Before I Let You In

Having read and absolutely loved How I Lost You by Jenny Blackhurst I was very excited to read her new book Before I Let You In and even more delighted to know I was one of the first to read it. This gripping and tense psychological thriller tells the story of 3 best friends in their 30's who have been inseparable since nursery school. It's apparent from the opening chapter that something awful has happened but you don't find out what until the last page. I was gripped throughout and loved the dark and devious and rather twisted storylines and characters. A huge 5 stars from me

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc of this book, received in exchange for an honest review.
I loved the author's first book but I would say this one is even better! A story of three women, friends since childhood, and one woman who is the cuckoo in the nest. She shows up in their lives and appears to have scores to settle with them all. However, nothing is as it seems and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing.
A cleverly written character driven book which has a constant feeling of underlying menace. Would highly recommend.

I have been desperate to read Jenny Blackhurst's next novel after I devoured the absolutely excellent When I Lost You. With Before I Let You In, Jenny has crafted another masterpiece -- full of intrigue, possible red herrings, interconnecting lives and people who aren't quite what you think they are. From the start you know something horrible has happened. I found myself reading with an uncomfortable feeling -- knowing that something is not quite right. Just when you think you've sussed it out, something else is dropped into the mix.... I read this at pace - didn't want it to end but wanted to know how it was going to develop. Very very good and highly recommended. A very deserved 5 stars. 👏👏👏👏👏

Wow I just devoured this book . Having read Jenny's previous book this one is definately her best .. a story of three friends who , now in their thirties , have been friends since children , with pasts that haunt . Full of twists and turns i read this in one sitting .. A very easy 5⭐️️read . Can't wait for the authors next one . My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my arc in exchange for an honest review

This book was on my wishlist from the minute it appeared on Amazon as I loved How I Lost You. But I have to say, after just this minute finishing Before I Let You In.....this is EVEN BETTER! What a twisted and devious mind Jenny Blackhurst must have! I just loved it!

The three women at the heart of this book have been best friends since school. Now in their thirties, their lives have taken quite different paths but they have remained very close. But when psychiatric Karen takes on a new patient, Jessica, she starts to realise that her new patient knows more about Karen and her friends than she is comfortable with. Has letting this woman into her life put the people Karen loves in danger? And how can Karen, who has always been the one to look after them all, hope to keep her friends safe if she can't work out why they are all in danger?

The thing about this book that I loved the most was just how well I connected with all of the friends and their lives. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time desperate to stop whatever was happening to them all and to find out why? It's obvious from the first few pages that something awful has occurred and the build up to it is just so incredibly gripping that you won't be able to put it down! It's like a nightmare where you are running and running away from an unseen predator and just getting nowhere! And it was driving me mad that I couldn't work out exactly what was going on and why. I thought I had it all figured out but my jaw dropped when I realised that I was way off the mark!

Fans of psychological suspense will absolutely devour this! Jenny Blackhurst has certainly raised the bar with this one and has now cemented her place as one of my favourite authors. In fact, I half wish I hadn't read it so I could have the anticipation all over again of reading this for the first time. And I might just have to go back and read again anyway! A brilliantly conceived book that I can highly recommend.

I received a copy of this book via the publisher Headline so many thanks to them and this is my unbiased review.

I was over the moon to receive the ARC of this book as I had loved Jenny's previous book. I certainly wasn't disappointed with this brilliant psychological thriller that had you gripped right to the very end.

Three friends inseparable since childhood and now in their 30s - the bond between them seems unbreakable but their lives are about to be torn apart.
Karen seems to have her head together, a junior psychiatrist who considers her role as to look out for her friends; Bea the single one who loves a great time - the party girl of the group and Eleanor - new mum and struggling with the responsibility - but they all have secrets - how much will their past affect their current situation?
I loved this book - having loved How I Lost You - I knew that this was going to be a great read and I wasn't disappointed; brilliant characters - in depth character development - I felt as though I was experiencing each of their stories, superb twisty and terrifying plot - you really can feel like you are losing your mind reading it, kept me guessing throughout the book with constant twists and turns
Well Jenny now I'm just waiting for book no 3!
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review

Karen, Eleanor and Bea have been friends since they were five years old. They all lead very different lives and yet their bond seems to be unbreakable. Karen is a psychiatrist, always wanting to help her friends and fix theirs and other people’s problems, unimpeachable in her attitude to life and language. Eleanor is the dutiful wife and mother, her life governed by baby feeds, dirty nappies and school runs. Bea is the life the soul of the group, her life one big party. Or so it seems. But appearances can be deceptive. Even the closest of friends can still have secrets.

When Jessica walks into Karen’s office seeking help with a problem she is having, Karen is immediately set on edge. There is something different about her new patient. Something which makes Karen feel like she is the one who is being assessed. Because Jessica seems to know too much about Karen’s life, her friends, her family. Her past.

And then things start to happen that threaten the peaceful harmony of the happy band of friends. Accusations of adultery are rife, people’s nerves are set on edge by reminders of a past they would rather forget and somebody seems to be set on driving a wedge between them with the direst of consequences.

‘Before I Let You In’ is a gripping psychological story which I ate up in less than a day. From the very opening I was drawn in, intrigued by the styling of the first chapter, which is that of a psychological assessment. It is a set up for the main story and is continued at varying points throughout, informing more of what you will read in the subsequent chapters. It is set in the present, the majority of the action in the book taking place sometime before, although this is not immediately apparent. What is also not apparent is whose voice we are hearing, although that is soon cleared up. It is a very clever device which works well to propel the story forward, yet still giving the reader a chance to reflect on what has happened so far.

