Book Title: The Librarian
Author: Valeria Keogh
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: April 21, 2023
My Rating: 3.7 rounded up

This is my sixth Valerie Keogh novel. I totally love her psychological thrillers and gave them 5 stars and I give few 5 ratings.
However, I wasn’t a big fan of her long running Dublin Murder Mystery Series – I am sure that is because I only read one ~ got on the Dublin train kind of late ~ perhaps I need to give it another chance.

Ava Warrington is quiet and reserved ~ ideal personality for a Librarian ~ Correct?
The Tate Modern Library thinks so as she is the Head Librarian.
Several years earlier while attended the university, she had a traumatic incident that was painful and she still feels guilty. Her sisters as well as friends have tried to assure her it wasn’t her fault,
So Ava loves her job at the Library, the peaceful and serene atmosphere allows her an escape from her unpleasant memories.

Ava's best friend Poppy Rio convinces her to join her at Belvedere Bistro…..that just opened. Poppy has found love and is hopeful that Ava will as well. Only while there, Ava is uncomfortable with a guy who is hitting on her. When he offers to buy her a drink she turns him down. He doesn’t like the rejection and warns her that she will regret it.
Sure enough bad things start to happen. She fears he might be responsible but she doesn’t even know his name has nicknamed him - Bistro Man’.

As mentioned I have read and loved other Valeria Keogh novels so knew to expect a twist.
I was sure I knew whodunit but sure was off on why.

When I got to the very end, ` I laughed and said ~ Oh now I remember! Ms. Keogh has a signature ending!!! She did not disappoint.

Want to thank NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the pleasure of reading this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for November 1, 2022.

The Librarian was a book I enjoyed, I have read other books by this author and also enjoyed them.
Ava Warrington has her dram job, librarian at the Tate Modern. She is quiet and lives her life through her best friend. This is due to an event that happened when she was at university that she has never quite got over. One night she lets herself go out with her friend Poppy to the bistro not far from where she lives, whilst there Poppy ends up with a good looking man and Ava leaves her there but whilst leaving a man hits on her and when she declines a drink he says “you’ll be sorry” stay with her for days not knowing the consequences this brief encounter will have on her life.
This was a fairly fast paced book with quite a few twists and turns along the way. I liked the main character but wasn’t keen on her friend but her sister grew on me. I liked how you were given a situation with the sister and it doesn’t get answered but you know who it is. The plot was well written and had a varied cast of characters.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC release of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Since that fateful night, I have always kept myself to myself. Reserved. Private. Alone.
Some people think I am too quiet. That life is passing me by. But I know there is safety in my own company. That no one can hurt me if I don’t let them get too close.”

These quotes from Ava make so much sense to me and probably so many other women out there.

It is a dream job for Ava Warrington to be the head librarian at Tate Modern. She is a quiet, reserved young woman who is passionate about her job. She has a haunting memory from the university about ten years ago that always makes her very cautious. When Ava meets her outgoing friend Poppy at a bistro, she's scouting for her next conquest and later informs her that she thinks she's found it! When Ava wants to leave the bistro, a handsome stranger oversteps who won’t take no for an answer. Those parting words you'll be sorry resonate around Ava's head for the next few days and then her life and career take an unexpected turn. It’s unbelievable to imagine everything might be related to the event from ten years ago.

The Librarian by Valerie Keogh is a thrilling page-turner, twisty and full of craziness that only you will understand if you read it!

I’d like to thank Boldwood Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Librarian’ by Valerie Keogh in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

As Head Librarian at the Tate Modern Ava gives guided tours of the art work on display and during one of the tours she inadvertently damages a priceless piece of art caused by her laser pointer being tampered with. When Ava is asked if anyone bears a grudge against her she can only think of the man she met at the Bistro who said “you’ll be sorry” when she turned down his offer of a drink.

‘The Library’ is a psychological thriller with Ava, a woman who has a nervous temperament and sees problems where there aren’t any. It has a plot that gets chilling as unexpected incidents start happening to her, threatening to destroy her quiet and uneventful life. Occasionally the story slows but then the tension starts to build again and it becomes so intriguing that I’ve not been able to stop reading. It’s an involving story that flows nicely making it easy to read, and although not my favourite book by this author it’s still an entertaining and enjoyable read that I can recommend.

