This audiobook frustrated the heck out of me. Pacing was really slow and inner dialogue of the main characters were exhausting and repetitive. The voice of Jules comes across older than 48 and the tone from this character swings wildly from insecure to outraged and then wildly accusatory. Her husband’s pathetic excuses for not having conversations with his wife don’t seem plausible. The daughter’s actions show her immaturity and really became a source of frustration for me.
Our “villain” was portrayed like a cardboard cutout. All he needed was a mustache to twirl to add a laughable quality to this pathetic portrayal. The ending pulled it up from a 2 star to 3 stars because it was pretty satisfying even if we never know “how” this character puts the pieces together of what’s been happening.

This could have used a giant edit of 75 pages to really make it a compelling story and give our female characters more backbone.

The premise of this book was intriguing!

The story however, did not pick up really until at least 60% of the way into it. I found myself skipping chapters and fast forwarding through the mom’s long monologues about how she is bored, feels old, and her husband doesn’t pay attention to her.

After the 60%ish mark, the story does start to get good and although I saw the first initial twist coming, I did not see the very last one which made the last part of the book worth it.

If this book was shorter, I think it would have been a better listen.

This audiobook had me hooked! It had all my favorite tropes and I felt like I was watching a movie. It had mystery, romance, obsessions, blackmail and gossip- what more could you ask for?

The daughter, Leah, was relatable in the fact of when you are her age (17), your mind tells you to do whatever you can to get your “love” back.

The mother, Jules, is also relatable- as a mother of two grown children, she is having a hard time feeling appreciated for what she does for her family. And her mind starts over analyzing every little move her family makes.

The events that take place are mind blowing and has you anxiously waiting for the next twist.

In the end, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to other readers!

His death is reported on the morning news. The man my daughter’s been dating. Dead. Gone…

This kept me guessing until the end. Just when I thought I knew where we were going, there was a curveball I never saw coming!


I received this ARC from NetGalley and Bookouture to read and review. All of the statements are my own after fully reading the book.

Great ending!! Very long drug out book. I listened to an hour or so. Found it boring so skipped to the last hour. Could be shorter and much better.

This was a quick easy read I finished in one day. I wasn’t attached or Interested in the characters there wasn’t enough development for me. The twist in the end was great and the lead up kept me intrigued the entire time. I just wanted more from the two main characters.

OMG! A ferociously intense thriller that had me hooked!

The story is told from the POVs of Jules and her sixteen year old daughter, Leah,

Jules is feeling lost. Her children are almost grown up and her marriage is stale. I could relate to her as a character as her situation is sadly quite common. Raising teenagers is never easy!

I saw so much of teenage me (a long time ago!) in Leah! Feeling like your parents will never understand you and you absolutely know much better than them! The allure of an older man and wanting to impress your friends - yep!

The character development as we follow the two main characters was absolutely spot on. The writing style was super immersive with a sinister and suspenseful undertone that made me NEED to keep reading as I could sense the tension building to something explosive. And it really was! WOW! The twists had me FLOORED! So, so clever! The man Jules met in the pub, OMG! Off the scale manipulation, right to the end - stunning!

The two narrators were excellent and really captured the nuances of the characters. I really appreciated having different voices for Jules and Leah. Thank you, Izzy Meikle-Small and Claire Storey.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Natali Simmonds and Bookouture, for an ARC in return for an honest review.