Interviews are often daunting, nerve wracking and challenging occasions. No matter how prepared you think you are there’s always at least one question designed to throw you off guard, to test your suitability, strengths and weaknesses as the interviewee in C M McEwan’s latest thriller is about to discover.
Kate Harding, a woman who has suffered recent personal tragedy but is tentatively and cautiously trying to rebuild her life has been put forward by a recruitment agency as an ideal candidate for a job vacancy at Edge Communications. Situated on the thirteenth floor of an impressive city of London building known as the Mirror, it’s maybe not the most auspicious start for nervous Kate kept waiting by the interviewer, a last minute replacement for the woman originally meant to put her through her paces. However it’s not until Kate enters this ultra modern office space that she realises this out of hours interview is going to be unlike anything she’s ever experienced before. Forget The Apprentice and Lord Sugar’s interviewing techniques; he will seem like a pussycat in comparison as this interviewing process wouldn’t look out of place on SAS:Who Dares Wins!

As the questions start dripping off the interviewer’s tongue the pace of this novel becomes electrifying, racing from 0 to 100mph before you’ve even had the chance to get comfortable! I shouldn’t have been so surprised having previously read the author’s A Window Breaks, knowing this is a writer who favours a tense, action packed, adrenalin pumping, heart thumping style of narrative. In no time at all I felt claustrophobic and anxious, my nerves shredded to pieces, my body prepared for fight or flight even though I wasn’t the one in the hot seat! If this is the effect the author is aiming for then he’s definitely succeeded. As a rule this wouldn’t be my favourite type of read, the pace too relentless for my liking with not enough space and time to breathe in between all the scenes which are mostly full of danger, fear and violence. Where’s the pause button when you need it and more importantly where’s the exit????? I had to remind myself this is fiction and to take some deep breaths before summoning up the courage to confront what further horrors lie in wait. Just when you think things can’t get any worse they do, the author raising the fear factor another notch. At times the suspense was just too much but then I am a self confessed scaredy-cat! However the short chapters are a clever ruse to ensure you read “just one more page” spurred on by the overwhelming desire to understand WHY this is all happening, occasional flashbacks providing hints to the answer to this crucial question. The reasons behind the way Kate’s interview is being conducted in such an interrogatory manner and by whom felt vaguely familiar; I had a niggling feeling at the back of my mind that I’ve read something along similar lines before but I could be wrong! That didn’t detract from wanting to discover how this interview would ultimately end and with an incredibly small cast of characters once one piece of the puzzle falls into place the rest follow relatively quickly. As you would expect C M McEwan does have at least a couple of astounding twists up his sleeve to turn this locked room, game of cat and mouse style thriller into one that is gripping,nail biting and may even make you thankful for Zoom interviews after all!

Overall this is a good, well written thriller, only let down by the fact that as the drama intensifies so does the level of implausibility. I liked the premise of this novel and the fact the author combines psychological mind games with non stop, pulse racing action, the emphasis being on the latter. Cover ups,sifting the truth from all the lies and seeking retribution by any means possible drive these characters actions first and foremost. Unfortunately I did find the ending rushed and anticlimactic and in some ways it is as tragic as the beginning. If you can withstand the adrenaline rush all the drama prompts then this should be your next read. Personally I need to lie down in a dark room to recover!

My thanks as always to the publisher MacMillan and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly thought. How can a book be about just one interview. And it really is. Along with some cgrwat back stories. This s book is a complete edge of your seat crazy story. Amazing xx

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Kate has gone for an interview with a company where she feels her previous experience will get her places. The interview is in a new building, therefore some floors aren’t in use. Kate has been working for her friends, but previously she’d worked for an airline company. She left the company when her husband died some months before, so she is still grieving and has been quite low. The building is quite empty when she arrives for her interview, and she is somewhat put out when she finds out she’s being interviewed by a man, rather than the woman she had been speaking to. Nevertheless, she overcomes her nerves and is determined to give a great interview. Except the interview becomes more and more sinister the longer it goes on. Then Kate realises there’s more at stake than just securing a new job.

This story had everything you need. It was atmospheric, creepy, and page turning. I really enjoyed the twists and turns and looked forward to seeing the outcome. The writing was excellent, and there were no loose ends at the end. It was an excellent read.

