[Thanks to @netgalley and @amazonpublishing for the ARC!]⁠
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#WhatLiesBetweenUs is one of the craziest books I have ever read. And I mean that in the best way possible. 😅⁠
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Nina and Maggie's story is not easily discerned. Through the first-person narrative, told by both women we stumble in the dark, guessing about what could be true, who could be the villain, and who could be the hero of this story. Marrs leads us down various wrong paths and does so with great skill.⁠
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One thing that is clear is the dysfunctionality present in their relationship - secrets based on good intentions that do more harm than good, senseless revenge. ⁠
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I hesitate to reveal more for fear of spoiling the twist, but I promise you it is so worth it. This was was one of my favorite books this year, and although it can get pretty heavy the payoff is incredible.⁠

Maggie and Nina are mother and daughter sharing a home. They eat dinner together each night and then Nina escorts Maggie back to her room, puts her ankle in a chain and leaves her there. Nina is punishing her mother and intends to keep her as a prisoner in her own home for 21 years. The story jumps between past and present focusing on the actions of Maggie and Nina and how they ended up in this scenario. It is a gripping, disturbing story that will keep you hooked.

What I liked about this book: I was intrigued and genuinely wanted to know how this story would end. The writing was strong and descriptive. I loved the short chapters told by differing POV.

I struggled with only one thing: the characters. I hated them. But, I don't think the reader is supposed to connect or like either of these two main characters and my dislike of them did not take away from the story. Maybe it even made the story more interesting.

I highly recommend this book! The author gave excellent character description, and the house itself has its own character. For the sheer creepiness and being kept wondering what’s going to happen next, this is your book. I look for to reading more books by John Marrs. I thank Netgalley for this parcel for my honest opinion.

Every house has its secrets, except that these secrets are not buried in the past.

OMG! I have only read one other John Marrs book - "The Good Samaritan" - and that was more than a little twisted, but this one? This one is seriously twisted! WHAT LIES BETWEEN US is a dark and disturbing psychological thriller so twisted it will unsettle your concept of the mother and daughter relationship completely. It is a twisted tale of intense love and hatred and a deep dark obsession. I don't even know where to start with this one...I am so blown away.

Thirty eight year old Nina lives a quiet life in the home she grew up in. She finds solace in the books she nurtures in her job as a librarian and the peacefulness of her workplace. But her life has not been a bed of roses. She longed to be a mother but the early onset of menopause when she was 19 put paid to that, aside from the fact she had inherited some faulty chromosomes from her father which would see any child she carried to term would be seriously deformed. Perhaps it is better this way. Or is it?

Sixty eight year old Maggie spends her days in her attic bedroom watching her neighbours go about their lives. The shuttered window gives her a limited view of the outside world but still she notices things that other people do not. She's the first to notice when Mr Steadman's curtains remain drawn and his mail starts piling up. She's the first to notice the bruises on the little girl across the road and when her mother hits her with such force she bounces off the wall.

But there is nothing she can do about it...or about anything. Because Maggie is bound to the lies she has told about the secrets she must keep to ensure the protection of the one person she loves most in this world. Her daughter Nina.

The two women are bound together in more ways than just the house they share, filled with its secrets from the attic to the basement to the garden beyond. For it is these secrets that keep them together just as much as the lies that have torn them apart.

For two years Maggie has been imprisoned in the attic, kept in place by the cuff around her ankle secured to the chain that keeps her in this room. It allows her access everything within her bedroom but not beyond. Every second evening it is exchanged for a longer chain that allows her down one flight of stairs for dinner with Nina. After that, she is accompanied back upstairs and allowed a quick bath before she is secured once again to her room.

Her daily meals are left by her door each morning consisting of breakfast, lunch and dinner....except for the one she shares with Nina every other day. The walls have been soundproofed, the windows triple glazed and a partitioned wall on the second floor is sealed by a door that remains locked at all times...the keys safely tucked in Nina's pocket. For Maggie, life beyond the attic room no longer exists.

So what terrible secrets lead Nina to imprison her mother in such a cruel way? What could be so shocking that Maggie must keep Nina from discovering the secrets of past at all costs?

There are times when Maggie questions her past actions...but she knows deep down that did what she had to do. To protect her daughter from ever finding out the truth. But what is the truth? What happened to make Maggie take such drastic action? And what were they that made Nina lock her mother up in her enforced ivory tower?

WOW! That was all I could say upon completing this book. John Marrs has created an intriguing and compulsive tale of a dark and warped relationship between a mother who will do anything for her child and a daughter who would do whatever it takes to make her pay. The terrifying situation Maggie finds herself in this co-existence with Nina that keeps them bound together through the secrets and lies and even the truths that they are both hiding. It is so cleverly written I found it hard to drag myself away and back into the real world.

The story unfolds through both Maggie and Nina's perspectives, both in the past and the present, as their respective narratives reveal their own unique stories and creating a palpable tension that kept me turning the pages. And with each side something new is revealed as bit by agonising bit, the secrets are slowly stripped away. Then, and only then, do we see the complete picture in all its technicolour detail.

So what makes WHAT LIES BETWEEN US the compulsive edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller that it is? Is it the 370 pages with only two main players, making it a clever yet claustrophobic read? Or is it the secrets and the lies that are slowly uncovered? Or is it the twisted nature of the intense love and hatred mixed with something darker?

Whatever it is, WHAT LIES BETWEEN US is a jaw-dropping and disturbing read that will shock you and possibly stay with you for some time to come, just as "The Good Samaritan" did...and still does.

A clever and compulsive read, WHAT LIES BETWEEN US is both chilling and addictive that will appeal to those who love their psychological thrillers dark and twisted. It is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

I would like to thank #JohnMarrs, #NetGalley and #AmazonUK for an ARC of #WhatLiesBetweenUs in exchange for an honest review.

