** spoiler alert ** 3.5 stars

I found this book very clever,the references to unreliable female narrator's, dropping Misery in there... but mainly for the way it had me assuming things about the narrator.

Once the penny has dropped,you look back and realise it wasn't as you thought at all... and nobody ever said it was.

I've not heard of Aimee Molloy before,and I'll definitely be looking out for her now.
Only rounded down from 4 stars as the ending seemed a bit limp in comparison to rest of book

Aimee has been called a ‘master of clever misdirection’ and having read this, I can only agree. Sam and Annie are newlyweds and are excited to begin their married life together. Sam is a therapist who works from home while Annie potters around. However, Sam doesn’t know that, thanks to a ceiling vent, his sessions can be heard upstairs in the house and well, surely it is only natural to undertake a little eavesdropping? It’s a whirlwind marriage for them but when Sam disappears, another whirlwind is on the horizon. A clever read, it keeps you on your toes. I had to re-read a few chapters to make sure I was keeping up.

3.5 stars. A gripping, suspenseful mystery, rather well written, and with a couple of twists that I never saw coming. However, it still left me with a feeling that it missed something to tip over into 4-star excellence. The twists and turns were confounding, to the point that I thought I had missed something and had to go back an re-read the first few chapters. I also enjoyed the references to Stephen King's Misery. Overall, I think Aimee Molloy is definitely an author to watch out for.

(Review copy from Netgalley)

If you like stories JAM-PACKED with twists, this is it. Woo...eeeeeee! What a whirlwind! Where to begin! Well, let's start at the beginning: the beginning was EXCELLENT. It drew me right in and kept me wanting to find out more. Then, BAM!!!! In came the first twist. Which was unexpected and. honestly. a bit annoying? Annoying because I felt there weren't enough 'crumbs' along the way for the twist to 'make sense.' As a result, it felt like a punch that came out of nowhere. But OK, fine. I stuck with it and the story kept evolving. But then, BOOM! In came another twist! Just as unexpected as the first. By this point, I felt frustrated but the story's momentum kept going so I rolled with it until (you know what's coming): POW!!!!!! In came an explosion of twists that brought the whole thing together.

Phew... By the time I finished this, I felt a bit tired. It was a bit... much? And it was glad it ended because it was far too intense of a rollercoaster ride, too many pointless peaks and sharp turns written for what felt like shock-value alone. There were loose ends too (e.g. the 2 million dollar letter, we never found out why it was written?)

I just wish the author had kept the story as it was building up to be before the first 'major reveal' because it was really good and had a lot of promise! The characters could have been developed further, the story could have built in a more natural way. Alas, this was a book of twists and twists it wanted so twists it got!

I received an advance readers gonna be in exchange for an honest review

This book was a lot of fun. Plenty of twists I honestly didn’t see coming. Easily the best thriller I read this year.

I found this book, about a handsome psychologist who goes missing soon after moving back to his hometown with his new wife, entertaining though a bit predictable. It’s written from different narrative perspectives (first person and third person) which gives it more depth and the exploration of the psychological impacts of neglectful parenting was very interesting. Although I wish there had been more surprises, I found the novel easy to get into, enjoyed reading it and would recommend it for a pleasant easy going read.

Absolutely Bl**dy Gripping! This is a deliciously dark and twisted thriller. I don't want to give too much away. But this author is a genius in using and abusing my sympathies for her characters! Annie and Sam have moved to a gorgeous described upstate New York town. Both have successful careers - Annie as a lecturer and Sam as a therapist. Sam's mum is the reason they are here - she is in the local retirement home. So far so perfect...but peek under the surface of anyone's life and you discover it is far from that. The unravelling of their perfect lives is acerbated by someone who listens in on Sam's therapy sessions with local members of the community. I LOVED this. My sympathies pinged back and forth until the final page. HUGELY RECOMMEND.