Another great physiological thriller from Valerie. Ava has had a guilty conscience for ten years about something that happened at a party at university. The anniversary was upon her and her mind was whirling around. Going out with her friend Poppy she came across Bistro man who wasn’t happy to take no for an answer when he asked her for a drink. You will be sorry were his parting words to her. Suddenly Ava’s live starts to spiral out of control what’s happening to her all she can think of are Bistro man’s words. There’s a long and twisted path for Ava to travel that will keep you gripped as you read her struggle to get her life back on track. I highly recommend this book

Well, I did finish this book. It was described as " The BRAND NEW unforgettable, completely addictive psychological thriller from bestseller Valerie Keogh for 2023". I dare say, it was not . It was very much boring, and the repetition became more than I felt was much ado about what the hell. Sorry, it was just boring and very the top

First I would like to say thank you to Valerie Keogh for writing a wonderful book that didn't need to be and wasn't over 400 pages long.

This is Ava's story and is one that reeled me in from the start. It is an intriguing account of her life and stepping out of her comfort zone and the aftermath of her decisions. A well written book and kept the twists and turns coming and kept me very interested to see what was going to happen next.

The only downside was a bit of a lull in the middle which luckily quickly picked up so I didn't loose interest and kept reading. Entertaining, enjoyable and even a bit exciting and I quite enjoyed reading this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I read this book in one day--could not put it down! A twisty read about an unassuming librarian who is wrenched from her quiet existence when the past catches up with her predictable and safe present. A well-crafted book peopled by well-developed characters, both good and bad, This story will leave you breathless.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing this advance copy for me to read and review.

This book was very slow going. There was a lot of building to what had occurred 10 years previously. The storyline from Ava's perspective kept repeating itself. There was a good ending which wrapped everything up. However the book was not for me.

This is the fourth book I've read by Valerie Koegh. I've really enjoyed the previous three and was totally hooked by the storyline for this one. It began with Ava (Head Librarian at the Tate) and her friend Poppy (a teacher) on a girls' night out in London and visiting a bistro. When Ava leaves she is stopped by a man who offers to buy her a drink. Refusing doesn't appear to be an option as he crowds her into the wall, but she manages to get past him, only to have him threaten her, calling out, 'You'll be sorry.'
Days afterwards there is a catastrophic accident at work. Ava is suspended from her job while an investigation takes place. But this is only the beginning of strange occurrences, and soon she is sure the man she has dubbed 'Bistro Man' is behind all of these events. And when a work colleague is murdered under suspicious circumstances, Ava becomes obsessed with locating him. Being off work, with time on her hands, it also brings back memories of another traumatic experience that happened ten years ago.
The Librarian certainly is full of twists and turns. I did wonder what kind of man would pursue a vendetta against a woman just because she had turned down a drink with him, but of course, there is more to it than that. It is also a story about friendships and sibling relationships, both of which have a strong part to play. Near the end I guessed what would eventually happen, but the writer still managed to put in a final twist. Well written and thoroughly entertaining.
I would like to thank Netgalley, Boldwood and Valerie Keogh for an ARC of The Librarian in exchange for an honest review.

Ava lives a solitary life as a librarian. But her world is about to change…
Keogh trees readers for chapters, referring to Ava’s past and what happened 10 years ago.
Then when all these odd things begin occurring, readers have to add the numbers together.
The ending was the best and now the two sisters worked together and took care of business.
The past was still murky, but does it really matter?

Another well written thriller by Valerie Keogh she never fails to engage me in her stories.I really liked Ava head librarian at the Tate a character That kept me reading as her story had twists and turns that kept me up past my bedtime.#netgalley #boldwoodbooks.

Valerie Keogh, The Librarian, Boldwood Books 2023.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

The librarian, Ava Warrington, works at the fictional Tate Modern Library, has a pleasant home with an alarm system, in the suburbs; loving parents in the country; a sister for whom she babysits; and a good friend Poppy, whom she met at university. She also has a past that haunts her, and as the anniversary of that event nears, her fragile state of satisfaction with herself and her life, teeters. Her distress is augmented by sounds in her home, a dead bird on her back patio, meeting an overbearing man at a nearby bistro, and a disaster at work.
These are the elements of a good psychological drama, and Keogh manages at times to achieve this. Ava is a people pleaser and makes efforts to deal with her inability to say no; she rebuffs the overbearing man with determination; and she finds the courage to take on the detective role when her friend’s enthusiasm for yet another ‘love of her life’ leads to her possible disappearance.

