Underwhelming but not boring!

What a ride through crazy town this was.  Actually I think the train still remains in crazy town!  A daughter who has chained her mother up as a prisoner at their home for two years now. What could sound more reasonable?

I'll admit 2 things: I went into this with high expectations and my opinion appears to be in a small minority overall.

While the crazy was indeed off the chart, I still felt the plot never actually went anywhere. I never felt there was a "big mystery" per se. It was generally obvious who had done everything, or at the very least you already knew it was entirely between the two main characters either way. Therefore, the "reveal" was no reveal at all. 

I also struggled with the ending. I did not feel any closure and was very underwhelmed, disappointed after reading 363 pages. It was a story, told from the beginning, but that didn't have any real ending in my opinion.

The redeeming qualities for me was the pace of the book and the authors writing quality. The book moved along nicely and the author did an excellent job using the alternating timelines to enhance the readers experience. Often this technique can be confusing, however, I felt the author improved the book for it. The content and overall plot of the book was also high quality. With over the top craziness, the author succeeded in fully engaging the reader.

I enjoyed reading this book very much. It wasn't until near the end that I realized it wasn't actually going to go anywhere that I became disappointed and unsatisfied.  Again, I've seen many reviews for this book and almost all were high praise.  My rating appears to be in the minority.

*Thank you to Amazon Publishing UK in NetGalley for access to the advanced digital review copy!

What a cracker of a book. Deeply dark and twisted. I couldn't put it down. The characters are engaging and I couldn't want to find out what happened next.
A solid 4.5 stars from me!

Thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to read an early edition of this amazing book. I could not put it down and while self isolating read this book in two days.
Difficult to say too much about this story without giving anything away but it really is a dark and tense thriller.
Maggie and her daughter have lived. Together alone since Maggie husband died. But life is not harmonious between them. Things get worse when Nina finds out what Maggie has taken away from her over the years, a chance to get married and to have children.

Nina desperately wants a baby but that will never be after the terrible things her mother has done to her, and all Maggie wants to do is make her mother pay for all the terrible things she has done to her.
Great book must be read.

Wow John Marrs smashes it once again! I read The One a few years ago and loved it so I really hoped this one was a good one. Well, this was fantastic 😃 so chilling and unpredictable and it really had me on the edge of my seat wanting to read more. Thank you netgalley for the copy of this book, this is definitely one to put to the top of the list - release date is 15th May.

I had heard so many good things about this author, and this book totally surpassed my expectations. Both of the main characters (mother and daughter Maggie and Nina) have so much depth and are very believable, and I really enjoyed the character development of Nina in particular. I couldn’t put this book down - I can’t remember the last book I read in a day. If you like Lisa Jewell and Alex Lake, then you will love this!

This was a very slow read and one I was unable to relate to. Though it has some good plot twists, it was a bit difficult for me to get into.

What Lies Between Us is a another shocking, unputdownable thriller!⁣ I was a fan of John Marrs when I read " Passengers" last year and this is no exception. Another amazing thriller by John Marrs!
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This story is such a dark, disturbing and twisted story. The storyline switches between the perspectives of mother and daughter ( Maggie & Nina) as you read each chapter you are given one bombshell after another, that leaves you even more confused.John had the ability to not only flesh out his characters so well. They are such unreliable characters, they you don’t know who to believe which adds to the suspense.⁣
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The pacing was great.. There are no slow points in this book and I was engaged throughout the book & could not put it down.
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John Marrs knows how to write a thriller that sucks you into the story and takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. I felt: confused, shocked and heartbroken. The ending was amazing. ⁣
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This is how a thriller should be written! Hats off to John Marrs your thrillers keep blowing me away and this was just another one that left me breathless. I’m still left thinking about the book! I look forward to the future books John Marrs writes!⁣
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Thank you @netgalley and @amazonpublishing for a digital copy in exchange for my review! ⁣
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What lies between us is a deep, twisted story that grabbed my attention, right from the beginning. I was surprised that I never loosed focus and interest in knowing more about “what happened between” Maggie and Nina. Its a story about two women who hate each other, but due to “circumstances”, they live under the same roof. So realistically the story is said in Maggie and Nina’s POV and one of them holds dearest dark secrets, which (trust me on this) you’ll be shocked once revealed. And the revelation is brilliant. Not everything is revealed entirely at once, but its a slow release! Its so wonderful that the author has captured the true feelings and emotions of women! Bravo John! Definitely John Marrs is going to be my auto-buy/read author!
Thank you NetGalley, John Marrs and Amazon publishing for the ARC. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way!

‘I’ve learned the hard way that people – even loved ones – are transient souls.’
‘I have lost everyone I have ever loved and the common denominator in all of this is you.’

What Lies Between Us by John Marrs has completely left us speechless and unable to focus on anything but thinking what the hell did we just read. We can’t exactly say that we loved it, because of the content of this thriller, or that we even liked or rooted for any of the characters, well except for one honest poor bastard caught up in the messy lives of two quite frankly vile abhorrent women. There was literally no let up on the mood in this story. It was dark, twisted and a psychological torture from start to finish. As far as thrillers go, we can say John Marrs nailed it yet again!

‘And what will I have to apologise for when my day of reckoning comes? Will I be sorry for what I did, or for what I didn’t do, in the name of a mother’s love? Will I be forgiven for how I let my daughter down, for my sheer bloody ignorance? How can I ask for forgiveness when I truly believe that what I did was the right thing to do?’

So, how on earth do you recommend a story -especially at this point in our lives- which is going to break your human spirit, chill you to the bone and confront every single good thought you might have? Well, what we can say without a shred of doubt, is that this story compelled us from the beginning till the end. The writing astounded us. The characters hypnotised us. The outstanding John Marrs wowed us with his storytelling!

