After having been assaulted on her way home a couple of years before, a young writer never feels secure in her London house anymore. When she is offered a job by a remote university, this could not only solve the small family’s financial problems but also bring her away from the bad memories. She is supposed to take over a creative writing course and soon figures out that she is completely left alone since her colleague who was supposed to mentor her is on a leave. The trimester starts slowly but she gets along well with her students even though they seem to be quite unique. When they read out their first writing attempts, the situation becomes complicated since one of them, Nicholas Baker, insists on only telling the truth and not inventing anything which is not taken very well by his fellow students. As the time advances, the professor feels more and more uncomfortable around him and his texts as they become increasingly more personal and Nicholas develops into a real stalker who is ready to turn his bizarre fantasies into reality making her the protagonist of his weird story.

“The Body Lies” is completely different form Jo Baker’s novel “Longbourn” which I read and enjoyed a couple of years ago. Reading it was not easy at times since, due to her vivid style of writing, you can imagine the event narrated without any problem and some of the violence really gets under the skin. This is really a psychological thriller as you follow the invasion of the protagonist’s private life and you are not sure if there could actually be a happy ending.

What I liked most about the novel was that, apart from being suspenseful and entertaining as a psychological thriller, it also conveys an authentic picture of reality and an important message. The unnamed professor is exposed to violence and does not really have a chance to fight the men who assault her. Defending herself would have led to more injuries in the first case and in the second, she feels ashamed for what happened to her which, unfortunately, is quite common. But not only the physical violence hurts her, it is first and foremost the psychological threat that slowly hurts her and the fact that she has nobody to believe her version of the story makes it even worse. Sadly, I have no doubt that the story told could happen anywhere everyday.

A great read even though it is at times hard to support.

It was on the busy, dirty Annerley Road in south London that the man hit me”


The Body Lies starts with the assault of the pregnant, unnamed main character (MC), for the next 3 years, she is constantly anxious about the Blue Anorak Man….always on alert and feeling a little on edge. She applies for, and gets a job at a university a few hours from London, teaching Creative Writing.

Husband, Mark decides is not the time for him to move as it’s in the middle of the school year and he can’t (or won’t) leave his pupils, so they decide to live apart temporarily, with visits at weekends and term time….to spend time with young son, Sammy.

Our MC starts the course, meeting her pupils and we read a few chapters of their own writing, Nicholas’ is particularly dark…...all true he says…he becomes a little creepy, and his writing seems to be about a dead girl…..who was she?

Then after a party, he rapes our MC and then disappears, she doesn’t report it as she didn’t fight back and just gave up rather than be hit again….”giving up is not consent”.......

but her troubles begin in earnest...her husband leaves her for someone else, a student makes a complaint about her behaviour, she is suspended from her job, a budding romance ends abruptly and someone is watching her…will this end in violence? Will Nicholas be found?

Little Sammy is a happy darling of a boy that brings brightness to this tense tale, while this may not be a typical psychological thriller, it has an insidious tension that will resonate with many women….that constant wariness when being out alone, even being overburdened at work as we don’t want to say no, rather than being deemed ‘difficult’.....of a friendly smile being seen as something more…..everyday occurrences for many.

It’s not a light read due to the subject matter at times and I wonder if a man would read this the same way…..I found this to be a very powerful and thought provoking read and it’s going to keep popping into my thoughts for a long time.

Thank you to Anne Cater , The Author, the publishers and NetGalley for a free copy of the ebook. This is my honest, unbiased review.

Dealing with on-trend and rightly uncomfortable topics of physical assault, rape, non-consent, this also deals more subtly with other nuances of gendered politics: the physical vulnerability of women whose bodies are, generally, smaller and less powerful than those of men; spacial sexism as male characters, unconsciously or not, intimidate through unwanted touching, invading personal space and cornering women even in professional situations. There's an acute intelligence that threads these moments through the narrative, the daily struggle that women will recognise but which are so hard to explain to men since they're not overtly aggressive or intimidatory.

For all the good stuff, though, there is also a particularly lurid B-movie sequence towards the end which relies on our heroine being as dumb as women always are in horror films, and she displays acute levels of bad judgement throughout (not that that's any excuse for the violence she suffers). There are also plot strands that are more obvious than the author seems to think they are, and others that are treated way too glibly.

