For many, taking a year off before university to travel sounds like the perfect start to adult life. However, when two teenage girls go missing during their gap-year in Thailand, unimaginable consequences follow. Told in split perspective from a family left behind, a detective searching for answers and a reporter trying to crack the story, Barton writes a dark side of the life-changing experience.

The concept for this one sounded so fantastic and right up my alley! I really wanted it to be something that would just suck me in, but sadly it wasn't. I found the story too slow moving, with the perspectives alternating so often I found it getting repetitive. The dialogue was a little cheesy and difficult to relate to, it just didn't seem natural. What I did love, was the ending. It really picked up in those last 50 pages and left me feeling very satisfied.

The story was a gripping suspenseful thriller, with 18 year old Alex and Rosie going on a trip to Thailand and returning in body bags. What happened in the hostel they were staying in? The story added another mystery when reporter Kate's son, Jake, was found to be a part of the girls' life in Thailand. What did happen on that night? And what was the Thai Police covering up? And where was Jake?

This whirling mystery written in multiple POVs by Fiona Barton narrated the story through the eyes of the characters. Each chapter revealed and discarded one layer of the mystery, while connecting the story to the other layers. I felt like a blind addict who wanted nothing more than the fix of a chapter, peeling away the pages to reach to the crux.

Ms. Barton's writing was so smooth that I constantly felt like I was being thrashed by the waves on the rocks. She ingrained her subplots so insidiously that it had me scampering on the rocks to hold on. The book had me in its swirl from the first line to the last.

I truly and solemnly admit that I read the book in between my room-cleaning sometimes sitting down right in the dirt in between my mop and bucket of water. I couldn't seem to let it go!!

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

This is the third book I have read about journalist Kate Waters. The Suspect began in August when the news was especially. Quiet. When Kate saw a missing person message from the parents of school friends Alex and Rosie she decided to look into it. The story of the girls resonated with Kate because she had not heard from her son Jake for 7 months. Jake had left his law degree at university to study turtles in Phuket.

Alex had planned a trip of a life time to Thailand with her best friend Mags. When Mags had to cancel Alex `s neighbour Rosie asked to go instead. Once in Thailand Alex regretted
her decision when she realised Rosy enjoyed to party instead of sightseeing. Scared to tell her parents and be called home she e-mailed Mags with her troubles with Rosie.

Days later the dead bodies of Alex and Rosie were discovered after a fire in their hotel. Sensing a story Kate accompanied Alex and Rosie`s families to Thailand to cover the story.

However once there a young Brit told Kate that Jake had been the bar men at the hotel. He had been taken to hospital with severe burns but had run away. Kate is shocked when her son is named prime suspect of causing the fire. Suddenly Jake is found guilty by the press and Kate is hounded by her own journalist friends. With no help from the Thai police she relies on her own investigator skills to find Jake.

The story was told from the POV of Kate, Alex and her Mum Lesley. The plot grabbed me from the first page, it was so good I could of read the book in one sitting.

I liked Alex and I could sense her disappointment when her holiday was ruined by Rosie. I felt for Lesley and the other relatives trying to navigate the Thai Police who just wanted to sweep the crime under the carpet.

The side story of DI Bob Sparkes who was trying to solve the case from the UK whilst his wife was dying was heartbreaking. The scene where his wife was unconscious in the hospice had me in floods of tears.

I predict this will be a best seller for 2019

I wasn’t sure when I first started reading this - it begins with the story told from a reporters point of view. However, I quickly got into it and really enjoyed seeing the same story told from different perspectives.
Kate Waters is a journalist, her son is in Bankok on a journey to find himself. Kate becomes involved in a missing persons case, two girls have gone missinig in Thailand whilst on a gap year.
It quickly turns into a murder investigation however when the girls are found dead when the guesthouse they are staying in catches fire.
Could Kate’s son have become involved in all of this?
A really enjoyable book, thank you for allowing me to review it via Netgalley.

Thanks to Net Galley and Random House UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review. A mystery full of suspense.
Two girls go travelling to Thailand- Alex and Rosie. Rosie is a substitute for Alex’s best friend Mags who has dropped out at the last minute.
The story is told by 3 characters, Alex, Kate the journalist and Bob who is the detective in charge of the case when the two girls are reported missing by their worried families.
Kate is interested in the story as her son Jake has been in Thailand for two years, she sees this as a chance to try and find him, she is shocked to discover that Jake is actually involved in the case and also now seems to have disappeared.
There are a few twists and turns to this story, the girls go from missing to being found dead and naked, it’s a giant news story.
As a reader one wonders how far would a mother go to protect a child.
I didn’t particularly like any of the characters and found the book over all to be a bit slow.
3.5 stars.

