A clever suspenseful novel full of twists that keep you engaged and wanting to find out more. The story gripped and intrigued me right from the first chapter. The plot builds, the suspense is tense which kept me on the edge of my seat and second guessing everything.
I would definitely recommend this book to friends.

WOW, Just Wow.
Nina keeps her mother Maggie locked and chained in the attic. But why? How far would you go to keep secrets? How far would you go to protect family? The past is slowly revealed in flashbacks of 25 years ago from both women's points of view. This book is full of twists and turns. Fantastic read! I will be looking for more books by this author.

A big thank you to NetGalley, Amazon Publishing, UK and John Marrs, the author for the advance copy.

What Lies Between Us is creepy, disturbing in parts, and completely unputdownable. I've enjoyed previous books by John Marrs and I loved reading this book. I'm keeping this review short as I don't want to give anything away - one of the things I enjoyed most about this book was the continual reveal of what was going on with the layers of character and the plot and chapters ending with hooks and twists. I kept thinking things couldn't get worse, and then they did, right up to the devastating last chapter. Highly recommended - an easy 5 stars.

‘They think it’s all over!’ What a cataclysmic conflict of emotions- I am simply left reeling over this painstakingly tragic book. I particularly enjoy venturing through a range of emotions when reading psychological thrillers and this one was certainly no exception. As soon as I was close to ‘putting the pieces together,’ they were unceremoniously uprooted in spectacular fashion.

Certainly a ‘must read’ for those who enjoy suspense-induced thrillers. Previous rave-reviews made me sceptical that it perhaps wouldn’t live up to the ‘hype’ but it most certainly did and by all means, far exceeded my expectations. Thrilled to have discovered John Marrs’ genius and can’t wait to read other books such as ‘The Passengers’.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for this ARC. I’m confident that sales of this captivating mystery will soar come publication date in May.

If you like brilliant, dark and twisty crime thrillers that are nail bitingly good and will totally immerse you in the plot and characters, thereby forcing you to read on, this page-turner is definitely going to be a really good choice for you to pick up and read. If I could possibly give it more than a 5* review, believe me I would. I received my copy from NetGalley and publisher Thomas & Mercer in return for a fair and honest review. Thank you so much for this gem of a novel. I was astounded by the intricacies and many twists and turns in John Marrs’ planning of the plot. His excellent storytelling was masterful, full of suspense, mystery, shocks and red herrings. The action was like a rapid gun fire, full of horrifying action and evil beyond all reason. It is exciting, terrifying and oh so enjoyable. I loved seeing the vulnerability and tenderness verses the revenge and hatred matched so equally, the written word full of insight, fast action, misplaced loyalty and bravery. I loved everything about it.
The novel centres on a family of three: mother Maggie, her husband and daughter Nina who had lived at home for thirty-six years. She loved her parents so much and was their true pride and joy. I was kept second guessing how it was all going to end but there were so many twists and turns I’d lay a bet on no one predicting the ending. Their family story is riddled with misunderstandings, secrecy and a powerful love that almost knows no end. But things sadly go awry within their family dynamics and this lays the foundations for the story of Maggie and Nina’s troubled relationship. Through thick and thin Maggie’s love for Nina stays firm. She and Nina could never have lived alone or moved house. Similarly Nina cooked for her mother, albeit their relationship flounders.
Another thing I really loved about this novel was the author’s choice of themes and issues. Every family has their ups and downs, grievances, triumphs and thankfulness. I really enjoyed the steadfastness of both Maggie’s and Nina’s resolve. I was impressed by the amount of research that had been conducted to enhance this novel and make it so much more authentic. I loved how the author put his themes under the microscope and gave them full reign. The knowledge of obscure mental health and physical well-being was very well used, and I particularly liked the truth behind one of the novels chief themes is that secrecy can be both a good point or a very unhelpful factor, because sometimes the truth is indeed far more dangerous than lies.
I highly recommend this novel as a truly fantastic read. It is multi-faceted, deeply absorbing and definitely a story that I would keep and read again. Congratulations, John Marrs.

It’s been a long time since I really committed to reading thrillers and mysteries. My reading taste changes all the time, and more often than not something that I would have found absolutely incredible a few years (sometimes months) ago, fails to surprise me in a way I wanted it to.

