The Assistant

This book starts slowly and I dipped in and out with a chapter here and there. Then slowly, imperceptibly, I was hooked.

Jo is a journalist, living with a friend after the breakdown of her marriage and haunted by something that happened in her youth.

The hi-tech apartment she shares with her friend is hooked up to the latest inventions and everything is controlled by Electra and Home Assist. Then, these systems begin to glitch. I hate spoilers in reviews, so I’ll leave my synopsis there!

I literally felt my heart racing as I read this book. There were many plot twists and you never quite knew where you were going next- this author is skilled at misdirection and planting seeds in your mind. Once I was hooked, I raced towards the finish, desperate to find out what how or even if Jo could extract herself from the situation she found herself in.

Well- written and pacy, this book will keep you reading long into the night... and will make you want to turn your own ‘Assistants’ off! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

I've enjoyed previous works by S K Tremayne but this is the best yet! It's creepy, atmospheric and nerve-wrangling.

The main character is recently-divorced Jo Ferguson, a freelance journalist, renting a room in her posh friend's London flat. The flat is largely controlled by voice-activated technology Electra and the HomeHelps. Electra begins to interact in unexpected ways and seems to know a lot about Jo's past, including something she desperately doesn't want revealed. Needless to say, there are many suspects and all have a motive for putting Jo through hell. Jo's sanity is also highly questionable - is she imagining things? The suspense is expertly maintained right until the end of the book, as suspicion falls on or fades from all of Jo's friends. The constant wintry weather adds to the gloomy, sullen atmosphere and the Sylvia Plath connection is a nice touch.

The presence of AI technology in our homes is becoming more pervasive, along with voice activation and recognition, and learning our behaviours and habits. These, along with the dubious authorship of social media posts, are cleverly and menacingly manipulated to good effect in this superb and highly recommended thriller.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Oh, my! This is such a fabulous read. It's dark and sinister and had me guessing and double guessing throughout.

Jo comes from a family with sadness and grief within it and is 'fortunate' enough to be living in her best friend's apartment, this apartment has all the modern conveniences and luxuries, but, is she really lucky to be there?
This novel focuses on our increasing dependence on technology and the advancements of AI and it does so in such a fantastic, riveting way. It also challenges our trust in social media and how much we believe what is written and by whom. There are elements that are shocking and which have stayed with me.

I've enjoyed previous books by this author, but, this is so much better than others I've read. I found the writing style fabulously descriptive and even the characters I didn't like were fully rounded and interesting enough to maintain my focus.

All in all, I couldn't put it down and enjoyed every page.

A fabulous 5* read from me. Thanks so much to Netgalley, Harper Collins UK and the author for the opportunity to review prior to publication in December 2019.

I am huge fan of the author’s previous work but this one is just outstanding! Creepy and menacing, it gets right under the skin when you least expect it! I devoured it in a day, it’s that good!!

I enjoyed the first two books by this author but not the third so I was looking forward to seeing if this one was on par with The Ice Twins which is my favourite S.K. Tremayne book. It certainly had a very different vibe to it right from the start and if I had been blind reading it, I would never have guessed the author!
The plot is thrilling and very topical with the idea that every home is on the way to having a “home Assistant” like Alexa and reminded me of the computer HAL in the film 2001 A Space Odyssey when things started to go wrong. The main character Jo is worried that it’s her mental health that deteriorating when her home assistant starts to talk to her about things that have occurred previously in her life. But has she inherited her fathers schizophrenia or is something much more dangerous in play? The plot twists the facts like spaghetti on a fork until you have no idea why or if this is actually happening to Jo. The last few chapters were read in a frenzy as everything came together in a spectacular crescendo leaving me breathless! I absolutely loved it from start to finish!

I was hooked from the beginning of this book. Being of an age whereby I distrust too much intrusive technology, this has added to my paranoia! A great story with a menacing plot that was feasible. All in all a great read.

One of the best books I’ve read by this author.
I was feeling Jo’s frustration as she slowly lost control of her life at someone else’s hands, and I had no idea who the perpetrator was so it kept me guessing which I loved.
It certainly makes you think about your Alexa in a different way!
Recommended read.

