“Bad Blood” is an explosive psychological crime thriller, the debut book of Sarah Hornsley.

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Plot: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Characters: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Suspense: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Ending: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️


What you’ll find in this book:
⭐️ Suspenseful mystery
⭐️ Hidden secrets
⭐️ Family bonds
⭐️ Unpredictable twists
⭐️ Fast-paced story

My Review:

Ah, Bad Blood—a twisted little gem that leaves you on the edge of your seat with enough suspense to make you second-guess every character’s intentions. This is one of those books where you’re constantly trying to piece things together like a jigsaw puzzle, but half of the pieces are mysteriously missing or maybe just deliberately misplaced. It's that sneaky.
The premise kicks off with a bang: Justine Stone, long gone from her hometown of Essex, is yanked back into the emotional quicksand of her past when her childhood sweetheart, Jake, is accused of a gruesome double murder. (As if you needed another reason to never go back to your hometown, right?) Add in a disappearing brother and a buried family secret or two, and you’ve got yourself a story that's not just about bloodlines, but about the lengths people will go to hide their messes.
On the writing front, Hornsley excels—Bad Blood is a fast-paced, compelling read. There’s a real skill here in creating suspense, in dropping twists at just the right moments to leave you clutching the book tighter, swearing there’s no way it can end the way you think. You can practically feel the tension between the pages, and Hornsley has a knack for keeping you hooked even when you want to scream at the characters to just talk already. (But no, they prefer their secrets, don’t they?)
But here’s the catch: while the plot’s electric, the ethics of the main characters are, uh, a bit of a hot mess. By the final chapters, you’re not sure whether to cheer for Justine’s attempts at redemption or wonder how someone can be so morally… questionable and still keep a protagonist status. That’s what got me. I wanted to root for her, I really did. But by the end, I felt more like I was watching a car crash in slow motion, knowing full well it wasn’t going to end well, but still not able to look away. And that’s not a knock on Hornsley’s ability to craft tension and complexity—no, no. She’s very good at it. But if I’m being honest, my moral compass was left a little out of whack.
So, while Bad Blood was a thrilling ride that kept me engaged from start to finish (thank you for that, Sarah!), the character choices toward the end left me feeling… well, disappointed is a light way to put it. But don’t let that dissuade you; the journey is worth it for the rollercoaster ride of suspense. If you're in the mood for a gritty, twisty thriller that makes you question your own ethics at times, Bad Blood delivers in spades.
Just don’t expect to walk away feeling all warm and fuzzy. This one will leave you thinking—and questioning—long after you’ve closed the book.
And hey, sometimes the bad blood is the most memorable part of the family history, right? Justine would probably agree.

To be honest I struggled to finish this book because there were so many things that annoyed me. The first was the time Jake ‘really’ saw Justine. She had to ask ‘Jake, isn’t it?’ so they hardly knew each other, and she didn’t know his mum – yet she told him to wish her happy birthday (how did she know?) and then ended up at the family birthday celebration meal that night. The second was when the police asked her to look round Max’s house to see if anything was out of place. Hang on! She hadn’t been back for 20 years so she’d never even been there. There were lots of other things that just seemed nonsensical to me and there was a lot of repetition and unnecessary padding. It wasn’t the thriller I was hoping for but I can see I’m in the minority here. The book will obviously be a great hit with a lot of readers but unfortunately it didn’t press any buttons for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

This book follows Justine, a barrister who is given her first huge case, a double murder. Justine quickly realises the accused is her ex boyfriend using a different name. This leads Justine back to her home town to uncover the truth. But by finding the truth of that murder, she uncovers secrets that may have been better left untouched.

This was a very thought provoking read that definitely keeps you on your toes! There was something missing for me and I do think there can be too many twists and turns sometimes. However, the ending leaves you questioning how far you would be willing to go to protect your family.

ARC - PUBLICATION DATE 27TH MARCH 2025

『 plot 』
justine stone left home over a decade ago, vowing to never return, after that fateful night, too many secrets, too many lies and too much to lose if it all came out. but the night that changed everything is threatening to surface when she hears on the news that her ex boyfriend has been arrested for a double murder, in that same hometown she never wanted to return to. but as a criminal barrister, this is something she is good at, finding out the truth; spinning the truth. two murders, a dark past, and secrets that will ruin her carefully planned new life, but she needs to know the truth.

