They never saw it coming. . .

On an unseasonably warm Valentine's Day, many couples, dog walkers, and joggers are enjoying the beautiful Hampstead Heath. That is, until a young couple's argument quickly takes a turn for the worst, leading to a brutal and shocking murder-suicide. Five witnesses to this brutal crime are haunted by what they saw, especially Jen Hunter, a journalist whose career has seen better days. She begins to investigate what truly happened that day, doubting what she saw before her very eyes. The other witnesses involved are ready to move on, but reluctantly agree to share their recollection of the events with Jen.The truths these five strangers uncover are far more sickening than anyone could have imagined.
Quite honestly, this book surprised me in the best ways. I was very intrigued by the description and decided to give it a go, and I am so glad I did. This novel was brilliantly executed, and I loved going along for the ride. I had a strong feeling in the beginning of the book and was right- but not at all in the way I expected. I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a suspense novel full of secrets, lies, and of course, murder.

The second a character starts talking early on, you know she's trouble, manipulative and a liar. The 5 strangers on the hill aren't all that interesting, nor their backstories intriguing and only 1 of them (3, if you include the dead), is connected by association to 'master. manipulator', whose manipulation is so obvious, you have to be a complete idiot not to see it, which everyone in the book is. Glad Penelope came off alive but it was unbelievable that she did. Found the book claustrophobic, suffocating and ridiculous (because of the antics of the 2 girl friends). Author has a bit of a crush on Christie. I'm sorry I didn't like the 'mystery'.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

This book starts out with a murder/suicide that is viewed by five strangers. As this book continues, it turns out that not everyone is a stranger and that there are connections. At the crux of the situation, is an inplausible relationship with Bex and Jen. I am not sure where Jen's head has been in the last many years before this event, but I am guessing it was probably an oven. I am just not a fan of obliviousness in a book. I feel that it is extremely lazy and just completely tanks a book. There is no way that someone would not be able to figure out what was going on with Bex. I will give points for the mystery involving the other strangers, but this was definitely a firm no from me. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

On Valentine's Day, Jen Hunter is waiting on her best friend on Hampstead Heath. It is a beautiful day, and her friend is late. While she waits, she sees a couple get into an argument that quickly escalates to violence. Another witness jumps in to try to stop things from escalating, but unfortunately the man kills the his girlfriend and then himself.

Jen, a disgraced journalist who just lost her job, decides to write an article about what happened. She receives a random message suggesting that what she saw was not as cut and dried as it seemed. Jen starts digging into her story and interviews the other witnesses to the murder/suicide. She discovers that there was definitely more to the story than she thought.

This is a riveting story and I definitely did not see the ending coming!

Thank you to NetGalley and Scarlet - Penzler Publishers for an advanced reading copy of Five Strangers, available everywhere now.

On an unreasonably warm, beautiful day in London, the lives of five strangers will forever be inextricably linked to a gruesome act of violence: a murder-suicide on what is supposed to be one of the happiest days for a couple. While the evidence is clear is day, disgraced journalist Jen Turner is no longer sure about what she saw after receiving a series of messages. Her obsession into the events of that day will have more far-reaching consequences than anyone could have anticipated.

Five Strangers was not a book that worked for me. What transpired was clear as day and so, the writer painted himself into a corner with trying to change the narrative with the messages Jen received. If we were supposed to doubt what happened in the murder-suicide, the event should have been muddled. For a journalist, even a disgraced one, Jen is neither bright nor perceptive. She believed everything, absorbing the information given to her at face value. Whiny, self-centered, neurotic. Her personality was always at a high so it was exhausting to keep up with her. There was a particular scene between her and an ex-boyfriend that I raised by eyebrows at — and not in a good way.

Honestly? I couldn't get over the halted writing of this book. I was definitely intrigued enough to want to know how it ended or what the "twist" was but the whole time I was thinking "why do I care?". I read the bio of the author and was hoping this would remind me a little more of Patricia Highsmith, but it didn't. Catchy? Yes. Great? No.

Five Strangers by E. V. Adamson is a mystery about five people that end up witnessing a murder-suicide at a London park on Valentines Day. One of the witnesses, Jen Hunter, is a journalist, and she receives a text message after the violence that makes her question what she saw. She starts an investigation and quickly realizes that there was a lot more going on than what they all witnessed. This book kept me guessing, and it had some pretty good twists! I enjoyed it. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital copy. All opinions are my own.