That’s how I felt about «What Lies Between Us» by John Marrs. While it had a very captivating plotline, smart twists and characters I couldn’t trust, it just didn’t leave me dumbstruck as I thought it would.

The story seems simple, but don’t let yourselves be fooled! John Marrs is a master of plot twists. There were twists on twists on twists. Some I predicted and anxiously waited for, and some caught me off guard.

When I think back on «What Lies Between Us», the first word that pops into mind is “smart”. Every detail of the story was thought through and carefully selected - some were intended to confuse the readers, make them believe something that wasn’t there, and others were little hints here and there to see if we could figure out the big reveals.

I love that about thrillers. I love the mindboggling games that authors get to play and many traps they put for us to be caught in.

Despite this being a thriller, which are usually very plot-driven, this book had some very interesting characters and was told from two different perspectives - Maggie and Nina. In my opinion, they were the stars of the book. It wouldn’t be possible to like the story if you didn’t feel intrigued by what Nina and Maggie represent.

I was fascinated by representation of human nature in this book. This is a thriller, so I can’t really say too much to not spoil it for you. Let’s just say that the author really explored some deep (and often scary) emotions. Although, I’d love to see more reason behind some actions.

As I mentioned, I wanted this book to really ambush me, and when that didn’t happen I felt a little bit disappointed. Yes, there were some plot twists that surprised me, but in general, after approximately 20-30% I knew where it was going. Sometimes that “knowledge” is exciting, it makes you reading faster to see your guess confirmed. But in this case, I didn’t feel particularly excited. The book reads very quickly, but mostly due to the characters and not the amazing reveals.

I might have ruined this experience a little bit for myself for hyping it up so much. After reading «The One», I just knew that John Marrs has all the tools and knowledge to make some incredible, mindblowing thrillers.

What Lies Between Us is a dark psychological thriller that will disturb your concept of a mother and daughter relationship. What has happened to have caused such a taut hatred? To smile and engage with light conversation while underneath plotting to be free while violence lurks, that will shock to the core.

Maggie is an elderly woman who spends her days in an attic bedroom and through a shuttered window she has a limited view of the outside world. For over two and a half years she has lived like this.

“The longer I spend at this window, the more I realise I’m becoming like Jeff, the wheelchair-bound character James Stewart plays in the film Rear Window. Like him, I have little choice but to spend my days spying on my neighbours. Jeff thinks he has witnessed the murder of one of his neighbours. But the only thing dying in this street is me. And nobody knows that but my daughter.”

Maggie is chained to a spike in the floor that gives her access in her bedroom but not beyond. Every second evening she gets chained to a longer chain that allows her down one flight of stairs for dinner with her daughter Nina and the bathroom.

John Marrs creates two protagonists that he develops with skill throughout the novel and each tells the story from their perspective. The family background with Maggie and Nina, and the incidents which led to this highly caustic situation are slowly revealed. The suspense of the unknown and which character is the most dangerous and cruel is maintained with wonderful complex switching of suspicion between the two. “But I no longer allow her to witness how her cruelty upsets me. Maybe I’ve been taking the wrong approach.”

The biggest issue for me is the believability on how this scenario developed. I can normally suspend belief when the thriller suspense is as riveting as this but this issue constantly nagged at the back of my mind. This was a buddy read with Beata and this topic became our main discussion area. Marrs does captivate with his threads of action and manipulation and this is a page-turner of drama with a wonderful pace throughout the whole novel. At this stage with Beata, we both know each other so well that we wait with a smile knowing how the other is going to react to the author’s intent and their delivery with possible plot holes.

I need to try more John Marrs because he certainly knows how to hook a reader and I appreciate how he enthrals his readers. I would recommend this book and I would like to thank Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy in return for an honest review.

What Lies Between Us is a dark psychological thriller that will disturb your concept of a mother and daughter relationship. What has happened to have caused such a taut hatred? To smile and engage with light conversation while underneath plotting to be free while violence lurks, that will shock to the core.

Maggie is an elderly woman who spends her days in an attic bedroom and through a shuttered window she has a limited view of the outside world. For over two and a half years she has lived like this.

“The longer I spend at this window, the more I realise I’m becoming like Jeff, the wheelchair-bound character James Stewart plays in the film Rear Window. Like him, I have little choice but to spend my days spying on my neighbours. Jeff thinks he has witnessed the murder of one of his neighbours. But the only thing dying in this street is me. And nobody knows that but my daughter.”

