I have enjoyed Katherine Faulkeners previous books so had high hopes for raising suburban thriller set in London.
Following a break in, Alice is not charged but can't move on and discovers a web of secrets. The idea was brilliant but the book was too long (towards the end) and there were a lot of characters to keep track of. The unfolding and explanations of what happened at the end had me skimming (sorry)

This is a superbly written tale of a mother - Alice - who is at home with two friends and their children when an intruder (Ezra) breaks in, grabs a knife and seems to be looking for someone. In the panic, fear and confusion Alice hits him over the head with a metal stool and kills him. The rest of the story is about Alice's guilt, trauma and her search for the truth about why Ezra came to her house.

Alice is the main character but there are also viewpoints from other female characters, which works well. She makes some silly decisions and becomes increasingly paranoid and suspicious of almost everyone. This emotional disruption and her strained relationships are characterised extremely well throughout the book.

The story begins just after the break-in. The cast of characters is quite small but just enough to keep the reader guessing about who is manipulating whom, who is lying and who has secrets.

A thoroughly good read with an intense and intriguing plot.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. This book is due for publication in August 2025.

The break-in kept me guessing throughout. It was well written and I became invested in knowing why the break-in had happened.
I marked it down a star because it felt as though there were so many things which happened at the end, and they all had a bit of a Scooby Doo lengthy explanation vibe going on,

A gripping read that was hard to put down. Every time I thought I worked it out, something happened to change my mind. Would highly recommend this book

Alice appears to have the perfect life. A loving husband, a beautiful young daughter and an interesting job conserving art work.
Then, a play date at her beautiful house, a young man breaks in brandishing a knife, Alice, in defence, hits him on the head with a chair and he dies.
This is all in the first few pages.
All starts going wrong for Alice. The plot thickens, there is more to it than meets the eye, clues, twists, jaw dropping turns....what on earth is going on and what has happened in the past.
A must read, tense, gripping thriller!
Another success for Katherine Faulkner!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for this ARC.

OMG! This book has absolutely everything. Great characters, fast pace, great story. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Alice is having a play date for a couple of mums and her kids and Ezra breaks in to the house with a knife threatening her. As a mum she fights and kills him hitting him with a kitchen stool. Self defence against an intruder right? Oh the story is just getting started! A chain of events begins which will keep you devouring every chapter. As Alice's bewilderment grows and she fears she cannot trust anyone we are willing her on to get justice despite the awful circumstances she finds herself in. Are the police determined to convict her as a murderer? I just loved this book. Sensational writing
_. Denise x

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

Very twisty read! Loved how it all came together in the end

4.5 stars

This is my first of Katherine's books but it sure won't be my last.

Where I think this excels is in its normality. I love thrillers, in fact they're probably my most read genre, but they can be a bit fanciful, because they're fiction, they're entertainment, they don't need to be real. Whereas a break-in is very possible. Ignoring the twists and turns in the book, the simple fact is a break-in can happen to anyone and does happen often, and so it's easy to put yourself in that position and that's what ramps up the thrill factor.

I loved how much Katherine focussed on the mental side of a situation like this. I can't imagine it's very easy to get over a break-in anyway, let alone a death. But I find a lot of books, TV shows, an films sort of gloss over tat, but Katherine really shows how it lingers.

Yes it is about a break-in but there's so much more going on. There's so many layers, and it's dripping in twists and turs, and yet it manages to stay on the right side of too much.

I wasn't a huge fan of any of the characters - not in the sense that they're badly written, but because they're immensely unlikeable. Alice was probably the only one that I did have some compassion for because of what she was put through, and kept being put through, with no-one believing her. She was just protecting her daughter, but it became a lot bigger than just that and she is having to wade through everything that was being thrown at her. The secondary characters are all written well and work well off of Alice, but I didn't find any of them likeable, which is good because it means I had a plethora of suspects up my sleeve, and you start to think if any of them are what they say they are.

What I found interesting was how Katherine had plotted it. Normally in books you get a bit of build-up and we get to know our characters before the thing happens. But in this, the break-in has already happened, the death has already happened, which means Katherine has had to make the rest of the book as gripping as the start, which can't have been easy.

It I told mostly from Alice's POV but there are a few others, and I can be on the fence with multiple POVs because I get confused by them easily, but they work really well here and they're really easy to follow.

My first Faulkner book but I'll definitely be looking for her others. This goes on my pile of highly enjoyable thrillers and I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Lisa Jewell, for example.

This book took a hold of me and I had to keep reading. Twists and turns galore, your never sure where things are going to lead to. Another hit by Katherine and well on par with my love for Greenwich Park.

I thoroughly enjoyed Katherine Faulkner’s first two novels and this, her third, is just as excellent. I always enjoy twisty turny books set in wealthy suburban locations I could never afford to live in, and when you throw in a couple of dead bodies… well, what’s not like?

A really enjoyable book. This was not what I expected as the story starts with the break in having already happened. I wondered how the book would play out and how the story would develop.

I shouldn't have under estimated because as the twists and turns unfolded, I wanted to keep turning the pages to find out where this was all going.

Told from multiple points of view with different timelines but really easy to keep track. Quite a long read which could possibly be condensed slightly with still the same impact.

A good 4 star read.

Thanks to Katherine and NetGalley for allowing me to read The Break-in before the publication date.
The main storyline is a heart stopping psychological thriller.
A playdate is disrupted when a deranged man breaks into Alice’s home and having grabbed a knife, heads for the room where the children are playing.
With little to hand, Alice quickly resorts to attacking the man with a bar stool.
In an instance, she has added murder suspect to her CV.
It doesn’t take long before the press and social media are targeting Alice.

The question is what motive did he have for his actions?

The main characters are well developed, giving the reader pause for thought about their behaviour and actions.

The author has woven a second and topical subject into the storyline…but I will say no more as that would be a spoiler.
The Break-in would potentially make a good TV drama.

This thriller is an excellent read. Just as you think you have worked things out, a slight twist and things go in a different direction. I read this is one sitting when I had a weekend off and found it an absolute belter.

Definitely a play date gone wrong. So many twists and turns as this book gradually reveals it's secrets. I loved the way the narrative voice changes so so get to hear different sides. Will definitely keep you guessing until the end.

The Break-In is a fast paced and easy to read suspense novel. The story follows Alice, as she comes to turn with murdering an intruder on her property. But all is not as it seems as she attempts to uncover why he was there in the first place.

The plot will have you guessing along the way what is happening and who is behind the strange goings on. I really enjoyed this and flew through the pages.

Highly recommend if you love a suspense novel.

There’s a lot going on in this book but it kept me interested and I raced through it. Some unexpected twists and overall a good read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Wow! so many secrets and lies and so many bad decisions on Alice's part that you will want to scream at her for her poor choices!
A good build up to the revelations of what really happened and who is responsible!

I really loved the storyline for this book and felt for Alice all the way through. I wasnt so sure the plot layout was the best though as the flow wasn’t great i. My opinion. I liked the twists and wasn’t sure how jade/ezra were involved but i do think the police would have linked it all esp with Clara too. Def has amazing potential but for me just not stand out excellent

A slow builder which at half-way accelerated into excellent suspense making it a good read as a gripping psychological thriller with many a twist and turn. From 5* to 4* because of the start.
My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for this arc in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Alice seems to have the perfect life. She has a husband and daughter she loves and a job as apainting conservator that she also loves.
Then one day a man breaks into her home and her world is turned upside down.
No longer sure of all those she loves and trusts she is left floundering in trying to determine how things became such a mess.
A good crime rad with several twists and turns.