However, Ava is so engrossed in her past, her failures, her continuing inability to mark out a life other than the one she enjoys as the librarian that she becomes quite tedious. I found the work extremely slow moving, perhaps because of this attention to Ava’s weaknesses, perhaps because extraordinarily little happened that created tension. Yes, the past clearly plays a part in Ava’s distress, and it is a force in the book – when shall we know what Ava and her sister know? But the constant talk of drugs and drinking also suggests that little will be clarified even with additional information.

Unfortunately, the clarification is indeed marred by the effects of drugs and drink on the participants at the time. Later, they are used by the author to raise questions, rather than resolve inconsistencies surrounding the event that haunts Ava and her adversaries. This is a feature of the novel that was disturbing and raised questions in my mind about what the author was espousing. It made for uncomfortable reading in an era where women’s recall of aggressive events is only now being given credibility and seemed like a throwback to past ideas.

However, as concerned as I was by this feature of the book, it comes fairly near the end and it only impacted my assessment by one star. I had already felt disappointed in the slow narrative and the main character’s uneven and frustrating depiction. This book is not for me.

I really struggled with this one. It was slow from the start and never really seemed to pick up. I was my a fan of the inner dialogue, I felt it made the story drag. Im surprised I finished it, I really wanted to DNF.

This latest book by Valerie Keogh is not what I had hoped. I love ALL of her books but this one I could not get interested in. Maybe it’s just me?? DNF 39% which I think is plenty of time to know if I like the book or not? Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release. Looking forward to Valerie’s next book!

This was DNF for me at 42%. Unfortunately it was too slow and I I just couldn't get into it.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

I received an E-ARC with a request for my honest review.

This unsettling psychological thriller follows Ava Warrington, a librarian at the Tate Modern Gallery.

Over the last ten years an incident has left Ava living a life of safety with no risk, to avoid any more unwanted instances.

However, after she refuses a man’s advances at the Bistro, her life starts to take a destructive and terrifying turn.

Who is out to get her? Can it all be down to one refusal?

I really enjoyed reading this psychological thriller and it did leave me feeling unsettled as it shows you don’t always know who you can trust.

I did feel for Ava as she has led such an isolated life for so long, and although she has friends and has a job she loves, she is still missing out all due to one incident in her past.

I liked the detectives added into the storyline too, it was kind of disturbing to read that he had heard worse than the incidents Ava was describing.

Overall, an unsettling psychological thriller where one night leads a librarian’s life to take a terrifying turn.

Ava leads a simple life, she works at one of the worlds prestiges library/museum in the world and tries stay invisible as possible. On a girlie afternoon catching up with her friend Poppy she encounters a man who doesn’t understand the meaning of “No”, his last words to her as she leave after seeing her friend chatting up her latest fling were “you will be sorry”. This tiggers Ava into memories of a situation that haunts her 10 years on. Subsequently this now effects her current day life and the tale that unfolds and the trauma it will cause. Will Ava be able to survive the chaos and solve the mystery.

This took me about six hours to read which for me is rare to read a whole book in one day. Although the story was a little confusing in parts as it was drawn out quite long the end result was that the mystery was uncovered and finally the connections were made. It took until the end to actually find out who was responsible for the events that took place which meant throughout I had no idea. I felt that because Ava lead such a simple life I wondered what was so interesting about her past that could cause all the events to happen. I did not really build any connections with the characters in the book as I felt they were very surface level. I did enjoy the ending though when all the pieces of the puzzle were put together, and finally all made sense. The whole chase was very back and forth and I didn’t see the “villain” until the very end, there weren’t any clues that pointed this person out.

I have read a few of Valerie’s books now and love her writing style and the twists/turns and secrets each book has had, but this one fell a bit short for me.

There seemed to be a lot of repetition, the phone forever being tossed to one side, then later changed to dropped, and the end of some chapters being repeated at the beginning of the next one, just in case in the few seconds it took to turn the page you’d forgotten what you’d read. I enjoyed the overall story and the guessing of who was who and why they were doing what they were doing, but that felt a bit too obvious in places too. The main character also flitted from being strong and capable to weak and feeble.

A quick read that keeps you reading but just not as enjoyable as previous books by the same author.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5 (3.5/5 rounded up for Goodreads and Amazon)