When Kate Harding is invited to interview for glamorous company The Edge, she is keen to prove she is the right candidate for the job. Working for a small husband-and-wife-run company has been the safe haven she's needed as she recovers from the tragic death of her husband, but now she's ready for bigger opportunities.

The interview is to held late on a Friday, in a glass office shaped like a cube. At first Kate is comfortable - she has been rehearsing for this and is prepared for whatever they might throw at her. But as the questions from her interviewer begin to get stranger and stranger, Kate finds herself increasingly on edge. And when the interviewer steps out and Kate realises that there is no one else left in the office building and that the cube she is in is locked, panic begins to set in. Someone wants answers from Kate. And they're prepared to stop at nothing to get them...

I loved the premise of this book, and was a huge fan of the author's earlier work, so I was excited to read this one. For me, this didn't quite hit the mark. I felt the book suffered from being so high-octane so early on - it was all action action action with little plot, so that by the time we did get round to unravelling a backstory I was exhausted by it all. If you like your thrillers extremely fast-paced and action, you will love this one (and it would make a great movie).

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher, who granted me a free ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book because it was different

The plot grabbed you and didn't let go
With no idea where the storyline was going or what was going to happen
And that was part of the grittiness of it

Good read not what you expect it to be


Thank you netgalley, C M Ewan, and Pan McMacillion

I am sorry to say that I really struggled with this book. I loved the sound of it, but found it dull to read. I wanted to enjoy it, but I just didn't.

A brilliant novel full of tension and mystery it really kept me guessing throughout with the gripping writing

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book. It was a very different premise and I did enjoy it although a couple of bits were far-fetched, I would recommend this book.

This excellent thriller takes an everyday job interview to entirely different lengths. Plot twists and surprises along the way make this an excellent read. This is the first book that I have read by this author and I will definitely be looking for more.

Synopsis:
Kate is nervous. On a late Friday evening, she's interviewed for her dream job. And by the attractive Joel, no less. But soon, she discovers that something's wrong - the questions get more personal and intrusive, and Joel seems to know about the darkest parts of Kate's past. And he doesn't intend to let her leave ...

My thoughts:
YOU GUYS! If you haven't read this book, DO IT NOW! I swear to you, this is the No Exit of 2022! It's the concept of Simon Lelic's Liar's Room in combination with the pace of Riley Sager's Survive The Night, and it's so well written, I was glued to the pages! To be fair, you need to stretch your beliefs a bit for this book, but I could feel the claustrophobia along with Kate's despair throughout it. Also, as a non-romance-reader, I never quite believed in the concept of a book boyfriend. But then, I "met" Luke, Kate's brother. He's just SO caring and sweet, I just wanted to cuddle him. And the ending really made me cry. Lots.

Parts of this book reminded me of:
- No Exit by Taylor Adams
- The Liar's Room by Simon Lelic
- Survive The Night by Riley Sager

This was my first book by C.M. Ewan, and I'm so excited for the next one!

How far would you go in an interview to get your dream job?
Kate Harding really wants this job. She’s in desperate need of a new start after a personal tragedy has shattered her life.
She’s heard that Edge Communications like to do things differently to other companies. Their company mantra: Break your own rules.
Kate is told to expect some unorthodox methods in the interview. So initially, she goes along with some unconventional and discomfiting techniques, such as a psychometric test which asks her highly personal questions about drugs and sex. She tells herself that her interviewer is just testing her response to pressure.

But when Kate finds herself trapped in a glass box after all the Edge employees have gone home, she begins to wonder whether this is actually an interview- or psychological torture. Because the interviewer wants answers to questions Kate has no intention of answering.

This is an action-packed thriller with short, punchy chapters which will keep you reading to the nail-biting ending.

4 stars rather than 5 because I found it a bit frustrating that Kate’s ingenious attempts to escape keep failing; I also thought that there were too many deaths of innocent people.
As other reviewers have suggested, this would make a great action film, but with a more powerful female protagonist.

