The Death of Us is about the impact some actions may have on our personal lives. Even though I couldn't connect with the story and the characters as much as I expected to, I can appreciate the writing style and the work behind the book.
Thank you for the opportunity to read the book.

I really enjoyed the unique way in which this story was told, it really captures you and helps you feel what the characters were feeling. The story is heartbreakingly sad but also a story of overcoming, of surviving against all odds. I couldn’t stop reading.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for ARC.

Wow. What a triumph. I would say Dean is at the top of her game but I suspect she has more to give over the course of her career.
The plot is simple enough - victims of a serial criminal gather to give victim statements at his sentencing hearing. So from the outset we know this person is guilty, and over the course of this powerful, often harrowing but always beautifully crafted novel we hear not just what the crimes are but the effect on several of those victims, centring on one now-estranged couple but expanding much wider to that. That this ends on such a hopeful note is simply astonishing.

Abigail Dean writes very different very challenging books and The Death of Us is no exception. Isabel and Edward were the victims of an horrific attack which affected their whole lives especially as their assailant was not captured for over 25 years and was prolific during that time. The narrative tells the story of their life. It jumps about from them meeting as teenagers to them attending their assailant's trial. It details the ongoing and sometimes tragic effects the assaults had on the lives of all those affected. It's not an easy read but it is worth persevering with as most good books are.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Abigail Dean does visceral and uncomfortable scenarios really well. Her books are always original in their plot and ‘The Death of Us’ is no different to her previous best sellers. A serial killer is on the lose and his awful crimes transect with our protagonists Isabel and Edward. Their lives change but this novel takes a unique approach with the narrative addressed to the perpetrator. Ultimately it is a story of survival and love but it’s a hard read. Shocking and beautiful in equal measures.

Unfortunately I didn’t gel with the characters, possibly because I have, thankfully, never been in the same situation as Isobel or Edward.
I can appreciate that an awful lot of work has been put into writing this book, but for me, I thought it was a little disjointed and bleak. Obviously it’s not a laugh a minute type of story, but I was optimistic that there would be some kind of hope for the couple.

Isabel and Edward are a married couple in their mid thirties living in London.
They’ve had their ups and downs but love each other deeply.
In 2001, The South London Invader breaks into their home and shatters their world.
But the book begins some 25 years later after he has finally been caught. Many of his victims are in court to ensure justice is done and to read their impact statements out to everyone.
Isabel and Edward transport us back and forth from the past to the present and we discover how they have tried to survive the aftermath of that horrific night.
Brutal, poweful and raw, I couldn’t put this book down and the words blurred on the pages through my tears. It’s about bravery, fragility, anger but above all, love.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have enjoyed Abigail Dean's previous two novels very much and was delighted to be offered the opportunity to read The Death Of Us. Isabel and Edward are a normal couple living in London when they are attacked in their home by a man known as the South London Invader, who has already 'invaded' other homes and terrorised the occupants living there. The book is written from the perspective of Isabel in the first person, addressing the 'invader' himself, and Edward, through the third person thus making him rather distanced from the events. For both of them the trauma of the attack leads to their lives changing forever but redemption comes when the 'invader' finally comes to trial many years later. The novel is well constructed and the characters, particularly Isabel, believable but I did find it slow going at times. It is an unusual psychological drama and well worth reading. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK/Harper Fiction for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is the third book I’ve read by Abigail Dean and like the others it offers a different perspective to other thrillers. Events unfold gradually and the main character unfolds as we learn what happened to her and her partner Edward. The narrative is addressed to the man who attacked them and is so well written I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Absolutely beautiful read. Like others by the same author, the main ‘event’ draws heavily on a real life case and the real story is how the characters deal with it. Horrible and awful but also real and hopeful.

The Death of Us is the most amazing book I have read in such a long while. So insightful, so loving, so chilling, so real. The aftermath of hideous trauma really does have a ripple effect and affects everyone very differently and Dean addresses this so beautifully, so authentically, a real tearjerker.

A powerful, emotive read detailing the impact a home invasion has on a married couple. The horror of that night is only touched upon briefly but the event has long reaching consequences for Isabel and Edward.
The story starts as the perpetrator faces his sentencing and the couple are asked to present their victim statements. As the story unfolds we hear both sides and the effects this one night had on their future lives.
It's a slow burn novel but don't let this fool you into thinking it's not a good book. You cannot race through this without feeling the trauma. It's raw emotion but touching, it's filled with love. The characters are troubled but this endears them to you more. It's thought provoking and brilliantly written.
I'm grateful to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the opportunity to read this advanced copy, my opinions are my own and not expected.
I will leave my review on Goodreads, Bookmory, Storygraph and Fable now and on Amazon and Waterstones on publication day

Isabel and Edward were a fairly normal couple until the night they were victims of the South London Invader, a psychopathic murderer and rapist called Nigel Wood. The story is about the aftermath, the other victims, the police, the eventual sentencing and about how everyone involved has to try to rebuild their lives after such a catastrophic event – that’s if they survive.

