I love Abigail Dean’s writing style. I appreciate the unique, genre bending nature of her latest book. It’s truly a unique take on a love story. But that’s partly where my dissatisfaction lies. I just couldn’t get into the love story side of this novel. I expected a more suspenseful thriller, and this is a more character driven story. Isobel and Edward are not particularly interesting, likable, or relatable. I love a slow burn suspense novel, but the pacing here was too slow, especially when I did not feel invested in the main characters. I know many readers are loving this book, and I will definitely pick up whatever Dean writes next. Thank you for the opportunity to read this advance copy.

I really enjoyed this. I was pretty hooked from the beginning. I love a more introspective story about couples and marriage. The complex dynamics were very well done

I wanted to love this book because I saw great reviews of it, but I was just bored for most of the book, it was written in a really interesting way, and the context was interesting, but for some reason it didn’t hook me,

I had a hard time getting through this book. I kept with it because I was invested, at least, in hearing what the outcome was going to be. I was really hoping it would answer some glaring questions the author left blatantly unanswered. I was left feeling like what was the whole point of this book?

Did not finish - writing was a bit dry, author did more telling than showing, which didn't have the desired thriller effect

This was a beautifully written book but so sad and difficult to read. I read it in a single sitting way into the night. It said so much about crime, memories, marriage, divorce and life.

“I thought we would grow old together.”

I had to walk away for a while after finishing this book to decide what to say about it. But then I thought, this is not my story tell, it is Isabel’s and Edward’s. I feel that anything I were to say would not emote the same feeling that this book left on my heart and in my mind, a feeling that will not soon leave. Positively on my best of 2025 list and additionally my best of all time. Thank you to the author, to the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege.

Dark and filled with Suspense!

I really enjoyed Abigail Dean’s new novel, The Death of Us. It follows a couple reunited at the court proceedings of a violent attack that happened two decades prior when a serial killer invaded their home. Split between two timelines and POVs, the story bounces between the lead up to the incident, and the aftermath resulting in their split. The shocking details of the crime are revealed from Isabel’s past perspective, highlighting how isolated she felt afterward and the long journey of her mental health, followed by Edward in the current timeline battling the shame and guilt of not having saved his wife. Similar to her debut novel, Girl A (which was inspired by the Turpin family case), The Death of Us pulls on true crime elements, and in particular, I saw similarities with the Golden State Killer case.

The story is filled with suspense and deals with very dark themes including rape, murder, and psychological torture. I cared for both of the characters, and felt that Edward’s side of the story was very sad, especially the hopelessness he felt during and after the attack. Isabel’s was equally heartbreaking, learning of her constant anxiety and eventually being institutionalized. The story gripped me from beginning to end, the pace was steady throughout, and the traumatic scenes felt so vivid. The author’s voice was compelling and kept me engaged. I can’t wait to read more of her work!

4/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For readers who enjoy thriller/suspense with psychological elements, dark themes, dual timelines/POVs, based closely on true crime.

Thank you Viking for the gifted digital ARC!

I'm not sure I can adequately put into words how much I enjoyed this book. It is completely captivating, devastating, and oddly charming. Abigail Dean puts on a masterclass in storytelling with this one. I laughed out loud, I cried, and I breathed several sighs of relief. The pain felt by both our main characters, Edward and Isabel, is so gut-wrenching, in two completely different ways.

The serial killer in the book will definitely sound familiar to true crime enthusiasts. For me, hearing this story told from fictional victims' points of view made it impossible to look away from. This one will be sticking with me for a long time.

The Death of Us US pub date is April 15.

An interesting love story. This couple has definitely been through the wars in thier decades long story. I enjoyed it despite the bleak premise.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I found this to be kind of boring and slow. It just didn’t grab me. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

Thank you so much to Viking for the free ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This one is out April 15!

Psychological Thriller/Crime. Edward and Isabel are a happily married couple in their early 30’s living in South London. One night, an invader breaks into their home, threatens Edward, and rapes Isabel. 30ish years and countless rapes and murdera later, the invader is finally caught and pleads guilty to all counts. Now divorced for 10 years, Edward and Isabel reunite at the trail to listen to others’ impact statements - and give their own. As Edward reflects on the events of the trial, Isabel takes us back through their relationship, the attack, and how their marriage eventually fell apart in the aftermath.

For anyone who followed/read about the Golden State Killer, I think you’ll enjoy this book. It obviously drew a lot of inspiration from that real life case - a cop who terrorized residents in LA, first through burglaries, then escalating to rape and murders and was eventually caught through an ancestory DNA company - but it told the story of an ordinary (fictional) couple who’s lives were rocked in the aftermath, which you never really hear about in real life when it comes to a prolific killer/rapist. Although this book obviously covers dark themes (and details the assaults) at its root I would still say this is a love story between Edward and Isabel. Beautifully written, heartbreaking, and hopeful. This one will stick with you.

I loved this book! The author did such a great job showing the ripples a serial killer makes in the lives of people. She did a fantastic job foreshadowing events to come, too. The characters were plotted out greatly and were believable. Definitely not characters you see often in novels. I highly recommend!

