Holy dysfunction, Batman! That was dark! This novel is not for the faint of heart. There is so much sickness and dysfunction in this family. It's pretty bleak.

Nina and her mother, Maggie, have a ... complicated relationship. That much is evident from the first page. As the story goes on, we unpack the "why" and "how." How did they get to this dark and awful place?

I thought it was very interesting (that's the Psych major in me). A really compelling case for why it is never a good idea to protect your children from the natural consequences of their actions. Of course, everything in this novel was extreme and Maggie was thus in emotional duress. However, I found myself wondering was she also a psychopath (or somewhere on the spectrum), due to her own upbringing, or was she just reacting impulsively (and unwisely) to a really bad situation? (That's an understatement).

Anyways, I felt like the mental illness in this story was not used as a easy explanation for a plot twist (which I hate), but was a main part of the plot. As such, it felt genuine instead of forced. It also left me feeling hugely sad for Nina.

4 stars

Compelling, but so very bleak that I almost wish I'd never read it! Please at least save Dylan at the end.

Unconditional love between a mother and child is most often thought to be a given. But what about between the child and mother? Mr. Marrs gives us a tale of love in a very twisted form. While the characters are mostly unlikeable, the book moves along quickly. Some predictability, but still a very good read.

**Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley in exchange of an honest review.**

Thank you Net Galley & Amazon Publishing UK for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Also a huge thank you and hats off to John Marrs for this titillating tale
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OK... for starters HOLY SHIT!!!!! Seriously, this statement doesn't 't even begin to cover this book. Let me be clear; if you don't want any spoilers of any kinds please keep scrolling by and do not read this review. Because there is no way I can explain this book or my thoughts and feelings without giving anything away.
*** OK .... so you non-spoiler wanters should be gone. ***
So let's start with this tidbit of knowledge.. Maggie is Nina's MOTHER... let that sink in.. Because what Nina does it keep her mother hostage in the attic.. Why you may ask? Well because according the Nina; Maggie ruined 21 years of her life, in essence took those years from her. So Nina in return plans to take those years back from Maggie by keeping her hostage. I myself could never imagine my Mother doing anything that would make me lock her up the way Nina did. I loved my mother with ever fiber of my being and seriously... screws are loose upstairs for Nina for her to be able to rationalize all she does in this book.**
Maggie stripped Nina of not of her father, but her first & second child, her chance to start a family, and so much more. But Maggie is just a mother who swore to protect and love her child at all costs. Maggie's whole adult life has been for Nina; Nina just can't see that yet. You see everything in this book is not what is seems.. Other than Nina being crazy and needing to be given the help she so desperately needs.
Things we know:
*Nina's father left out of the blue; which was the start of Nina's wild child days and getting pregnant at 14 but also 15. Nina also blames Maggie for this, because she was her father's "only girl". Maggie must have done something to drive him away.
*Nina acts out; gets pregnant at 13-14 but has a miscarriage.
*14 year old Nina starts a 'relationship' with a 24 year old Rock Star, Jon Hunter. Clearly he's a pedophile who groomed Nina; but you can read all about that.... However.... Nina gets knocked up again by Jon. This time she gives birth with the help of Maggie. Only to be told her child was stillborn.
*This book is filled with so many lies my mind was left spinning.
I don't want to give much more away. This is a book you must read. John Marrs you weaved a fantastically disturbing tale. I can't wait to see what other literary tricks up that sleeve of yours.

Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

WOW!!! This book took me for a rollercoaster ride. You have a mother Maggie and daughter Nina who live together in a house full of lies and deceit. But who is telling the lies and who is deceiving who? These characters had me going back and forth as to who is really the bad guy here. The book is written back and forth from years before and present day to tell you the full story. My second book I have read from John Marrs and he does not disappoint!!!

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.