Nevertheless, this is a quick and accessible read that makes urgent points about the ways in which gender and power inflect our culture, not least how and what we choose to read, and write.

I really enjoyed reading this title, despite it being a small step out of my usual comfort zone. The Body Lies is described as a 'literary thriller' which is absolutely spot on, as I felt compelled to read on and find out what would happen next, yet in a more relaxed fashion. The twists of this novel were more subtle and entwined with the deeper underlying themes beyond the surface events.

The reader learns of a young pregnant woman who was assaulted, yet has recovered and now works as a creative writing supervisor within a university. Having been set in a University, the imagery and setting for The Body Lies was very easy to relate to, yet despite the vast student population being an obvious cliched group to write about, this book takes a wider societal view of the group.

Introducing some extremely difficult and uncomfortable themes through one student's writing submissions, and further capturing the response to this from a woman's perspective, was extremely clever. It allowed the reader to consider the multiple reactions, opinions, and biases towards rape and sexual assault. There were two parts of the book that particularly stood out for me that I'm still left thinking about now.

One difficulty that I did have was that the number of other students/characters at times distracted me from the main events within the book and I was left feeling a bit lost. However when the focus returned to the regular characters, I was quickly invested back into the story. It is extremely intriguing to know why the main woman in this story is never given a name? In some aspects this makes it very difficult to tune back into, however also very poignant as a statement for women whom are victims of such horrendous actions.

I loved how the reader also gained an insight into how the woman's relationship with her husband was changing, and the further impact this had on her. It helped remind us of how, as humans, there is a knock on effect in all domains of our lives following such conflict.

With this being a 'literary thriller' it does feel like a bit of a slow burner, or even that it doesn't fully lift off the ground - but in my opinion that is what makes The Body Lies such a fantastic piece of writing. It delves much deeper and sincerely into difficult themes whilst grabbing your curiosity and sustaining your attention for such important matters.

I gave The Body Lies a four star review on Goodreads because it truly was something that made me think, and was an enjoyable read. I would recommend this title to be read by both women and men who may have an interest in sexual politics, or would be interested in opening their eyes to such matters.

I’d heard loads about this title on social media and was definitely feeling the FOMO when I couldn’t join in the conversation.

It is so creepy and so clever. I had to keep stopping when I was reading this alone....it’s that good!

This is a literary crime novel – where the emphasis is far more on the characters than a fast moving plot. That doesn’t mean this is not an excellent read, but if you read this thinking it is a fast paced crime novel, then you may be disappointed.

The main character in this novel, is attacked, while pregnant, and this assault changes her life. When son, Sammy, is born, she longs for a safer, different place to bring up her young son. Three years later, she gets a job at University, which leads to her moving to the country, with Sammy, while her partner, Mark, keeps his teaching job in London. At first, Mark visits regularly, but distance and isolation makes things difficult and, more and more, it feels that she is alone – both at work and as a parent.

It is a brave move to leave our narrator unnamed, but she works in the English department and runs the creative writing department. As the job unfolds, she takes on more than she anticipated and feels deeply out of her depth. However, it is during the scenes in the creative writing department that the story comes alive. We get to read parts of the students writing and of how this illuminates their characters. Gradually, as the novel unfolds, we begin to feel that all is not well and that the writing group tensions will spill into real life. Overall, an interesting and engaging read, which says lots about gender politics and violence against women. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for my arc of this book in exchange for an honest review and feedback.
I honestly hate giving negative reviews on books as I feel not every book is for every person but sadly this book was not for me.
Personally I didn't feel the story lived up to the blurb and I found the writing and characters a bit lacking.
I seem to be in the minority so I hope others do enjoy.

The Body Lies sounded just like the sort of book that I could really sink my teeth into. It started off well but at around 30% I had to stop. The characters were just awful and obnoxious and the story got confusing and slow. The subjects discussed were also graphic and hard to read.

I have seen some fantastic reviews from fellow book readers but this book just wasn't for me. Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for the advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

This is being pitched as a crime/thriller – don't expect that, or you'll be disappointed. But if you're interested in a beautifully-written, thoughtful slow-burn about a creative writing teacher who's a bit of a naive sap but very observant about the surface elements of the world, you'll like this.

