A fantastic book, sadly took me a while to read due to.life and work. When reading I got lost in the book and story not once did I think the outcome was different, kept me drawn in and when I was reading I didn't want to put it down.

The Girl in Cell A is a pretty chunky book but I have to say, it had me utterly captivated from the first page to the last. Orianna's story is completely compelling - and the split narrative between her encounters with her forensic psychologist in prison and the events following her release are both so fascinating and had me on the edge of my seat throughout. Orianna herself is such an intriguing main character, her experience of living in small town America in a place ruled by the Wyclerc dynasty is horribly compelling.
Her entire life there is overshadowed by complex issues such as race, class, power inequality and an insidious undercurrent of corruption. I don't want to give anything away about the way this dark story unfolds but let's just say that whatever you think you know about the way things appear will be completely turned on its head by a couple of genuinely jaw dropping twists which are so expertly orchestrated that I was left in awe. The Girl in Cell A is a masterful, intelligent and incredibly thought provoking thriller which I guarantee you will be unable to stop thinking about for months after finishing. An easy five stars from me.

The Strange Case of Jane O by Karen Thompson Walker 🌟🌟🌟🌟 4/5

Well, that was a bit different!!

The story is told from the points of view of Jane and her psychiatrist Henry Byrd. Jane reports to have been suffering from hallucinations, premonitions and extended bouts of amnesia, she also has phenomenal memory recall. Jane's side of the story is told in letter form, written to her baby son, whereas Henry Byrd's narrative is more in the present in the form of a case study..

The story drew me in and motivated me to read late into the night, I was desperate for answers to the many questions building in my head about Jane's situation. I was anticipating a sensational twist that would make sense of Jane's story and propel this book into one of my top reads this year... and although there was a conclusion it wasn't the big wowing twist I was hoping for. As i got to the end Id wished I'd buddy-read this one to dissect it

But lack of twist aside I thoroughly enjoyed this unique, slightly psychedelic read!!

I've not come across this authors previous works, which seem to be more cozy mysteries set in India. If there's one thing this isn't, it's cozy. If there's one thing it is, it's brilliant. I was absolutely hooked right from the opening pages and went through the novel at a rate of knots. This is an incredibly well written psychological thriller that plays with its themes, taking you down unseen rabbit holes and unexpected diversions so you never quite know what to expect next.

Orianna was convicted of murder at seventeen years old. Raised in a small, insular American town, she was tried and found guilty of the murder of Gideon Wyclerc, the son of the town's patriacrch. Now eighteen years later she's on the verge of release and the novel splits timelines between the psychological interviews pre-release and Orianna's mission to discover what actually happened that day as she makes the trek back to Eden Falls.

With no memory of the events in question, Orianna has a steep uphill battle, particularly as the towns folk are determined of her guilt. But Eden Falls is a place of secrets and guilt, and it's not just her own mystery she may bring to life, but also the long forgotten hidden guilts of those in the small town. This is one of those novels that twists and turns with such frequency that the footing is constantly uncertain. The only thing that is certain is that Orianna is determined she was innocent. Whether she can prove it or not is a whole different kettle of fish.

Everything about this worked for me; the setting was wonderfully portrayed with the small town politics and idiosyncrasies, the characters come to life and the teasing out of decades old secrets and hidden skeletons was masterfully done. It's a clever and riveting thriller that kept me on my toes. I'll be interested to read more from the author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.

The girl in cell A by Vaseem Khon, a girl goes to prison for a murder she doesn’t remember and at the same time the murdered man’s daughter goes missing. When Adrian gets out of prison she heads back home where gossip runs rampant and it’s mostly about her. Her parentage is muddy her mom worked for the richest family in town and she may or may not be related to her mother‘s employers. Oh really didn’t like this book I found it to be long winded and once she started with her grandpa I just was so over it by the time I got to who killed Gideon although I was shocked again I just wanted to close the book and move on with my life. I appreciate the free arc as I always do but I must be honest have I not gotten this book for free I probably would not have finished it. #NetGalley, #HotterInStoughton, #TheBlindReviewer,#MyHonestReview, #VaseemKhon, #TheGirlInCellA,

The Girl in Cell A was gripping from the start. The premise is a strong one—infamous “killer” Orianna Negi, convicted at seventeen and now a true crime celebrity, has always claimed she didn’t murder Gideon Wyclerc. But the catch? She can’t remember what happened.

