Cover Image: The Girl Before You

The Girl Before You

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Member Reviews

I really enjoyed this book – the characters, the college life, the mystery of missing Ruth, and Alice's insecurity and turmoil. I understood Alice's need to know and how she measured herself against her husband's past relationships (very 'Rebecca'). The end did not leave me gasping as the cover promised, far from it, but that didn't take away from the pleasure of reading it as the mystery unfolded.

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I'd give this a 3.5. Thank you Netgalley & Avon books for sharing a copy. I liked the pace and the narration style that alternated between three of the characters. The plot was familiar, but interesting and I found it to be quite the page turner. Ruth goes missing after the Memorial ball at St. Anthony's and while she is presumed dead, some people in her life, understandably, are still looking for answers and closure. Several years later, Alice thinks she has seen Ruth on the train and this stirs things up once again.

Alice, Naomi and Kat tell us the story, sometimes going back and forth between their time at St. Anthony's and the present day. While I didn't see the twist coming and that's usually a good thing, I was disappointed to discover what happened to Ruth. It somehow didn't make sense to me. Saying anything more about this part might give away too much, so I'll stop at that.

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I tried to like this book. The description of the book made it sound amazing and like it had so much potential. The book moved really slow for me and I had a hard time staying focused on it. I read it for awhile then I ended up skimming the second part just to get through it. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the opportunity to read the book, it just wasn't for me though.

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I am very sorry - this was a duplicate request. Please refer to my initial review. (On NetGalley and Goodreads) Thank you!

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The Girl Before You moved to slow for me. It had such potential and I was so excited to read this.The storyline was interesting.

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The book title is very similar to the debut of J P Delaney . The narrative straddles two timelines , past and present and the stories of three people : Alice – George’s wife , Naomi – Ruth’s sister and Kat – Ruth’s frenemy from the college days . Rayner’s writing was engaging despite covering the regular subjects of a mystery-from-the-college-days type story-line – flashbacks into the college lives of the central characters .

The college days run into too great detail in the trio’s flashbacks and it almost always covers the following territories – shagging , pub visits & more shagging . I distinctly remember that they were only two places in the entire book where the author touched upon Kat’s visit to the library and Kat taking up her exams . Of course , academic stuff would not have even minimal engagement quotient with the readers but Rayner’s writing made it look like there’s more wine , parties & shagging than academics in universities . Whatever academic references are thrown in , I guess , they are there to make it seem like an ” all-rounded ” coverage of the life with the campus . Maybe , cutting off a chunk of the party-scenes and references to yet another shag episode between two people could have made this book a pacier read .

My only peeve was that the editor should have pared out a good 70 pages worth of content to actually pack a stronger punch with the really good ending . The reader has to navigate the torrent of this distracting stuff to get to the ‘ THE ENDING WHICH WILL LEAVE YOU GASPING ‘ – so the Observer critic says . Yes , the ending was really very good and you would have never guessed it . But , probably , navigating a torrent of distracting stuff did it for me – I did not get shocked / gasp but I am quite satisfied with how the pieces of the puzzle finally fell in place .
Rating:3.5/5
Read the full review @ http://sherlockedsharon.com/2019/07/15/the-girl-before-you/

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⭐️Book Review ⭐️
The Girl Before You by Nicola Rayner
5/5 Stars

**I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.** Pub Date 8/22/2019

This a a good psychological thriller. Very intriguing. It was a bit slow moving and the different points of view were a bit hard to follow at times though.

A university student named Ruth is outgoing, a cute redhead and has now disappeared. She was last seen swimming. All that have been found were her shoes beside the water and then her tattered dress days later. Now, decades later, her disappearance still haunts those close to her.

Alice runs into a girl who looks strikingly like Ruth on the train. Her husband, George, has increasingly made her suspicious. Why is acting strange all of the sudden? Then his past involvement with Ruth slowly begins to unravel.

Past and present cross and multiple points of view weave together as we see the bigger picture.

Is Ruth still alive? Or is she dead? Or was she seen for the last time all those years ago?