I love beautiful prose and I don't mind a slow burn, so I really enjoyed this. I was also sucked in by the focus on creative writing students – I also teach writing, so that was total catnip for me. Actually the descriptions of the students' work was one of my favourite parts; one of them, Karen, writes these darkly bizarre magical realist stories, and I wanted all of them to be real books so I could read them.

The pacing is a little odd, as nothing happens for ages and then EVERYTHING happens very abruptly, which will seem odd if you're used to the thriller format. The protagonist is also frustrating to follow as she's such a pushover and I just wanted her to get her shit together. But hey, that's just me. Overall there was enough here to keep me reading and enjoying.

‘The Body Lies’ could take its place on the bookshelf of a number of recognised genres: literary fiction, campus tale, psychological thriller, feminist writing, murder mystery, family drama to name a few. However, this story defies neat labelling and that is part of its strength. It is not just Jo Baker’s imaginative ways of exploring how elements of our society seem to casually accept the appropriation and fixation of women’s bodies that makes this a memorable read. Her construction of character and place is also utterly convincing and beautifully wrought. As she moves from one account to another, the slight shift in style and the different focus of the narrators makes the multi-layered plot rich in the telling.
Written in first person narrative, a young writer, mother of three-year-old Sammy and wife of Mark, decides to apply to teach on a northern university’s creative writing programme. She is desperate to leave London. Three years earlier she was assaulted one evening in the street. Her attacker has never been caught and, understandably, she remains very anxious. On moving up north alone (her husband decides to stay in his London teaching post and their marriage crumbles during the Autumn term), she soon begins to realise that one of her students, Nicholas, is not just becoming increasingly friendly towards her but is also including her in his fiction. Does he think he can trap her like a fly in aspic between the pages of his carefully crafted prose? Is he influencing the decisions she makes? It seems that way.
Few of the men in this novel are to accept the narrator for who she is. Mark needs her attention; Patrick wants her to be the girl of his imagination; Professor Scaife is not interested in her welfare; Nicholas resents her individuality. Only the local farmer comes to her rescue. And then there is sweet, perceptive, gentle little Sam. Perhaps Jo Baker chose his gender as a reminder that to be masculine is not bad per se. It is the ways in which society constructs ‘male’ that need to be considered and revised. As the writer declares ‘…the simple sense of entitlement to a woman’s attention, and her body…’ does not have to be the norm. Until this changes, like the unnamed person at the centre of this story, women will continue to feel harassed.
My thanks to NetGalley and Transworld for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I’d not be doing anyone any favours by rehashing the publisher’s blurb on the plot of this novel. Enough to say that a young university lecturer in creative writing finds one of her male students submitting pages of his work describing his relationship with a woman bearing a striking resemblance to his relationship with her. Except that his take on things is skewed and threatening.

Jo Baker’s skills at characterisation and insights into motivations are to the fore in this novel. Central to the story is the way women can be viewed by men and how they misunderstand this or, even when understanding, often tolerate bad behaviour through embarrassment or fear of not being believed. The most striking example comes from one of her colleagues towards the end. Our (unnamed) female character has the strength to call him out on it and his reaction is priceless - sheer bafflement.

Along with feeling intrigued as to how this story would play out and entertained by the college departmental dynamics, I was also much taken with the excerpts of students’ work - written in voices entirely in keeping with the characters - and I’d have welcomed more of them.

A novel that says more than it seems at first. I have enjoyed a couple of Jo Baker’s earlier books and, though this one is very different, I was delighted to read more of her quality writing here. Highly recommended.

