What a thrilling read! This is exactly what I love about thrillers. You have a theory about who-done-it but the more you read the more twists there are. Goodbye theory, hello new theory...oh wait, nope it’s not that either. There is so much going on here that you just know your fingers are going to keep turning the pages whether you realise it or not.

Having previously read and enjoyed Then She Vanishes and Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas, I was excited to get the ARC of Just Like The Other Girls. It’s a great premise – an elderly lady takes on help from young, female carers but as Una discovers when she takes the job, her predecessors have met sudden ends.

I really enjoyed the split narrative of the plot – we start off with the perspective of Una, the young carer and Katherine, the cold, seemingly uncaring daughter of the elderly Elspeth. Half-way through this is shaken up slightly in a really nice twist which I enjoyed (no spoilers!) Katheryn is an odd one - at the start of the book her chapters seem a little pointless but when we get to snippets about her past it starts to get a lot more interesting. I did feel like some parts of the book dragged out a bit, particularly in the middle section. There is a lot of tension and red herrings but there was never really a point where I thought I had it all figured out, even though there’s quite a relatively small pool of suspects – it was working out the *why* rather than the *who* that I struggled with.

The only bad side of this is that I found the ending quite contrived and odd. The book does a really nice job of not letting you be able to guess the conclusion but this comes at a cost of an ending that makes sense. The end of the book suddenly felt very rushed and then the author added a final twist to it as well which really ruined the realism. However, I do feel that if this hadn’t been done I would have complained it was too predictable so perhaps there’s no way to win with it!

Overall, Just Like The Other Girls is a twisty thriller with an ending I did not see coming. Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin UK – Michael Joseph for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just Like The Other Girls is a compelling psychological thriller about a dysfunctional family that will keep you guessing until the very end.

I did find some of the incidences to be too far fetched for my liking but it was an enjoyable read and whiled away a few hours.

I know lots of people will love this book but I liked it rather than loved it.

I was lost within the first few pages and didn’t come up for air until the last page. The twists and turns were well thought out and kept you guessing. Even at the end when I had cracked it, there wasn’t another plot twist that I didn’t see coming.
It’s a fully pledged page turner. Set locally to myself so I could easily picture the scenes as they unfolded.
Another great story by this author who has fast became one of my favourites!!
Well done!

Another great book by Claire Douglas !!!!

Una is struggling after the recent death of her mother and the betrayal of her now ex-boyfriend, when she sees an advert for a job. After applying and getting the job she soon finds herself as the live-in carer for Elspeth. All is good, she has her own room and Elspeth isn’t too needy but she does have a daughter, Kathryn, that doesn’t seem to approve of Una.

Una soon discovers that she is not the first girl that has had this job but it seems as though her predecessor’s all died !! Suddenly Una finds herself being suspicious of her new employer and everyone around her. Is it just a coincidence that the previous girls died ?

This is another great book by Claire and yet again she has a way of making you think you know what is going on only to then turn everything upside down so you have no clue !! This is definitely one to add to your TBR pile, right at the very top !!

Thank you to Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

I think this one has to be my favourite.....
When Una’s much loved Mum passes away, she feels lost and ready for a change from working in a care home. She accepts the position of companion to elderly Esther, it’s not quite what she expected and a lot of times she’s bored but she’s paid well. Esther’s daughter Kathryn, who looks after her Mother on Una’s days off, is decidedly hostile to her. Soon Una discovers that the two previous carers have both died and what’s worse is she looks just like them. Does this mean anything for Una?
I love Claire Douglas’s books and this one was so twisty turny! I was quite shocked midway, not expecting things to go as they did, so my mind went into overdrive trying to work things out. And I can say nothing was as I thought. Throughly entertaining, that kept me on my toes. Loved it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

Claire Douglas sets her latest novel Just Like the Other Girls in one of Bristol’s more affluent suburbs, showing us how the enviable and charming, outwardly respectable facade of a Georgian townhouse on Clifton’s leafy streets and crescents offers no protection against dark secrets, family dysfunction and danger finding their way in.

I rooted for Una early on, thanks in large part to her friendship with her best friend and flatmate Courtney, the fact that she’s a young girl mourning her mother but also someone who wants to move on in her life. Taking the job at Elspeth’s is her first step towards changing things up but it soon becomes clear that she’s stumbled into a potentially dangerous situation and not at all the boring or cushy number it seemed from the ad.

Elspeth is an altogether more fascinating, exceptionally tricky character to read, particularly once you discover which house name she chose. It throws up all manner of questions about her and her relationship with her offspring. Is she to be pitied, admired or reviled? Lonely and vulnerable or playing some devious game herself? It’s hard to tell but I always sensed she was the spider at the centre of this shadowy web of relationships, so central to Just Like the Other Girls.

It’s an odd sensation reading a book where one of the main characters bears your name, especially when it’s spelt the *coughs* right same way. That gave me a bit of a kick initially, only to discover that this Kathryn is either a cold and bitter woman, at best, no doubt misunderstood to an extent, or she’s the villain of the piece.