The Suspect is the first book by Fiona Barton that I have read and was one that I was looking forward to based on the description and her previous books.

Unfortunately I was not gripped by the story line & guessed the ending quite early on. I am also a fan of the story being told from multiple viewpoints & don't think it fully worked in this instance.

Overall the book was ok just not as good as I expected.

I guess you would call this a perfect ‘Whodunit’, I would also call it engrossing ( not a fav word of mine to use but in this case warranted )

2 18 year old girls go missing in Thailand on their ‘adventure of a lifetime’.....Journo Kate Walters wants the story, big time....she also has a kinda secret, her son Jake is in Thailand and she rarely hears from him....she wants to find these girls but when they are found her trouble is just beginning...
Its very hard NOT to give much away while writing this but to do so would be to spoil this fast paced adventure of a book and the surprise element is a big part of the story ( so I wont! )
Each chapter is headed by ‘role’ rather than name eg ‘the reporter’ ‘the mother’ etc and this is very clever as Kate takes on both roles in this story and its fascinating to see both roles at odds with each other
One of the missing girls, Alex, writes in diary form eading up to the holiday and whilst in Thailand, she also writes and posts on Facebook
But which is true!
Its a very immersive story and you will get involved in the characters and their personalities and form opinions and have your own ideas as to what is happening and the book and the brilliant writing encourages this
The book didn’t allow you to ‘run on’ as I found after each chapter I wanted a few seconds to put into my minds eye what had happened previous then carry on
The writing surprised me at times with the odd quirky character’s thought, things that most of can think daily but keep as thoughts!, the description’s of characters personalities and traits was at times worthy of a ‘sentence second read’ it was so spot on
The story never floundered and I was never bored for a second in this intriguing, at times moving, energetic and exciting novel
Got to be 10/10 5 Stars

I found this a very captivating story and was intrigued by the structure of having each chapter told by a different character with their title heading the chapter not their name eg The Reporter, The Mother, The Detective which had an interesting element when The Reporter’s role also became one of a mother in the story. The crossover of roles added an extra dimension to the story and the characters.
I found the characters believable and well developed with all the complexities of having roles in life and the interrelationships that are involved. This was particular evident when Kate The Reporter found herself in her role not as a reporter but as a focus for other reporters, their target, and so had quite a difficult time coming to terms with what she was facing.
A terrifying story for parents with young adults - what can happen when they head off to travel. Such a realistic concern. Also adding depth to the story was the complex issue of truth versus protecting those you love.

While I wasn’t aware this was in a series it generally can be read as a stand alone novel. It was only there was obviously a history between the Detective Bob Sparkes and the Reporter Kate Waters that had been established in a previous story.

A recommended read that leaves you with food for thought.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher Transworld Digital for a copy to read and review.

The Suspect is a lot more intense than Barton's previous books because the situation was a lot more personal for the main character, Kate. The previous books were a lot more focused on the characters who were directly affected by the case, like the suspects (ha) and the victims. The Suspect, however, focuses a lot more on Kate and her journey, and her relationship with her son. I really like how this series is developing, as I like Kate as a character. Her insight into the world of journalism is intriguing and informative, and it helps that the author herself used to work in the same industry.

Despite all of that, there's still not a whole lot of substance, as is usual with an adult thriller novel. It's very much focused on the case itself instead of character development and emotional connections. That said, I'm cool with that. I knew what I was getting into with an adult thriller.

I'm not sure where Barton was going with the detective and his side plot. She seems to have tried to add emotion with his wife being terminally ill, but we barely see him or know him at all, so should we really care? It makes me wonder if Barton is planning bigger things for his character in future books in the series.
The mystery in this was absolutely tragic, and it had me hooked from the start. Barton always writes about such dark topics, and she always does a really good job with it.

I loved this book, and it's definitely my favourite in the series so far. I hope Barton keeps going with this series because I'm really getting into it! And as a side note, Kate's son is a complete brat and she should have left him in Thailand.

Alex and Rosie go travelling to Thailand together, Alex had planned to go with best friend Mags but when she pulled out Rosie persuades Alex to let her go instead, even though secretly Rosie does not want to follow Alex’s itinerary. The holiday of a lifetime soon turns sour!!

The parents panic when they haven’t heard from their daughters in over a week, and they haven’t been in touch as planned to find out their A level results. So they contact the police who at first do not take it seriously.

