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