Mark and Rachel Starr are very happily married, living in suburbia with their 2 3 kids. A nice, normal nuclear family. He has a good job, she is happy to be a housewife. When things start to go wrong, Mark is to recognise just how much underappreciated work goes into maintaining a household.

It all starts as Mark listens to a phone-in. A woman calls an agony shrink on air to disclose a terrible secret - until she loses the courage.

It's his wife's, Rachel's voice. But Rachel flatly denies it. Why would she lie?

Mark is clearly not the kind of person to let that go. And luckily for him, he knows just the person to help pull a few strings, his old cop friend. But this detective work only serves to deepen the mystery. Then, the cop friend tells Mark that a woman looking like Rachel has been caught on camera stealing from a shop selling guns.....

Ah we, Rachel must be sick then. But apparently not sick enough to be detained under the mental health act indefinitely.

Rachel's inconsistent behaviour gets weirder, ire sinister, until more clues allow Mark and the pice to put the jigsaws of the piece together.

Tbis is a clever piece of writing, as the reader is kept guessing over most of the story on what is really going on..

Split personality? Some kind of a breakdown? Or something else altogether?.

The reveal may well be a surprise but not a surprise, but the ending still satisfies. This novel maybe read as a thriller alone, but there did seem to be some pointed as well as more subtle feminist observations about what it must mean to accept the housewife rule, and about the nature of trust, alongside loyalties and complicity

An edge of your seat psychological thriller. While he was driving home Mark hears his wife's voice on a call in show, he asks her and she denied it was her. Full of twists that keeps you guessing. I could not put this book down. Loved the characters. I would gladly recommend this book. Thanks to Black Rose Writing and Netgalley for this review ARC.

This was an amazing psychological thriller. I was hooked from the start and that continued throughout the book. The twists and turns were done perfectly. This is definitely a book that you will think about for a while after you finish reading it.

Mark thought that he and his wife, Rachel, enjoyed a happy marriage. Then one day while channel surfing on his car radio, he hears a caller on a therapist’s show, and he recognizes the voice. Though she is going by the name of “Mindy from Indy”, it’s actually Rachel’s voice and Mark can’t believe what she is saying. She nervously tells the radio host that she is guarding a secret that will change her life if it ever comes out. The caller then hangs up.

Mark confronts Rachel when he gets home, and she denies it. They have two young daughters, and Mark is concerned about the fallout from this. As various events take place, we hear the perspectives of multiple characters and impatiently await to find out what will happen next.

"The Both of Us" kept me glued to every page. In fact, I couldn’t put it down. The author successfully structured this suspense novel to keep the reader engaged at every turn. Unfortunately, I solved the puzzle at the midpoint of the book. I kept eagerly reading, hoping that my theory was wrong. Who wants to figure out the suspense before the last twist?

Despite my disappointment, I think that readers will also be engrossed in "The Both of Us". Even if you solve the mystery early on.

Dan Lawton’s The Both of Us is a taut and engrossing psychological thriller that grips readers from the very first page and doesn’t loosen its hold until the final reveal. With a compelling blend of suspense, emotional tension, and narrative misdirection, Lawton crafts a story that keeps you questioning everything you think you know.

At its core, The Both of Us is a masterclass in pacing and plot development. Lawton expertly seeds twists and turns throughout the narrative, luring readers into a false sense of certainty before pulling the rug out from under them—again and again. Just when you believe you’ve figured it all out, a new layer emerges, making it clear that nothing is as simple as it seems.

What sets this novel apart is its ability to maintain suspense while also delivering emotional resonance. The characters are flawed yet relatable, and the relationships are complex, lending authenticity to the high-stakes psychological tension. The story keeps you not only invested in the plot, but also in the fates of the people caught within it.

A must-read for fans of psychological thrillers, The Both of Us is a smart, immersive, and unpredictable journey into the darker corners of the human psyche. Highly recommended for readers who crave thrillers that keep them thinking long after the final chapter.

This is a gripping read from the get go. I loved the sense of unreliability as I pondered who I could trust as the story unfolded. It’s well written with tight dialogue and enough description of context and setting to help get a sense of what the characters are “seeing.”