than just memories. The bond between she and her mother is strained, a mother who had big dreams for her daughter, dreams that didn’t entail settling. All she wanted was for her daughter to blaze a trail to a solid career, so she would never end up as she has, dependant on a man. Her mother has kept things from Katherine too, it seems everyone is deceptive in their own special way in this novel.

Just as she is finally laying claim on her own future, she begins to receive threats through texts messages, someone knows who she is and what she has done, and by the novel’s end so will you, dear reader.

Katherine is the shrinking wife at the start, meant to be content under a husband who acts more like a father than a lover, the bright spots of her day should be going for walks with her friend Helen, eating healthy food that the well to do have the money for, cleaning her beautiful home and nurturing her perfect children. Bury your own dreams and go about your life with a smile, take pills to recover from your tragedy, move along, nothing to see here. I don’t know, Katherine didn’t ever become a woman I liked. I get it, she is meek but even the meek have an inner fire, anger that simmers beneath their calm exterior, especially a woman looking to chase her dream. Sam didn’t feel like a real person to me either, he was just sort of there, I expect a handsome famous author to be more charismatic. I never felt that magnetism. Things spiral madly between Violet, Sam and Katherine and I was left wondering what the point was. It is tragic, it really is, the big secret shadowing Katherine but I was perplexed, and honestly, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Violet, even if she is off her rocker.

Not sure how I feel about this one, I’ve read other novels about mentors that are far more sinister, I don’t think this is a love triangle, which may well be the point. Violet is meant to feel threatened, when there isn’t a true threat from Katherine. She’s done far more horrible things than fall in love with Sam, whether she is to blame or not. I thought this was going to be a wild love affair full of violence and vengeance. Well, I leave it to you reader to decide for yourself.

Publication Date: August 7, 2018

Aria