3.5 stars
This is a good read about secrets and lies behind closed doors.
Leah and Jake can’t believe it when they get offered a basement flat for a reasonable price, after hunting for so long.
They’re told there’s a man living in the house above them but know nothing about him at first.
It soon comes to light that he’s just been released from prison following a sentence for murdering his wife.
Leah is drawn to him as she feels sorry for him and Anton is drawn to her as she reminds him of his dead wife.
Jake warns Leah to stay away but when she’s asked to keep an eye on him by his son, she’s happy to agree.
Events take a turn for the worse and everyone’s secrets are revealed leading to some tense final few chapters.
This is a good psychological thriller that will keep your interest.
Thanks to Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Come A Little Closer was an interesting read, with the multiple POVs allowing us to see both Leah's perspective and that of the eminently creepy Anton. It was well written and plotted, with a satisfying ending.

Personally, I didn't love it as much as Karen Perry's last novel Your Closest Friend. For me, this was probably down to the older middle class protagonists. As a young working class woman, I struggled to connect to any of the main characters except Leah and her partner.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read! I'll be picking up Karen Perry's next novel when it comes out.

Come a Little Closer is a classic “did they or didn’t they” thriller. Leah and Jake move into the basement flat of a grand house whose owner, Anton has been in prison for 19 years for the murder of his wife. Feeling abandoned by Jake, Leah embarks on an unlikely friendship with Anton. This is well written, easy to read and extremely tense at moments. I was kept guessing until the end.

Come a Little Closer by Karen Perry is a book that I read in a day. It was a twisty, fast story that I just could not tear myself away from. I wasn't sure where the story was going to go and didn't see the ending coming. As with other Karen Perry books you are drawn into the lives of this community and the relationships of the characters. It is hard to know who is lying to protect themselves and who is honest.

Leah and Jake move into their new basement flat to start their life together. But Leah is still competing with Jakes ex and his son. She befriends Anton, the old man upstairs, not knowing that he has just been released from prison for the murder of his wife Charlotte - a woman who looked a lot like Leah. This is neighbourhood where everybody knows everybody and the gossip soon reaches Leah but is it too late? Anton claims to be innocent, but his actions seem to prove his guilt.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin UK, Michael Joseph for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

Wow, I loved everything about this book, the twists, the turns, the characters and the secrets .I was gripped from begining to end. Come a Little Closer unnerved me and kept me on edge throughout. A brilliant book highly recommended.

I loved this book and read it in one day as I just wanted to find out the answers as to what was going to happen at the end. The characters were well described and the scenes were very realistic. Charlotte and Anton were not a typical couple but all the way through the book new developments of their relationship were added which caused so much confusion to the reader.s thought processes. The twists were so well engineered throughout which made the story so fantastic to read. The first pages of the story set the scene for the psychological thriller that followed. The story is based upon Anton and Leah (the female half of the couple who have rented the basement) both have stories to hide and so an informal friendship begins but how will it all end is the question?
The ending was totally unexpected as I had so easily fallen into one of the many red herring traps set by the author.
Thank you Net galley for letting me read this in exchange for my truthful review.

I enjoyed this book although it was a little slow at the beginning it got better and quite exciting I didn’t expect that ending it was a bit of a shock but would recommend

Really enjoyed this psychological thriller. Great read and I couldn't put it down. Thank you for the opportunity to read the book

The psychological thriller genre is a little oversubscribed; many are called, few are chosen. But with a Come a Little Closer, Karen Perry has delivered a tale filled with insidious menace. I truly had shivers a couple of times as the net closed in on a new victim.

It’s a really well paced story, set near Dublin, with a narrative that flits between a domestic murder 20 years earlier and the aftermath. I bought into the characters, particularly Leah and Anton who are central to the mystery and menace. Both have secrets. So do others and it’s difficult to judge where the story will end. Is Anton a killer or a manipulative liar focussing on his next victim. Why is Leah hiding a deadly truth? Who’s involved in infidelity?

This story is sharp. The pages flew and there are some truly chilling moments where, as a reader one almost wants to shout he’s behind you...I was totally absorbed and loved it. Thank you publisher and Netgalley for a review copy. Can’t wait for mor3 from Perry.

Leah and Jake are given the opportunity to rent a flat in the basement of a large home. The owner has ‘been away’ for a number of years and now returned.
Leah knows nothing of Anton’s past but the neighbours aren’t happy he’s returned. Whilst Leah and Anton become friends. Anton listerns to her problems unlike Jake.
However Anton killed his and Leah looks a little like her. Is she to be his next victim?

Come a little Closer is a dark,chilling psychological thriller set in a close community.It starts with a young boy running out of a house into the street ,covered in blood asking for help .His Mother has been murdered and his Father is found guilty and sent to prison for 19 years.Fast forward and Anton the Father us now out of prison and has returned to his big old victorian house and the basement flat has been rented out to a young couple Leah and Jake,who know nothing of the history if the house.This book is full of surprises it is difficult to guess who did what!A highly enjoyable read with a clever twist at the end.Many thanks to the Publisher,the Author and NetGalley.