What better way to spend the weekend than with a twisty new thriller from E.V. Adamson?

Five Strangers begins with a violent crime in a public space, with the five main witnesses sure of what they saw, but reporter Jen Hunter soon starts receiving mysterious messages that maybe things aren’t as clear-cut as they seem. This new release from explores what happens when individuals witness a horrific murder and how it not only affects them individually, but how it binds them to each other. What they don’t know is what set the series of events into motion, and it’s anything but predictable!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review!

Link to Instagram review:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVa3-tBLq7P/

🄺🄸🄽🄳🄻🄴 🅁🄴🅅🄸🄴🅆

𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬
𝙱𝚢: E.V. Adamson
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction
𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚛: @scarletsuspense
𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝙾𝚗: Oct. 5th 2021
@goodreads 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎: 3.59
𝙼𝚢 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎: 🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪 / 5 𝑲𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔

Thank you @netgalley and @scarletsuspense for the E-ARC of 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 for an unbiased review.

Have I just read the latest gripping new debut psychological thriller for 2021? And you won’t be able to put it down? I think so!

𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 starts us out on a lovely breathtaking day in the grassy hills of London’s Hampstead Heath. It's the perfect place to spend an afternoon with friends and loved ones―and on an unseasonably warm Valentine’s Day, the lawns are especially full. Until an aggressive lovers quarrel breaks out, there’s an audience of park goers nearby to hear the shouts traded back and forth, and to watch as the violence escalates suddenly to murder, then suicide.

For the five strangers who observed the gruesome act, the memory of the gore is unshakable. But one of them―disgraced journalist Jen Hunter―is compelled to question the truth of what she thought she saw. Are the facts of the case plain as day, or were they obscured, in the moment, by the glaring sunlight?
As she mounts an obsessive investigation for a seemingly-impossible alternative, the lives of the other witnesses begin to unravel, each in its own particular way. Soon one thing becomes clear: the crime they witnessed was more terrible, more twisted, and more far-reaching than they ever could have imagined.

An amazing job from debut novelist E.V. Adamson. From the very first page on was on the edge of my seat. I could not slide the pages fast enough. I read this in just 2 days. Brilliant work. Perfection ending and likeable characters. I highly recommend this amazing psychological thriller.

"Occasionally, I'd stop myself, tell myself that the game wasn’t a nice one, but then I'd be tempted by the delicious prospect of it and I'd start plotting again. What would happen if…? What would happen if…? What would happen if…? My English teacher always said I had a wild imagination, that I should allow it to take flight." ━ E.V. Adamson, 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬

Convincing, Predictable Mystery

It’s not fun, let alone interesting, to figure out a mystery early on in a “thriller.” The first scene in the book started off well with five people witnessing a brutal murder of a young, beautiful woman. There are five strangers, but the novel centers on Bex and Jen, two friends who are dangerously intertwined.

Adamson describes the murder in excellent detail and this scene provides shock and horror against a beautiful
backdrop on Hampstead Heath. It’s is Valentine’s Day, no less. This murderer puts on a quite a performance as he performs the murder; while his victim is dying, the reader can feel the shock – why doesn’t someone stop him? And then he commits suicide.

The remainder of the novel is basically back and forth scenes from either the point of view of Bex or Jen. The premise of their friendship is obvious. The three others who observed the murder are quirky and some are well-respected. The author added enough secondary characters to hopefully flesh out the novel. It didn’t impact me enough to make it interesting,

My gratitude to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read this pre-published book. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really liked this book. I’m not usually a big fan of the slow burn, but this one kept me engaged the whole time. A solid story and thriller.

This book was a slow burn for me. Several times I debated DNF’ing it because I was not enjoying it much. I felt that the description of Jen as a woman suffering from mental illness, and therefore not the most reliable or believable is something that has been used too often in thrillers. I also found it hard to understand how the murder/suicide that Jen witnesses at the beginning could prove to be anything other than what she saw even though she begins receiving tweets from someone suggesting otherwise. About two-thirds of the way through, the plot picked up for me and I managed to finish it in one sitting. While I felt that ending was not that shocking, there were some unexpected twists and connections that were revealed that I appreciated. Some of the storyline was a bit contrived and rushed but I did think it was a good plot that kept me interested in that final third.