I enjoyed the elements of memory loss, fractured small-town secrets, and the layers of power and corruption that surrounded Eden Falls and the Wyclerc dynasty. The dynamic between Orianna and Annie was especially compelling.. this combined with the dual timelines, kept me turning pages.

The twist at the end genuinely surprised me, which is always a win. My only complaint is that it took a bit too long to get there—some parts felt repetitive and could’ve been tightened without losing the impact. I also found the biblical parallels a little overplayed, though that could be personal bias coming from someone raised in the Bible Belt of the American South.

Still, this is a smart psychological thriller exploring scandal, sex, power, race, and the murky space between guilt and innocence. A very solid read.

This ticks a lot of the boxes for me - small town America teeming with secrets, a forensic psychologist trying to uncover the truth from a witness with amnesia, a possible miscarriage of justice, murder among the town's elite... There's a lot going on in this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The book centres on Orianna Negi, the Girl in Cell A of the title. She's something of a celebrity in the world of true crime, convicted at 17 of murder and yet unable to recall the events of the fateful day that landed her in jail. Years have passed and Orianna is under the care of Annie Ledet, psychologist, with the aim of finding out the truth - but that will involve revisiting the events of the past and the small town where it all happened.

It's a complex story, quite long and with a lot of characters, but I really did feel compelled to keep reading and finally solve the mystery. There were several twists I didn't see coming and I totally fell for every misdirection going - so bravo to Vaseem Khan for a satisfying mystery!

I was excited to read The Girl in Cell A because of the intriguing synopsis and glowing reviews. At first, I got completely swept into the story of Orianna, a woman who has spent 18 years in prison for the murder of Gideon Wyclerc, a powerful man from a powerful dynasty in her hometown. Now, she’s being evaluated by forensic psychologist Annie Ledet to determine if she’s fit for release.

The chapters alternate between Annie’s point of view and Orianna’s investigation after being released, slowly uncovering the truth of what happened that terrible day. It’s a story about family, legacy, power, and scandal, and it really should have been a winner for me.

My main issue was the length. I didn’t check how many pages it had before starting, but after reading it for many nights, I started to feel a bit desperate when I realized I wasn’t making any real progress. The book just went on and on, and I gradually started losing interest. Orianna wasn’t a particularly charismatic lead, and I didn’t understand at first why we were getting Annie’s perspective either, she wasn’t interesting enough to justify it.

By the time I reached the final section, which I’ll admit had a solid twist that made sense within the story, I no longer cared much about the outcome. And I really didn’t like the last chapter, which was full of overexplanations and an unnecessary recap of everything that had already been revealed. Sometimes, leaving things open is more than okay.

This book starts slowly, moves to a mystery whodunnit, through to an almost incredulous thriller, then an intense psychological episode and ends with an unexpected flip - and then some. Phew.

A teenage girl murders her father, is imprisoned and applies for parole. She claims that she is innocent but can't remember the time of the killing. At the same time, her half-sister disappears without trace. The story is told from two first person perspectives: the psychologist (therapist) who interviews 'the Girl in Cell A' as part of a parole application report. These chapters are called 'Then'. The 'Girl', eighteen years later and free, tells her story in chapters called 'Now.'

At the beginning of the book there is lots of exposition, including the transcripts of the trial and psychological principles, interspersed with opinions and theories in the therapist's sections. Meanwhile, the Girl goes back to her hometown and the family members are introduced. Each one is a suspect in her mind and the characters are vivid. Some of her activities stretch the imagination a little, but serve to add tension.

Once past the start, this is an intriguing, clever and exciting story that deals with family, truth, memory, guilt, and belonging. It is a long book but really well worth a read with many things to think about.

An extremely interesting and informative book, with a fantastic story line and characters. I particularly loved the dual narrative. Highly recommended, although dark and sad at times, a great book x

I enjoyed this book although it felt a little long!
I thought it was very well written and a good thriller Definitely a recommended read .

She was convicted of an infamous murder at seventeen and became a true crime story fascination. But she has always claimed she didn't do it, the night of the murder a blank in her memory. So when Oriana Negi is released and returns to the town of Eden Falls where the Wyclerc family still rule she will encounter resistance and anger. Particularly when a forensic pdychologist starts to make progress in unlocking the events leading up to the murder of Gideon Wyclerc. Well constructed pacy thriller. Khan moves the story across the characters skillfully and builds to a great ending. Recommended

I must say this was a particularly clever book but maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it because I kept getting lost in the descriptive passages. It never made me want to pick it up again and ended up being a bit of a slog. Other reviewers have clearly enjoyed it emenslyand I do really wish I could say the same.

