Emma CurtisRezensionen

Three women. Three secrets. The women are Claudia, Anna and Sara and yes, I can confirm that they have a large number of secrets.

As the book begins, Claudia is released from prison after admitting the manslaughter of her baby daughter, Tilly, ten years earlier. But Claudia only confessed so she would be released and be able to try and find out what really happened. Anna is the woman who should have been babysitting Tilly that fateful day, but who let Claudia and her husband, Joe, down. Sara is Joe's new wife and they have a baby together and are living in the house where Claudia used to live with her family.

Claudia is determined to get to the bottom of Tilly's disappearance and this makes her quite volatile and vulnerable. She was my favourite character and I was always pleased when the focus switched back to her, probably because she was in the process of uncovering and discovering and I enjoy that in a novel. I did sometimes get Sara and Anna a bit muddled up and found them quite similar whereas Claudia's character really stood out.

I found The Babysitter to be a story that gripped me and kept me reading, wanting to know the truth of what happened to Tilly and who made it happen. It's fast-paced and twisty with a plot that I found compelling. Claudia literally has nothing to lose in leaving no stone unturned whereas Anna and Sara have much to hide. I didn't know who to believe or trust and that's exactly what I want in a psychological thriller.

Eliza kept me glued to the pages, a testimony of Curtis’ talent. I have to tip my hat in her direction, because wow. This is how you write a good thriller.

[Keep reading @Bookshelves & Teacups]

Eliza Curran is unhappily married to a controlling but wealthy man, whom she is desperate to leave. Her life is turned upside down when she takes on a new tenant for the flat she is in the middle of project managing. He quickly and charmingly inveigles himself into her family. Is he too good to be true?

This is quite a slow burning psychological thriller. It’s well written, atmospherically so, gradually drawing you in to its murky and disturbing depths! None of the characters are particularly likeable. They all have their own peculiar issues. The plot is quite predictable, spiralling into madness sometimes, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it. I really wanted to give Eliza, who is the narrator, a shake at times. She comes over as such a foolish person, she even made me cringe a little. I think the main gist of the story is really about what happens when a person with an agenda tries to insinuate themselves into your life and the consequences, rather than about how many dead bodies mount up. At the end of the day, however, this is an entertaining and engaging thriller which had me eagerly turning the pages to find out what happens next.

Thank You to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for this ARC!!

Jenny has just given birth to the baby she’s always wanted and she's happier than never before. However, her husband, Leo, knows this baby girl can’t be his.

The same night, a vulnerable young woman, Hannah, wakes to find her newborn lifeless beside her. She’s crazed with grief. When chance throws Hannah into Leo’s path, they make a plan that will have shattering consequences for all of them.

Years later, a sixteen-year-old girl reads an article in a newspaper, and embarks on a journey to uncover the truth about herself. But what she learns will put everything she has ever known – and her own life – in grave danger.

I was attracted to this book for its premise and cover, and I wasn't disappointed. It was exciting and I was engaged throughout. I loved both the concept and the execution!!

Interesting read with a good ending and decent amount of suspense.

A gripping psychological thriller revolving around the abduction of a baby and then 16 years later, the kidnap of a young girl.

I really enjoyed Keep Her Quiet. It’s a rollercoaster of a story, full of twists and turns with some events I didn’t see coming at all. It has a well thought out plot, even if at first it seems slightly implausible. It had me on the edge of my seat! The characters are mostly unlikeable and at times I did wonder what was going through their heads.

I read this tale via the Pigeonhole app and eagerly awaited each stave - a sign of a good book for me! If you enjoy fast paced reads, you’ll love this one.

I have to start by saying that I knew this was going to be a good book as my mam read it before me and she said it was brilliant. Now we all know how hard mothers are to please, so I didn't doubt her for a moment, and of course she wasn't wrong!

The Night You Left drew me in right from the start with its mystery and intrigue. Why on earth would Nick propose to Grace then walk out of her life without a word the following day? The police think Nick has simply left Grace but Grace knows him better than anyone and knows he wouldn't do that. Or at least she thought she knew Nick but it soon becomes clear that he has kept secrets from his past hidden from her. How well did she really know her fiancé after all?

