So my normal reviews of books do not contain synopses or spoilers but the last paragraph of this one will because I feel the need to vent about part of the twist.

Now for the safe part of the review. Magpie is a story told by Claire and Duncan. They met during veterinary school and married in their early 20s. They have an 18 year old son named Joe who is very unique. Claire's chapters occur during both "before" and "after" while Duncan's are just "after". While their marriage is falling apart something major happens that includes their son. We spend the book watching their marriage implode and then Claire fall apart. The book feels like it drags a little because the before only seems to span as week at most and the after is the same but it seems to take a while to get to the event. But I will say that the twist/event was very unexpected which was nice for once. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a mystery/thriller novel or also just a family drama.

Now for my vent/spoiler moment. Part of the twist is who the coin Joe finds belongs to and you think that it is a former affair of Duncan's but it is in fact their daughter. When they were 22, Claire became pregnant and after a few months of pregnancy it was determined that the fetus was not viable due to non-development of organs. The fetus' issues are no ones fault and nothing can be done about it. It will not live after birth because it cannot consume food among other things. As a result they abort the child. I do not have a problem with that, my issue with this plot element is that the author made this required abortion cause the marriage to degrade over a couple of decades and cause Claire to emotionally fall apart. She spends an entire chapter having Claire discuss this abortion and how she was "forced" to do it yet blamed that it was her choice. I feel like this is a bad manipulation of the abortion issue. Maybe there are women out there who have abortions of nonviable fetuses and their lives fell apart afterwards but it did not feel true to me.

Are you looking for a creepy read? Then look no further than Magpie.
Chilling and hair raising at times.
We meet married couple Duncan & Claire in this story.
We see quite early on that Claire doesn't have too much trust in her husband.
She decides to leave him but their son Joe disappears before she does.
I enjoyed the dual timelines before and after as they gave us such a great insight into their marriage and Claire's reasons for leaving.
I never did take to the husband Duncan. I felt he was a man that thought he could have it all in life while totally disregarding other people's feelings.
I couldn't help wondering throughout what Claire was hiding though...an interesting character.
It's the son Joe that I felt so sorry for in this story.
Caught between two parents who didn't love each other any more and had no respect for one other.
An interesting read, very atmospheric in its descriptions of the Derbyshire countryside.....
Well done Sophie.....

This was quite a slow moving, well detailed story with hints of supernatural.

Claire lived with her son Joe and husband Duncan in a beautiful home. But things were not okay. Her relationship with her husband had broken down, so she wanted to leave him with her son. 2 things happened, she got to the truth of her husband's secret life, and her son went missing. The darkness of the night tore her family apart.

My second book by author Sophie Draper, I was pulled into the story by the sense of a haunting lilt that the prose had. When I went to analyze it, I didn't really have a word to describe that emotion. But it was hypnotic. I kept feeling that so many things were hidden from me.

The need to unveil the truth forced me to turn the pages faster. The suspense and mystery were built over the chapters. Written in dual timeliness with both the husband and wife's POV, the words brought out the almost gothic atmosphere. Something was more than what met the eye.

The rural setting of the village was well described, it was creepy. The mystery was hidden quite deep in the layers where nobody could reach. Characters were human and hence flawed. I felt myself sympathizing with them.

The ending did give me a swift rush when the truth was revealed as I realized that the author had hoodwinked me throughout the book. Wow. Well done.

I’ve read Cuckoo by this author and loved it so was looking forward to reading this story. I wasn’t disappointed.

Claire is married to Duncan. She has everything she ever wanted.Sadly she isn’t happy and wants out. She doesn’t want to live with a stranger anymore. When their son Joe goes missing she needs to find the strength to get through it.

This story is told in before and after chapters. Although it was slow to start for me I did enjoy it. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author in the future.

The description of this book sounded like it was the type of novel I would enjoy, unfortunately that was not the case. I found the before and after timeline rather confusing and this is a method of writing I normally enjoy. The book was very slow to develop and when I reached the end I found a lot of it meaningless. Having finished the book and then spending a day thinking about it, I had to go back and re-read the last couple of pages to be sure about what had actually happened. I wouldn’t class this as a thriller and unfortunately I would not recommend this book.