This being a Claire Douglas book, things are never going to be quite as straightforward as all that. Douglas liberally scatters seeds of doubt around all her characters and their motivations throughout each novel and Just Like the Other Girls is no exception. She had me trying to decide if what I thought were red flags were in fact red herrings meant to distract and confuse and, all the way up to the book’s denouement, I was questioning everything and everyone, revisiting what I thought I knew and continually revising what I believed was going on. It’s an aspect of her books that I particularly enjoy and she does it exceptionally well here, wrong-footing this reader right up to the very end. She threw me so off-balance at one point that I had to take some time out before reading on.

As Claire Douglas teases out Elspeth’s family story, and that of Una and her predecessors, I never knew who to trust and rotated almost everyone, including Courtney and Elspeth’s housekeeper and just about every other secondary character, through this prism of suspicion.

With its intricate web of past secrets and relationships dynamics, Just Like the Other Girls will have you on edge and switching allegiances throughout in this involving and deeply unsettling thriller.

Just Like the Other Girls is a fabulous cleverly plotted book that gripped me from the very beginning .Set in Bristol the characters are well drawn and very believable .This book kept me guessing ,full of mystery ,surprises twists and turns Claire Douglas has done it again yet another brilliant book . Many thanks to the Publisher the Author and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review .

My second novel by Claire Douglas, Just Like the Other Girls was a really cracking read!

The reader is introduced to Una Richardson who has recently lost her mother. Still grieving and having split with her boyfriend, she answers an advert for a companion to an elderly lady, Elspeth McKenzie, hoping the money she earns will enable her to travel later in the year with her friend Courtney. But when she starts the job she discovers that Elspeth's daughter, Kathryn, resents her. She also realises that Elspeth had other girls to provide care before her...

Set in Bristol, England, this was a wonderfully tense, dramatic and nerve-wracking read and everything I would want to see in a thriller was there. Claire Douglas threw several red herrings into the plot and there were occasions when I was sure I knew exactly what was going on, only to be thrown a curveball and be knocked way off track. I was totally hooked from the beginning and the character creation and development was very well done, even though I couldn't particularly relate to any individual. Gripping and believable, the plot unravelled at a very satisfying pace.

I appreciated the way Claire Douglas delved into the heart of the family and the complexity of relationships, adeptly creating further depth to the story. I was certainly very pleased with the astonishing and exciting denouement. I highly recommend this tense and unputdownable book.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Penguin UK - Michael Joseph via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Another great read from Clare. Una finds what she thinks is a great well paid job as a live in carer for an old wealthy lady in a grand house in Clifton. After hearing bits about her predecessors and finding out that they both died starts to make Una wonder if maybe her job is too good to be true. With the help of her best friend Courtney, Una tries to find out exactly what happened to the previous girls, who spookily both looked like her too. This book has lots of twists and turns along the way with a few red herrings too. A fab 5 star read.

Just Like the Other Girls is the latest standalone psychological thriller from bestseller Claire Douglas where she once again shows us just how adept she is at pulling the wool over our eyes. Young Una Richardson is mourning the passing of her mother and her boyfriend, Vince, has betrayed her so she is in desperate need of some direction. Luckily her best friend, Courtney, is by her side. After discovering an advertisement in the local paper she applies to become a live-in carer for elderly 79-year-old Elspeth Mackenzie; Elspeth is wealthy and the salary appears to be amazing for the little work she will have to carry out. Not only is it the dream job but it means she will be living in luxury in a stunning property set in a beautiful location. But Elspeth’s daughter Kathryn takes an instant disliking to Una and her presence. When she learns that the previous two carers, her predecessors, both ended up dead in suspicious circumstances she begins to wonder just how safe she is living and working in Elspeth’s mansion. So she asks Courtney to help her to investigate what exactly is going on; what they find are a plethora of secrets and lies and a nightmare begins to unfold...

Well, once again I am delighted that the author managed to well and truly fool me, and although I thought I knew what was going on it wasn't long before I was hit with twist after shocking twist and realised I had been completely wrong. It is a gripping, creepy and captivating story from first page to last and the amount of intrigue throughout really held me hostage. I read it a single sitting as I was much too engrossed in the interesting happenings to place it down and do something else. The most appropriate word to describe this is addictive as you just cannot seem to stop; I guess you could say that it gets you hook, line and sinker. As always, Claire’s plotting is clever, intricate and sophisticated and her writing smart with a great flow to it. The cast of characters is varied in that there are some you can relate to and empathise with, Una for instance, and others who you despise for their strange and unwelcoming behaviour that makes all around them feel uncomfortable, E.g. Kathryn. The moral of the story? If something sounds too good to be true it usually is. Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC.

This was a very cleverly written psychological thriller. Very complex with lots of action and tension but gave nothing away at all. Excellent and totally surprising conclusion. A story well worth reading.