So well written and interesting being told from 5 different perspectives. It's quite a mystery that unfolds into a wonderfully mysterious story.

would read anything from EV Adamson

This contemporary mystery/thriller intrigued me at the beginning, but sadly evolved into a hot mess that I had trouble finishing. It's a beautiful Valentine's Day in London. On Hampstead Heath people are enjoying the day until an aggressive argument between a man and woman turns into a murder/suicide. Five strangers that saw the incident and tried to intervene are forever bound by witnessing the violent act.

One of the strangers, disgraced journalist Jen Hunter, receives a message questioning if the incident really happened the way she thought it did. Already mentally vulnerable from recently being fired from her job and dumped by her boyfriend, Jen heavily relies on her college best friend Bex to keep her grounded. As Jen starts interviewing the other witnesses, and attempts to get back together with her boyfriend, she is taunted by an internet troll that becomes increasingly aggressive. Her only source of security is Bex, who always has her back and acts in Jen's best interest. Or does she?

As I said, this book started out pretty good. The story is told from the viewpoint of two narrators, Jen and Bex. Jen starts out in a vulnerable place, but initially seems able to persevere and come out stronger. But the more she investigate the incident, the less stable she becomes. Her story devolves into a series of rambling inner dialogue and self-doubt where she jumps to conclusions and makes accusations without ever bothering to simply talk to someone. Likewise, Bex starts out as a concerned, dependable friend helping Jen through her crisis. But as we learn more about Bex, her motives become less and less altruistic. In addition to two unreliable narrators, the author throws in multiple time-line flashbacks and ridiculous situations. A little more than halfway through the book I stopped caring what happened and was just along for the train wreck, outlandish conclusion.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Scarlet. All opinions are my own.

Honestly was really surprised by how much I really enjoyed this book! I thought the writing was excellent, the story line kept me engaged the entire time and the twist WOOW that was a ride for sure, I really liked this book for all those reasons!

I liked this book on one level, that of a group of strangers and the effect of witnessing a violent murder suicide. But then it turned into something else that didn't come together. desperation, manipulation and unlikely turns brought it down to disappointment for me. I would try this author again because the writing and character development were solid. The plot just got away.

copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

It’s Valentine’s Day, the weather absolutely gorgeous, and many people are out just enjoying the day at Hampstead Heath. But the day’s tranquility is shattered when when a couple begins to argue, quickly escalating into a murder/suicide. This beginning hit like a hammer and instantly hooked me. Is there more here than meets the eye? What happened to set things off? What did they really witness? The book is told from two main alternating points of view, (Jen and her best friend Bex) with neither narrator feeling all that reliable. (I think unreliable narrators can be a lot of fun when done well.) The story features plenty of twists and turns, and though I figured some of it out ahead of time, it was still quite a thrilling and enjoyable ride.
Thanks to and Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review and eARC of Five Strangers.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/five-strangers-e-v-adamson/1138800769?ean=9781613162422&bvnotificationId=779325fb-2a13-11ec-9874-0aa255504cab&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/188607236

Unfortunately not for me. It opens with a bang for sure- but felt a little gratuitous. I don’t like amateur detective work and I didn’t connect with the main character. I guessed the big reveal pretty early on, but I did like Penelope’s character. The book did that thing I hate- the constant referral to “the BAD THING” and taking too long to tell us what happened. The dual timelines took me out of the action. Great cover, though!

The premise of this one is fun and original. The tension is high and the twists keep coming so it's a great sell for people who need a fast-paced high-adrenaline read. If you're looking for depth of characters, this is not for you, although the book makes up for it with the sheer number of characters who are not what they seem. Usually when there is an ensemble cast, it's harder to keep up with who's-who, but this one read so fast that that wasn't a problem at all! It's very twisty. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Valentine's Day, London - a group of five strangers witness a horrific murder-suicide. One of them, Jen Hunter, is a journalist of sorts, and starts writing a piece on the tragedy, interviewing all the witnesses and discovering that perhaps the event was not completely as it seemed. Told in alternating chapters, Five Strangers follows Jen - the journalist, and her best friend Bex.

I liked this one. The slow reveal was great, and the suspense at some parts was enough to make me hold my breath.

I found some of the backstory to be a little bit unbelievable, and not informative enough for me. Some things from the past just never seemed to go anywhere, and then others seemed to be revealed too quickly at the end, but all in all I would give this a solid 3.5 stars, so rounding up to 4.