In The Mistress, Ralph is married to Helen and they have a young daughter, Anna. Laura, a quiet, unassuming schoolteacher, is asked out by him and she becomes his mistress, until he decides to end their relationship. When she is unwilling to let him go he invites Laura to his home, but Helen turns up in the middle of their discussion...

Written with style and flair, Jill Childs wowed me with this classy psychological thriller. The plot execution was tremendous, as was the characterisation, and pacing. There were no disappointments and I was completely gripped from the outset, loving the shock factor and twists.
The story was told in two parts from the perspectives of Laura and Helen and was jammed full of scheming, lies and deception. These two characters were the highlight of the novel, and the fact that they were so contrary in their responses to circumstances and events made for a terrific read. As occurrences began to manifest, the fantastic formula of Jill Childs kept me on my toes whilst I attempted to figure everything out. The Mistress was everything I wanted in what was a tip-top psychological thriller, and I enjoyed how things played out in the spectacular finale. This was my first read by Jill Childs and it won't be my last.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

When you start to read a book and not only is the murder right at the beginning but also you know who the murderer is, you might think well that's it then no point in reading on. You would be wrong Jill has managed to pull together such a powerful psychological thriller that it takes your breath away.

This book made me swear out loud and scare my cat, now I read a lot of thrillers and love a good whodunnit. So imagine my complete shock when the author not only puts the death at the start but tells you exactly how it was done and by who. Now you would assume, wrongly by the way, that you then know how this book is going to go.

The author has cleverly split this book into two parts and points of view. The first told by Laura the mistress, a shy naive school teacher and colleague to Ralph. The second part is told by Ralph’s wife Helen. Let me just say the characters are what made this book for me and the fact that they are polar opposites in how they respond to situations made for an exciting read.

The pacing was good in part one but hold on to your knickers once you get to part two. The plot was a nicely unexpected surprise too and I love it when I’m kept on my toes. Full of lies, deception and scheming and some well placed twists and turns you just have to sit tight and prepare for the unexpected.

This was a simple concept that the author sent in a whole different way.  Helen and Ralph are happily married or so Helen thinks but Ralph is having a affair with Laura.   Laura goes to meet Ralph whilst Helen is out and he somehow ends up dead.
What follows is Helen and Laura trying to come to terms with the death of Ralph.   The first section of the book is mainly focused on Laura and it gets much more interesting when Helen takes centre stage.  
I enjoyed the characters and story but it didn’t overly grip me.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#TheMistress #NetGalley

OMG! You might think you know where this is going, but you won't see it coming! 

Two women, one a mistress, one a wife. A little bit of stalkery behavior (from several characters). And a whole lot of lying.

You could almost cue the suspenseful music as this tale of a wife, scorned lover, and cheating husband led to its dark conclusion.  

While this was a quick and satisfying read, Childs still made room to develop the characters, but in such a way that you never knew who you should be rooting for.  If you like suspense, read this!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance reader's copy of this book I just couldn't put down!

This was just an okay read for me. The saving grace is the characters. They are complex, especially Helen. Ralph is a character you love to hate. The storyline was slow and predictable. Except for the ending. That was an eerie moment that you won't soon forget. I wasn't engaged in the story and found myself skipping sections. Especially in the first half of the book. About halfway through Helen's part things pick up and become more interesting. I think this will appeal to other readers, it just wasn't for me.

The cover of this book is bright and eye catching. It makes you wonder about the connection to the story. At first, you see a woman (wife) and another woman (mistress) but as you read you can see that this cover image may also be hinting at Laura’s double life.

No-one expects Laura to be a mistress. And they certainly don’t expect Laura to kill a man. But sometimes, circumstances get the better of you and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do…

Domestic thriller and drama is my favourite genre and I have really enjoyed this book, which is my first read by Jill Childs. The plot is gripping and intense throughout, with lots of twists and suspense to keep you guessing.

I will definitely be reading more by this author.

Ralph has the best of both worlds. He is married and has a young daughter who he loves dearly. He also has a mistress, a much younger woman who is head over heels with him. He recently broke off with his mistress because someone else has caught his attention. She is devastated and almost becomes a stalker.