A gripping psychological thriller with a very unusual storyline. Kate had lost her husband in a plane crash, he was the love of her life and she knew that she would never get over the loss. but she also knew that he would want her to try and get on with her life. She felt that she was in a bit of a rut with her job and with the help of an employment agency she was set up with an interview at a firm in the center. of London in a very ultra-modern building. She was nervous anyway but when she was led into the building by Maggie who worked for the agency she had real doubts about being there. The interview was being conducted by Joel, it was not a conventional interview and Kate started to think that she really shouldn't have come but she did her best to answer the questions that were put to her.. That was until everything turned very sinister and when Joel left the interview room he locked the door behind him, Kate looked into the outer office but everyone had gone, she started to panic but then thought this might be part of the interview. She was wrong and things would get much much worse.. I would have given this book 5* for the suspense and the inventiveness of the story but I found it quite drawn out in places and became a little bit annoying.

I would definitely recommend this book. It has it all -superb storyline, strong characters, suspense and lots of twists and turns. I found myself waking up in the night and picking up my Kindle because I couldn't wait to see what was happening.
Well done C. M.Ewan and thank you Pan Macmillan for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Oh boy did I enjoy this book!
The definition of a keep you up all night, read in one sitting thriller.
This story had me holding my breath throughout as the action never let up.
Well plotted and written, tense and intense.
I was expecting a psychological thriller and this more than delivered with parts reading like an action packed thriller.
I can really see this working well as a movie.
I enjoyed how we got the perspectives of all the characters and the chapters just flowed so well into one another you had to keep reading.
I couldn't find anything I didn't like or enjoy, so it's 5 stars from me!

A gripping, fast paced thriller, this grabs you from the outset and keeps you guessing throughout. I would recommend to any and all action/thriller fans.

When I read the description on NetGalley, this was one of the books I had to read; the concept was original, and initial praise piqued my interest further.

I was not disappointed.

Picture yourself in a Claude Littner style interview, inside the ITV's Cube - throw in aeronautical abstruseness, and you get a flavour of what this book has to offer.

Short chapters and the limited number of characters make this page-turner very hard to put down.

A highly recommended read. Well worthy of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Pan Macmillan for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kate is fully prepared for her upcoming interview at her dream job. But when she arrives for her late evening slot in the empty offices, she is greeted by a different interviewer to the one she expected...

My career to date has been in recruitment and so I was excited to dig into this - what happens when interviews go horribly wrong? I did feel however that I predicted the twists at the end of the book (all but the very final one!) and that it took a while to get to the meat of why Kate was being held and interrogated in the first place.

A good thriller about an impossible situation - I have no idea what I would have done in Kate's shoes

Thanks to NetGalley, C.M. Ewan and Macmillan for the ARC of The Interview.

I loved the sound of the blurb for this book - as someone who works in HR by day, I have hosted and attended my fair share of interviews, so a thrilling twist on what can otherwise be fairly mundane sounded like a refreshing change, The book starts slowly, but then quite literally ramps up to the point where you can not stop reading, and if anything my only real criticism (and hence why not 5 stars) is that at times I felt this would have worked so much better as a Netflix film than reading it, as it almost cries out to be visual.

Kate gets invited to what appears to be her dream job at Edge Communications. After working within the travel industry for many years, she has the right experience, but she is super nervous. Her recruitment consultant Maggie has warned her that they want the best of the best and like to do things a little differently - break all the rules. When she arrives at her interview and gets introduced to Joel (not the interviewer she was expecting), she already feels on the back foot. Then, taken to the 13th floor of a high rise building in a small glass room; the interview takes a drastic turn for the worse.

Think escape room, panic and a slight die hard vibe to this book and you wouldn't be far off. Some parts are so vividly described that you can literally picture them in your mind (hence again why this needs to be a film!). At first you find yourself wondering what on earth Kate could have done to deserve this treatment, but then the backstory builds up and creates a full history of events leading to this day.

This is a very different read to my usual but I really enjoyed it. Definitely one to look out for as I would be amazed if someone doesn't claim the movie rights to this in the not too distant future,

Lucy

THE INTERVIEW by C M EWAN. - NO SPOILERS!
If you are looking for a thriller of a read, then this is the book for your! From page one, it's a rollercoaster of a ride, with twists and turns everywhere. With characters you can love and hate and shout at. I thoroughly enjoyed this fast paced, short chaptered, well written book and would definitely recommend.

I give a 4 star rating

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST REPLY

A very clever premise with lots of twist and turns. Would recommend. Will look out for other books from this author.