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I really enjoyed the plot. Was very hard to put down.
I give this book 5**** just because i loved it
Cant wait for other books

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I didn't enjoy this book personally, a bit slow and found it hard to get into. I got halfway through then did a lot of skim reading just to get to the end.

Based on my opinion I wouldn't recommend this book but thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

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A psychological thriller a tense chilling story .Characters that came alive a book that kept me turning the pages late into the night. An author whose books I look forward to reading.#netgalley #harpercollinsaustralia.

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It was a slow read for me, kind of dragging. I find it hard to finish the book and ended up skipping most of the middle part to read the last few pages (Something that I rarely do). Not for me!

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I had high hopes for this book, but was sadly disappointed. I only got 10% into it before I gave up. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

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Duplicate Review:
An overall compelling story as far as suspense novels go if you are new to the genre. For veteran readers, the narrative holds a hint of familiarity to this category and lacks the intensified plot pace to really push that anticipatory feel. The foreshadowing is overcompensated and the character development is just shy of being fully developed. With the constant shift in points of view in addition to the switch from past and present, it was difficult to feel connected to any one character in particular. It was just an okay read. 3 stars.

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Over all I enjoyed this book. I like the back and forth way of telling the story between characters and I feel like the characters were well developed.

Alice knows about her husband’s sexual exploits when they were at university. She knows he had a bad reputation but nobody would ever tell her what exactly had been going on. Then she thinks she sees one of his exes, Ruth, on a train - the only thing is, Ruth has been missing for the past 15 years.

This story is told from the point of view of Alice, Naomi-Ruth’s sister, and Kat-Ruth’s best friend.

It is described as a thriller but for me it read more like a mystery. It moved a little slow for my taste until about halfway through and then I got to a point where I couldn’t put it down. I would say definitely worth the read.

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I had some difficulty getting into this book, it was kind of a slow start. The characters were tough for me to connect with, and the plot was draggy. I still rate it a solid 3 stars.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC to read and review.

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I enjoyed The Girl Before You. First off, it's tough to pull off three POVS + past present, but the author weaves them seamlessly.

This was a slow burn and had enough twists and turns to keep experienced thriller readers guessing.
I would recommend checking it out.


She was his. She was perfect. And then, she was gone.An addictive and twisting psychological suspense, perfect for summer.

If you liked My Lovely Wife, you’ll love this.Alice has always been haunted by the women from her husband’s past. As a politician and now a TV personality, George Bell’s reputation as a ladies’ man precedes him. But when Alice falls pregnant, her unease becomes an obsession.

And there’s one ex in particular she can’t get out of her head, a beautiful student who went missing before they finished university: Ruth.When Alice thinks she see Ruth on a train, she can’t shake the feeling there’s more to the disappearance than George has told her.

But does she really want to know what her husband has been up to behind her back all these years?

Thanks to #netgalley and #avonbooks for letting me read.

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I liked the premise of this story with Alice's quest to discover the truth about George's past and Ruth's disappearance(?). The plot was unique and intriguing, but I found the telling to be flat at times. After a few chapters from Kat, Alice, & Naomi, I found myself skimming to an anti-climatic ending. I was never drawn in to the story in a way that made it impossible to put down.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Nicola Rayner for an ARC of The Girl Before You in exchange for an honest review.

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Alice has never really been comfortable with her husband’s past as a womanizer. But now Alice is pregnant and her pregnancy is intensifying her insecurities. She can’t stop obsessing about Ruth, the girl George was dating in college. The girl that disappeared before they graduated. Alice believes she has seen Ruth on a train, but that can’t be possible, can it. Because if Ruth is alive it means that George has been keeping some big secrets from his wife. This is a twisted tale of obsession and revenge

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The Girl Before You by author Nicola Rayner is so far, a perfect obsession/psychological thriller novel! I’m not totally finished yet but I’ve absolutely loved everything I’ve read so far from Rayner! This book has so much and is more than worth the read, it deserves a spot on shelves too! Will update full review closer to publication date of August 2019!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

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