I. Am. Breathless!!! I’m trying to put into words exactly how much I love this book. I can’t. I’m sorry. So you’ll have to excuse how lame this review is in comparison to how PHENOMENAL this book is. I’ve never screamed (Out loud. In bed. Late at night. Sleeping husband wasn’t thrilled but I don’t even care.) in shock so many times as the bombs just kept dropping! BAM! BAM! BAM! I realized so many times that I was holding my breath as I was reading. It all ended with my bawling my eyes out and I can’t imagine any other ending. I loved every character. Then I didn’t. Then I did. The twists just kept coming and coming!!! And it’s REALLY difficult to shock me with as many thrillers as I read. This just might have the best ending of any book I’ve ever read. I’ve just ordered Aimee Molloy’s debut novel, The Perfect Mother, without even reading the description because if she wrote with a fraction of the talent in that one as she did in Goodnight, Beautiful, I’ll be giving that one ten stars. I wish I could give this book a zillion stars because that’s what it deserves. Goodnight, Beautiful has skyrocketed to the very top of my list of books to recommend.

I cannot possibly thank Hodder and Stoughton enough for allowing me the incredible privilege of reading this book in advance!

4+

Psychologist Dr Sam Statler’s life is on the up. On the promise of a lot of money from his neglectful father he buys a new house in upstate New York, a flash car and the owner of a large old house is prepared to remodel part of the downstairs for an office to see patients. He’s happily married to Annie Potter to add to all the positives. So, what could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a bit actually in this cleverly plotted psychological thriller.

Well played Aimee Molloy! You had me fooled a few times in this hard to put down, crazy and highly entertaining tale of the unexpected. I did not see the multiple twists coming and it really did feel like a hang onto your hat rollercoaster ride. It’s a well written jaw dropper, the plot is wonderfully bonkers, the dialogue is very smart and I especially like the dark humour. The characters are really good, I especially like Annie but they are all well portrayed. My only reservation is that I expected a more powerful ending although it does all fit neatly together.

Overall, a gripping and entertaining read from start to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the much appreciated arc for an honest review.

A well written Psychological thriller with lots of unpredictable twists and turns for the first half of the book
It’s hard to tell you much without giving too much away so it’s perhaps best to just dive in
My only disappointment was the ending which tied up all to neatly and quickly but that said an enjoyable and fast paced read.

This was a brilliant book, it just flowed along quickly and you never lost interest even for a second. I read it whilst in hospital feeling very unwell but the book kept me happy and entertained, I was so sorry when it was finished.. Like other readers mentioned, the twists are ones you just don't see coming and you do question all that you have read so far to try and work out how that could possibly be, what happened while you had been concentrating on the previous page. It's so cleverly put together and the second half is a beauty. Definitely one of the best books I've read recently. An absolute corker if you forgive the phrase that justly deserves five stars. Keep them coming..

Quite a good story as you really think you know what is happening for the first half of the book then it twists and you realise that you have interpreted everything in the wrong manner. A solid story with a lot of question marks throughout as to how it ends.

This was an exciting domestic thriller that started of as a literal rollercoaster and never slowed down. The characters were well drawn and the storyline flowed seamlessly. Highly recommended!

A husband (and psychologist) has gone missing. Honestly, that’s all you need to know diving into Aimee Molloy’s new thriller, Goodnight Beautiful.

The first third of this book was packed with twists. The rest was a retelling of an old classic psychological thriller that’s been turned into a movie years ago; it relied more on suspense than on surprises.

Don’t expect a twist ending here; the story ends rather too neatly. The one thing I’ve been noticing while reading this was how, “the good guys” weren’t exactly characters I found myself rooting for, whereas the “antagonist”? Their POV and background? Wow. I definitely wanted to read more about this particular character.

All in all, even though the concept wasn’t completely original, Goodnight Beautiful still kept me engaged, anticipating what would happen next.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me this ARC. This was one of those reads that didn't really turn out to be as expected. It felt slow, dragging and also somewhat lacking in the twists factor that make a reader go wow!