This is one of those reads that leaves you with so many contradiction feelings that it took me a while to re-read some parts of the book and get a clearer view! Don’t get me wrong, the book is original and intriguing but with a few twists and surprises that I simply needed to put my thoughts into perspective.
Magpie is not the read you’ll expect, it’s about a family, their secrets and lies through the years and how as the time passes it gets more unbearable till it explodes with a chaotic result.
The story is told between an “after” and “before”, but we don’t really know what’s the “event” that changes everything till the end, making it suspenseful and intriguing. The story is told between Claire and Duncan, their marriage and how they are as parents and couple. I’ll say that I didn’t like much Claire, she is a resentful woman with not much in her life apart from her son; she is bitter and angry towards her husband, she has motives, yes, but it’s in part her fault too. Duncan is not an angel neither, but I think I understood more him than her, he has his own regrets too and demons to fight.
There’s a few stories running at the same time, but you always feel that there’s something darker hunting them, like a bad omen waiting for the right moment.
This is a book that will have the readers divided, there’s a mystery but more of a hunting and stressful atmosphere that lead to the event. Not easy to categorise or to talk without spoilers; so you’ll have to believe me to take a chance on the read and decide your thoughts on it. Ready to discover “Magpie”?

This is the story of Duncan, a vet and his wife Claire who have a very unhappy marriage. They live in a beautiful barn conversion with their teenage son Joe who has his own problems. The book is written in Before and After chapters from both Claire and Duncan's points of view and centres around the disappearance of Joe. I thought this was a very cleverly written story and I was convinced that I'd worked out just what was going on but I was completely wrong and the ending was quite a surprise. Most enjoyable.

I had heard so much about this book I was determined to get stuck in as soon as I could. The cover looks decidedly creepy, and the book continues along those lines. Certainly not a cozy read to warm your heart, it is nonetheless one that will glue you to the pages and have you staying up late to finish it!

I LOVE Spohie's first book and so was excited to get to read this one as well. It did not disappoint and like her first book absolutely held my attention from beginning to end. I think Sophie has an amazing talent for writing that grabs you and pulls you along with the story so you find yourself sneaking off for extra reading time to get to the end to find out what happens. Brilliant writing

Claire lives in a beautiful ban with her husband and son. Her husband runs a succesful vet clinc in the village and Claire has spent her life looking after Joe.



Now Joe is older she has decided she needs to leave, taking Joe with her - but not is all as it seems as she tries to flee & learns more about Duncans life.



Magie was unexpected. It was full of twists and turns. I honestly didnt know what was going on (obviously i could follow the narrative) but i felt like it was so shocking i had to consider if i had focused on every single word i had read.



It was brilliant, it really drew me in as a reader and because it shocked me so much, it really worked. We follow Claire as she prepares to leave Duncan with Joe beside her. I was never sure if the characters were reliable or not and i was certainly questioning everything.



This was creepy, slightly spooky and tense to a reader that been said, i certainly enjoyed these feelings it evoked in me as we started to follow their tales and discover the lies they had all told.



One to pick up and give a chance.

When this book started I thought it would be a quick easy read. However, this book just got stranger and stranger as it went along.
At points it was hard to distinguish what was actually happening and what was real or a dream. I expected a bit more of a plot especially a plot twist, however I just didn't get this.

The very first thing I should say is that this book is not the book I thought it would be. That being said, I still really enjoyed the book. It had me hooked and I simply could not work out what was going on. I did eventually work out the twist before the end but it was still quite a shock which is always good. This book has such an eerie atmospheric feel to it, which I really wasn’t expecting but really added an extra level to the book.