This was a fantastic read! Creepy, thrilling and mind blowing, it twisted and turned all the time. Is she mad? Or has someone messed with her head? You think you have worked it out and then it twists again! Highly recommended #TheAssistant#NetGalley

Oh, that was tense! This is another really well written psychological thriller from S.K. Tremayne whose books I have all found equally gripping. I really did find this difficult to put down and was kept involved and guessing right to the end.
The main character, Jo, is a freelance journalist, recently divorced, cash strapped and living alone in a wealthy friend's beautiful, and technologically smart, London flat. The narrative starts with Jo completing an online dating profile in an attempt to bring company to her isolated life; so isolated that she frequently finds herself talking to Electra, the digital assistant, which she thinks of as 'like less annoying and demanding pets'.
The reader is introduced to Jo's mother, her ex-husband and some of her friends, none of whom she sees very often. Her sense of loneliness is enhanced by the exceptionally cold and dark London winter. Tremayne's sense of place has been a strong point of all four books I have read by the author but this is the first city based setting.
The psychological thriller aspect of this book comes from the way in which Jo begins to believe she is suffering from mental illness (as did her late father) as she hears voices from the digital assistants saying things to her that are not in response to her requests. The technological interference becomes increasingly nasty and the reader is kept wondering whether this is all in Jo's mind or if someone she knows is manipulating her in a very evil and personal way to believe that she is mad.
The poetry of Sylvia Plath, who killed herself in a flat very near to the setting of the story, plays a significant part in the narrative and I am keen to return to Plath's work after reading this book.
I certainly recommend this novel to fans of well-written, plausible psychological thrillers but it may certainly make you think twice about how technology may interfere in your life.
Thanks to the publishers via Net Galley for a complimentary ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

I devoured The Assistant by S K Tremayne in a very few days. It’s compulsive, scary and, in parts, a horribly plausible psychological thriller. The divorcee Jo, whose online sexting relationship proved the catalyst for her failing marriage, is struggling when her best friend Tabitha throws her a lifeline of a spare room in her high tech flat in Camden. Jo is made up but the flat is controlled by smart tech courtesy of Electra through which the heating, lighting and, as it transpires, so much more is facilitated. The mix of AI, casual drug abuse and mental health is a toxic one and it’s not long before Jo doesn’t know who she can trust as her past comes back to haunt her and she becomes a social pariah watching, seemingly powerless, as her life disintegrates before her eyes. Great characterisation and insights into the omnipresent world of AI make for a good though often sad read and certainly kept me engrossed. While I didn’t guess the protagonist I did find Jo’s happy ending slightly predictable. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the e-book.

Sensational, and very disturbing! So much of daily life is regulated, controlled, supported or monitored by electronic assistants and this book will make most readers reflect on the impact of this truth. Alongside this thread is a very well written psychological thriller. Despite guessing who the antagonist was fairly early on in the novel, I had no idea why until the end and both of these things made the plot all the more rewarding and "more-ish". In fact, I was annoyed each night when I fell asleep because I wanted to stay awake in order to keep reading longer.

This book gripped me from the start, Jo lives with her friend Tabitha, they have lots of "assistants" in the house like Alexa type assistants not humans!! They start talking to Jo and they know all about her and her past, she thinks she's going crazy, one by one she loses all her friends apart from one who believes her and tries to help her. When it is uncovered who/what is behind it it's a big surprise which I didn't see coming

The Assistant by S.K.Tremayne is possibly not the ideal book if you've got one of those new-fangled virtual assistants. Jo Ferguson is a Freelance Journalist living in a friend's smart home which has all the latest gadgetry,not least voice activated assistant "Electra" and lesser versions ,Homehelps, throughout the flat to automatically carry out such apparently onerous chores as turning the lights on, locking the doors and turning the heating on. While being old enough to be bemused that such things are deemed necessary I do realise that they're already commonplace and some do find they ,make life a lot easier........so what could possibly go wrong? In Jo's case it's Electra ,in a change from the usual weather forecast,informing her that it knows what she did several years earlier,something shocking that she's sure only a couple of people know about. From then on she feels under attack from her various gadgets,the ones in the house,her laptop and phone as the technology in her life seems determined to hound and persecute her. Is she going mad or is Electra really able to threaten and manipulate her,dragging up things from the past? As her life spirals out of control and she begins to doubt her own sanity ,losing her best friends ,work and much else in the process she's desperate for someone to believe her.
For someone like me old enough to remember when a pocket calculator was something amazing the premise of this book seems eerily plausible. I can still remember not long after getting my first Smartphone looking at it and wondering quite how it had been mapping my movements throughout the day,how it knew,as it said on the screen,where I''d just had my motorbike repaired and what shops I dropped into on the way back and not being overly thrilled about it. The subject of the book would have been science fiction not so long ago, S.K. Tremayne has skilfully woven a tale of fairly commonplace modern technology gone bad that that ratchets up the tension as Jo tries to find out whether someone is behind Electra's malevolence or whether it's all in her mind and she's mentally deteriorating .
This is a great read that might just have glancing at your own "Electra" as you read and hoping it doesn't know your deepest darkest secrets.

Thanks to S.K. Tremayne , HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Jo is a journalist. Always on the go, writing 'at length' pieces, she stupidly had an'on-line' dalliance with someone & this broke up her marriage. Now she is living in a very upmarket flat belonging to her best friend Tabitha. Tabitha is often away so Jo is often on her own. The flat is the ultimate in hi-tech with electronic assistants to manage almost everything. When they start to speak to her without prompting Jo is worried. Before long she is downright scared. Messages & emails supposedly sent by her, alienate her friends & family. Is she going mad or is someone out to get her?

