The Alibi Girl is a difficult book for me to review. On one hand I loved it. On the other I couldn't connect with it.
That said I got to the end and sat back and thought about what I had read, trying to digest the details. Which in my mind IS a sign of a good book!

Joanne is a master of lies. She cant help it. She's a GP mum of 5 one minute, the next an international author. However, are her different lies because she's never grown up or has she a personality disorder. Or is she just trying to keep herself safe.

Who is Scants? He's a crutch to Joanne but is he good or bad..

Then we meet Foy. She's the character I liked the most. Through her and flashbacks in the book we begin to understand what is really going off.

Well worth a read. This book would be perfect for a book club.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review
#thealibigirl #cjskuse #netgalley

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc of this book

I knew the minute I started this book that I would be instantly hooked. C J Skuse has done it again with her great character building and plot development.

Joanne as a character was so well developed for me and it was like you really knew her. I loved how she had many different disguises and you just kept guessing which one she was going to use next.

The twists and turns in the book were really what kept me hooked, I didn't see some of them coming and it was great to have the last part of the story told from her cousins point of view.

I would highly recommend this book and her other works. This was just as good as all the reviews said it was

C J Skuse is back.
I absolutely loved the sweetpea series and was really excited to be gifted a copy of this new novel
I am a huge fan of the original books that C J Skuse delivers. Her writing is fantastic and her books are so hard to put down
At first, the main character “Joanne” really annoyed me. But I wanted to read more and more about her and find out exactly what her “story” was.
Towards the end of the book, I was filling up and felt so sorry for her and wanted her to have the best outcome!
Thank you to the tagged publisher for my gifted copy of this book
I can’t wait to read more from C J Skuse

Really struggled to get into this book. Couldn't connect with the characters and the writing style wasn't for me.

I absolutely loved Sweetpea and In Bloom, also by this author, when I read them a while back so I was quite excited to get my mitts on this, her latest book. Although it didn't quite reach the same heights as the previous books, it was a good, solid read nevertheless.
It's hard to say much about this book without giving anything away but the main character is Joanne, well... sometimes. Other times she is other people with a whole other life. Her flat is rented, she shares it with numerous cats who aren't hers. She loves donuts but to the donut guy she is a best selling novelist. To her hairdresser, she is happily married with many children, to other people, she is someone else entirely. She isn't any of these people really, heck, she isn't even Joanne. Who is she really? And why must this information remain secret? She's always been panicky but when a guest in the hotel is found dead she starts to really worry. The guest bears a strong resemblance to what Joanne would look like without the dye job and the contacts. Has time run out for her...?
Joanne is a bit hard to like, initially anyway. But as I got to know more about her, how her present links with her past, then I started to feel a bit more sympathy for how she had ended up. I am a bit in awe of how she manages to juggle her multiple identities, especially given that she lives in a small town. Something I did find a bit hard to swallow I have to admit. I'm also a bit confused with the use of the word alibi to describe identities but maybe that's just me...
As more of "Joanne's" past is unveiled I did start to warm to her a bit more, although I also felt that some of the things weren't quite as convincing as maybe they should have been but I was willing to take one for the team in exchange for a good story. All delivered with some really great dark humour and heartwarming parts, akin to those in the Sweetpea books.
Sadly I also found the ending to be a bit too neatly tied up with a pink bow and presented with balloons. Maybe I'm being harsh but it just didn't feel completely real to me given the journey "Joanne" took to get to that end.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I really enjoyed this novel. Not as darkly comic as the Sweetpea books, but still with more than a hint of humour, and a lot of heart.
The opening chapters introduce us (eventually) to Ellis, although we first meet her using several different names and personas before we finally discover the real girl behind them all. As we uncover Ellis’s past we learn what’s brought her to living behind so many lies and fake personalities. The flashback scenes to her childhood shed light on her relationship with her cousin, and how her life took such a dramatic turn.
I liked the flip in POV halfway through this book. It was nicely done and <impossible to explain without some form of spoiler so I’m not going to>.
Ultimately, although this book is basically a modern crime retelling of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, it’s so much more. C. J. Skuse brings so much soul and passion to her characters, the story is tightly plotted and well thought-out (and all the clues are there throughout!), and this is an altogether excellent and really enjoyable read.