Magpie jumps between the POV of Martin and Claire and between “before” and “after”. In this respects, it takes a lot of concentration to really get the full story as you’re throw from one place to the next, trying to piece together the story and work out how it all started and where it was all heading. Fortunately, I love it when books do this as it makes it feel more like you’re trying to work out a puzzle but I do know that some people can find this jarring so I thought it was important to mention it.

The characters in the story are the main reason I enjoyed this book so much. I wanted Claire to find her missing son and I wanted to know why Duncan was acting the way he was. It was very much a book that relied on character development. You witnessed how each event affected each character and how that in turn had different consequences that continued to spiral. A very interesting way of writing a book.

I definitely enjoyed this book and would recommend it to people who enjoy domestic thrillers.

I thought the writing was good in this book, and the ending was good – but not good enough to make up for the incredibly slow, tedious pace of most of the rest of the book. Again, the three main characters were well developed, and felt real – but I could not engage with, or like, any of them. Claire was once an intelligent, educated, capable person, but throughout the book came across as a whining, indecisive woman, who compensated for her loveless marriage by overindulging her ungrateful son, Joe. Duncan, her husband, was selfish and completely insensitive to the emotions and needs of other human beings (OK with dogs though). Joe was obsessive, paranoid, and rude, and most likely suffering from mental health issues. The only likeable character, was the dog, Arthur. For the others, I had no interest whatsoever in what they got up to.
Claire wants to leave Duncan – why, is perfectly obvious and understandable. What is not, is that she insists on waiting until Joe turns 18 – because he ‘needs his father’ when he is young. No, he doesn’t! Duncan cares not a jot for Joe – and makes that abundantly clear. If Claire had left much earlier, Joe might have had a chance to grow up into an independent and capable young man, instead of an anti-social ne’er-do-well, having to listen to his parents arguing all the time. Claire might have resumed her career, or otherwise have made a full life for herself, instead of whinging about how life (and Duncan) had let her down.
Not until right near the end of the book, do you discover the trauma that marked the start of Claire and Duncan’s marriage, and blighted it ever since. Yes, it would have been awful for any couple to have gone through, but how they ‘dealt’ with it was weird and unhelpful in the extreme. Why were they so afraid of Joe finding out? Why not talk to the lad for once?
By choice, I have no children. Maybe if I had, and if I had been in a better mood, I would have liked this book more. But, it took me so long to get through. If I hadn’t received it as an ARC, and felt obliged to finish it, I would have abandoned it weeks ago. It is the debut novel of the author, and she obviously has potential, but urgently needs to sort out the pacing of her future books – and not pack everything of interest into the last chapter. To create suspense, the reader needs to engage with the story, and to care about the outcome.
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

A story about infidelity and its impact on his wife and son - a story that shows Duncan in a very bad light as he lived for himself without caring what happened to others as a result. And then they had all hidden heir actions...
Why were they married after all? They were young and it had seemed right but... Claire was the one who had struggled from his decisions, but was it all his fault? Could CLaire have done things differently rather than blaming him for everything?
And Joe. He was the ultimate sufferer. He and his stray dog and his inability to communicate with people.
A dark story with multiple story lines and despair oozing out of it. I couldn't say I enjoyed it, it was too sad, but well written and had the impact on me, the reader, the author no doubt wanted.

I have to admit, this book took a little while to get going for me. It is the story of a troubled family, living in a small village in the Peak District. Duncan and Claire have been married a long time, but the marriage is in difficulty, not helped by the problems suffered by their only son, Joe. Claire is on the verge of leaving when Joe goes missing and everything really falls apart.

The book is told from the dual perspectives of Duncan and Claire and, to begin with, neither of them were characters I particularly warmed to which made it difficult to form that connection with the book. It is hard to know which of them is telling the truth about their relationship. As well as jumping between the perspectives of Duncan and Claire, the story also runs on two timelines – Before and After (before and after what is the crux of the story)- this made the book a little difficult to follow, it requires a certain level of concentration to keep up with who is talking and in what point of the story. I am not sure I have read a book that jumps about in quite such a complicated and disjointed fashion.