Hats off and many compliments to Vaseem Khan for this complex, intriguing thriller that kept me on edge until the very end. A layered plot full of surprises, compelling characters—an excellent read!
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This story is epic! Orianna is from a tiny American mining town and is convicted at only 17 of a murder she says she didn’t commit.

The dual POV and timeline follows Orianna, as well as Annie, the psychologist tasked with finding out if she’s guilty.

This book is very psychological and really sad in some parts, and is so impressingly clever.

My only criticism is I feel the book could’ve been shorter.

Orianna was convicted of murder when she was a teenager, but cannot remember what happened and does not believe that she is guilty. When forensic psychologist Annie attempts to help her uncover the truth, they find a dark side to Orianna's hometown.

The Girl In Cell A is a fantastic read that really got to me and left me shaken.

It drew me in from the very start, I was hooked by the idea of family secrets and whether the truth could be revealed. I especially enjoyed the writing style - it reminded me of other incredible authors with novels set in America such as Chris Whittaker and S.A. Cosby.

All I wanted to do was keep reading, I would find myself thinking about it during the day and wishing I could get back to this book. It was absorbing, gripping and intense.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed The Girl In Cell A (kindle edition) a suspense novel by Vaseem Khan but it was very long drawn out but well worth it for the finale which was mind blowing. The story goes back and forth from the present to the past where the reader can feel the turmoil Orianna and Annie are going through.

Oriannna Negi has been convicted of murder aged seventeen and has been incarcerated for eighteen years. Forensic psychologist Annie Ledet is determined to unravel Orianna's locked memory of having shot dead her own Father. Is she a murderer or was she framed this is what Orianna has to investigate on her release back to Eden Falls an American town in the south where the Wyclerc family have controlled the town for generations with an iron hand.

I love the way Vaseem Khan captures the nature of the south, the sounds of the creatures of the forrest, the colours of the sky when the weather changes it made me feel I was right in the heart of Eden Falls. I also love the way he depicts hell and heaven, bad and evil and the question of whether there is a heaven or a hell.

The Girl In Cell A by Vaseem Khan is a mystery thriller about Orianna Negi, a woman who at the age of 17 was found guilty of killing her father and was thought to also be involved in the disappearance of a half sister who disappeared on the same day.

The story is split into two timelines the first is told through the titular character Orianna when she has been released from jail and has gone back to her town to find out who did this,

While the second timeline is set before Orianna was released, it is told through the eyes of a psychiatrist who is deciding if Orianna should be released from jail.

The only problem is Orianna can not remember the fateful day.

The Girl In Cell A is one of those novels that had me gripped from beginning to end, and even had me made at the ending. However after thinking about it for a while Vaseem Khan’s novel was such a masterpiece that the ending sat perfectly with the story.

While the story may not be a mystery thriller, because while there are some action scenes in the novel the novel lives on the mystery of the novel.

While there may be a number of plot lines which are common in this type of genre in the 2020’s Wealthy family, child who is the illegitimate child of the rich family as well as race especially as the setting is in the south of the United States of America.

However in a lesser writer than Vaseem Khan The Girl in Cell A would have been a novel of one cliche after another, with each plot line designed to catch readers eyes,

However this is nothing like that in this novel we have a well crafted piece of literature that will have mystery thrillers readers gripped from the first to last,

This was my first book by Vaseem Khan and I went in not knowing what to expect. The storytelling was so authentically small town America, that if I hadn’t met him, I would have assumed he was an American author. Told mainly from the viewpoints of Orianna Negi (The Girl in Cell A) and Annie Ledet, her psychologist. With dual timelines jumping between, therapy sessions (which help the reader with early life and events leading up to the trial) and later life in Eden Falls, the story is intriguing told and kept me hooked.

There are lots of characters coming to life, clearly portrayed with all their traits and nuances. The story drew me in, seeing how people’s lives became intrinsically entwined and the mystery deepens. The writing beautifully evokes the settings.

I was fascinated, not trusting anyone and the ending completely upended me, leaving me dwelling over the realities. A really enjoyable read!

I have been looking forward to reading this book ever since Vaseem Khan first announced it. Despite Khan having only published historical fiction in the past, I knew this book would be an absolute belter and I was right!

This book grabbed me in a vice-like grip and did not let me go until the very end. It's a book I haven't been able to stop thinking about, and I really really hope Khan writes more like it in the future.