Borrowing heavily from Steven King's famous novel Misery, Good Night, Beautiful is an enjoyable thriller. Sam and Annie are a newly married couple who are very happy together. However Sam is hiding a secret from Annie. When he disappears on the night of a storm police reach the conclusion that it is deliberate. But that is far from the truth.

I really enjoyed this thriller the first I have read by Aimee Molloy. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the
ARC.

This book is very strangely written and hence why I found it all very confusing to begin with. The story really dragged for me to start with and I struggled to persevere, however, it soon picked up pace and began to grab my attention.
Overall I enjoyed the book but people need to stick with it and not give up reading at the beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the opportunity to review this book for an honest review.

So, in all honesty, this did not do it for me.

The book is divided into three parts and follows a couple, Sam and Annie as they move from their busy lives in New York to the quiet countryside of Chestnut Hill so that Sam can be closer to his mother who is suffering from dementia. And since this is a thriller, I am going to leave it there as the less you know when it comes to any thriller the better.

Pacing:

The first half of part one of the book is fine and I was intrigued but then the second half of part one dragged. The pacing of this story as a whole is excruciatingly slow. By the time I got to around 70% of the book I started skimming because I was bored out of my mind as no exciting developments had taken place. Also, this story is filled with unnecessary descriptions and scenarios lending itself to the incredibly slow pacing of the book.

Twists:

Now I know many readers enjoy thrillers for the I-did-not-see-that-coming plot twists. If you are one of those readers, don’t pick this one up because there is none of that besides the first one which happens at the end of part one. When the first twist takes place, the story takes on a narrative that I absolutely despise in thrillers. This is just my personal preference and since I don’t want to spoil anything, I don’t want to reveal what that narrative is but it is something that has been done countless of times before in thrillers and is a tad bit overrated. The so-called twists that come after that are average revelations filled with a couple of lacklustre turn of events making it an uninteresting read.

Characters:

One dimensional with absolutely no depth to them. Sam sometimes came across as very naïve and delusional which seemed out-of-character for him and not in a deliberate manner. I felt certain side characters were only introduced to check off a specific plot point on a checklist.

Story:

I feel there is a lot lacking from this story. There needed to be more depth to the characters, more attention given to the various relationships in this book and more detail and focus given to the general storyline of the book.

Overall, this thriller is very average, not thrilling in the least and struggled to keep my attention.

This split into three parts. Each part I felt became more predictable and less intense.

Part one was easy to get into. I was flying through it. But this part is mainly setting up the scene. I would say pay attention to everything as the beginning of part two may throw you off like it did me.

The beginning of part two I was confused. I thought I had been reading it wrong the whole time. But I feel like this was done intentionally. At least I hope so.

The confusion was caused due to the fact it felt like the POV of certain characters switched. But as I continued reading things fell into place and started to make more sense.

I think because this is inspired by Misery, at least I think so considering how similar is it, the book became very predictable. Especially as I had read Misery a couple of months before. There were enough differences but overall I think it made this harder to be shocked by. Although there were a few twists I was surprised by.

The police were useless in this. They didn’t really care which is probably why Sam wasn’t found so easily. But I felt Annie was great once she really put her mind to it. But the big “save” was definitely underwhelming.

The ending and the big reveals as to why everything happened I felt were a little weak. I was underwhelmed. But if I remember correctly I felt the same with Misery.

The last 20% didn’t give me the same “edge of my seat” feeling that I had the beginning of part two when things were starting to happen.

This is an unusual story with an interesting mix of topics, exploring social interactions, the damage to personality from early trauma, abduction and others. I found the first half of the story slightly confusing and a little slow. The second half ramped up the action and I was keen to discover the ending.
The main characters are different and the perpetrator is certainly fascinatingly unusual.
I really enjoyed the second half of the book and recommend it.