Even though I've read a few books by C J Skuse, I think I was expecting the narrator in The Alibi Girl to be another Rhiannon, shades of Sweetpea. However, our unreliable main character, Joanne, is an intensely vulnerable narrator.
Did I know what was going on? No, it took me a bit to put the clues together, but I loved this. The setting of the seaside town, poor Scants, tasked with a thankless task keeping up with Joanne's stories...

The Secrets Of Joanne...
An unpredictable and rather unique read from the author of ‘Sweetpea‘ and ‘In Bloom’. Joanne has alibis - in fact her name is one of many - but why? I think I’d rather call them identities but that is of no matter. To say too much would completely give the game away. Suffice to say this is compulsive storytelling, an addictive read with an unreliable protagonist. Both compellingly twisted and heartwarming with a thread of the authors trademark dark humour throughout. Recommended.

I was looking forward to reading this book since the author announced it as I have loved her previous work.
The storyline is great, it has plenty of twists and secrets that make you want to keep reading to see what will happen and why things are happening. The characters are so well presented that you can easily build a picture in your mind of who they are, what they look like and how they act.
The fact the the author gave enough detail in the flashbacks that allowed the story to come to life and pull you in to the drama.
I couldn't put it down. I was invested in characters and plot line. The way the author captured the multiple personalities of the main character and her mental state was done so well.

I would highly recommend this book.

Wow! Amazing, Skuse has done it again. A fantastic read, brilliant characters and an outstanding story. Loved, loved loved it. FAB-U-LOUS!

There is something about C.J Skuse’s dark humour and ability to shock that I seem to gel with. I loved Sweetpea and while this is different from that novel, I still enjoyed it. It’s one of those books where I’m desperate not to ruin and reveal aspects while reviewing. Joanne Haynes as many, many secrets. There isn’t much about her that’s genuine. She appears to have a flat and some cats, but neither are hers. Even her hair isn’t her own. I wonder which, of the women she pretends to be, is actually her. But she’s none of them. She’s not the romance novelist, or the cancer patient or the pregnant woman. They’re all alibis. Despite this, someone has become too close and might be able to break through these identities to the real person.
Despite her multi-layered deception I found it hard not to like Joanne. Towards the end I found myself very sympathetic to her plight and I connected to her experiences. This is rare in thrillers. I feel the author has found a unique way of leading the reader into the thriller, and has created a very unusual character that we can never be sure of. Underneath this is a solid mystery that keeps the reader in suspense. If you’d like a different take on the thriller with a strong female character and a dark, sarcastic sense of humour this is for you.

This is the story of Joanne who changes her name and who is on a regular basis. This depends on who she is interacting with.

I loved the premise of this book. It was so original.
The characters were so well developed. I loved the writing style of this book. It was very engaging and had some dark humour interwoven in the story. There are lots of twists and turns in this book which I didn’t see coming.
This book gripped me and I couldn’t put it down. It is so much more than a thriller. It’s also a story of love and friendship.
I highly recommend this book.

The story opens with a woman, Mary, who is at the hairdresser with her five-week-old daughter Emily. She tells her hairdresser about her job as a GP, her four other children, and her handsome husband. Only, her name is not Mary, but Joanne, she isn’t married, she doesn’t have four other children, and she isn’t a doctor. She has many identities and she is hiding. Who is really Joanne? And what or who is she hiding from? Is she really in danger or is she simply paranoid?

I love CJ Skuse humour and darkness and, after reading Sweetpea and In Bloom, I was looking forward to reading more from this author. Once again, the protagonist of her novel is a young woman who is not easy to like, at least at the beginning of the story. Joanne, or whoever she is, is scared, paranoid, and childish. She lies non-stop, and her obsessions border to psychopathic. However, the more I read, the more I learned about her life and her childhood, the more I started to feel sympathy for her.

The plot is dark and suspenseful, but it is also heart-breaking and compelling. The author knows how to hold the interest of the reader, with multi-layered characters, different narratives and timelines, twists and turns that make you hold your breath, and a unique plot that made it hard to put the book down.

I am a huge fan of the Sweetpea books by this author, so jumped at the chance to read this book!
It is very difficult to describe this book without spoilers, but if you are in the mood for an unreliable narrator, witty characters and a dark and twisty plot that will get you in the heart before its over, then you will really enjoy this!
Oh, and the ending was perfect! In my opinion anyway!!

Joanne Haynes is hiding….but from who?

When a woman’s body is found in the hotel Joanne (Genevieve) works at, she knows it was murder…..she’s seen someone strangled before…..

Have the Three Little Pigs found her?