I loved this one just as much as I loved this authors two previous books. They have a very unique and quirky way of writing and the characters are full of depth an craziness. I was gripped throughout and I can’t wait for this author to release another book.

Wow I absolutely loved this book. It was very unique and kept me hooked from start to finish. I really liked the main character although she was a compulsive liar I felt so sorry for her. Would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I couldn't get into this book at all. Frankly, I was extremely confused and gave up at 25%.

Let's be honest; we're all huge fans of the Sweetpea series, and fresh off the back of the second book (In Bloom), I think we all assumed that this book (despite the author stating several times on social media to the contrary) was to be the eagerly anticipated book 3.

Perhaps some of us were a little disappointed that it's not, but seriously guys - this book is fantastic. I'm happy to shout from the rooftops that I think this is even better than the Sweetpea series, and I loved those books!

The story unfolds at a fast pace; you'll savour every word, and reread some of the twists several times once the initial shock wears off.

I have to admit however that I was not happy with the ending of this book. I did not want there to be an end, as I could easily read more of this.

If you only read one book in 2020 - make it this one.

The Alibi Girl is the latest standalone thriller by CJ Skuse and if you liked Sweetpea and In Bloom you will enjoy this.

It’s a really difficult book to review without giving away any spoilers or secrets and there is so much I want to say but can’t because you won’t thank me for ruining the story. What I can say is that The Alibi Girl is a book of two halves and for me personally I loved the first half, but the second half lacked the humour and darkness associated with the author’s previous books.

The main character Joanne (or whatever name she chooses to call herself that day) is a deeply troubled and disturbed young woman. It’s clear from the beginning that Joanne has a murky past and some issues with reality, but it isn’t until I got further into her story that I began to realise what exactly was going on… I really can’t say much more without spoiling anything.

The Alibi Girl is quite dark in places and heartbreakingly sad in others and it’s hard not to feel sorry for both of the female characters in this story. I didn’t personally find this book as humorous or gripping as Sweetpea, but I adore the authors style of writing and look forward to reading her next book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I tried desperately to like this book, but alas it did not quite work for me. Whilst this book is not quite a 'marmite' read, it is evidently polarising as we can see from the reviews on this site. That is not to say I didn't admire this author's talent and imagination - C.J. Skuse evidently has this in abundance. I did however find myself racing ahead to the book's conclusion, which is not like me at all. The novel's central character 'Joanne', is in a witness protection programme, but rather than building upon a convincing a back-story for one false identity, she develops many other nom de guerres. This for me is point of the story, and read as a meditation on the nature of identity this book works. The idea that our identity is both situational and contingent on what we wish others to see in us, and what we wish to see in ourselves, is reflected powerfully in this book. It is the story around these meditations on identity that I did not fully find convincing.

This is a purely subjective view. I'm sure others will love this book for its originality and the evident talent on display from this author.

After reading the Sweet Pea series by C.J.Skuse I was really looking forward to reading this and I wasn't disappointed.

Joanne Haynes has lots of alibi's. Names, pet's, jobs, family, illnesses and a secret that is behind them all. But who is Joanne Haynes and what happened in her past for her to need to live in this fantasy land?

Joanne is not really likeable at first but due to the authors fantastic writing I found myself warming to her and eventually cheering her on. As well as being very funny the story could also be dark in places but this all added to the on going mystery and guessing game.

Once the story switched to revealing the past I was hooked. I love the way it goes from past to present till all is revealed with some twists along the way.

I would highly recommend this as a five star read, and thank you to NetGalley for an ARC copy to review.