When she receives a text from him asking her over to his house so they can talk, she is beyond happy. She just knows that he's changed his mind ... that he still loves her.. still want to be with her. But that isn't exactly what happens .... and then the wife comes home.

Neither of them want what happened to become public .... each for their own reasons. One is protecting her daughter, the other her career.

Told by the two women, this intricate plot goes to prove that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors. It's an incredible page turner with deftly drawn characters. The ending was sudden and totally unexpected.

Many thanks to the author / Bookouture / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I was fortunate to receive a copy of this ARC from NetGalley.

Wow, what a book! The opening paragraph of each chapter is stunning and keeps you reading. Told first from Laura's point of view, then from Helen's, we find out what is so compelling about Ralph. There is a twist, then another twist and then another one!

My favourite quote: 
"She seemed to have collapsed into herself, as if she'd borrowed energy to take control in the way she had, to do what she thought needed to be done, and was now in debt."

I love these types of stories and The Mistress is no exception! Jill Childs has outdone herself here and has produced a highly enjoyable read. If you love a story that is full of drama, tension and suspense, with a twist and a jaw dropping ending, then The Mistress is definitely for you! I just can’t recommend this book highly enough!

In a market that can be overdone with these types of tales, Jill Child’s The Mistress, really does stand out above others I have read. Right from the opening, you are caught in its web and  entangled in its wickedness, where you are held hostage till the final page! Never at any time did my focus wavier and I could not get enough of it!

The story is broken up and told in two parts. The first from the perspective of the mistress (Laura) and the other, from the wife (Helen), as each gives you their side of the story and a look into their relationships with adulterer and piece of work Ralph. Never have I detested a character more than Ralph, but I have to say he has been perfectly written in his role.

Jill Childs brings this story to life through writing that is both vivid and flawless. Everything just flows so well and is to the point. The story moves seamlessly between the main protagonists and never once gets to bogged down in the details. It is fast paced and there are no plot holes or unnecessary filler chapters dragging it out, making it a smooth read.The twist was unexpected and the last three words of the story, are the best and the most chilling I have read in a long while.

There are so many books I have read this year that have exceeded my expectations and The Mistress is definitely one of these books! I am a new reader to Jill Child’s work having only read her previous release, The First Wife, and I am so glad that she is now on my radar. I will be looking forward to see what she comes up with for us next!

Thank you to Jill Childs, Bookouture and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of The Mistress, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this book... This book starts with a bang, and while I found it slowed a bit in the middle, it picked up again about two thirds of the way through, and boy, what a twist!

The slow pages in the middle are perfectly placed in this booked. There is guilt and desperation felt by one of the characters, and this is really portrayed so well in these pages. Anything faster paced, and I don't think the emotions would have been as raw and relatable.

Laura is having an affair with Ralph, and he has tried to end it but one evening it all becomes too much and there’s an accident. 
The first half of the book is from Laura’s POV and the second half is from Helen, Ralph’s wife. 
Now I will be the odd one out from my friends who have all read this as I didn’t enjoy it and feel like I’m the only one who didn’t get blown away by it. 
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC. A scorned mistress, a loyal wife and a philandering husband is a recipe for a twisted, enthralling thriller. That’s what I was hoping for from this tale of paranoia, suspicion and betrayal. The first two thirds of the book were extremely slow. The last part was fast paced and satisfying. If only the majority of the book could have been as engaging. All in all, the plot was somewhat predictable and parts were far fetched. This was not a bad thriller, but was definitely not one of the best. The final twist bumped my rating from 2.5 to ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

I thoroughly enjoyed this easy-to-read captivating psychological drama where not all is quite what is seems.
I flew through the pages, aghast at what Ralph Wilson's wife Helen and mistress Laura Dixon were up to, wondering where and how it was all going to unravel.
Can you imagine opening your front door to see your husband's mistress naked and your husband dead at the bottom of a set of stairs? Chilling stuff, but even that is not the worst that is going to happen.
Ralph works in the Upper School, Laura in the Lower School. He runs a writing group for staff one evening a week and it is from here that Laura's life changes and she loses her way. Ralph is not a particularly likeable fellow but does anyone deserve to die at the hands of another?
The plot draws you in and the reader is encouraged to feel all sorts of emotions, sorrow, guilt, betrayal and horror as you empathise with certain characters and become caught up in the catastrophic developments. You might not agree with affairs, but even the mistress manages to garner some empathy as desperation leads her to wild and rash behaviour. You can't help imagining what it must be like to keep very big secrets hidden without going mad. So, whilst this is a typical domestic thriller, it is the genre at its best as so many flaws of the human character are laid bare and leave you wondering whether you could behave like that, what motivates us, what helps one person step across the line and another, step back.
It is chilling, well written, canters along at a great pace and delivers some stealthy blows along the way.
I would definitely recommend this read to others and I enjoyed it so much I want to read all the other books Jill Childs has written.
The 5 star rating was never in any doubt for me.

