As a big fan of Caz Frear’s previous Cat Kinsella books, I was really excited to read Five Bad Deeds and I was not disappointed.
It is an intriguing slow reveal thriller with each of the five bad deeds bringing adding another layer of depth to the story. I couldn’t wait for the next bad deed. I loved the mix of characters in the village of Thames Lawley.
Highly recommend this book.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ellen lives with her husband Adam,teenage daughter and twin toddlers. Ellen gets a threatening letter followed by a campaign of harassment and she has no idea who she has offended and why this is happening.
Ellen tries to help her family and friends, not always with successful consequences but Ellen is blithely unaware of any resentment caused.
The story is told from various characters' perspectives, gradually revealing who might be responsible. We see the bad sides of all the characters, and it's very tense finding out the culprit as the story progresses.
Recommended.

It took me a considerable amount of time to engage with this book due to its lackluster writing style and delayed initiation of the plot.

The narrative encompasses multiple perspectives, with the central character being Ellen, a mother of three who recently relocated to their new residence. Alongside her husband, Ellen is in the process of planning renovations when she is confronted with unexpected drama. One day, she receives a derogatory letter, indicating that she is being observed.

However, the transgressions mentioned in the letter are hardly noteworthy, certainly not of the caliber typically found in thrilling novels. It is perplexing that a casual remark or two could motivate someone to sabotage another person's life, but alas, that is the premise of this book.

Essentially, the house purchased by Ellen and her family holds significant meaning within the community, particularly for one individual harboring jealousy towards their home and lifestyle, seeking to seek retribution.

Although Ellen has not committed any actual crimes, this aspect appears to be trivialized and arbitrarily inserted into the narrative.

Consequently, the book was inundated with tedious conversations, cringe-worthy relationships, and unappealing characters with unsatisfying outcomes.

Regrettably, this book did not resonate with me.

This really was not for me, i picked it up and put it down so many times. A real slow burner that picked up half way through. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster UK and Caz Frear for my ARC of ‘Five Bad Deeds’ in return for an honest review.

As a huge fan of Caz frear and the DC cat Kinsella series I was delighted to receive this copy and it did not disappoint.

Ellen Watson appears to have done something really bad to somebody as she receives a threatening letter. She is a mother of three, wife, sister and part time teacher and involved in organising a renovation of the house they have just bought.

As promised in the letter, things start to happen which unnerve Ellen and these rapidly get worse.

Excellent read and highly recommended

Thank you to Simon and Schuster UK , the author and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

I had so much trouble getting stuck into this one. For me it dragged. This is my first book by this author and it wasn’t the one to start with based on the reviews.

I found all the characters to be insanely unlikeable and that in itself is not the worst thing but they never found any redeeming characteristics. The daughter was such a little brat and yeah yeah she’s a teenager but seriously if my teenager spoke to me that way well… some serious loss of privileges let’s say.

Adam was a dick and the sister is a piece of work. All Ellen’s “friends” are questionable. But Ellen is questionable. Overall it was housewives day drinking and complaining non stop. I did not feel thrilled in the least.

The writing was fine but there was no excitement it didn’t make me want to race and keep reading which is a terrible sign for a thriller or any book really. A

Overall I just couldn’t get into it. I wouldn’t recommend to my friends but I think it will be popular for the commercial audience.

Caz Frear's latest thriller begins with a familiar trope - where someone is receiving nasty notes telling her that she will have to pay for her misdeeds (all 5 of them, in fact) - but with the rather unique twist that the MC has no clear idea what she has done to be receiving these notes!

Ellen is a busy woman with three children and a husband with whom she is moving into a new house. Not everyone thinks that she deserves her blessings though, and that is where the trouble starts...

This is a story told from multiple POV including the MC's sister, daughter, and friends, in addition to Ellen herself. We hear the story in reverse chronological order as Ellen finds herself in jail, and the story travels back in time to let us know what has led to this situation.

Ellen is surprisingly likeable, despite her character flaws, but the foreshadowing in the book left something to be desired for me. The very valid point the story does make is that it is sometimes hard to judge what kind of impact people unintentionally have on the lives of others. Because something that may seem very minor to one person in an interaction/incident may be viewed rather differently by someone else.

This was an enjoyable read, and would have been even more so, if the suspense and the seeding of the narrative had been more intensely delivered. Some tightening would have done wonders. Overall though, it was an interesting concept and a good story, with some humour added from the protagonist's personality. I give it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.