Just Like Other Girls by Claire Douglas is a 5 star read.
This book was well written, the author knew how to grab your attention and refuse to let go. There were twists and turns and an ending that no matter what you could never have guessed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see what Ms Douglas come up with next.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley.

This is a twisty little tale where you’re never quite sure where the story is heading.

Una has just got a job as a live-in companion to the wealthy, but cold Elspeth. But the money is good, and she’s willing to put up with the fact that Elspeth’s daughter Kathryn really doesn’t take to her.

But in due course, she begins to learn that she’s not the first companion that has lived in the house. There were two before her, and nobody is really talking much about them. What happened? And who’s responsible?

The book tells the story from a handful of perspectives, and just when you think you’ve worked out what’s happening, something else will come along to throw you off course and introduce something new.

The Bristol setting is fun, with a noir-ish tone to it. The Clifton Suspension Bridge plays a key role, and it comes across as a lonely place.

Of course there are some contrivances in a story like this. The police seem enormously disinterested, and there is a lot going on across a relatively small set of characters. But that all said, it kept me guessing right to the end.

Thanks to the NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin for providing me and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh I loved this!

I’ve read a couple of Claire Douglas’ other works and loved them so I was certain when I requested this that I was going to enjoy it.

It tells the story of Una, a young care assistant who stumbles across a job posting that will change her life: companion to a wealthy old lady. And change her life it does! Elspeth McKenzie’s previous two companions have died, one a suicide and one an accident, but is all as it seems! This is a Claire Douglas novel, so of course it isn’t!

I can’t go into too much detail otherwise most of this review will be under spoiler tags but I can say this book is fab. I worked out most of the plot, eventually, but there was definitely still a couple of twists I didn’t see coming- which is a miracle, considering the amount of thrillers I read.

This is a definite hit for me though. Absolutely would recommend you pick this one up!

This book was amazing !
I really struggled to put it down.
I was so engrossed I was late to work. I had my theories as to how this would end, pah!
In the end, I had no idea, I read a lot of this genre so it's great to be proved wrong.

A truly brilliant piece of thrilling work by Claire, I will be adding more of this author to my bookshelf.

Thank you.

She thought she was safe. So did the others . . .

*CARER/COMPANION WANTED FOR ELDERLY LADY*

*YOUNG FEMALE PREFERRED * COMPETITIVE SALARY*

*ROOM AND BOARD INCLUDED*

Una Richardson is struggling after the recent death of her mother and the betrayal by her boyfriend, so when she sees a vacancy advertising a carer/companion required for an elderly lady, she decides to apply, when she is offered the position she believes it could be the fresh start she needs and by the end of the year she should have enough money saved to go travelling with her best friend Courtney. She quickly realises that life at the McKenzie house isn't as idyllic as it first seemed, Elspeth McKenzie's daughter, Kathryn takes an instant dislike to Una and then she hears stories about the two girls that preceded her in that role, what is the truth behind what happened to Mathilde and Jemima, why will nobody talk about them and will Una end up just like the other girls?

This story is set in Clifton, Bristol, it's told from various perspectives and across two timelines, in the main it's the present day but there are also snippets from Kathryn as a child. It's a tale of intrigue and family secrets, full of suspense which isn't surprising as Douglas is one of the Queens of Suspense, her stories are so well written, with twists and turns galore, and this one was no exception, I had so many theories who the perpetrator was and was totally wrong on all counts, Claire Douglas had me fooled time and time again, and I was not prepared for that final twist, a true WTF moment! This book had me on the edge of my seat, it's a spine tingling, goosebump creating thriller that I just did not want to put down, I could not put it down and read it in less than two days. Claire Douglas is one of my go to authors where I don't need to read the blurb, I just know it's going to be a stonking good read and, once again, she did not disappoint! Hats off to Douglas for producing another cracking read, I loved it!!

I'd like to thank Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and Netgalley for the approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

I have shivers down my spine. This is a brilliantly written thriller with a lot of twists which kept me guessing right up to the end. The story is dark and gripping with great believable characters. Curl up in a chair and get totally immersed in this creepy, scary wonderful story.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

What a lovely little thriller this turned out to be. Full of twists and turns, and with the odd shock along the way it kept me on my toes right to the end.

My review is on Goodreads and will be posted on Amazon UK on publication day.

In a us still grieving the death of her mother when she applied for the job of live in carer for elderly Elspeth. But she soon discovers that two previous carers had died in suspicious circumstances. Elspeth's, daughter, Kathryn is quite cold towards Una and she's feeling a bit unsettled by it. Una begins to wonder whether she made the right decision in taking the job.

Una enlists the help from her best friend to try and unravel the secrets and lies that are wrapped up inside Elspths mansion. The tension between in a and Kathryn was palpable. A cleverly crafted story. When things seem to good to be true, they normally are. , and things are not how they first seemed. The story is full of twists and has a ,creepy feel about it. It's also tense, nerve wracking and dramatic. If you're a fan of thrillers, you'll love this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and the author Claire Dóuglas for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.