This is a great psychological thriller. 
Laura had been having an affair with Ralph, a teaching colleague, and is asked round to his home. 
It’s clear he’s tried to end things with Laura but she won’t listen and ends up seducing him again. 
I’m not sure what really happens next but basically Ralph falls through the cellar door and down the stairs and the next minute his wife is standing at the front door. 
What happens next is slightly unbelievable but all becomes clear later in the book. 
The first half of the book is told from Laura’s perspective and the second half, from his wife’s perspective. 
As soon as I saw the wife’s name at the beginning of part two I knew I was in store for some more twists and I wasn’t disappointed. 
This is a great read, but possibly a little too far fetched. 
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This book was an easy read. It lured you in. Despite in the back of my mind I knew where it was heading it certainly didn’t spoil the book. There is a twist at the end. At the end of it Ralph was just a horrid man. 
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc in return for an honest review

A creepy, wild ride! This thriller employs familiar tropes from classic film noir and executes them very well. 

Ralph, who seems at first blush to be a charming English teacher, is leading a double life. A wife and kid at home and a mistress on the side, and maybe some other secrets, too. It shouldn’t be a surprise that at the beginning of the book, something unfortunate befalls him. Both his mistress and his wife become involved in the cover-up, and one of them begins to go mad. Or is she perhaps being gaslighted? Hmmm.....

Childs strikes a great tone of creepy foreboding in this book. The book is told by two narrators, and the first narrator, Laura, was definitely my favorite. I was genuinely surprised by one of the twists (even though I watch a lot of film noir and this twist is a classic!) because it was so well-executed. This writer is very skillful at building suspense and creating compelling characters, particularly Laura. 

This book has a common affliction of late in the suspense genre though — the dreaded “one twist too far” syndrome. Listen y’all, when you write a great suspense book and come upon a final satisfying twist, leave it there! Not necessary to throw in another one. Sometimes that makes the whole thing less believable and less satisfying, which was the case here. But I liked this book a lot so I just did what I do when this happens in a book I like, and just pretended the last twist never happened. 

Overall, solid book with fun and creepy plotting. I really enjoyed this writer and am going to seek out her other work! Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for this creepy noir-flavored thrill ride.

A good book told by two women in one mans life. It was a bit slow to start with but boy did it soon pick up as i got into it.a good thriller

I had been looking forward to reading this book but I was disappointed, it didn’t keep me gripped. I guessed the first twist, not the second and the third was good but left things up in the air.

“I didn’t turn up uninvited. He summoned me, with a text. The last thing on my mind was killing him.” So begins the unputdownable The Mistress by Jill Childs. In this thriller, two women tell their very different stories.

Laura Dixon is the mistress. A private school teacher, shy and somewhat aloof, she falls under the spell of charismatic English teacher Ralph Wilson. He romances her with poetry and flattery but then she learns he is married and has a young daughter. Worse yet, the daughter attends the same school where she and Ralph teach and the mother is a regular volunteer there. When Ralph’s passion cools, Laura becomes obsessed and refuses to leave him alone until a visit ends with a shocking act.

Helen is the betrayed wife. A former librarian, now stay at home mother, she too was drawn to Ralph’s flamboyant personality. She discovered that marriage to him is not what she was expecting. Ralph finds it impossible to be faithful to her. Still, she loves him and will do anything to save their marriage. Anything turns out to be something unexpected and extraordinary…and a total surprise!

This is a fast-paced suspenseful psychological thriller full of dark, twisted moments. It is definitely a 5 star read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Jill Childs for this ARC.