Member Review

Suzie lives alone in her flat in London. She keeps herself to herself, and has been hiding away from the world since a tragedy changed her life and everything she knew. Because she’s inside a lot she often hears her upstairs neighbour Emily, who seems to have no care for others around her and makes as much noise as she likes. Suzie grows increasingly agitated with Emily’s thoughtlessness, complaining to her landlord and the council about her, until suddenly she can’t hear Emily anymore. She goes upstairs to check on her to find her front door ajar and the flat in disarray. After speaking to Emily’s landlord Mike, Emily’s parents and the police, Suzie is dismayed to find they all seem happy enough to believe she’s run away, after all it’s what she does. But something doesn’t sit right with Suzie and she starts searching for answers in a bid to find Emily before it’s too late.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book! I had picked it up on NetGalley (thanks to the publisher and NetGalley!) thinking it would be a standard ‘ok’ thriller that I could happily listen along to while driving to work. What I got was a fast-paced plot with a complex main character that I couldn’t stop listening to.
As characters go Suzie is so well developed and my heart absolutely went out to her throughout. I really wanted everything to work out for her and hoped she’d find her happiness. Then as it went on I grew to feel the same about Emily once we started hearing her chapters and delving into her background too. <spoiler> It was a shame they didn’t get to meet properly as they probably would have been friends and a lifeline for one another </spoiler>.
I enjoyed the ongoing mystery of what happened to Emily and trying to figure it out alongside Suzie. The various red herrings were interesting and I was glad that </spoiler> Darren got exposed for the snake he is. At least he got some sort of comeuppance, which often doesn’t happen for characters like him. Although as soon as she saw a certain person in the bar I think it was clear who was actually involved! </spoiler> I was still trying to make my mind up as to what had happened to Emily right up until the end though, so that’s always the sign of a good book for me.
I listened to the audio version of the story and the narrator Meg Travers was excellent. She didn’t do any accents or put on voices for any characters, which I liked as that can be really off-putting. It’s a pretty straight forward recording without any bells and whistles but I liked that, the story is good enough to stand on its own so it didn’t need it.

Overall I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys mysteries or thrillers, particularly fans of The Woman in the Window, The Girl on the Train and similar stories. The twist isn’t quite as big as those but it’s still a great story and you’ll emphasise with the two main female characters. Also I’d really recommend it as an audiobook - it’s absolutely gripping!
Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.