Maybe it's all a result of my own psychoses? Am I the sick twisted one and not her? Am I the unreliable narrator in our story?

A mother/daughter relationship is complex and when you mix twisted, you don't know what you will end up in the end. That is what makes this a gripping thriller. Maggie and Nina - who is the twisted one in the lies that is between them? The narration is done by both - Maggie the mom who will do anything to protect her daughter even from herself and Nina the daughter that discovers her mother's deception and will control her own destiny.

This thriller reveals layer of deception and surprise so it would be too easy to give anything way. Part of the tension is discovering this troubled relationship for yourself. You will be left speechless! and without breath! It will knock you down!

A special thank you to Amazon Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

John Marrs is an incredible author who manages to weave a story that is so realistic and you feel every ounce of this story and then he manages to twist it in your belly and stun you. I

Oh my god, this book was a wild ride that I absolutely could not put down. The premise is so twisty and horrifying in that “can’t look away” type of way and Marrs’s characters are beautifully developed. Their motivations and thought processes were all clear and understandable, making it all kind of terrifyingly believable. I can’t say much more without giving anything away, but JUST READ IT.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

What a disturbing and engaging mother and daughter story !!
Nina has her mother Maggie locked up for two years in their house, tied up with a chain with no intention of letting her go. What has Maggie done to deserve that punishment? What secrets does Maggie keep from her daughter?
This psychological thriller has so many twists and parts that make you feel suffocated and super anxious. This is my first book by John Marrs and let me tell you the writing style makes it very easy for you to devour the whole story. When I was at 80% of the book I couldn't put it down. Definitely one of my favorite thriller of the year.
Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon publishing U.K for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Ooooooo what a story!!! I really can’t explain how crazy this is!! Please give it a go. Maggie lives in the attic and is allowed out by her captor. But why?! Read on!!! A strong 5/5!!

Not sure what I was expecting from this book but what an incredible rollercoaster ride of a story.
Told by 2 narrators who live together in a house, the story is told over a number of years and happenings from both viewpoints. There are only a handful of other characters mentioned but the story is so centred on Nina and Maggie that it doesn’t matter.
I changed my mind as to who my sympathies were for numerous times in the book and even at the end I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to happen.
Would recommend.

I really loved this book. The book started off with a very slow pace but when the story picked up it was really good. I can't wait to read more books by this author.

In John Marrs' What Lies Between Us, this thriller is so twisted and creepy on every page from start to finish. For Nina Simmonds, she always wondered what happened to her father when she was a teenager. Her mother Maggie told her lies that he left them and went away. But is that the truth? From there, there was so many secrets between this mother and daughter that stemmed way beyond her turbulent youth. Ever since then, in flashback sequences, we get to learn how deceitful her mother was to her when she was a "wild child" and had gotten herself pregnant twice with the same man who was ten years her senior. That's when they hated each other and the resentment begin to grew and fester like a cancerous cell. Then we return to the present and how they treated each other while they both remained a prisoner in their old family home. Like the old adage of what goes around and comes out with karma, these actions spoke louder than words when Nina imprisoned her own mother in an upstairs bedroom in the same home. Only Nina knows she's there while Maggie harbored secrets of the past herself and what led her doomed fate there and plans to escape. After years of secrets and lies, Nina begins to dig and search for the truth on what happened her then and now when she turns the tables on her mother and turns cold like a trek in the Arctic Circle. Then it spirals out of control when she learns what she's been missing and how she could pay it back when her jealous rage burns like a wildfire until the ultimate climax that would take your breath away on how it would end.

This was an amazing book, with wonderful parts that involved plot twists. I truly enjoyed how it kept me on my toes. I think that we need more books like this to enjoy and read which helps us to take our minds off of other things.

This was my first John Marrs book and it will get me to pick up his others. This was an amazingly dark, twisted psychological domestic thriller. There were so many twists and turns; I consistently questioned if I was rooting for the right person or not. Thank you NetGalley for a copy in exchange for a review.

This was an absolute cracker!
It's a little disturbing and I believe this is one of the books that some people (not me) believe should have a trigger warning.

John Marrs never fails to deliver and he delivered in the bucket-load on this.
Long may it continue!

How on earth have I never read any John Marrs before now? What an omission on my part . This is a dark, dark thriller, about a really messed up family with too many awful secrets. Highly recommended.

Wow! Never doubt that John Marrs is capable of making another spectacular book (not that I did!). I'm not even sure what I just read- it was mind blowing- and amazing. Marrs is definitely one of my favorite authors. Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first John Marrs and it’s definitely not the last. I haven’t been so desperate to know what happening in a while and I really enjoyed myself.

So many things happening but not difficult to follow at all. I thought the continuous change in point of views and timelines would affect my enjoyment but it really doesn’t.

The family dynamic in this book is unreal. How can a family hate and love each other this much all at the same time. I loved it.

As much as I couldn’t stop reading and was so invested I felt the ending didn’t feel right but I can’t quite put my finger on what’s off for me.

Highly highly recommend this.

What did i just read?? My head is spinning. It's a game of who do you hate more or who do you feel more sorry for? Maggie or Nina? Back and forth. And omg I still don't know. Just when you think you know, you realize you're only 20% in to this book and you don't know anything. Right up until the last page.....

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Not only did I not like any of the characters in this book, I thought they were stupid, that the plot did not make any sense and was predictable... The only positive thing I can think of about this book is that it was at least readable, the writing was fine. But another big issue for me was how trauma and mental health is used to justify actions in this book ; it's harmful and I do not appreciate it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.