『 characters 』
justine stone is the main character and what a main character she is! on the surface she’s the cool, calm, collected barrister with the perfect life and the perfect husband and friends but underneath all that is so many layers of everything she went through as a child, and what a deep and complex person she is! you quite literally feel like you’re inside of her head and knowing all her thoughts, which helps to delve into the mystery of it all.

『 writing style 』
the story is told in ‘before’ and the present time, and whilst we’re reading about the now it is written in first person, but the ‘before’ jumps to third person and it just works so well! the third person kind of made me feel like i was just being told a story, whereas the first person made me connect more, made me empathise and try to really understand what justine was going through and it is so cleverly done for this story! i absolutely loved it

there are multiple POVs from other characters throughout this book, all retelling the ‘before’ part of the story which really helps spin the twists and turns and keep you constantly trying to guess what actually happened


『 my thoughts 』
i honestly loved this book, i genuinely had no idea where the story was heading the majority of the time and every time i thought i knew something about justine or what her ex did, or what happened all those years ago, i was proven wrong a few pages later! the twists and turns just kept coming and kept me wanting more and more. this was such clever mystery/thriller and i am so glad i found this arc on netgalley. and that ending!! wow! so well done and just made the whole book that much more compelling and so worth the read

a thrill packed thriller. i felt i knew what was coming but didnt and that was a great suprise. i like the premise of the book and felt like once again an author has managed to make the genre original. i dont know how thriller writers do it. especially at the moment when so it must be so hard not to fall in to the same kind of plot points. to make thrillers unique is something that baffles and inspires me.
i liked the way our main character had to go back to a time that changed her life forever. and how the things that happened, the secrets and lies that then spread and rippled throughout time and people.
for a debut novel this is a brillaint piece of work. i cant wait to find more from this author in the future. if this is her style i really cant wait.
there are twists and turns abound so strap in.

Not at all for me. Characters acting illogically and a plot which was too neat.

Justine is a rising star KC prosecutor who is given her first murder case, only to find out the suspect is her ex-boyfriend, who disappeared from her life 18 years ago. She returns to her home town to discover what happened, reopening family wounds and that dreadful night he left.

My main problem with this book is the characters act in a completely nonsensical way and that broke me out of the story and this applies to every character throughout the book.

There are subplots that don’t go anywhere, the timeline jumps around hinting at a dark secret and characters which don’t develop. Justine is really annoying protagonist, she’s supposed to be a brilliant barrister but acts like a teenager with a problem with impulse control. The big bad secrets were weird and also played out repetitively.

The book was short and would make an ok holiday page turner.

Thanks to Netgalley for my arc.

An interesting read. It has a clever, unusual, and well-crafted plot. Set over two timelines, the book explores the consequences of the first colliding with the second.

I'm sorry to say that this book wasn't for me. I struggled to get through it and didn't like any of the characters. I was expecting a fast paced thriller, but instead it felt like a lackluster drama.

Justine Stone is the main character in this story; she’s a KC and apparently very good at her job. A big murder case lands on her desk; she would love to take it on but she’s gets a big shock when she recognizes the defendant. He’s her ex-boyfriend, who left her 18 years ago. He’s changed his name and is now accused of a double murder. Justine is now in her mid-thirties and happily married to Noah, a very calm and loving husband. Nothing stresses him out and she’ll need him because although she has to hand the case back, she’s determined to find out the truth.
The story of Justine and Jake is being told in the past, in between the part that’s set in the present and slowly we get to know Justine and Jake a little bit better. Born and raised in the same village but from completely different backgrounds, their story is not so much about themselves but about the way they were raised. Justine is formed by her dysfunctional family and a big part of the story consists of her looking back. This is what made the whole story getting quite slow to be honest. Page after page Justine mirrors everything she does or think against what happened 18 years ago. I saw the ending coming at about halfway. On the other hand, it was a nice enough read to finish the whole book and I seriously hope the author will write more books in the future.
Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for this review copy.