"The Body Lies" by Jo Baker was a compelling, tense and suspenseful thriller that I enjoyed right from the start.
“When a young writer accepts a job at a university in the remote countryside, it’s meant to be a fresh start, away from the big city and the scene of a violent assault she’s desperate to forget. But despite the distractions of a new life and single motherhood, her nerves continue to jangle. To make matters worse, a vicious debate about violence against women inflames the tensions and mounting rivalries in her creative writing group. When a troubled student starts sending in chapters from his novel that blur the lines between fiction and reality, the professor recognises herself as the main character in his book - and he has written her a horrific fate."
I really did find this author's style of writing a breath of fresh air, there were so many different variations of writing within the story. The short stories we were privy to of the students work were so different to each other, they themselves were as entertaining as the book itself. I enjoyed how the multi layered story was set out, with occasional witness statements and in particular, chapters of one of the character's novel which was crucial to the suspense of the plot. I also thought it was ingenious how the title of the book was incorporated into sections of the story, which were literary and atmospheric - "Above the canopy, the sky is clear, the moon stands full. An owl scuds across the meadow, drops to kill a vole. In the shadow of the beech tree, there is stillness, not a breath. The body lies.”
Including the exploration of sexual politics in the thriller and the timely theme of how men see women in the world, it really was a powerful, gripping and very modern book, for a very modern world. The fact that the main female protagonist has no name in the story reflects how she represents all women and was a very clever idea. It's difficult to write much about this story without giving too much away, suffice to say I was totally hooked and although some of the characters are totally flawed and unlikeable, they are addictive and you want to follow each of their journey’s through to the end. There are a couple of unsettling scenes but they were appropriate to the story and really enhanced the powerful message of the book and along with a tense and suspenseful denouement this really is an immensely entertaining novel.
I'd happily recommend "The Body Lies" and I wish Jo the very best with this excellently written and well thought out piece of modern literary fiction.

5 stars

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I started off full of enthusiasm with this book as the sort of storyline that I like but found that after skipping a lot I finished the book and really could not give an honest opinion on what it was about.

The Body Lies is a tense and unsettling novel about the way men see women and the line between reality and fiction. A writer accepts a job at a university in the countryside, trying to escape memories of a past assault in London, and moves with her young son to make a new start. However, her new creative writing MA students end up having sharp debates about the treatment of women and women's bodies in fiction, and one male student starts sending in unsettling chapters from his novel that he claims will only be based on real life. When she finds herself appearing in those pages and his threat becomes more than just in the written word, she has to fight to be safe and to be believed.

This is a novel that will be called 'timely' and it is, looking at how the representation of women can blur between fiction and fact. In particular, it becomes apparent that the male student's version of his female tutor is entirely centred around himself, with no sense of her own thoughts and life. Her realisation of this is a chilling point that really highlights the danger she is in and the way men can frame women as entirely relating to the man or other men. At the same time, the ways in which she excuses his behaviour or is taken in by his manipulation is key, and her relationships with her colleagues show how people can hide what it is difficult to bring up.

The novel is written to be uncomfortable and it does well to depict the protagonist's experiences, but this will make is a difficult read for some. It makes important points and has good narrative tension about what will happen, but it felt like there were other strands that had to be left behind which might've been interesting to explore.

A young married woman is assaulted and to deal with the fallout she decides to take up an offer of a lectureship in creative writing at a university in the countryside. Her husband decides he can't leave his job so they have to make do with a long distance relationship. She takes their three year old child with her, finds accommodation that is quite isolated and where she hopes she can work on her writing, and her husband visits for the weekend when he can.
Filling in for lecturers on leave she finds herself dumped with extra responsibilities outside of her classes. And one of her male students, rich and entitled, becomes obsessed with her.
A layered tale with commentary involving sexual politics, work-life balance, mental health and the creative process, this is well-written and absorbing right to the suspenseful climax and resolution.

What a great new voice to the crime / suspense / thriller genre. Superbly written and whilst “ enjoyment” is often not the best description to apply to a book like this I really did rate this really highly.

A young mother and author is assaulted, shaking her confidence and finding her partner unsupportive of her ordeal. She takes up a post at a university to teach creative writing far from home, living away with her young son. Her small tutor group includes troubled Nicholas whose writing is disturbing. But it takes an even darker turn when she discovers the subject of his book appear to be her....

Dark , creepy and utterly compelling. Excellent read.

Ohhh this is such a wonderfully written book the prose is just sublime and flows from the pages immersing you totally into this heartbreaking at times but also full of hope story. This is so much more than a thriller it’s about how a woman deals with real life and you do find yourself thinking “what would I do , how would I feel and how would I deal with what is happening”. It’s a story that feels very real and the main character (who has no name) flawed and damaged in many ways tries to make her way in life whilst dealing with some pretty heavy incidents in her life, it’s hard to describe more as I feel this is a book that should be just read and go into without any preconceived ideas about what it is about.
I loved the book, I read it in just two days and to be honest I just would have read it in one sitting if that had been possible it was a book that will stay with me for some time and I thank Jo Baker for a fabulous piece of writing and highly recommend this as one not to be missed.
My thanks also to NetGalley and Random House UK, Doubleday for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.