This was a very intense and addictive read all the way through, it kept me hooked with the exhilirating twists and turns.

Orianna Negi was convicted of murder at the age of 17 – her story became so famous she is known as The Girl in Cell A. But Orianna claims she is innocent of the murder of Gideon Wycleric and has no recollection of the events of that fateful day.
Growing up on the estate of Amos Wycleric and his family in the small town of Eden Falls, founded by Amos’ father Nathaniel, where her mother Christine was housekeeper Orianna lived amongst the powerful family and their secrets. When Annie Ledet a psychologist is tasked with evaluating Orianna 18 years later for her appeal to be released, she discovers there is more to this story than meets the eye – this is a tale full of secrets, sex, lies and the fight for power. What really happened to Gideon? And who is responsible?
This was the first book of Vaseem’s that I had read, so I had no idea what to expect. Orianna’s story grips you from the first page, and I genuinely had no idea where I was being lead. The majority of the book is written from the perspective of Orianna both past and present, and Annie. This gave the story an interesting narrative, and you don’t understand why it was written in this way until the very end when all becomes clear. Very clever twist at the end, I did not see that twist coming in a million years! It’s clear Vaseem spent a lot of time plotting and writing this book, the level of detail is apparent throughout. What I will say is I felt the book started slowly, and the tension built as I read on and got more engaged it kept me interested which I liked. I thought it was absolutely fantastic, and I really enjoyed it!

This was hard to get through - I'm not sure the level of description of settings or internal monologues was required as found it made this quite stodgy to read.
The title of the book is misleading - as seems to position as some kind of celebrity criminal but without any narrative to back this up, rather focussing on a domestic crime set in the past that needs to be unravelled when the supposed perpetrator is released. Oriana turns amateur slueth to clear up the crime for which she was sent to jail and so goes on a really long and detailed journey through the local families and history, loads of red herrings and motives get turned up but it's just all too humdrum for me I'm afraid.
The actual murderer wasn't that exciting as a finale - and so a really weird section was added on to the end that implied that one of the victims was actually a construct of Oriana's to protect her mind. The book was already long enough as it is without that, which couldn't really save the ending anyway.
Not for me I'm afraid.

A clever, well written story but much too long drawn out for me and the ending just messed with my head!

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I tried to love this but it was so drawn out and the ending was such an eye roll.

The premise was great, a woman set to clear her name of a murder she swears she didn't commit. It would have worked if it was a puncher read. I didn't get pulled into it the way I wanted to be

This is a great book. Extremely well written with a storyline that kept me reading until the small hours and the ending was absolutely brilliant! I highly recommend it

The first book I’ve read by Vaseem Khan and I wasn’t disappointed.

Gripping from the start- At 17, Orianna finds herself accused of the murder of Gideon Wyclerc.

His daughter and her half sister Grace also goes missing on the same night.

Strangely, Orianna has no recollection of the events surrounding Gideon’s murder. Psychologist and specialist in dissociative amnesia, Annie Ledet is employed to get to the truth.

After serving her 18 year prison sentence, Orianna is no closer to reaching the truth and returns to her home town and scene of the crime, Eden Falls.

Needless to say she is not welcomed by the townspeople or the influential Wyclercs but her determination to reach the truth is infallible.

A brilliant slow burning and tense novel. I’d recommend to anyone who loved Where the Crawdads sing.

there are some authors who i think just have books written into the veins. because i dont know how they think, imagine and then write these books with such effortless smooooothness. Vaseem does that with this book. and i cannot wait to see if it follows their other books too!
this book is full of everything you could wish for in a thriller. it packs a punch. and it packs questions and questionable character galore. i couldnt recommend this book enough,
in this book we have our prisoner Orianna who has always says she is innocent of a murder that occurred 18 years earlier. but if she didnt kill Gedeon then who did. and where did his daughter Grace disappear to the day of the killing?
but although she says she is innocent Orianna cant actually remember what happened so Annie a forensic psychologist is bought in to find out. because there is a murderer out there is she is telling the truth.
but Orianna grew up in Eden Falls and there is a lot to be said and not wanted to be said about this place. its ruled on seemingly kept secrets and scandals. there is so much power and uncomfortable layers to this place its hard to know who or what are innocent or goodies or badies. but could one of them have committed murder. is there way more to this than everyone first thought...or was covered up?
the surprises kept coming with this book in all the best ways.

This won't be the longest review in the world as I think you would get the most out of the book by going in blind.

I had conflicting thoughts going into this. On the one hand, I think Vaseem writes a fantastic book. But on the other hand, I am a vocal non-fan of books longer than about 400 or so pages. And so at nearly 600 pages, I was already a little concerned. But all in all, I think it warrants being that long. That's my main issue with long books is they feel dragged out and don't warrant the length, but this one does. I think the magic comes from the backstory and the characters' history, which helps set up the reveals.