‘I often wonder if my best days might be the ones I can’t remember.’
‘She has turned me into this monster. I am an extension of her.’

What Lies Between Us is unlike any of this Author’s previous works that we’ve personally read. The intensity of focus on just two characters and their twisted psyche. Secrets, deception and lies. So exceedingly dark and so incredibly sinister in its truth of warped ‘good’ intentions acted out in a love so perverse. A torturous superbly written nightmare all the way through the pages with one disturbing twist after another, Nina and Maggie left us absolutely exhausted!

‘Whatever happens next won’t be down to the will of the girl I gave birth to, but as a result of the actions of her father, the man who robbed her of her childhood and set the wheels in motion for all that’s followed.’

Two women who hate each other live in the same house. Maggie loves Nina and would do anything to protect her, but Nina can’t forgive Maggie for what she’s done, so Nina does what anyone would do under those circumstances, she keeps Maggie prisoner in her own room. Their relationship is explored, and the situation is revealed slowly, building to unbearable tension. Both are unreliable narrators, or at least one is, the other one is just hiding many dark and disturbing secrets. The plot keeps throwing revelations that make the reader reconsider all assumptions until a shocking ending. I can’t say much more because of spoilers but the plot is very well-crafted. The characters are complex and border the extremes, but they are still more realistic than such a situation would make you assume. It may be my prejudice talking but I was surprised that a male writer could portray the inner lives of two women so realistically. My attention never lagged and I was surprised more than once. This is a great domestic thriller.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ Amazon Publishing UK!

Wow, what a gripping psychological thriller. What a roller coaster! The reader thinks they have it all sussed out and know what has happened between Maggie and her daughter Nina, and then it twists and everything is up in the air again!

I really enjoyed it - its impossible to say more without giving away a plot that is so unlike any other book I've read. The characters are well presented, and the relationship between mother and child is explored in many ways.

You can't help but feel sorry for everyone in this twisted tale, while your heart leaps and you want to try to warn one character what another is about to do... or you think they are about to do! Cracking read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this one! It was well paced, with great twists that kept me on my toes! I love John Marrs books and this one was another excellent one. Highly recommend!

A riveting and disturbing read that kept me on the edge of my seat trying to guess what had happened between Maggie and Nina in the past. A tense and terrifying story. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Another amazing book by john marrs, outstanding characters and great story, i guessed a couple of the twists but overall fantastic!

What Lies Between Us
By: John Marrs
Pub. Date May 15, 2020

Can you saw twisted?? This thriller took twisty, dark, and crazy as f%^& to the next level! Can’t do a synopsis because I will spoil it and then no one will like me.
Soooo, we have Maggie and Nina that live together BUT the HATE they have for one another is mind boggling. How they got to this point is the crux of the novel and the story can only be described as deranged!
There was so much going on that I couldn’t just fly through this one. I wanted to but I needed some time to absorb this story. It was tense with twists around every corner but it wasn’t an easy read. It is heavy, with ongoing family dysfunction, co-dependency, and such poor communication that it sometimes frustrated me. These characters were developed bit by bit from the present to the past and back again. Telling the story this way was crucial to the development of the characters but I think this is the one aspect that bothered me.
I loved this book and give it a 4.5/5 stars BUT someone needs to check on John Marrs. Is he ok? Does he have all of his mind? I don’t know how he wrote this book and is still a competent/sane person….Just sayin!

Thank you @Netgalley and @amazonpublishing for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Great psychological thriller with enough turns to give you vertigo! This is definitely my kind of thriller. Hope to read more John Marrs soon!

*Many thanks to John Marrs, Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
This novel has won hearts of readers, not mine, alas.
Incredibly complicated relationships between a mother and a daughter were brought about mainly by the events which took place over two decades earlier. As the story unfolded, I was trying hard to understand motifs behind Maggie's (the mother) actions, and, unfortunately, I did not find them either justifiable or plausible. I would not like to go deep into the plot, however, I was unable to comprehend Maggie's attitude to everything NIna (the daughter) had done or did. Having said that, I admit that the book is full of twists and turns that kept me interested but I sighed much too much while reading to say that this offering by Mr Marrs was a winner for me.

Nina keeps Maggie chained in the attic as punishment for things that happened years earlier, but even Nina doesn't know the full truth that Maggie is keeping from her. This was...a quick read, but I didn't really like it. Everyone on Goodreads seems to be blown away by this, but I didn't like the characters (who are both terrible in their own ways) and I really wasn't shocked by any of the big secrets from the past. I am hard to please when it comes to books like this, I admit that, but this one didn't really do it for me. 2.5 rounded to 3 stars.

3.5 stars

This author is definitely a master of end of chapter cliff hangers. It makes you say, just one more page long after you should have stopped reading.

The story is told in alternating chapters, Nina a daughter taking care of her aging mother and Maggie the mother that at first glance seems to be a secluded elderly woman who is hell bent on making her daughter’s life difficult.

But why would you keep your own mother in chains? What could she possibly have done that was so unforgiving?

As the story progresses your impression of who is more unstable ping pong from one to the other and for the first 50% I was not sure who to believe and who to give my sympathies to.

There are lots of twists and secrets revealed and I enjoyed most of them however towards the end it got a BIT much and the one little twist feels like a plot hole to me.

But overall, this was great escapism.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, John Marrs is amazing!

What Lies Between Us is an absolutely incredible rollercoaster of a book.

If you've read The One and The Passengers, you'll know that it would be a mistake to assume everything is as it seems; because you'd be wrong. And then when you think you've cracked the code, you'll be wrong again. And again.

I'm so pleased to have been able to access this book early via Netgalley, and I'll definitely be picking up a hard copy once it's released.