This is a thriller full of twists and turns. The storyline and revelations throughout are great to read.
A quick easy read

A nice easy read despite being a thriller and moves along at a nice pace. It took me a little while to get into it, hence the four stars rather than five but overall, a good exciting read.

Guilty is a clever, thrilling and roller coaster read with twists and turns galore. It does start with a slow burn, but when it takes the reader, it doesn't let go! If you love a good psychological read, you will be entertained.Just one small peeve (totally my own issue), another book with another main character with another secret etc etc.....

Book Review : Guilty by Siobhán MacDonald

Genre: Crime Fiction
Source: Received from Publisher
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

📚📚My Review of Guilty📚📚

I loved this. Interesting characters, dirty Irish local politics, family secrets and a guilt conscience that wants redemption. The setting of the modern Irish house with walls of glass had a very claustrophobic feel. And the constant rain and the overflowing lough at the bottom of the garden added to the atmosphere.

It felt threatening and sinister and my heart was in my mouth at times.

Highly recommended. And that last line 😱😱 Brilliant.

📚📚Book Blurb📚📚

Doctor Luke Forde has the perfect life. A respected heart surgeon, he has a rewarding job, a successful wife Alison, and a daughter Nina. From their beautiful house overlooking Lough Carberry in County Clare, they present a portrait of family bliss. But over the course of a weekend, Luke's life spirals into chaos.
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It begins one morning with the word 'GUILTY' painted on his boathouse. Then he spots a chilling notice in the local newspaper. When this is followed by the delivery of a small coffin-shaped package, Luke is terrified. Someone knows the dark secret he is hiding. And someone is out to get him.
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Luke starts to receive horrifying anonymous messages, and it becomes clear that it's not only Luke the sender is intending to harm. With strange things happening in the operating theatre, Alison's political ambitions straining their marriage, and Nina's behaviour sparking all sorts of trouble, Luke turns to therapist Terence Black. Is the therapist the only one that can save Luke and his family from the horrendous secrets of the past?

#guilty #siobhanmacdonald


Thanks to Little Brown Book Group for giving me for giving me a copy of this book for review consideration. As always, no matter what the source of the book, you get my honest, unbiased opinion.

Guilty is told from Lukes POV. He is a husband father doctor and professor, yet he is struggling with his day to day life. He finds himself seeking a therapist where we learn about history.

The story is told in the past and present day. We find out what it is that Luke feels guilty about and why it is he may be being targeted. His wife is to busy being a political mongol which has put a big strain on their marriage. Their daughter Nina is clearly looks pride and joy. Lukes stalker is targeting using his greatest love against him his daughter.

Luke is on the haunt to find out who is stalking him and why. This allows us to find out more about his history and how he ends up where he is today. His therapy sessions are very interesting but also a tad unrealistic.

I found this book a very easy read. A good introduction to psychological thrillers. If you are a die hard psychological thriller reader as I am you might find you guess the storyline quite quickly. There was very little surprise in the story for me except one big plot twist that is why I enjoyed rhis book as even though I saw where it was going it was nice to see the route fhe writer takes to get us there.

The characters are all actually very interesting. Luke is a hugh flyer and it's refreshing to read a story with a man struggling with mental health issues. Also to have a doctor suffering from clear ptsd. Alison is your typical bady. She isn't a loveable character but that didn’t stop me having this pull of sadness towards her I could only fill in the gaps of what I imagine her childhood would of been like but it was enough for me to connect with her character in the story Nina is a great character, your typical trouble teen. She is written so well it was like reading about my 17 year old sister. The therapist Terence is the only character I can't quite get behind, only because of the nature of the sessions between luke and him, he would eb bound by a professional code of conduct to act differently. But other than that I quite liked him, he adds a bit of a light hearted element.

All in all its a good book. Very good if you are new to the genre, if your aren't it meant be a bit of a slow burner but bare with it. I am happy to rate 3 out of 5 stars.


Thank you to netgalley, amazing publishers and the author for allowing me an APC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
My review is my opinion and mine alone.

I very much enjoyed this book. It has a good story and excellent main characters. I would definately recommend this book.

A family in disarray: father, a consultant surgeon; mother a politician' and daughter an adoptee from Russia. Good well-worked plausible ploy with credible characters. As the flood levels rise, so does the tension in this book.

Firstly thank you for allowing me to review this book. I am new to netgalley but love reading so this is just fantastic. I found that this novel had a bit of a slow start and didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Although I understood that the main character had something he was hiding and was being threatened, it wasn’t clear on how they were going to be linked. Whilst I would view that negatively, it could also be construed as being very clever twists because I honestly did not see what was coming towards the end of the novel! I did enjoy it although I struggled with continuing to read it at first. My advice, stick with it. The story is worth it.

Respectable Facades.....
Respectable facades hide an array of secrets. Compelling psychological suspense with a clever plot, a credible cast of characters and a good dose of mounting tension.