I usually pick things up and connect the dots quite quickly but I don't know whether the current heatwave has melted my brain or more likely that Emma Curtis is such a talented writer that she had me fooled. I was so greedily lapping up Nick's story from the past that I completely missed something and I ended up kicking myself as I couldn't believe I hadn't made the connection. I obviously don't want to admit brain fade but I do think that Emma Curtis had cleverly deflected my attention so I didn't make this connection until a split second before she planned to reveal it.

The characters are portrayed brilliantly in The Night You Left. I absolutely loved to hate Nick's mother, Cora. What a b*tch! She makes no secret of the fact that she doesn't like Grace and doesn't think she's good enough for her precious son. Grace's ex, Douglas, made my skin crawl; strangely enough he creeped me out more than Nick's father, Tim, who has a very murky past. Douglas is so controlling, not just of Grace, but he needs to be in control of absolutely everything. He seems to be a very cool and calculating individual, although he does lose his cool at one point in his very own 'Here's Johnny' moment.

I don't need to think twice before saying that I wholeheartedly recommend this totally addictive book. It's full of mystery, intrigue and family secrets that kept my eyes glued to the page from start to finish. A highly recommended read and a well deserved 5 stars from me.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

A first class drama of modern middle class life, this is a real page-turner from an author happy to take her characters right to the edge, and occasionally off it. You don't need monsters to create a proper horror scenario - having a couple of social workers turn up during a kids' party is scary enough. There is also a neat little paragraph a couple of pages from the end that playfully summarises what has gone before. I can't quote it here as it's one big spoiler but it raised a smile at the end of a pretty traumatic tale!

A secret is only a safe secret when known by one.

Vicky has a life that many would envy. She’s been married to her husband since she was in her early twenties. She has three beautiful children; is still on maternity leave from the job she enjoys as a teacher after the birth of her last one. Their family lives in a beautiful home, much of which she renovated herself. She has friends, especially Amber, who has been her best friend since before the birth of her first child. But with all she has, is it enough? Having and raising Emily and Polly seemed so easy, but after the birth of Josh she is tired and frazzled, out of sorts and a bit discontented. And all that leads to the mistake that threatened all of that. Yes, Vicky has so much to be envied for. And someone does; someone who thinks she doesn’t deserve to have what she has.

Do you know the people around you? Do you have someone you trust with everything? We all think we can trust our friends or our spouse or family and that they will never betray us. But that can be dangerous.

It’s an interesting character study. Does a bad childhood excuse anyone’s behaviour or do the things that happened to us as children influence how we will behave as adults? Does a mistake or two make us bad people or bad parents? It’s easy to sit back and judge but maybe we should examine everything we’ve done first.

I love this genre of books. So many of these psychological thrillers have come out in the last few years; some better than others. For me, this one is five stars! It’s a fast paced quick read that I flew through although there were times I momentarily didn’t want to read further since I was afraid of what was coming. We as the readers can see where things are going and I was actually verbalizing to warn people of tragedies and betrayals ahead and yes, I may have accused some of the characters as being stupid for not seeing what was right in front of them. And I am a little crazy? Well maybe a little but I got so involved in this story and was dreading of what lay ahead.

This book really had me intrigued. Little by little more things were revealed that gave me further insight and some surprises made it make sense. Maybe none of us can ever really escape our pasts.

This will definitely be one of my favourites this year and I look forward to more by this author.

The blurb for this book is quite vague so I wasn't at all sure what to expect plot wise from this novel, but boy, it is packed full of story, twists and punchy characters.

Focussing on two women, Vicky and Amber, we follow their journey of consequences following a gargantuan error of judgement on the part of the former. Vicky then finds herself getting entangled in a thick web of lies and deceit, eventually being left not knowing who she can actually trust.

The writing is very good and the plot is well woven and time-framed, moving along at a steady pace. We are told the story in both first and third person, dependent on whose viewpoint we are looking at and in between that we are also taken back to the early 1990's, and told the very sad and traumatic history of one of the characters. Eventually all of these things tie up together at the end for an explosive finale.

The author has done a great job with the characters, they are well developed and, particularly one, complex. For me an excellent balance of both like and dislike for them has been created and I flip-flopped my sympathy around all over the place.

This is a really good psychological suspense novel from Emma Curtis and I look forward to future reads from her.