Alternately, Isabel and Edward recount how they try to live on after the trauma of the attack and how their lives are forever changed by it. They form friendships with the policewoman leading the team investigating cases and some of the other victims while they are hounded by the press. Eventually, advances in DNA matching lead to the capture and sentencing of Wood, an ex-policeman and, apparently, a normal husband and father.

It is the focus on Isabel and, to a lesser extent, Edward which makes the book such a powerful read. The damage done is unravelled slowly and in factual detail, which makes the book both gripping and disturbing. There is no happy ending but there is some kind of dénouement and some hope.

As a novel, it is superbly constructed to keep the tension rolling along while awful events and consequences are quietly unrolled. It’s a stunning read from a maturing novelist!

My wife read this book so this is her review.
In Abigail Dean’s gripping novel The Death of Us, readers are taken on an emotional rollercoaster that is beautifully crafted.
Dean introduces us to a cast of complex, well-developed characters, each with their own secrets and flaws.
Isabel and Edward’s life is left in tatters after a serial killer invades their home. Told in 2 POVs with multiple timelines this psychological thriller slowly draws you in, as they try to navigate how to carry on living together.
The pacing is expertly controlled, keeping readers on edge while allowing moments of introspection and emotional depth. Dean’s ability to build suspense is matched only by her talent for creating deeply moving scenes.
The Death of Us delves into the human psyche, examining the impact of grief, guilt, and the search for meaning in the face of tragedy.
In conclusion, The Death of Us is a testament to Abigail Dean’s extraordinary storytelling skills. It’s a novel that not only captures the imagination but also touches the heart.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me. I think it was the writing style—I found it really slow-paced, and it felt like it took forever to get through. I only kept going because of the great reviews, but despite the interesting premise, the book just missed the mark for me personally.

Isabel and Edward have a relationship that is dysfunctional by varying measures over their lifetime. But it is very clear that they have great love for each other. When they are in their mid thirties their life trajectory is stopped in its tracks and forever changed; when the prolific South London Intruder invades their home and wreaks havoc on them both. Isabel attacked, Edward powerless to protect, a travesty of many measures. Now, many years later, they are about to face the perpetrator but more importantly face up to the damage they have done to their marriage and to each other.

This is the third book from Abigail Dean, Girl A and Day One but The Death of Us is her mostly accomplished to date. Admittedly, it took me a little while to settle into the variations of first and second person mid-chapter but, once I did the pace of this book is frenetic and I couldn't put it down.

On the face of it, this is a story of a horrific crime, the stuff of absolute nightmares. A crime that remained unsolved for years, but now the man who persecuted so many is about to be served justice. But this is not really a story of the crime, or the villan or even the solving of the case.
This is one hundred percent a lovestory, the many ways that people learn to love again over a lifetime, how to love after hurt and trauma, the ways to forgive wrongs both big and small, cruelties few and many.

Expertly told, brilliantly delivered.

3.75⭐️

This story looks at the lives of Isabel and Edward and then how a v*olent crime affected their lives over many years when the suspect finally appears in court twenty years later.

It flits between time frames from when Isabel and Edwards first met, til the present.
It’s moving, the characters have such depth and sadness. Much of the story is told from Isabel’s point of view, where she is talking to the perpetrator directly in her impact statement which she intended to read out in court.
Even when we get the court section it’s still about the impact of the crimes on the victims rather than concentrating on the court case, but it’s here that the reader finds the extent of the crimes too, the actual crime is just a moment in time but has long reaching consequences for those involved.

The storytelling is slow, quite bleak, I didn’t find it the easiest of reads due to the subject matter. It’s also too slowly paced for me to totally love it. But it’s a good story, it feels very real, I know it’s got some great advance reviews, so I advise checking it out for yourself the FOMO is real.

I feel that I completely missed something with this book having read other reviews as I just found this book boring. It wasn’t what I thought it would be, a crime thriller, it was more about the impact of crime on a marriage. I may have felt differently about it if I had known what type of book it was going in, but I found myself not wanting to pick this book up.

Beautifully written and utterly devastating - a portrayal of a marriage of two complex individuals before the event, which blew everything apart. I thought the author kept the characters true to themselves, which is quite a feat and written with aplomb. Not an easy read because of the subject matter, but compelling none the less.

It may seem strange to say such a thing about a book dealing with the darkest of experiences, but oh, I loved it. It's so beautifully written & this serves to emphasise even more the heinous acts that the book deals with.

A serial rapist & murderer who is attacking couples in their homes remains uncaught for decades. The book deals with the aftermath of a home invasion and the many victims that just one such attack produces.

The beautifully lyrical writing describing a rare, true love connection is offset with stabs of detail about the attack. It's never gratuitous, in fact almost minimalist in it's description, but it's all the more beautifully brutal for that.