However, and this is a big however, this book is absolutely worth the perseverance it took to get into the groove. A third of the way through, I became completely hooked on the story and raced through the rest of the book in desperation to get to the end. This story has so many elements that I love in a novel – suspense, deception, atmosphere – and it is extremely creepy. The author does a wonderful job of bringing to life the oppressive feel of remote corners of the Peaks, especially in winter when the looming crags and endless expanse can feel claustrophobic (I used to live in Ashbourne, so I know this area well).

You will find it hard to categorise this book. Is it a thriller? Is it suspense? Is it gothic? It is all of these things and more. It took a while, but it eventually got under my skin and became a compelling story that I had to pursue to the end. I had no idea what was going on for the majority of the story, I did not guess what was coming until very close to the end and it was a story that really took me by surprise. That can be a hard thing to do to someone who reads as much as I do.

An initially slow-burning novel that turns in to an atmospheric treat with a marvellous pay off. If you are looking for something a bit different and are willing to have a little patience, this is a fulfilling read.

Claire and Duncan's marriage is in trouble, from the outside it looks like they have it all but the reality itself is far different with Duncans growing coldness and numerous infidelities seeming to be a route cause of a lot of the problems between them.
Her eighteen-year-old son through not diagnosed definitely has an ASD and his additional needs have also piled on the pressure on top of what is already a pressure cooker just waiting to explode.
So this narrates the events in a before and after fashion from both Claire and Duncans POV.
This did keep me turning the pages to discover the truth and I did enjoy the mysterious obscurity of it all as I pieced the puzzle together.
I must confess I did guess the twist so the ending here didn't really come as a surprise to me but some of the whats and whys were news.
I also realised the further I read that the same story could be interpreted differently depending on who you actually listened to and that this actually was a lot of shades rather than the black and white like I originally thought.
I could kind of see how events had come to pass the way they had, of course, I am in no way excusing it just understanding how they had come to be at the stalement they now were.
Guilt and blame can rot the strongest of foundations and Duncan's games are almost like a crutch he uses to cope.
So for me, this was a bit repetitive and also a tad slow.
The narrative at times was also overly descriptive and somewhat confusing though it did set a great spooky atmosphere.
I was also left feeling somewhat sad and melancholy after finishing.
One last thought I really liked the inclusion of the son Joe in this: my own son has Aspergers and I really could appreciate a lot of similarities between them.
My son is as obsessive in his interests as Joe was here, he also extremely literal so I got that also.
I did have a few issues with this but it was still an interesting experience.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of Magpie.