It flits between Orianna in the present day, and Annie in the past, with other characters and time periods interspersed in between. This could have been really confusing but I think it worked perfectly.

Owing to its long page length, I did expect to slow through it, thinking I'd been reading for ages only to find I'm about 5% of the way through. But it was far speedier than I thought it would be which is good, and before I knew it I was halfway through. I gave myself two days to read this; I managed it in three, which for 600 pages I was pleasantly surprised. It completely sucks you in and it's so hard to tear yourself away from it.

It has such convincing, human, well rounded, multi-layered characters - not all of them nice. No-one is 100% a goodie and 100% a baddie, there's a bit of both in everyone which made it more fun to read.

It reminded me a bit of Chris Whitaker's All the Colours of the Dark, another book I worried would be too long. Two epic stories written by two epic storytellers.

It's an interesting story to read when the characters don't even know who did it. The protagonist is aware she might have done it but she doesn't know. And so the reader ends up trying to work it out at the same time as her. And for that reason, we feel sorry for her but we're conflicted because we don't know if she deserves our sympathy or not. No spoilers, but let me tell you - I did not see the surprise coming.

I believe this is Vaseem's first standalone crime/thriller novel and it really does promise such an excellent future.

This book is a departure from the usual Indian background to Vaseem Khans other novels and a first attempt at a psychological thriller. Psychological thrillers are my favourite genre and I have to admit that this book does not tick all the boxes of a good psychological thriller. It does have some twists and well developed characters but lacks the necessary pace of a good psychological thriller. I can see why some other reviewers have registered a DNF as the book was rather drawn out. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

Absolutely gripping story - I couldn't put this down. I enjoyed the brooding atmosphere that Vaseem Khan created with intriguing characters, a toxic family and fabulous twist.

The premise of this book really intrigued me and I wanted to love it but unfortunately I had to DNF at 23%. I think it is definitely a me problem but this book just didnt grip me enough and I was bored.

Certain crimes attract notoriety and the girl in cell A is infamous.
Convicted of murdering two family members but orianna has always protested her innocence.
Amnesia about the actual crime she never admits the killings.
18 years later she is released and sets about trying to find out who the murderer is.
Small town attitude with a definite hierarchy.
Will they run her out of town before she discovers the truth?

The Girl In Cell A tells the story of Orianna, a young girl who was convicted of murder and has become a true crime 'celebrity'. Orianna is released from prison and heads back to Eden Falls, where she grew up, to try and retrieve her memories from the night of the murder. The townsfolk aren't pleased to see her, but Orianna is determined to prove her innocence. The chapters are interspersed with snippets from Forensic Psychologist, Annie, who has sessions with Orianna in prison.

Firstly, this book is incredibly long; I found it to be quite drawn out and felt that it didn't need to be as long as it was.

The story was ok, but I found that I didn't overly connect with Orianna and struggled to really want to keep reading to find out whether she was innocent or not.

There are alot of characters. The Wyclerc family is large, and they all have partners and children, there is also a lot of talk about historic family members. I found this quite tricky to get to grips with and to remember who was who.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

rianna was convicted of a murder she cannot remember. However, there is a lot of strong evidence she did it – and on top of it, she’s strongly suspected of having something to do with the disappearance of a girl of her own age, Grace Wyclerc. And since the murdered man is Gideon Wyclerc, Grace’s father, there’s nobody who believes in her innocence except her.
We read the story from Orianna’s POV and that of her therapist. Annie. Annie has to work with Orianna and eventually write a report whether she can be safely released from prison, after eighteen years.

So far, so good. We follow Orianne travelling back to the village where she was born and grew up, and where she eventually killed a man. Not just any man, but the member of the Wyclerc family who practically own the village. We learn a lot about the family history of the Wyclercs and also about Orianna’s history, from the moment her mother arrived and got a job as housekeeper for the Wyclercs. It’s a classic story about a family who thinks they’re better than others just because they have a lot of money and the girl from a poor family.

Finally it is revealed who killed Gideon – and there it stopped for me. Sadly. The story was a bit too long and slow for me but I wanted to give it three stars because it had its interesting moments. The end ruined it for me. I’ve read a couple of books with this theme the past few months – must be a coincidence – and absolutely don’t like it. I’ve read some glowing reviews on GR, including some of reviewers I follow and admire, but this time I cannot agree with them.

Loved this book. It had me gripped from the start and, although desperate to know the full story of the main character, I didn’t want it to end and enjoyed being immersed in the story. Beautifully written, the characters are engaging and the settings atmospheric and easily envisaged. I don’t want to give anything away so will only say that the ending will leave you more than a little surprised . I can’t recommend this book enough.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and to the author for his brilliant piece of work.