Maggie is chained to a spike in the floor that gives her access in her bedroom but not beyond. Every second evening she gets chained to a longer chain that allows her down one flight of stairs for dinner with her daughter Nina and the bathroom.

John Marrs creates two protagonists that he develops with skill throughout the novel and each tells the story from their perspective. The family background with Maggie and Nina, and the incidents which led to this highly caustic situation are slowly revealed. The suspense of the unknown and which character is the most dangerous and cruel is maintained with wonderful complex switching of suspicion between the two. “But I no longer allow her to witness how her cruelty upsets me. Maybe I’ve been taking the wrong approach.”

The biggest issue for me is the believability on how this scenario developed. I can normally suspend belief when the thriller suspense is as riveting as this but this issue constantly nagged at the back of my mind. This was a buddy read with Beata and this topic became our main discussion area. Marrs does captivate with his threads of action and manipulation and this is a page-turner of drama with a wonderful pace throughout the whole novel. At this stage with Beata, we both know each other so well that we wait with a smile knowing how the other is going to react to the author’s intent and their delivery with possible plot holes.

I need to try more John Marrs because he certainly knows how to hook a reader and I appreciate how he enthrals his readers. I would recommend this book and I would like to thank Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy in return for an honest review.

What Lies Between Us was a phenomenal read - I wish I could rate higher than 5 stars. The plot centers around Nina and her mother Maggie, who is chained up in the attic as repentance for a lifetime of hurts she has caused her daughter. Told from each woman’s perspective both in the present day as well as the past, ‘What Lies Between Us’ never stops revealing incredible twists and truths as we learn what brought mother and daughter to their current situation.

The book finishes just as strongly as it begins, and the characters, especially Maggie, are written masterfully. Although the premise seems a bit unlikely, I didn’t notice any glaring holes that damaged believability and the author has clearly taken this into account. This book will leave you with a series of emotions and will be hard to put down.

Note: I received a free eBook copy of ‘What Lies Between Us’ from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Whew!! This would have to be one of the most toxic dysfunctional mother-daughter relationships in fiction!

Nina can't forgive her mother Maggie for the things she has done to destroy her life and chance of ever having a happy family. But Maggie only wanted to protect her daughter so does she deserve the revenge that Nina serves up in return?

This is a fantastic, disturbing, intense and warped thriller, told in the voices of mother and daughter in the present time and going back twenty five years to when all the trouble started. Compelling story telling with excellent characters and dark and twisty secrets and lies.

A relationship between any mother and daughter is a unique and special one but comes with its share of ups and downs. But the relationship that Nia and her mother, Maggie have is especially complicated. Nia has had her mother chained in an upstairs room of their house for the past two years. Nia believes her mother has ruined her life and so now she wishes to return the favour. Nia was a wild child and made some big mistakes that Maggie helped her through it Nia doesn’t see it that way at all.
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Wow this book was a wild ride and certainly unexpected. I was about 15% into it and wasn’t loving it and almost gave up until I saw another review on it and decided to push on. I am certainly glad I did because I absolutely loved this book. There were so many twists and turns and so much of it was unpredictable. I loved the writing style in that the chapters changed POV from Nia to Maggie but also went through different time lines from past to present. I would highly recommend this one to all the thriller lovers out there.

How far would you really go to protect someone that you love?

We meet Maggie and Nina. Every other night Maggie and Nina have dinner together, like normal families do. After dinner, Nina helps Maggie back into her room in the attic -- along with the heavy chain that keeps Maggie locked up there.

Told from alternating perspectives of Nina and Maggie, What Lies Between Us tells the story of the ultimate mother/daughter relationship. From Nina's perspective, Maggie needs to be punished for everything she has done, whereas Maggie believes that all the things she did were out of love (and therefore justified). John Marrs managed to deliver a captivating thriller with just a few characters. A great read for 2020!