All the stars for this absolutely fantastic suspense thriller. I loved it so much and was hooked from the very start.

Great read. It’s was exciting and fast paced. Could feel my heart racing as I read it. Couldn’t get enough of it. Definitely worth a read

Quite hard to get into due to the way it is written. However, if you persevere you are rewarded with lots of in depth detail and plot twists.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Amazing I really enjoyed this!! kept me gripped and guessing right until the very end!! Cannot wait to read more from this author!!

This is a perfectly decent thriller set in modern day Ireland. Respected medic, Luke is married to ambitious local politician, Alison. He receives several disturbing messages alluding to the death of his (very much alive) daughter Nina. Through there vantage point of some therapy sessions we learn Luke harbours a dark and shameful secret. As the story unfolds Luke’s past and present collide with alarming consequences.

Reflecting back on this novel, I can appreciate the clever plot, and was gratified by a very worthy ending. I struggled a little intially however, finding the early timelines a little confusing. Once we get into Luke’s therapy sessions the storytelling came alive however, and from there on I was intrigued and entertained.

My thanks to Net galley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.

Guilty sounded like my sort of book and I was very excited to start. Unfortunately I found the writing style difficult to get into to. Gave up after first couple of chapters, not exciting enough for me.

I give three stars as standard on books I DNF - it’s unfair to give low reviews for something I didn’t finish.

I found this a very hard book to get into. The plot seemed a little too obvious so that mad3 it lost any of the tension that the author was trying for.

Guilty is bestselling Irish writer Siobhan MacDonald’s third work of thrilling psychological suspense set in her native Ireland and it is another step up in terms of the thrills and spills on display throughout. Professor Luke Forde, a renowned Paediatric Cardiothoracic Surgeon and his wife, Alison Forde-Thompson, an up and coming politician, appear from the outside to have the perfect life but usually those who try too hard to mould the way they are perceived are the ones who have the most to hide; that is definitely the case here. But when a series of incidents appears to be a targeted campaign against the family they become quite anxious about why it might be happening. Is it the work of daring political saboteurs? Or could it be related to the secrets Luke has long hidden from the prying eyes of those around him? He may very well be about to receive his just desserts...

This is a thriller full of twists, turns, misdirection and excitement that from the outset packs a punch, opening in explosive and highly engaging fashion. The whole narrative is deeply unsettling with a menace to it that you rarely see (or, perhaps more accurately, feel) in fiction. The attention to detail (as well as the palpable menacing atmosphere) was a joy to behold and not something many writers usually lend their time to. The plentiful dark revelations dotted throughout keep your attention and some of them were really quite emotional as well as surprising. It's a quick, easy and enjoyable read and a novel that is perfect for a little summer escapism as it’s not too heavy a plot. Hence, it'll appeal to a wide audience of crime fanatics. Many thanks to Constable for an ARC.

Clever, well structured and kept me guessing. There's a few clues dotted throughout the book, some that I missed and some that I'd guessed. Makes for a really enjoyable read that was an easy way to lose a few hours!

Luke is a successful doctor in his own right and the ever-patient husband of Minister Alison Thompson. Luke's wife Alison is a piece of work. Selfish, career-minded, spoilt, arrogant and using people to build her own profile, I really questioned how Luke could've stood by his wife for so many years. Their adopted daughter Nina is a breath of fresh air who is not afraid to call out her mother for what she is. She's close to her father but even he gets on the wrong side of her sometimes.

When Luke's work is affected by momentary seizures, he seeks the help of Terrence Black and is forced to uncover a dark secret he'd tried to keep hidden for years. Terrence helps him open up about his family and their long history and encourages Luke to let go of his burdens.

I really enjoyed Luke's sessions with Terrence Black. They were an interesting way to give an account of Luke's past and to bring about the events that happen following his admission.

When Luke begins to receive what seem like threats to the life of his daughter Nina, he scrambles to try and figure out who is sending the threats and why. To confront the culprit, he must first confront his own past and from here Guilty really starts to pick up pace, escalating towards a fast-paced ending that I didn't see coming.

The chapter "Full Disclosure" was a nice way to summarise everything that had happened and why to make sure the reader had understood. And right at the very last minute, we have one sneaky little twist that gives us a huge clue as to what happens in this story once the words stop.

Very clever and well-structured, this is a great book from Siobhan MacDonald that I'd definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, Siobhan MacDonald and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A perfect thriller to curl up with.
The story was written brilliantly, the story unfolding piece by piece as Luke talks through his experiences with a therapist.
There were many twists and turns throughout, some of which I did anticipate, but none the less it didn't take any of the enjoyment of the book away!.
A wonderfully written, well paced thriller!.

A good story with lots of twists, some I guessed but others were out of the blue. Well worth a read . A solid four stars