Bad Blood was packed full of excellent twists, dark secrets and compelling characters, zipping along at breakneck speed. Hornsley is definitely one to watch.

This is an impressively strong debut. It is packed full of secrets and lies and you never quite orientate yourself properly. Hornsley pulls you between two timelines and a multitude of POVs, all of which work to form the pieces to this jigsaw puzzle. It is so well-constructed and constantly shifts, keeping you on your toes. The whole time I was reading I never fully felt like I could trust what anyone was saying. There is just so much going on and you can’t believe everything that is being presented to you. It is oppressive and feels like the tension is bearing down on you – making for a compulsive and intense read. Hornsley packs some incredible twists in here. I would recommend going in knowing as little as you can and just enjoying the wild ride you have in store.

You fly through the pages, needing to find the truth. It helps that these characters are complicated, three-dimensional people going against one another with various factors coming into play. They are not necessarily likeable as such but you can come to understand their motivations and how their circumstances have brought them here. It would translate really well to the screen. Around the time of writing, I (like many people) am currently watching Adolescence and that tight, taut storytelling marries well with books like this. Stories like this depend on great characterisation as well as the dramatic beats of the overall story.

Bad Blood is a thriller you will not be able to get out of your head anytime soon after reading. It is layered and complex, full of the messiness of people.

This book has so many twists and turns that you almost feel dizzy reading it. Nobody is as they seem. Everyone has secrets which in time come to the surface little by little. It takes hold from age one to the verylast page. I defy anynot to keep saying one more page.

A very good psychological thriller by Sarah Hornsley. My favourite genre so always likely to be a winner with me. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

A family drama like no other! You have glimpses of an event that happened 18 years ago from the beginning which runs alongside the investigation of a present day double murder. Are these two events related or is it just the people involved that connect them? A clever psychological thriller with plenty of surprises along the way!

A double murder,a lost intense relationship, small town secrets and memories, strange family dynamics ,many secrets coming to light ,this read kept me up til finished it. I loved it!

I though this was going to be a crime/thriller but really its more like a drama. None of the characters are likeable or redeemable which is a shame as it seems like an interesting concept.

A small town thriller with big family dramas.

Bad Blood follows Justine Stone, a big barrister who has just landed her first lead in a double murder case. When she realises it's her former boyfriend Jake, she has to step away from the case. Justine decides to do a little investigating of her own, and it sees her returning to her family home that she's been avoiding for the last 18 years. Then her brother is found dead, she has to try and uncover the truth about what happened and it takes her back to her past that she been trying to forget.

Interweaved throughout this story were flashbacks to 18 years ago, and the past that justice has tried so hard to put behind her. There are plenty of twists, some of which I never saw coming. Whilst I did like this story, I couldn't get fully immersed in it. I struggled to get into the first half of this book. The second half flowed a little better, and I was interested in seeing how this story came together.

This has had some great reviews, and I can see it being a really popular read. It's packed full of family secrets and lies, unreliable characters, and lots of twists.

Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton for my advanced copy.

it was a well written triumph of a book. She tied in small town politics with some killer twists. I can't wait to see what she writes next. I will be reading more of her books.

This definitely had some crazy twists and turns! And while I wouldn't say this had me on the edge of my seat, I for sure was eager to continue every time I put this down.
I kind of saw the big final chapter plot twist coming, which was a bit of a bummer, but some of the others took me by surprise, so this is a hard one to rate.

As a mother myself, this book definitely spoke to me and had me wondering what I would and wouldn't do for my daughter. This also deals with some strong topics like physical and emotional abuse, so be warned!

Family secrets and a lot of drama in Bad Blood. This was a great debut novel, with plenty of shocking twists and turns that kept me guessing.

I never really warmed to any of the characters but that doesn’t mean that I it isn’t a great story. These were complicated characters, who had gone through a lot. We learn their stories from now and 18 years earlier when their lives changed forever.

I did fly through this book, needing to know what would happen next. Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for my early copy of this book to read. Due to be published on March 27th.

This books lures you in from the first page, however, I did get a feeling like the main character was an unreliable narator.
It did keep me interested, even though some passages were acting like brakes. I get it, you're working through things, but reading almost the same sentence every 2 paragraphs gets old quickly.