This was a really fun and addictive read! The story pulled me in from the start and kept me guessing. The characters were interesting and the drama made it hard to put down. Overall, a super entertaining and enjoyable book!

The Pretenders is a wonderfully layered, slow‑burn domestic drama that thrives on secrets, shifting loyalties, and the quiet cracks hiding beneath seemingly perfect relationships. It’s one of those novels where you know from the first page that something is off… you just don’t know how deep the rot goes.

The premise is deceptively simple: Jasper, glowing from his engagement to Holly, decides to pay a surprise visit to his steady, dependable brother Edmund. Along for the ride are his best friend John and John’s wife Anne — a tight little group who believe they know one another inside out. But the moment they step into Edmund’s London mansion, the atmosphere jolts. Ovidia’s presence — unexpected and very much unexplained — sets the tone for a day full of fractures and revelations.

What I loved most is how the author builds tension through character rather than action. Each person arrives with their own assumptions, insecurities, and half‑truths, and watching those pieces slowly unravel is addictive. The shifting dynamics between the couples, the old wounds resurfacing, the subtle betrayals — it all feels incredibly real and human.

The story unfolds over one spring day, but it never feels rushed. Instead, there’s a steady tightening of the emotional screws as each lie, omission, and regret is dragged into the light. The big reveals land not with melodrama, but with that quieter, more powerful kind of impact where you think, ah — of course.

Elegant, tense, and quietly compelling, The Pretenders is a smart exploration of how well we think we know the people closest to us — and how dangerous it can be when we start believing our own illusions.

A perfect pick for readers who enjoy intimate, character‑led fiction where every conversation carries a shadow.

With thanks to Agatha Zaza, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC

I didn't realise this was a debut, it is so well written and drew me in so thoroughly! Once you have been caught, you cannot put it down, you need to find out what happens next!

What begins as a seemingly harmless surprise visit quickly turns into an emotional pressure cooker, where every character is hiding something and convincing themselves they’re justified in doing so. Zaza takes a familiar setup (friends, family, a beautiful house, a single day) and twists it into something quietly sinister. From the moment everyone walks into that London mansion, you can feel that nothing is going to unfold the way it should.

The real strength of this book is its characters. No one is purely innocent, no one entirely villainous. Relationships feel layered and real, especially the dynamics between the brothers and the married couple caught in the middle. The tension doesn’t come from shock value, it comes from watching small cracks widen into irreversible breaks. Every interaction feels loaded, every conversation slightly off, like you’re waiting for the floor to drop out.

Zaza excels at psychological unease. The pacing is deliberate but relentless, pulling you deeper as secrets surface and assumptions unravel. Just when you think you understand who these people are, the story forces you to reconsider everything you thought you knew. The “day of reckoning” promised on the back cover isn’t loud or chaotic—it’s devastating in a much more realistic way.

The cover may lure you in, but it’s the emotional fallout that lingers. The Pretenders isn’t just about lies told to others; it’s about the lies people tell themselves to survive and what happens when those lies can no longer hold.

This is a smart, unsettling thriller that stays with you long after the final page. If you enjoy slow burn psychological tension, morally complex characters, and stories that make you sit quietly and rethink everything, The Pretenders deserves a spot at the top of your list.

A highly original exploration of 6 deeply flawed individuals. The novel is woven into explorations of each character in turn with some playing bigger parts than others. The decisions of the characters are often questionable but always hurtling towards a fairly shocking end which I definitely did. It seems coming. It is rare to be so engrossed in the immediate developments that you aren’t looking two steps ahead but I was genuinely surprised at the sharp turns at the end, it’s hard to love a novel when you don’t love the characters but I was certainly engaged throughout.

It's addictiveeee!!! I really enjoy reading this book. I need more from the author. You all need to pick this

*A TWISTED AND SUSPENSEFUL PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER: THE PRETENDERS BY AGATHA ZAZA 😱👥*

Agatha Zaza's "The Pretenders" is a gripping and unsettling novel that'll keep you on the edge 🚨. The story follows a complex exploration of identity, deception, and the darker side of human nature in a group of friends.

Zaza's writing is engaging, with a cast of characters that'll keep you guessing 🤔. The plot is expertly woven, with twists and turns that'll keep you turning pages 📚.

The tension builds with every chapter, making it impossible to put the book down. If you enjoy psychological thrillers with plenty of suspense and a focus on character dynamics, "The Pretenders" is a compelling read.

Thank you so much for the ARC. This book drew me in and pulled me under till the very end. Some relationships can be complicated. Family can be even more complicated and difficult, especially if there are secrets, lies and lots of pretentiousness. Loved the book!

i couldn't wait to get stuck into this one. its exactly the read i love when done well. and this one was certainly one of those for me. i loved reading how our characters weave, move and thread throughout each others lives. and the premise of we see the ripple, we see the secrets and yes, i wanted to know all about them.
we learn more about these six friends over one day that they gather. but what we learn and see doesn't just stay in that one day. as we also move throughout each of their relationships and past to bring us up to how they are, meet, situations they are in when they come to this gathering on the one day.
its almost like i came to know these characters as they did . and sometimes what you uncover with them isn't all that great. but that became more intense and more hitting because we DO know more about them now and we DO know what effect everything they've been through will have, because we have lived and read it with them. and yes, you then fully get to know how and why this meeting at the end feels like a build up, the end point. the bath flowing over so to speak. i really enjoyed the way this read. because you feel it, you know it is their simmering at the start. but then we go back and we then know the whys and hows.
this is a peak into these characters lives. it felt real. like we were having a glimpse we would usually into humans that could be around us, the couple living just down the road. how would we be thinking if we walked passed at the moment Edmund doing what hes doing and with whom watching on???

All about performance—who we are vs. who we present. The relationships feel curated in a way that’s slightly unsettling on purpose.

Who it’s for: people who have ever crafted a personality depending on the room.

At first, I did not know where this book was going. But I did enjoy the ride. The characters are fleshed out and I could almost see the story play out like a movie. Perfect for readers who want slower build up but the story still moves fast with enough twists to keep you reading.