What a wild ride! Even after reading the description, I honestly wasn’t prepared for what I was getting myself into when I started reading this book. Now that it is over, I keep asking myself, “What did I just read?!” It will be sticking with me for a while. ⁣⁣⁣
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Description: Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. Afterwards, Maggie returns to the attic where she is kept on a chain because of the unforgivable things she has done to Nina. However, Nina doesn’t know everything about the past, and Maggie plans to keep it that way.⁣⁣⁣
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This book is the definition of dark and twisted. I was completely engrossed in the story and found myself hanging on every word. I loved the alternating points of view, the flashbacks, and hearing from both of the main characters. I couldn’t put it down. As I got deeper into the book, I kept finding myself being utterly shocked by all of the secrets that were being uncovered. For me, the ending seemed a bit abrupt, but it worked! ⁣⁣⁣
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“What Lies Between Us” is the first book I have read by John Marrs, and now I can’t wait to read all of his others. Thank you @netgalley and #amazonpublishinguk for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review!⁣⁣⁣
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Thank you to NetGalley for this advance copy. John Marrs is one of my favorite authors. This book was heartbreaking, pulse pounding, page turning and twisty! First I was horrified for the mother, then for the daughter, then for the mother, then.... wow!

OMG, what a rollercoaster of emotions. I absolutely devoured this book in one day. I am left feeling bereft that it has ended.

This book tells the tale of mother, Maggie and daughter, Nina and the intricacies of their relationship. You are taken on a twisted tale of love, devotion and the extent others will go to to get what they think they want. The story is told from both their points of view and you are taken to past and present till the climax.

This has to be the best book I have read so far all year. It will stay with me and was well worth losing a day to.

This is my first book by this author and It won't be the last. This book was amazing! Incredible writing and a story that keep you guessing and engaged from the very first page. The twists and turns are brilliant and so well thought and developed.

I really enjoyed this book and I will definitely be getting a hard copy!

I received this ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc. I was blown away by Marr’s stellar The One, so was excited for this.
This is told from the POV of two women: 68-year old Maggie, who is held captive in her home by her 36-year old daughter, Nina, who tied her mother up by a steel chain. She unties her mum to bring down for dinner, then takes her back up to the attic. I won’t say any more about the plot. The less you know the better.
The characters are well etched out and there were lots of twists and reveals. The chapters are short and pacy, with flashbacks that had the narrative zipping along. If you love books about twisted mother-daughter relationships you’ll love this. It’s 5/5.

This is my first John Marrs books, but won’t be my last. Maggie can’t forgive her mother for their past. Told in the present with flashbacks, the whole twisted story unfolds. What seems predictable is not. This is one mother daughter relationship you won’t forget.

Oh boy, that was CRAZY!!! It's not usual that a book leaves me feeling crappy, but this one sure did (another book that left me with a similar sensation was "Behind closed doors" by B.A. Paris). This must be one of the most wild and disturbing stories I've read lately. Like mother, like daughter! Talk about dysfunctional families!

Nina has being keeping Maggie, her mother, prisoner in the attic for 2 years. Soon we learn about their strained relationship (in case the chain around Maggie's ankle wasn't clue enough), but why? What happened between them to reach that point?

Told in dual perspectives, Nina and Maggie, past and present, the story moves along nicely at a quick pace. Some times with these kind of narrative structures is easy to lose track of who's talking or what time is it, but in this case it was so well written we go back and forth between both temporal lines with no trouble at all.

Both main characters were so well drawn that my sympathies kept changing as all the twists were revealed one after the other and, although I managed to guess some of them early on, that didn't make the reading any less enjoyable.

I debated myself rating it 4 or 5 stars, but finally I decided to settle on 4 stars because there were several aspects that required a bit of suspension of disbelief (that town's police might be on strike!)

This was my first book by John Marrs but certainly won't be the last. Mr. Marrs, you've got yourself a new fan!

Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

My initial reaction to finishing this book is “That was fucked up”. Excuse the language but if you read this, then you know it’s incredibly crazy. I love crazy but this gave a whole new meaning to the word.

What Lies Between Us is a psychological domestic thriller about a mother and daughter relationship. It is told in dual timelines, past and present, to provide the reader with context on how the present came to be. I went into this one not really knowing anything about it. I loved John Marrs The One, so I knew this one was going to be good. I recommend going in blind and not reading too much about the plot, to get the best results.

This book was just insane. Both characters are extremely unlikable and at times I wanted to scream at them for the choices they made. I was able to kind of predict what was going on. Certain parts but not the full extent. It was a little over the top for me which is why I’m giving it 4 stars.

I recommend this if you’re interested in thrillers that have to do family relationships rather than romantic. I promise you’ll be left speechless!

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️