Journalist Kate flies out with the missing girls parents to find out what happened to the girls. She reluctantly soon becomes part of the story, the hunter finds herself becoming the hunted!!

The chapters are told by the points of view of ( the mother, reporter, Alex and the detective) which works perfectly and keeps the tension building.

Beautifully written, whilst reading it I could feel the panic of not knowing what had happened to the daughter and the need for answers. Another great book from Fiona Barton and I will be waiting with bated breath for her next one.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Kate waters is back for book three and this time she's tasked with getting to know two sets of distressed parents when their 18 year old daughters go missing on a gap year in Thailand. The author cleverly gives Kate the empathy card because her eldest son Jake has been doing volunteer work in Thailand for two years, and he hasn’t been good at keeping in touch with his family.

This is an interesting read although slightly watered down because I have read about 3 books in the last year about Thailand and missing children so I felt as if I'd seen it before. However, you can't take away from the fact that this us a cleverly plotted, well written novel featuring the same protagonist that feature in all Fiona Bartons books.

I enjoyed it and would reccomend if you enjoy crime/police procedurals, although I would like to see Kate put away now and a new stand alone character being created by this writer.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for my advance copy.

I found this to be very readable but it didn't really hold my interest because too much was revealed before the end of the book and you could guess what the outcome was going to be. I was halfway through the book before I got interested in the plot and then the end of the book seemed rushed. I read The Widow previously and loved it but unfortunately this book didn't do it for me.
I'm very grateful to Netgalley for a copy of this book.
#TheSuspect #NetGalley

I loved how the different stories of each character and the part they played were interwoven into the story which was quite original in its concept. I thought it was well written and held my attention to the very end which had an unexpected twist.

Fiona Barton burst onto the writing scene a couple of years ago with her well-received debut novel The Widow. I don't really remember too much about it, but I gave it four stars and I liked Kate and Bob, who re-appear in The Suspect (and Barton's second novel The Child, which I haven't read - yet). I absolutely loved this novel, though. It's an absolute tour-de-force, which barely let up from the get-go and I finished it in just a couple of sittings. Having not remembered a thing about The Widow, I had no expectations going into The Suspect and I feel like I preferred this novel so much more. I have more in common with teens in Thailand than widows, presumably. 

In The Suspect we meet Kate and Bob again, journalist and police officer, and the stars of Barton's other two novels. I don't know what I missed in the middle, but their camaraderie is fantastic; I did wonder if it would err on the side of romantic, possibly, but thankfully it's just a work relationship. This time they're investigating two teens who have gone missing in Thailand, Rosie and Alex. Their parents haven't heard from them, they didn't ring to receive their a-level results, and they're getting worried (obviously). Chuck on top the fact that Kate's own son is also in Thailand and you have a bit of a stew brewing. It was fascinating, I was hooked, let me tell you. Here's the thing: as you're reading you kinda think Thailand is too big a place for Kate's son, Jake, to end up involved in these two girls going missing, and it would be a bit unrealistic, but it's so incredibly well done, that I tip my hat to Fiona Barton for pulling off the plot as she did. 

I figured out a lot of the plot twists before they happened - I quite like unravelling mysteries such as the one presented in The Suspect, but I liked the way we learned things. It wasn't slow and it didn't feel like you were pulling teeth trying to get info, but Fiona Barton didn't dump it all on us at once. She left threads for us to think through ourselves before confirming things. And that was brilliant because it wasn't as straight forward as Kate and Sparkes believed, and that just had me reading even faster. 

The ending of The Suspect was marvellous. That was the only detail I hadn't remembered and when it was brought back up, I was a bit gobsmacked. I do wonder if this is the end of the novels featuring Kate. It's hard to see where things could go once your personal life has been investigated so thoroughly, but I would also be intrigued to see what Fiona Barton does do next - I wouldn't say no to more from Kate because she's so fascinating. Bob Sparkes, too, I love him. And Drummond. So even if Kate isn't in book four, Sparkes and Drummond could be, which makes me very happy indeed. This was a genuinely amazing thriller. I gobbled it all up so greedily and it's my first five-star novel of 2019. Fiona is such a natural thriller writer that I can't wait to see what's next (and to go back and read The Child!). The Suspect was a triumph.

„The Suspect“ is a very addictive and twisted read. It is a slowly developing mystery/police procedure story about two girls who got missing in Thailand. Kate Waters, who we know from Barton’s earlier books, is covering this story. But soon she is more involved than she would have liked.