Poor Ellis, taken away from the only family she had, she now lives alone in a world of lies and make believe….but is someone watching?

A cliché I know, but I really couldn’t put this down….I just had to know, what was real and what wasn’t…. I found it to be so well written and I was drawn into Ellis’ world with its dark humour and troubled characters. I really liked Ellis with all her quirks and felt really sad for her and baby Emily…she’s a bit of a female Walter Mitty..

While not exactly a thriller, it does have violence and murder and a twisty plot. But I felt at its heart it’s a tale of fear, loneliness, love and family and I loved every minute.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for a free ecopy of the book. This is my honest and unbiased review.

I didn't really get into this book. I Loved the first two by this author, but the lead character in this is wholly unsympathetic.

Well for someone who loves unreliable narrators there is no one more unreliable than the protagonist of this book. She’s a complex mess of aliases, a compulsive liar with a vivid imagination and almost childlike in her behaviour.

I jumped at the chance to read this having previously gone completely mental over the author’s book Sweetpea. Rhiannon is still one of my favourite book characters and that’s a lot to live up to.

While Joanne is completely different she is certainly as complicated just less sweary. One thing that certainly wasn’t missing was the author’s trademark dark humour which I love (sarcasm being my middle name). Also C.J. Skuse has a knack of really getting what makes a character interesting to the reader. They don’t always have to be likeable but they do have to have qualities that make you care enough to keep reading. The use of the chapters showing you her childhood and her interaction with other people she sees does just that.

I’m purposely avoiding the plot as the less you know going in the better but just know this another stand out thriller from the Queen of original characters.

Oh and there’s lots of cats. If that’s not a reason to read it I don’t know what is!

I had to re-read the blurb for this book to see what I could and couldn’t say in my review.
What I can say is this is a thriller with a great sense of humour running through it.
The main character has many names and in different situations she pretends to be different people.
The reason for this unfolds as the book goes on and I really felt for her at times.
Whilst there’s humour in the book the underlying feeling I felt for the main character was sympathy at first as she’s trapped, and really doesn’t have anyone to turn to.
If you enjoyed Sweet Pea and In Bloom, you’ll love this book as C J Skuse has a real way with words.
As I’ve said, at times you will laugh out loud but at other times your heart will break.
This is a great, original story and I loved it.
Thanks to HQ and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Meet Joanne Haynes, she is happily married with 4 kids and a gorgeous husband.

Or…

Meet Joanne, she is a bestselling author whose books have been sold all over the world, especially in Asia.

Or…

Meet Joanne, she is a single mother and trying her best to make ends meet, working and trying to provide for her and her baby daughter.

Just one of these could be true, or maybe they’re not, maybe none of them are at all, maybe Joanne isn’t really Joanne!

It is difficult to go into too much detail with this book because otherwise it will spoil the story, lets just say that everything is not quite as it seems.

I really enjoyed this story and how it unravelled, “Joanne” is a very troubled woman and it really showed in the story the further it went on, it also had the C J Skuse touch with the hilarious one liners and witty banter.
The story is in 2 parts and very cleverly reveals the plot and why Joanne is how she is, and what made her that way.

Definitely something you should pick up if you can.

Enjoy
Vicci📚💛✨

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ in exchange for an honest review.

I can't believe this is the first C.J. Skuse book I've ever read. I've heard such rave reviews about this author and when the opportunity to read her new release came up, I knew I couldn't pass on it. Could The Alibi Girl live up to the hype? Absolutely yes.

The blurb for this book is so vague and I don't want to give much away, but essentially our main character is a woman named Ellis. She has many, many fake names and spins a different story about her life to pretty much every person she meets. The reasons for her doing this are not as clear as they seem, and the story starts to unravel when things from her past catch up with her.

This was a great thriller, fairly straightforward in plot but with excellent writing to keep things moving forward. It's weird because normally the sparser plot would bother me but Skuse writes such brilliant characters that it didn't matter much at all. Ellis herself was so interesting to me and I loved how she was done and how that reflected on her past. The other characters (who will not be named for plot reasons) were also detailed and engaging.

This review might seem a little thing but trust me, this is a great thriller experience and it's best to go in as blind as possible. There aren't tons of twists and turns but this is a tightly plotted, well executed story and I cannot wait to seek out more of Skuse's work.