I've never liked the idea of these electronic 'smart' gadgets & after reading this I'm certainly not going to rush out & buy one. This was a fast paced story & it kept me glued to the page. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

#TheAssistant #NetGalley
Creepiest psychological thriller I've ever read in my lifetime.
Are you aware of Amazon's Alexa? Well everyone is. How would you behave when it says to you that it knows what you did?
She watches you constantly.
Newly divorced Jo is delighted to move into her best friend’s spare room almost rent-free. The high-tech luxury Camden flat is managed by a meticulous Home Assistant, called Electra, that takes care of the heating, the lights – and sometimes Jo even turns to her for company.
She knows all your secrets.
Until, late one night, Electra says one sentence that rips Jo’s fragile world in two: ‘I know what you did.’ And Jo is horrified. Because in her past she did do something terrible. Something unforgivable.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK Harper Fiction for giving me an advance copy.

The Assistant is a brilliantly creepy thriller. Anyone who has read any of S.K. Tremayne’s previous novels will know that he is a master of chilling gothic style thrillers and this latest novel is no exception.

Jo, our heroine, is sharing a luxury flat which belongs to her wealthy best friend so she can’t really get rid of all the state of the art house assistants that have been installed in every room. Slowly the ‘Electras' start talking to her, goading her and then threatening her. Is she going mad, like her poor suicidal Dad or is it one of her high profile IT savvy friends gaslighting her, and if so, who and why; or is it the dark shadow of a hidden secret from Jo’s past that has come back to haunt her? Slowly and insidiously Jo’s entire life is in ruins and she finds herself completely isolated and in deadly danger. Will anyone believe what is happening to her and can they help her before it gets too late?

I thoroughly enjoyed this read – the insight to the privileged lifestyle in London’s Primrose Hill provided a diverting background to the story and the creepy technology turned it into a hi-tech ghost story – I’m pleased I just possess a run of the mill standard iPhone! The only thing that jarred slightly for me was the description of the weather in the story – obviously an icy cold winter with blizzards definitely added to the sense of isolation and menace but it was still slightly unlikely – I’m sure central London hasn’t experienced a cold snap like it for many decades - but artistic license aside, It was still a ripping yarn.

Many thanks to Harper Collins UK, to Mr Tremayne and to NetGalley for letting me read and review this terrific book.

A cracker. I was a bit sceptical at first having recently read another book about the assistant devices going rogue but this was on a whole other level. I devoured this book in a day. Definitely recommended.

Now this book really had me thinking. And a bit too much, if I'm honest. It would make a great TV programme which I know I and many others would be glued to.

I really enjoyed the story. I assumed "The Assistant" was going to be a woman who would reveal herself to be unhinged and crazy not an Alexa/smart speaker machine.
It goes to show - not to judge a book by it's cover.
Not sure whether I'd want to own an Alexa or not after reading this book.

I loved this book even though it scared the S..t out of me! I was totally immersed within the first five pages and found the story deeply menacing and goosebump raising. I’m definitely not having that kind of technology in my home! A thoroughly well deserved five stars

Where do I start? This book was absolutely tremendous from start to finish. The characters were really strong, some I loved and some I hated. I was glued to it throughout and couldn't read it fast enough, I also didn't have a clue where it was heading. Brilliant 5* read to start off 2020!!!

What an engaging read. The story pulled me in immediately and didn’t let go until it spat me out at the end. It was well written and very tense. Very well thought out storyline too.

A roller coaster ride of a story which takes off from the very start. Tense and gripping the main character draws you into her world as you try to discover what is real and what is not. A very thought provoking story in our world full of technology.

Wow this book was a chilling thriller that makes you think how technology can take over our life’s. It gave me goosebumps and made me look at Alexa in a new light!!

Jo a struggling freelance writer who is getting over her divorce with Simon, her best friend Tabitha offers her a spare room for minimum rent in her luxury apartment in Camden. Tabitha has Electra, voice activated assistants that control the lights, heating, and will answer questions such as “What is the weather like?” (similar to Alexa).

Jo settles in and feels very lucky to be living in such a luxury apartment, until Electra out of the blue says
“I know what you did.”
Electra seems to know the secret, but only two other people know what it is. Jo worries she is going insane and no one believes that Electra is taunting her.

I loved this book, how clever to use technology that most people have in their homes to assist them and turn it on it’s head to make a chilling read where they control you’re life.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Oh my goodness, this book was a real thriller and turn pager. So scary, yet I could not put it down. I kept changing my mind as to who was responsible and was not disappointed by the ending. Very cleverly written.

The Assistant is a great thriller with a very modern story. I absolutely loved this book, it had everything for me, its one of the rare times i havent guessed the end of the book. Loved it.