Pippa and Gabe and their two daughters live in a gorgeous house on the end of a cliff. The views are perfect, but the spot is known for people in despair who plan to jump off the cliff and end their lives. Gabe has talked several people off of the edge, and one night he goes outside to approach and help a woman standing there. But when Pippa looks out the window, she sees Gabe standing there alone, with his hands out in front of him.

What really happened on that edge of the cliff? Who was the woman? Is there more to the story? This book was full of twists and turns as new clues are uncovered and different connections are revealed.

Sally Hepworth has become a master of suspense novels, and I think this her best yet.
Pip and Gabe have a beautiful house by the sea but unfortunately their cliff is the spot where people come to commit suicide. Gabe has successfully saved 7 people by talking them out of jumping until the night a woman shows up. Pip watches from the window as Gabe talks with the woman, but she turns her head away for a second and missed the woman jumping. Both are devastated,, and even more so when they realize the woman is Gabe’s ex boss wife. Coincidence or not?
We learn about the two marriages through the eyes of the wives, past and present, developing a fuller picture of each relationship. Filled with complex characters, intricate plot and full of non stop twists and turns up until the end, this is a must read.

I always enjoy her books and was excited to read this one. I felt like it was solid—she is great at elevating domestic and relationship drama into the mystery/suspense arena. However I think there was some structural issues and one tangent that should have been more fully developed.

Rather than flipping back and forth in both woman’s timeline, it would have been better to have to open with Amanda at the cliff then go back in time to lead up to it with the timeline converging like 2/3 in then going forward in the present time. None of the reveals were that shocking so they felt anticlimactic in just because of how they were written out of order. They would have hit better if written in chronological order.

I also felt like the Mei storyline was truncated. She worked at the same business and knew of the illegal activity. Did her wife know? What was their relationship actually like? Did Mei hide things from her? Did her sister know Mei worked for a sketchy company? How did their parents end up with two daughters who’d marry people with dubious morales? I felt like the ball was dropped a little here. Maybe Mei shouldn’t have worked there at all since it wasn’t explored.

That said, I enjoyed the book a lot and the setting was a lot of fun.

I was gifted an advanced copy of this book by the publisher, and given that Sally Hepworth is one of my favorite authors of psych thrillers, I could not wait to start reading it. It did not disappoint…those pages turned quickly! Such a gripping mystery filled with lots of fun twists and turns, and perfectly paced. As a mental health therapist, there were a couple of times I thought, “c’mon, you can do better than that!” to the mental health professionals in the book, but that was my only small frustration. A most intriguing and satisfying story…strongly recommend!


Thank you very much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'm a fan of Sally Hepworth’s novels. In this one, Pippa looks out her window and sees a woman standing at the edge of a cliff where people have been known to jump to their deaths. While Pippa calls the police, her husband Gabe goes out to see if he can calm the stranger. Something strikes Pippa as odd in how her husband holds out his hands when the woman drops to her death, but she doesn't mention it to the police. I kept reading to find out if her husband had pushed the woman and I wondered if Pippa would tell the police what she saw. The author is so skilled at writing about relationships and the complex nature of marriages. I loved how she drew us into the characters’ lives and felt as if I was living in a house at the edge of a cliff, holding my breath, not sure what would happen next. My only negative comment is I thought the pace slowed with “Then” and “Now” chapters and "Before" and "After." We’d just get going chasing the story question and “then” we’d go into what felt like a slower backstory chapter. But I can see why the author wrote it that way. A great ending and I loved the book!