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

The Alibi Girl by C.J. Skuse is a marvellous contemporary psychological thriller suspense that I positively devoured. I was hooked and asking questions from the start.
C.J. Skuse draws the reader in and drip feeds information as we try to put the pieces together to solve the puzzle. I fell for some red herrings along the way and my jaw literally dropped at at least one point.
The Alibi Girl was a cleverly constructed tale and one that I fully participated in as it was told in the first person. I ‘became’ the voice in the story. The novel has two main voices and two distinct time periods – now and eighteen years earlier. Bonds formed in childhood remain intact as characters long to return to a time they last experienced happiness. The past influences current behaviour.
There is a mystery to solve. I found myself swirling in the mists of time, not knowing quite what to expect.
The novel revolves around truth and lies. Can you spot which is which? So many tales are spun that even a character longs for a time when lives were simpler and the truth was told and fairy tales were in the imagination.
I thought The Alibi Girl was an utterly brilliant and unique read with a thrilling conclusion I didn’t spot coming. I look forward to much more by C.J. Skuse.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

Joanne pretends different people, depending on who she’s talking to but someone is watching her. Will her real identity be exposed?

The Alibi Girl is quite a difficult novel for me to review, I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it!

I can’t deny this is a well written book, full of complex characters and I would definitely read something else by this author, but I just think the overall storyline was a bit blah in comparison to the characters. I mean it was billed as a thriller but there weren't really many thrills in it.

We spend the majority of the first part of the book really getting to know Joanne. I didn’t find her all that likeable but as the novel goes on, you can’t help but feel for her, she’s a deeply troubled woman due to things out of her control.

The pace does pick up in the second half but then the ending seemed at odds with the rest of the novel.

Unfortunately The Alibi Girl didn’t work for me but I think if like the focus of the story to be unlikeable and complicated characters, I would highly recommend this book for you.

Loved it. This is absolute page turner; it's witty, shocking, heart-breaking and smart. There were plenty of twists and turns throughout that I didn't see coming. I love how the author nails characters! Joanne is totally believable, though clearly disturbed, the picture I have of Scants is crumpled and sour, hopefully what the author was going for! Her characters are so well rounded that even now, a couple of weeks later, I can bring them to mind clearly. The second half of the book was a total change of pace and I raced through it. Another winner. Fab.

I do own and admit have yet to read the previous two books by this author Sweetpea and In Bloom, but they will be read as soon as I can get to them after reading this one.

The main character in this novel has, can we say a somewhat murky past, although she also has issues full stop in reality. Joanne Haynes as we will call her isn’t exactly the most reliable narrator, as you aren’t sure whether to believe her or not. She is a compulsive liar creating different persona’s, for each person she meets, from bride to be in a wedding shop, to a top author to the man in the doughnut van. But then Joanne isn’t her real name either! Why?

When someone who looks like her is murdered in the hotel where she works, Joanne is certain it was her they were after, so she has to run.

I love the way the author creates her characters, all well rounded, relatable and believable. For me characters are key, I want to like at least one of them, someone to root for, if I don’t I find it difficult to care about a book. I liked Joanne and I liked Foy. Even the not so nice characters had some good points.

There are lots of twists and turns in the plot some small ones some which are shockers. But all cleverly weaved together to make sense. The story is told in a split narrative, the second half where the reader gets to know about Joanne’s past.

At times a dark story, but also sad, I have to say I struggled to read some of this due to personal reasons. There is some violence which ironically didn’t bother me, being a reader of lots of crime novels. A thriller, but also a book about, family, mental health and love.

An interesting good book, will be looking out for this authors next book. As well as getting round to the two books on my shelf.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #HQ for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest fair and unbiased review.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story is about Joanne who is not a very likeable character. Joanne has to keep her real identity a secret. The problem is, Joanne pretends to be somebody different depending on who she is speaking to.

This is the first C.J.Skuse book that I have read. I constantly see Sweetpea being reviewed but decided that one wasn’t for me. I really thought that I would really enjoy this one as it has a really interesting plot. Unfortunately the humour in this book just wasn’t up my street at all and it felt that the author tried too hard to try and make it funny. I can’t help wondering if I would have enjoyed this more without the humorous tone the book has. Joanne obviously has some mental health problems and that needed to be dealt with a bit more seriously in my opinion. I did enjoy the authors writing style and raced through this book because I really wanted to find out why her identity had been changed and who she truly was. I thought the twists and turns were clever but this book was just okay to me. I am sure other people will enjoy it a lot more than I did.

#TheAlibiGirl #NetGalley
The ending leave me gasping.
JOANNE HAYNES HAS A SECRET.
THAT IS NOT HER REAL NAME.
And there’s more. Her flat isn’t hers. Her cats aren't hers. Even her hair isn’t really hers. But now her alibis are not hers. Someone knows the truth.
But who? What he wants?
Narration of the story is flawless and so are the characters and especially the central character. I was shocked when i read it's ending. I would definitely recommend this book to all who love to read thrillers.
Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for giving me an advance copy of this book.