The characters of Karen, Bea and Eleanor seem like your everyday group of ‘girlfriends’ – too loud in café’s, know everything about each other and always doing all they can to be there for one another. Karen is clearly the mother hen of the group, seeing it as her job to look after the other two, and as such she is always there in the thick of all of the action, a lot of the story being told from her point of view. Theirs is a very well written friendship, and it is easy to get to like all of the characters, making some of what is to come all the more surprising.

In Jessica, we get the sense of a slightly on edge young woman, that there is more to her than she reveals in her sessions with Karen. It is not so much that she is physically threatening, it is more what she says and how she acts that makes you believe she may be a threat to Karen and her friends.

Most of the passages are written from the point of view of one of the main characters. You see the insecurities of Bea who tries hard to hide this from her friends, the slow unravelling of Eleanor’s nerves as she sinks into a kind of post-natal depression, and the duplicitous nature of Karen whose personal life is more complex than any of her friends could have suspected. Intertwined within their narratives are some anonymous passages, someone who clearly has a less than stable mind and an inherent jealousy of the close bonds between the friends. Just who this is we do not find out until the end of the tale.

There are enough twists in this story to keep you guessing throughout as to what may have happened and who could be responsible. Simple misdirection is so brilliantly executed that even right up until the last pages, I don’t really think I really believed or knew who was behind the torment that the friends suffer. The identity of Jessica may have been a little more obvious than other questions which were raised throughout, but it didn’t mean that I had the whole plot worked out by any stretch. And it was the little touches of wickedness which really brought the tension to life. There was no need for a big bang shock moment when the perpetrator was slowly chipping away at the friends defences every step of the way.

A brilliantly crafted 5 stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and publishers Headline for the advance copy of ‘Before I Let You In’ in exchange for my review.

Before I Let You In

I absolutely loved How I Lost You and so I had to, had to, had to read Before I Let You In and was excited to be able to read it before it was published!

Three friends in their 30s who have been besties since they were young. Their lives have taken different directions but they are still as close as ever...or are they? They always have each other's back but it's obvious from the beginning that something bad is going to happen to shake up this friendship and change things irrevocably.

This is an intense, dark and creepy psychological thriller. The build up had me on the edge of my seat and I found myself holding my breath on more than one occasion!! I really thought I had it all worked out but I was way off the mark! Touché Jenny Blackhurst, you've done it again and I can't wait for the next instalment :-)

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 5*

This is one stunning novel! A psychological thriller about a psychologist. Her life, her past, her friends, her love life and theirs. People have strange ideas and the web that they weave can be very intricate and complex, so much so that they have to very clever in what they are doing to the point of precision and leaving no stone unturned.
You are drawn to the plot and to some of the characters as the web extends. At first you think this is going to go one way, then it changes and goes at a tangent and then the twist. Short punchy chapters keep this flowing each by a different person including the perpetrator although who named by others is absent by name at the start of her sections, retaining that mystery air.
If you like psychological thrillers you will love this. A tad different from others in a way that I can’t quite put my finger on in a good way.
I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an open and honest review

Oh my oh my oh my, hands down, one of the best books I've read all year! Thank you to NetGalley, Headline and Jenny Blackhurst for the ARC of Before I Let You In, in return for an honest review.

I love this book: it is clever, brilliantly plotted, really well written, creepy and twisted. The characters are three-dimensional, the pace is perfect and the multiple narrators device - one of my faviourites - is used well. One or two of my suspicions along the way were right, but most were completely wrong and the roller coaster final few chapters blew me away

(I'm now off to buy Jenny Blackhurst's first book, How I Lost You.)

Everyone should read this book. Did I mention that it's brilliant?

Not many Books shock Me but I'm still reeling after finishing Before I let you in last night. A Complex,Hair raising Psychological Thriller that never lets up! I was gripped from beginning to end with an ending to rival I Let you go....This One is going to be Huge! Pre order it now! Blackhurst is one to watch...Without doubt one of the best Thriller I've read in a long time!

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC
Jenny Blackhurst does it again. A 5* read! This book is full of suspense - when you think you have guessed it - you realise you are wrong! A page turner that had me up late 3 nights in a row so i could complete it.
It tells the story of three lifelong friends Bea, Karen and Eleanor - and the chapters are told from their point. It is obvious fairly early on that things are not quite as they seem - When things start happening to them, they each begin to look at each other aswell as questioning themselves. Karen is a psychiatrist and thinks she can solve everyone's problems but she is holding her own secrets. Is Eleanor as happily married as she thinks, what happened to Bea in her past to make her the person she is today?? Will their friendship last or be torn apart? And who is Jessica!
Read it!!! you know you want to!!!

Firstly lets just get this out there - This is easily one of the best books I've read this year. It's a tight and pacy novel, not a sentence is wasted on waffle or padding out. There are no pointless little side stories to distract from the main plot. Jenny Blackhurst knows she has a job to do here and by God she's going to do it.

Before I Let You tells the story of Karen, a successful psychologist who has a difficult patient come into her life. Karen feels this girl Jessica is a threat to everything and everyone she holds dear. And it does seem that Jessica is a bit of a bunny boiler - actually it feels like the whole cast of Watership Down should be given a panic alarm at times.

Anyone that like psychological thrillers is going to love this. If it's not at the top of ebook charts then frankly it's a travesty. There are a couple of issues I have. Firstly I've had Jenny Blackhursts first novel languishing on my kindle, I now feel like an idiot for not reading it before. Secondly there's a rather miffed 5 year old in this reviewers home, due to the fact I literally couldn't put this down. I now owe her hours of playing Anna to her Elsa.....it was worth it though!