This is a psychological thriller told in a dual-timeline. Lulu, a psychotherapist, is married to Nick, and things are definitely not quite right. Nick is a bit off— he’d been abandoned by his father and stepmother as a teen. In order to help him heal, Lulu encourages Nick to confront his past… and plot twists ensue.

This is one that I wish I had the print version of instead of the audio. I’m not sure if it was the NetGalley interface or the actual recording, but it was very hard to listen to. Words were jumbled, and the narration would speed up and slow down randomly. This made it very hard to stay with the plot, which was interesting and unexpected. The ending was stellar.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape media for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for gifting me an audio ARC of this psychological thriller by Jane Renshaw and wonderfully narrated by Mhairi Morrison, Katherine Littrell and Joshua Manning - 4 stars!

Lulu, a psychotherapist, rather quickly married Nick after a chance meeting. Nick has a troubled past; his entire family (dad, mom and baby stepsister) disappeared when he was a teenager and he was sent away to boarding school. So Lulu is understanding when he is scared of losing her and tends to be too controlling. Lulu decides that Nick needs to confront his demons and they travel back to where he grew up, only to have another person go missing.

The story is told from 2 POVs - Maggie (Nick's stepmom) back in 1997 and Lulu in 2019. While there weren't a lot of twists and turns in this one, this was a well-written thriller that kept me intrigued. The cast of narrators was excellent and helped up the tension of the book.

Just finished this for the summer genre challenge for the thriller book. I disliked it and should have DNFed. The ending was all right but the book as a whole was very predictable none of the main characters were likable and I felt like it was very dragged on.

This book was fast paced and chilling. It jumps right into things with the disappearance of a family at the onset of the book. The characters are well developed as we get the story from the point of view of two main characters, Maggie and LuLu. Maggie grew up in an abusive environment as a child, so when she met and married the love of her life Duncan, she thought her life had finally turned around. But……there is Nick, the stepson. LuLu, a psychologist, is married to Nick and she too believes she is living a dream. The book is written in dual timeline form jumping back and forth from Nick’s past with Maggie and his current time with LuLu. I won’t give any spoilers, but this book is brilliant and will keep you on the edge of your seat!

An interesting book enjoyed the narrative and the accents. The Stepson is a twisted story being told in the past and the present. Nick believes his step-mother is responsible when his father and half-sister Isla are missing. There is no evidence that they are dead, but he believes they are dead and tells everyone that Maggie is responsible. I felt like the cover’s claim of “a twist you won’t see coming” was kind of misleading, as it becomes extremely obvious early on what direction the story is heading in. Slight twist at the end but nothing jaw-dropping. Also, Lulu seems way too naïve for being a psychologist, and it didn’t help that she constantly refers to herself as “silly Lulu” or “ditzy Lulu.” With that being said, it’s an entertaining enough read if you just want an easy thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity.

Fast-paced and chilling! I have been a social worker and a stepmom, so I felt very connected to this story from the beginning. I had a difficult time trusting Maggie's character, so there was a little bit of questioning in my mind about what the real truth of the matter was, but overall no real surprises. It was more of a riding that rollercoaster to see what would happen next that I enjoyed. In addition, the narrators of the audio version were excellent!

Thank you, NetGalley for the advanced copy of The Stepson.

I read a lot of psychological thriller books and this one was great. I have not read Jane Renshaw before, but I will definitely need to read more of her.

The book goes back and forth from the main characters of Maggie, Conrad, and Nick to the present day of Lulu and Nick.

Nick's dad, Conrad, Maggie, and his little sister just disappeared one day and things have not been great for Nick. He marries Lulu, and things just seem to not be right in his head. So Lulu suggests they go back to his house where his family disappears and things quickly go bad.

Great story and love the twists and turns.

I loved the narrator and her accents were on point.

I could not get into this book. I gave it a try listening to a few chapters; it just wasn't for me. I'll be interested in reading other reviews to see how others felt about it.

I couldn’t wait til Thursday for this! So #thrillerthursday has been bumped to #thrillerwednesday . The stepson was SO good in a non traditional sense. Through the whole book, you get little red flags about the main character, easy enough to figure out his MO. But don’t let this book fool you, just because i could easily figure out that Nick has something sinister about him, i did NOT expect all the plot twists. Until the very end, then bam, another plot twist makes for a neat, tidy, yet unexpected, ending!

Gripping, suspenseful and thrilling. A definite must read (or listen for us audio book fans)

Although she hasn’t known him long, Lulu’s husband, Nick, seems to be the man of her dreams. He’s handsome and thoughtful. He anticipates her needs. They share a sense of humor. Lulu just knows she’s found her soulmate. It doesn’t hurt that he’s wealthy, too. Unfortunately, Nick has issues. His family abandoned him when he was sixteen. Lulu, a psychologist, struggles to help him get over his past. But, when Nick begins to control every aspect of her life under the guise of love, Lulu is blind to his true problems.