The story is again very winding but not as complex as her last ones. But it is still a gripping read and that is mostly because Barton can write so well. Everything feels very natural and is told in so many words as necessary. I think she even got better with her writing. In her other books something felt a bit aloof but here I found everything very well told. The story is as usual twisted but as I said a bit easier to figure out what may have happened. Barton tells again a sad story. It is about motherhood and how well we really know our children. We take the ones we love often for granted and don’t appreciate them often enough.

Fiona Barton has a thing for unique stories. I was not a huge fan of “The Widow” but I liked “The Child” very much. “The Suspect” is a bit slow but never boring. I read it in two sittings and for me Barton is now among the established authors on my reading list.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
The Suspect was an extremely clever and well thought out story and I found it totally engrossing. I have read other books by Fiona Barton and enjoyed them enormously and this was another masterclass in storytelling.
Highly recommended.

Another fabulous thriller from Ms Barton. Plenty of twists and turns and well developed characters, several of which we have met before. A must read for lovers of this genre.

I loved this book. Wow what a great story. This really shows the darker side of the teenager backpacking adventures. You can feel the seediness of the Bangkok streets and hostel, I loved Kate the journalist and how her quest to get the story ends up so personal. There are some great twists and some really heart wrenching moments. I absolutely devoured this book in 2 days. Will be getting the previous titles from Fiona Barton based on this read.

The Suspect was my first book by Fiona Barton, and I’m hooked! I really enjoyed the story, the characters and the way the author managed to engage not only my interest, but also my emotional connection to events playing out on the pages.

The Suspect tackles one of a parent’s worst nightmares: for two families, it means the death of their teenage daughters in tragic circumstances whilst on an overseas trip to Thailand. For another, it means facing up to the fact that their son could be linked to the girls’ final moments. How well do we really know our children? This is a theme that dominates this latest offering by Barton, who doesn’t shy away from addressing some dark and scary premises that made me shudder! Like Alex and Rosie, I packed my bags and went travelling in my gap year between school and university, hitchhiking with barely a thought to any potential dangers out there. It wasn’t until my own children embarked on their own independent travel that I visualised all the disasters that could befall them, from minor catastrophes like lost luggage to missed planes, illness or accidents in faraway lands. The helpless feeling of not being able to protect your children is beautifully portrayed here, in the tragic aftermath of the two girls’ deaths, when their parents have to travel to Thailand to claim their daughters’ bodies, looking for answers how they died – all of which was not easy reading.

Barton uses several POVs to tell the story, which worked very well for me here. One (heartbreaking) aspect is told through the eyes of Lesley, Alex’s mother, who has just found out that her daughter has died in a fire in a Bangkok hostel. We also hear from Kate, a journalist covering the story, and DI Sparkes, the detective sent to investigate. One thread, which starts when the girls first set off for Thailand, tells of the events leading up to the girls’ deaths, containing some of Alex’s reflections and emails to her best friend. I found the dynamics between Alex and Rosie particularly interesting, as they reflected some of my own experiences of backpacking in my youth, when you first discover that your travel companion may not be as compatible as you originally thought. I will not go any further into the story for fear of giving something away, other than to say that journalist Kate soon finds herself drawn into the story in a very personal manner that will also push a lot of buttons for parent readers.

Barton vividly evokes not only the atmosphere of the Bangkok hotel the girls find themselves stranded in, but also of the nightmare of parents trying to find answers to their questions in a foreign country and a culture very different to their own. I found all her characters authentic and believable, and particularly enjoyed Kate, who I discovered has featured in two previous novels (which I will certainly read now). Whilst some aspects of the mystery did not come as a total surprise, the final reveal still packed some punch and gave a lot of food for thought. I read this book as a group read with the Traveling Friends group and found that it made for a great discussion and further enhanced my reading experience. Even though this is part 3 of a series featuring Kate Waters and DI Sparkes, it can easily be read as a stand-alone novel. Highly recommended to lovers of mysteries, and those looking for a new book club read that will raise some great talking points.

Fiona Barton has a really neat way of writing books with frequent shifts in point of view and time, so the reader is slowly but surely guided through the story, adding layer upon layer to the plot development. That works really well for me.
This is the third book in the series about the investigative newspaper reporter Kate Waters (with Detective Inspector Bob Sparkes as another permanent character), and this time, her involvement in the story is more personal and intense than in the first two (the very entertaining The Widow and The Child and with great parts of the story taking place in Thailand.
There are a couple of references to events from the first two books, but I don't see any problems in reading the series independently.
Barton adds a good number of credible twists and turns along the way - including a couple that I sure as hell didn't see coming! - and I was much entertained from cover to cover. Four big stars, but both the characters and the plot lack a little to make the fifth star in my book.