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Coming March 2014 from Bantam Press

Thank you to both author and publisher for the Advance Reading Copy.

Natty and Sean Wainwright are happily married. Rock solid in fact. So when Natty’s oldest friend, Eve Dalladay, appears – just as their daughter collapses on a school trip in France – Natty has no qualms about leaving Eve with Sean to help out at home.

This was one of those times – Last year I read Paula Daly’s first novel “Just What Kind of Mother Are You” and I loved it – in fact I would say it was one of my favourite debuts of 2013. So as usual for second novels I did approach it with some trepidation. Every reader (and probably every writer) knows that second books can be a bit hit and miss…sometimes they are equally as good, sometimes better, and often disappoint. In this case it took me about 10 pages to realise that THIS second book was going to be superb.

So we have Natty and Sean. Life is good for this pair, even if perhaps a bit mundane – that thing where you are comfortable together mostly and slip into life routines, having gone past the first flush of romance – but seemingly solid as a rock. When their daughter is hospitalised in France, Natty is relieved that she can leave things in her friends capable hands and be at Felicity’s bedside. While she is away however, things take an unexpected turn.

My favourite kind of tale this, a twisty turny maze of goodness with manipulative characters, things that are just not as they seem and that sense of something not quite right that you can’t exactly put your finger on. The story flows along at a terrific pace as we see Natty struggle to cope with an untenable situation, watching as her life falls apart around her.

As with her first novel, Ms Daly has created some truly compelling characters here – and asks that age old question – do we ever really KNOW someone. I love it when a book pretty much says “What would YOU do?” Frankly I’m still deciding.

A top notch pyschological character driven thrill ride, beautifully written with a great sense of place, this definitely comes highly recommended. To quote The Guardian “Fiendishly Addictive”.

Happy Reading Folks!