Amazing. Girl A is in prison for the murder of her father who she’d only discovered was her father on the day she killed him. The police, family and community all turn on her and never pursue any other possible suspects. 18 years later she is assessed for release. She returns to the town where it happened and makes contact with her former love and her paternal grandfather. She wants to investigate who else could have fired the gun and she has never remembered doing it. Lots of twists and turns, family secrets, threats, inheritance, a missing girl and a massive final twist.

Thank you to NetGalley, @hodderbooks and @hodderpublicity for an ARC of The Girl In Cell A by Vaseem Khan in return for an honest review.
In this psychological thriller, we follow two different timelines and dual points of view. Orianna is the unreliable narrator who is in prison speaking to her therapist, trying to unlock the memory of the murder that put her in prison. I enjoyed the excerpts from the trial itself, and as more clues were uncovered I solved the mystery early. Or so I thought! How wrong I was....I'm still unsure of the ending now!

A great psychological thriller. We start with The Girl in Cell A as she returns to the town where she grew up and searches for answers - what happened the night Gideon was killed. There are gaps in her memory.

Khan’s characters are well crafted and the twists kept coming to the end.
An absolute win for me and an author I will be reading more from.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the copy to review.

I am a really big fan of Vaseem Khan's books. Both the Inspector Chopra series and the more recent Persis Wadia novels have captured my imagination, and my heart, and delivered hours of entertainment. I was more than a little intrigued when I heard that his next release was going to be a psychological thriller. Along with moving the action from India to the USA, this was quite a step change in terms of what I was expecting when I first opened up my kindle. No cause for concern here though as we are in assured hands with Vaseem Khan, and what he has delivered is a slow burning psychological thriller that buries itself well and truly under your skin.

Now I appreciate that this makes the book sound a little like a parasite, but that is perhaps a very good way to describe the Wyclerc clan, the family at the heart of this darkly brooding mystery. The infect all around them, controlling the township of Eden Falls. If the head of the Wyclerc clan were to shout jump, the residents would be falling over themselves to prove that they would jump the highest. And, much like a parasite, they are very much a blight on the life of Orianna, our main protagonist and narrator in this sorry tale of (alleged) patricide. I say alleged, as Orianna has always denied having murdered her father, Gideon, the crime of which she was convicted and sentenced to years in prison whilst still a teenager. Following her release and parole. Orianna returns to Eden Falls, much to everyone's disgust, in a bid to find out what really happened on that fateful day all those years before, a day of which she claims to have no memory at all.

Now this book is billed as a psychological thriller, and there are many elements of the book, particularly the gaps in Orianna's memory, which lend themselves to this genre. And there is the wider Wyclerc family dynamic, a family that puts the capital D into Dysfunctional, all nursing secrets and governed by an indisputably dark legacy that drives much of the disharmony of the present day. Then there are the scenes between Orianna and her Psychologist, Annie, which occur during her incarceration, with Annie tasked with the unenviable job of trying to get Orianna to admit her culpability in order to secure her own release. These are scenes where we delve into Orianna's past, teasing out that which she would prefer to remain hidden and slowing allowing us to form a picture of both Orianna and the Wyclerc family. So far so psych thriller. But, for me at least, this is more of a mystery waiting to be solved. We know what happened - in broad terms at least - and we know why people hate Orianna. The question is, whether she is really guilty and, if not her, who?

I like how Vaseem Khan has framed this book, the way in which he slowly introduces not only the Wyclerc family history, but each of the current clan. It is very carefully planned and executed, allowing the tension and suspense to build, introducing more confusion and a greater number of suspects the further into Orianna's 'investigation' we travel. And they are a strange and suspect bunch. I struggled to find a redeeming quality amongst any of the characters in this book - Orianna and Annie included - but in spite of this, I was intrigued, and invested in getting to the truth. The characters are objectionable but fascinating, and some of the revelations about them were less shocking more probably expected the more we got to know them. And there are some very shocking revelations over the course of the book meaning that whilst I didn't exactly like Orianna, I felt a certain amount of sympathy or compassion towards her and her situation.

This is a clever book with more than the occasional unexpected turn, especially towards the end of the book, even though I think I'd have been content with the conclusion of the story before those final chapters but that is my personal opinion, and I can understand why the author took that particular path. There is a secondary mystery to be solved, that of a missing girl, Grace, Gideon's daughter who vanished on the day of her father's murder, but that almost felt a secondary consideration, even though it proved to be quite key in understanding what really happened on that day. The pacing of the book was pretty spot on, with the tension slowing building along with the animosity towards Grace. The author has managed to capture that spirit of the small, closeted community that is built around a patriarchal figure and the influence of a wealthy founding family. Whilst Eden Falls sounds quite picturesque, it's certainly not the kind of town I'd want to spend a lot of time in. Kind of Twin Peaks but without the random charm.

An atmospheric mystery, packed with suspense, objectionable and dislikeable characters and a core of intrigue that keeps that pages turning. I'm curious to see what Vaseem Khan may deliver in this genre next.