I read, reviewed and loved Sophie's debut novel 'Cuckoo' and I couldn't wait to get hold of a copy of her follow up novel called 'Magpie'. It sounded like the deliciously creepy sort of read that I would thoroughly enjoy. I managed to get hold of a copy and started to read. Oh boy, 'Magpie' was most definitely a creepy read in more ways than one for reasons which I will explain further in a bit. I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Magpie' but more about that in a bit too.
I can honestly say that I didn't take to either Claire or Duncan at all but that wasn't a bad thing because it meant that I didn't favour one over the other. They are a married couple, although to say that their marriage is strained is a bit of an understatement. Claire is convinced that Duncan is having an affair but she doesn't know who with and Duncan seems to be a domineering, bully of a man. That said, I wasn't sure if either Claire or Duncan were telling the truth. They have a son called Josh, who seems to behave slightly oddly. I don't mean that nastily but Josh will go out with his metal detector and he will spend all night searching for 'treasure' in the hope that he hits the jackpot. Josh's relationship with his father is strained. I can totally understand why Josh is reluctant to spend a lot of time in the family home. Can either Claire or Duncan be trusted? Just who is telling the truth? Is there a twist to the tale? Well for the answers to those questions and more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
I mentioned earlier that this was a creepy book in more ways than one so I will explain as best as I can. The title of the book is 'Magpie' (obviously) and when my late father passed away, I am convinced that he came back to us in the shape of a magpie and this magpie has regularly come to 'visit' us. Secondly, when my father passed away, tradition dictated that we had to give him enough money to 'pay the ferryman' for the journey over to the other side. So imagine the shiver that went down my spine when I got to the end of the book to read about a character having money to pay the ferryman. It's made even spookier when you consider that Thursday is the anniversary of my father's death. Add all that together and you have a very spooked and shivery me.
It took me next to no time to get into this book. As soon as I started to read, I just knew that I would have to binge read the book over the course of a couple of days. I wasn't sure who to trust or who to believe. I had my own suspicions as to what the truth of the matter was so I had to keep reading to see if my suspicions were going to be proved correct. The pages turned over at speed and at one point the pages were turning that quickly that it was almost as if they were turning themselves. All too quickly I reached the end of the book, which I was disappointed about. I had been enjoying the author's writing style, the characters and the storylines so much that I just wanted the book to continue for longer than it did.
'Magpie' is well written. Sophie has one of those writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. She certainly knows how to draw you into the story. Once she has your attention, she will not let it go until the moment you have read the last word on the last page. Sophie takes you on one hell of an at times scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride through one hell of a story. The story is written differently to what I am used to. It's obvious that there has been an 'incident' which is as serious as it gets. It's not clear as to what has happened although little clues are given throughout the story. The different chapters are written from the points of view of both lead characters and they detail what happened prior to the 'incident' happening and after the 'incident' happened. I did worry that perhaps the jumping about of the story might prove to be confusing but I needn't have worried because the way Sophie has written the story really works and the story flows seamlessly as a result. 'Magpie' is definitely a book that messes with your head.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Magpie' and I would recommend it to other readers. I look forward to reading more from Sophie in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

A story told separately by a husband and wife both in the present and also in the past. How they married and how the marriage develops. I found myself more in sympathy with Claire than her husband.
I kept thinking I knew what was about to happen - but I didn't.

If dark, domestic thrillers give you a buzz, then you must read Magpie, the latest novel written by Sophie Draper. Even though I have yet to read some of this author's earlier work, I knew I was going to be in for a treat with this one, and it was pretty good.

Claire, her husband Duncan, and son Joe, live in a beautiful house overlooking the water. But Claire feels as if she’s married to a stranger and one who is cheating on her. This has been the pattern of their marriage so she decides now is the time to take Joe and their dog and move into a cottage across the pond. As soon as she can get Joe away from him, she’s determined to leave Duncan. Then Joe vanishes and Claire is fraught with angst, living in the cottage alone with their dog, struggling to find her son, and attempting to make sense of the events of the night that tore them apart.

In Magpie, Sophie Draper explores the darkest corners of a toxic marriage in a mesmerising tale of secrets, lies, infidelity, quietly seething hatred, and sorrow. Written in two timelines - before and after Joe's disappearance - from the perspective of Claire, I was given the opportunity to see things from the protagonist's intensely personal angle. Sophie Draper's characterisation was so impressive, and she explored the psyche of her characters with great conviction, making them very credible.

I particularly liked the author's portrayal of Claire who displayed a fascinating concoction of characteristics - detachment, emotional instability, and simmering rage. Each character had a part to play in the story and all of them came across as being good or bad, or both, which made this a very believable read. Everyone had different motives and priorities for their actions, thoughts or behaviour. The pace was mostly slow, and the events ordinary and repetitive, because it portrayed the family's lives. The twists, when they came, had more oomph because of this.

The Derbyshire setting was great as it's place I'm a little familiar with and the author portrayed it artfully. Magpie brought few disappointments, capturing my attention for the most part and Sophie Draper created an underlying sense of unease and foreboding that I found gripping.

I appreciated the tautness of the plot, the twists and revelations, and the overall quality of the writing as the story spiralled its way towards a superb denouement. I have found a new psychological thriller writer in Sophie Draper and I highly recommend Magpie.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Avon Books via NetGalley at my request. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

I did enjoy this gripping story, lots of twists and turns to keep you intrigued. Ultimately it isn't a book that will stay with me, but good escapism. Thank you.