3 dark stars

This is my first read by Abigail Dean, and I must admit I struggled with it.

Edward and Isabel are a couple that can’t seem to stay away from each other, but I’m not sure they are happy together either. They eventually marry, and Edward wants to start a family. Written from dual viewpoints, we get to read the thoughts of Isabel and Edward.

In a dark part of the book, we learn about the South London Invader, a man who is breaking into homes and terrorizing victims. He evolves from attacking single women to attacking couples and then later to killing. If this is triggering for you, be warned that the violence is fully described.

There is a detective, Etta, who commits herself to catching the Invader, and she is a character I rooted for in the book.

The Invader breaks into Isabel and Edward’s house on a summer evening. We later get the full description, and it is harrowing. They each deal with it in different ways but don’t fully work through the trauma. It is no wonder this tears apart their relationship and, eventually, their marriage. I believe that is what the title refers to, but it could also be interpreted differently.

The South London Invader is eventually caught and on trial, and much of the book deals with the impact statements from those he attacked. This is dark content, indeed. Isabel and Edward support each other during the trial.

This one provoked many thoughts in me, but I didn’t warm to the characters. Other readers have rated it very highly, so you might like it.

Disturbing and thought provoking but….

When Edward and Isabel are thirty years old, they become the latest Victims of a serial killer, dubbed “The South London Invader”. He preys on “happy couples” watching them painstakingly for weeks so that he can plan the perfect attack.

ONE NIGHT CHANGES EVERYTHING.

Each deals with the traumatic event differently. Isabel wants to TALK an about it-with Edward, with the press, and with Etta-the Detective in charge-and it is a story that all of London wants to hear!

Edward doesn’t want to talk about it at all.

Twenty-five years later, Nigel Wood is caught, and Edward and Isabel, now divorced will reunite for his sentencing. It is an opportunity to deliver impact statements and perhaps to finally get closure about the relationship that they lost as a result of the crime they endured.

The story unfolds from the POV’s of Isabel and Edward. Isabel’s chapters are written like it is her IMPACT STATEMENT chronicling the PAST, while Edward’s chapters cover the PRESENT timeline.

The premise is interesting, but I DID NOT find the book to be a thriller, or suspenseful as advertised. Instead it reads like a character study-with the CHARACTER being the MARRIAGE, and the pace was extremely SLOW.

The story is supposed to demonstrate that a traumatic event like this can destroy even the strongest of marriages, yet I DIDN’T find their love story to be epic at all. Edward is a bit dull, and Isabel is a bit cold. If the descriptions of their intimacy, using the crudest of terms (C word) is supposed to convince us of their love-it didn’t work for this reader.

Early reviews seem to be split between high praise and the opposite, with few in between-and I am one who struggled to get through it.

⚠️ TW: Graphic descriptions of rape/assault

Expected publication date: April 15, 2025

Thank You to Viking for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. As always, these are my candid thoughts.

This book was NOT what I expected in the best way. This is a deep, devastating character study of a couple before and after a horrific violent home intrusion and all of the intense feelings that remain decades later.

As we follow Edward and Isabel’s love story, there’s a feeling of impending doom knowing what’s to come. We flash back and forth between present day as their attacker, the South London Invader, is being sentenced in court.

The Death of Us, in some ways, reminded me of Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll in the sense that they both focus on the victims and the impact unspeakable violence had on them as opposed to the killer.

Truly a heartbreaking story, told in such a beautiful way. It took me a bit to get into it but once I did, I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

I had no idea where this story was going, but I knew from the very beginning I was going to enjoy trying to figure it out! The uniqe style of second person storytelling made this fun too!