I've read and loved C J Skuse's two previous books ('Sweetpea' and 'In Bloom') and was very excited to read this latest one. I wasn't disappointed. The Alibi Girl is everything I came to expect from this author: well written, original, funny, moving, twisty, shocking in places, interesting realistic characters... Unfortunately, the ending was just too sugary for me - hence the four stars rating. I am looking forward to see what Ms Skuse has next in store.
Many thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins publishers for the ARC.

Sadly I didn’t see the charm within the pages of this book as some of the other reviewers. I did not warm to the main character or her plight as there seemed to be some kind of vital spark missing for me. I was clearly expecting a different style of novel as I didn’t find it funny either and that was one of the reasons I was curious about it. I kept reading hoping that it would win me over but I was really disappointed with the ending as it seemed mawkish.

Couldn’t wait to read this as I loved sweetpea and the way that was written.

This is written in a similar way and the main female character is quirky and as the story unfolds we found out about her childhood and what has led to the situation in the book.

Great read!

This is a really good book, if not a little confusing at times! Well written and twisty, I enjoyed it overall.

Right, now have I understood this book?

Ellis, aka Genevieve, aka Joanne, aka Charlotte, aka Mary is in witness protection and she thinks her cover is blown? Is she effectively going mad or does she have a point?
She plays a role and changes her name depending on who she meets and gets to know. But she doesn't get to know anyone...not really?
The ending was too neatly wrapped up for me. I felt if was as if the tangles I got into when reading this were fashioned into a nice bow.
Think this is a case of a book not suiting the reader but others will love its tricky charm.

Joanne Haynes is a compulsive liar, who creates a different persona for everyone she meets. To the man in the doughnut van, she's a bestselling novelist. To the lady in the wedding dress shop, she's a pregnant bride-to-be. To the girls at the hotel where she works, she's the freak who carries around a plastic doll pretending it's a real baby. What no-one knows is that Joanne herself is a lie: that's not her real name either. No-one can know her real identity.

But now Joanne is being followed, and when a girl who looks like her is murdered in the hotel where she works, Joanne is convinced that it was a case of mistaken identity and they were really after her. Joanne must run, but which will catch up with her first - her lies, or her past?

I was a huge fan of Sweet Pea and its sequel, In Bloom, so I was really excited to read this one. CJ Skuse does a brilliant job of creating flawed characters that you should probably dislike but can't help rooting for, and she's done it again with Joanne. I did find this one a bit of a struggle to get into at first, but once the split narrative begins and we start to see Joanne's past unfold, and what made her the way she is, that's when the story really started for me.

There are several twists in this, but at its heart it isn't a thriller, which is what I was expecting - it's more of a family drama with a thriller element to it. The characters are wonderfully written, even the ones you don't necessarily like are well-rounded rather than being out-and-out villains, you can always find the humanity in them, and I loved the element of redemption in the end.

I wouldn't brand this as a thriller personally, but it's a great story with family, love, and mental health at its heart. I love CJ Skuse's writing style, and can't wait for whatever she writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley, who provided me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

OMG THIS BOOK!!!!!

I absolutely love this book. C.J Skuse has this amazing ability to write such interesting characters, that you really feel for.

"Joanne" is not the most likeable character in the world but I really felt sorry for her. I totally connected to her and felt so invested in her story.

This book is incredibly funny. It's a very dark, sarcastic sense of humour, which might not be for everyone but I could not stop laughing out loud.

But towards the end, I was tearing up. I felt so sorry for her and so connected to her story and experiences which rarely happens in thrillers.

This isn't the most fast paced thriller in the world but its definitely full of action and there is a really strong mystery running throughout the story.

I absolutely loved the writing. It was engaging and easy to read. I was chuckling throughout.

This is such a unique and different book, with such an unforgettable main character. I would recommend this to everyone. C.J Skuse does it again!

TW: suicide and graphic violence