Twenty-two years earlier, Maggie also married a loving husband, Duncan, and is expecting a child. Maggie had an abusive childhood and was in juvenile detention as a teenager. Although she has no doubts about Duncan, she’s learned not to be completely trusting. And she definitely doesn’t trust Duncan’s sixteen-year-old son, Nick. Nick is verbally torturing Maggie, making up lies about her and trying to make his father think that his wife is crazy and dangerous. He even tries to get her arrested for murder. Maggie realizes that in order to protect her baby, she must make a plan to get away from Nick.

The first two thirds of the book were almost boring. Ho-hum, another book about a sociopath. Nobody sees what he’s doing to them. They all love him completely. But once Maggie takes action, the book kicks into a higher gear and becomes more interesting. The ending made me grade the book up another half notch.

I listened to the audio edition of The Stepson. The narrators, Mhairi Morrison, Katherine Littrell, and Joshua Manning bring the novel to life.

My Rating 3.5 Stars, Grade C+

NOTE: Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to read and review this prepublication audiobook. Expected publication date is August 9, 2022.

This was one of the most frightening books I've read in a long time. For the true thriller lover only! Therapist Lulu loves her life with her handsome doting husband, perfect two children, and stepson. But is her husband just the tiniest bit controlling? Or massively? The puzzle pieces start falling into place over time and she is trapped in a nightmare. While this book was too scary for me, it's perfect for the hardcore thriller fan.

Honestly this book was just okay for me. I thought the narration was kind of boring, but it may have been the book to. I love domestic thrillers normally but this one kind of fell flat to me. I may try something else from this author at a later date.

Again, another "thriller" featuring a incredibly naive woman. This book dragged on and I was waiting for a big twist or something to jump out at me.

Something. Anything.

No thrills here and played out exactly the way I expected.

The writing was not terrible although the back and forth mention of locations within the story gave me a bit of the dizzies.

2 stars.

The only thing saving this book was the narration.

*Thank you NetGalley for an advanced audio copy*

Wow, this domestic thriller with an unreliable narrator from Jane Renshaw will have you on the edge of your seat second guessing what you think you know the entire way through. This fast paced thriller is told from the POV of the characters in the past and present and does an excellent job of developing the characters back stories through this method. I listened to this in a matter of hours because it gripped me from the very beginning. It did take a bit to get a grasp over what exactly the dynamics were in the beginning but once I did I couldn't get enough of this. I really wasn't sure who to trust up until the very end and love that in a thriller. This was my first from Jane Renshaw and I'm really excited to see what she comes up with in the future. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio copy of The Stepson by Jane Renshaw. This was a Psychological Thriller with lots of twists and turns. This book was released last year.

16 year old Nick comes home from a day out with his best friend to find his dad, stepmom and half sister missing not knowing what has happened to them.
Fast forward 20 years and his new wife Lulu is trying to help him learn to deal with the past trauma of his family going missing. She knows she is risking everything being a therapist who isn't supposed to treat family members. However the deeper she gets into the past events of Nicks life the more she starts to wonder if she really knows the man she married.

This was a great listen and loved that there were different narrators for different time periods.
Recommend this one as a page turner where you keep guessing and then second guessing what really happened to Nicks family all those years ago.

This wasn’t a horrible audiobook. With that said, one of the main characters, LuLu, was insufferable. She was a supposed psychologist but couldn’t see a psycho path right in front of her despite several people telling her. It was kind of frustrating.

However, it was a bit interesting switching from past to present and how things developed. The one mystery (what happened to Nick’s parents) was solved and I enjoyed hearing that progression. I always enjoyed the epilogue.

Overall, not horrible but not the best.

This book had a lot of twists and turns. I really enjoyed this read and felt that the author did a great job developing a storyline that left the reading wanting to keep reading and to figure out what was going to happen.

I was hooked with this book instantly. I didn't have strong feelings about Lulu but really disliked Maggie, which made me want to hear from her more. Less than halfway through the book though, I hated Lulu and couldn't believe how delusional she was, being a psychotherapist, and was cheering Maggie on at every opportunity. I really felt for her and hated that her past was being used to label her mentally unstable; that stigma is why people hide their mental illnesses and/or don't seek help.

Unfortunately, I saw every single twist before it happened, but I hung on. I was only shocked twice: once in the last few chapters and the epilogue. The ending helped solidify my rating to a 4. I really liked the dual timelines and found it helpful that the year was listed with the person, so you knew if it was then or now.

I loved Mhairi Morrison and Katherine Littrell. I don't know which character each voiced, but their accents drew me in. It would have been nice to hear from Nick and his perspective more than just at the end.

The Stepson, by Jane Renshaw, is an easy book to speed through. The characters beg you to like them, even the villain, Throughout readers will ask themselves, “What would I do?” Plenty of twists will keep readers hooked! Just the phycological thriller I love to read!