Abigail Dean’s unflaggingly engrossing “The Death of Us,” with its depiction of a couple dealing with the aftermath of a brutal attack on them in their own house, put me in mind of the 2001 disappearance of Washington intern Chandra Levy, and specifically how a commentator at the time said that while he didn’t think congressman Gary Condit, with whom it had been suspected Levy had been involved, had anything to do with her death, he did think that Levy would still be alive if she hadn’t come within Condit’s orbit.
Which I took to mean that sometimes a relationship can be so fraught, so the occasion for almost spontaneous combustion, that it might not be the occasion in and of itself for something truly horrific but might, with its particular circumstances, help create external conditions conducive to a horrific outcome.
With Chandra, for instance, you have to wonder if, but for her involvement with Condit, she would have been doing whatever she was doing the day she disappeared – indeed, if there was something about the relationship that she was trying to get away from.
Rank conjecture, granted, such speculation about a real-life figure, but altogether permissible about fictional creations such as author Dean’s Isabel and Edward, who, without question, had they not been sharing a particular house on the day of the attack, wouldn’t have fallen victim to their attacker, one Nigel Wood, who, we’re told, was no opportunistic seizer of the moment but rather one who meticulously planned his attacks and would have taken copious note of their daily comings and goings at their house.
Indeed, there's an express recognition from Edward that not only might his and Isabel’s particular situation have helped make for the particular circumstances of the attack, but, in an even more illuminating supposition, that there was something about Isabel that made her a catalyst or lightning rod for situations with the potential for horrific outcomes. In mentally remarking, for instance, about how things would have been different if he’d married someone else, he thinks, “things would have been different, and not just in the obvious ways … where they might have lived, the nature of their family. … there was something inherent in Isabel that made her the kind of person things happened to, an incessant extremity of pleasure, suffering, joy.”
And even more pointedly: “If he had not married Isabel, Nigel Wood would not have chosen him.”
It's a notion given voice to by Isabel as well when she says, “sometimes I wish I’d never met you,” as well as by Edward's second wife, Amy, when she says, “it's just the two of you, making each other miserable.”
Not that Isabel and Edward were completely bad for each other; indeed, it’s the particular horror of the assault that it ruined something that, as both Edward and Isabel acknowledge, for all its difficulties, was in fact overall a good thing.
But it's not just Isabel and Edward whose lives are upended by the attack but also
the initial detective on the case, Etta, who comes to obsess about catching the attacker and, in one of the book’s more genuinely affecting moments for me with how I’d come to genuinely like her, is knifed in a scrape with him that puts her in the hospital where, when Isabel comes to visit and asks how she’s doing, she’s put off by Etta’s lover, who, irate at Isabel for being the occasion for Etta’s precarious state, tells her, “they had to carry her guts behind her to the ambulance, that’s how (she’s doing). Please don't come back.”
For all the affectedness of Etta's situation for me, though, it's unquestionably Isabel who dominates the novel, with her sections being the most stylistically innovative as she imagines herself talking to Nigel as she formulates her impact statement after he is caught.
“I would like to know if your memory accords with my own about what happened,” she addresses him in her mind, going on to express disappointment upon learning the mundaneness of his name (“what did you expect, Adolf?” Edward asks) as well as the humdrum details of his upbringing.
An estimable character, Isabel makes for some of the pithiest utterances of the novel, as when Edward perpetrates some devastation on a table, and Isabella responds with “What did the coffee table ever do to you?” Or when Etta thinks that a shelf falling on her might have been Nigel's doing and Isabel responds with, “what a way to go, crushed by a f … ing file cabinet.” And when Edward remarks on how he looks a bore in a picture in the newspaper, Isabelle responds with, “a little constipated, perhaps.”
But not just with Isabel’s utterances does the novel’s prose shine but also in general, as when Edward is surprised by the dilapidated state of a friend he hasn’t seen for a while, “with his clothes besmeared and his eyes the color of rotten teeth.” Or when he has settled himself into the hotel where he will stay during Nigel’s sentencing hearing and discovers that his suitcase had “found its way to his room.” Or again about Isabel: “I opened the door and stepped into the years.” And in a particularly engaging sentiment for me as a writer, Isabel finds words to be as “close to divinity as anything else I knew in this world.”
Especially engaging to me as a writer, then, Dean’s novel, though not without its occasional hiccup. While the stylistic technique of Isabel’s sections, for instance, is strikingly innovative, it can make for momentary confusion – more than once it was a while into a passage before I realized that it was Nigel and not Edward that Isabel was referring to. And it takes a while for a reader to get clear on the identity of some of the secondary characters – a character named George, for instance, who turns up now and again in earlier pages, is a secondary detective assigned to the case, and I don’t think it gives away too much to reveal that Nina, who also appears only occasionally in the opening pages and who a reader might come to think is Edward and Isabel’s child, is in fact the daughter of a couple slain by Nigel who has ended up being looked after by Isabel and George.
And there’s the usual issue with topical references testing a reader’s familiarity with the matter at hand – how many readers, for instance, will pick up on “Thomas Harris” being the creator of Hannibal Lecter, for all the appropriateness of that character to Dean’s novel.
Still, overall a commendable achievement, her novel, and one of the most compelling I've read in recent times.

This book was WONDERFUL! So suspenseful. Something that hooked me early on was how Isabelle and Edward spoke to each other early on in their dating lives. Dialogue can be one of my biggest pet peeves in a book, but their interactions were so witty, unique, and made their relationship instantly more interesting as a reader, which made me care about them more when the invader came in. Speaking of, the slow burn teases of his crimes was so intriguing instead of just going right into it. I think my favorite line was when one of the victims on the stand summed up her trauma by saying she used to be more fun. What an iconic line. My fav book of the year thus far, easily.

This is not your typical serial killer story. In fact, it is a love story, it is a survival story, it is an emotional roller coaster. If you have read Abigail Dean before you will know that she has a unique style and is very much character oriented in her stories. It is a slow burning tale but believe me when I tell you that you will not want to put it down. I read this in less than 24 hours, completely invested from start to finish.

Isobel and Edward were happy and in love when one night changed everything. Their home is invaded and they are attacked by the man in the mask. This is the story of Isobel and Edward, before and after the invasion. It breaks them, it brings them together. But things can never be the same. 25 years later they reunite to face their attacker in court for his sentencing, finally being caught after terrorising the capital for so many years.

This is highly emotional as you would expect. People react differently to trauma and things don’t always make sense. It is hard to read in places, but it does have its bright spots. I thoroughly enjoyed it .

Thank you so much o Penguin Group Viking for my copy in NetGalley to read. I wish I had read it sooner.