This is my favourite psychological thriller read this year and is surely the best example yet of Karen Perry's talents in writing suspense. Every chapter ratchets up the tension as the plot turns unexpected corners and into perfectly described spaces. The three narrators are completely plausible and there is something very clever about the way Perry draws her characters in order to extract our empathy for each of them, when surely only one really deserves it, almost as though we are experiencing by osmosis, the cognitive roller-coasters of those characters. The denouement scene is somewhat overwritten, but overall this book is a complete treat and definitely up there with the best of the thrillers that have been released as films. Which is of course where this story needs to be.

A psychological thriller par excellence !!!!!!!!
Tension and suspense is gradually drip fed to the reader from page one and I was hooked.
The reader knows that something terrible is going to happen, they just don't when, what or WHO ???
I read this book in one sitting, finally turning the last page at 2.am. The main characters are believable and well fleshed out. The tension is palpable and in places I was holding my breath. I actually felt like the fly caught in the spiders web. An excellent psychological thriller and an easy five stars and so Highly Recommended. ANOTHER author to add to MY MUST READ LIST.
I would like to thank the author, Penguin UK and Michael Joseph and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

I'm a big fan of Karen Perry, having read a few of their books now and enjoyed each one a lot.

However, this book is the third such book of a mysterious whodunnit set in claustrophobic neighbourhood streets that I have read this month. It seems to be the topic du jour!

In a leafy surburban street, a wife is murdered. The husband, Anton, is convicted and spends 19 years in prison. He maintains his innocence. On his release, Jake and Leah rent the basement flat in Anton's house and the news that he is just out of prison surprises and shocks them. Told from 3 pov's, Antons, Leah's and another neighbour, Hilary, the plot is not so much teased out as plods along. At times I wasn't sure where it was going, but I found it a very slow book which unfortunately did not really maintain my interest and I struggled to pick it back up each time I put it down.

I am afraid that this title was not for me. Although there was a feeling of menace and mystery throughout, the pace seemed too slow and I could not connect with any of the characters finding them lacking in morals and integrity. Perhaps this is a little judgemental seeing as this is a thriller so I will change it to “lacking in trust and truthfulness”.

As the neighbours in a close community celebrate a summer evening, a boy appears covered in blood pleading for help.

Fast forward nineteen years and we are back to the same house. The boy, Mark, has found new tenants for the basement flat of his childhood home, Leah and Jake. The house has been neglected and Mark is offering cheap rent to reflect this – and the history of the house. His father, Anton, has been released from jail for the murder of his mother, Charlotte: a murder he claims that he did not commit.

Jake has a son, 7 year old Matthew who lives with his mother but will now be able to spend time with Leah and Jake in their new home.

Clearly the neighbours are anxious about the murderer’s return to the community, and curious: none more so than Hilary and Grey who live opposite, both teachers who had once rented the basement flat whilst their own house was renovated. As Anton’s fixation on Leah develops, Hilary watches closely – it is not lost on her that Leah bears a striking resemblance to Charlotte.

A creepy, creepy thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat, jittering. It seemed plausible that Anton was telling the truth by the very narrative used – but is that just a plot device? Just run Leigh, run!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book; the structure, the characters. Just recalling it makes me a little nervous.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

A mystery where all is not as it seems. Many twists and turns with a final one at the end which one doesn't see coming. Easy to read and keeps the reader wondering where the plot goes next.
Although it's obvious that the main male (Anton) character did not commit the crime he is accused of, there are more than a few candidates and he is not innocent either. A sub plot behind one of the main female characters (Leah) was almost unnecessary but overall the story hung together well. Slightly chilling in places but believable in what might happen behind closed doors.

An easy to read thriller but not gripping or interesting enough to break the norm.

Who dunnit? Well, it was pretty easy to figure out. With very few culprits the book didn't go out of it's way to surprise you.

2.3 Stars.

Thanks to Karen Perry, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Leah and Jake are so happy to have found an affordable basement flat to live in. It’s been unoccupied for a while and it’s a bit run down but there’s a lovely park just across from there, a room for Jakes son who comes to stay and it’s a place of their own.

Except what they don’t know is the man upstairs who owns the house Anton has been in prison for the last 19 years convicted of killing his wife Charlotte. Anton maintains his innocence but no one believes him.

Jake works a lot and spends a lot of time with his son leaving Leah on her own and feeling lonely.

Anton craves company. The people in the neighbourhood are not happy that he’s back. He’s lonely. He secretly likes to watch Leah and it isn’t long before they have become friends.

It was one of those books where you feel like you are silently screaming don’t go there and don’t open that door.

I was fully invested in the story so when it slowed down there was one point I thought where is this going? Then the story picked up and came to an enjoyable but guessable ending. Overall a good read.

Many elements of the story give you the creeps. It just goes to show that you never know what goes on behind closed doors.

Leah and Jake move into the basement flat of Anton's house. Anton has been in prison for 19 years for killing his wife.
Jake is torn between Leah, his ex-wife and his son and when Leah becomes pregnant he struggles to cope. Leah becomes closer to Anton, especially when she is left on her own.
What does Anton want with her? and is her life in danger?