**Top Five Friday** With The Book Review Café psychological thrillers

Today on Top Five Friday I thought I would share my top five psychological thrillers with you. There are some fantastic books out there in this genre but I’m going with the ones that stuck with me long after I finished them.

Lisa Hall

Between You And Me remains one of my top reads, as I never seen the twist coming until it hit me in the face. This was Lisa Hall’s debut novel. and what a debut, it’s well written and a superbly plotted Psychological thriller with the mother of all twists.

Sarah Pinborough

Behind Her Eyes is one that will certainly mess with your head and it certainly deserves the hashtag #WTFthatending. I did have to suspend belief as Behind Her Eyes reached its dramatic and shocking conclusion now this usually leaves me feeling short changed, but my god Sarah Pinborough has written such a unique story I was happy to fall for it hook, line and sinker, and yes I did think “WTF” just happened?

Michael J Malone

A Suitable Lie was an amazing book  never have I felt so emotionally drained after reading a novel. Whilst reading this book I experienced so many emotions, anger, bewilderment and intense dislike to name but a few. A Suitable Lie has to be one of the most unsettling and disturbing stories I have read in a long time.

Clare Mackintosh

I See You never lets up on the suspense and manages to maintain it right until the chilling conclusion.  There were plenty of “heart in your mouth” moments, which made this book impossible to put down.

Julia Crouch

This is an absolute cracker of a read and what a compelling and unsettling thriller Her Husband’s Lover by Julia Crouch turned out to be. I have read numerous novels that have been described as domestic noir, but this one takes you somewhere much darker, it’s disturbing and uncomfortable at times, but it’s a hell of a twisted tale

All my reviews for the above books can be found here….

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2016/02/26/between-you-and-me-by-lisa-hall/

http://thebookreviewcafe.com/2016/06/22/author-interview-between-you-and-me-by-lisa-hall-no-spoilers/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/29/blog-tour-behind-her-eyes-by-sarah-pinborough-authorinterview-review-sarahpinborough-wtfthatending/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2016/10/26/a-suitable-lie-by-michael-j-malone-michaeljmalone1-orendabooks-review/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2016/07/29/i-see-you-by-clare-mackintosh-review/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2016/12/28/her-husbands-lover-by-julia-crouch-review-thatjuliacrouch-headlinepg/

 

**End Of The Year Wrap Up **

Well I for one will be glad to see the back of 2016, for many reasons this hasn’t been the best year I’ve ever had. I’m going to embrace 2017 though and make it my year to take on new challenges.

Now I’m not one for New Years resolutions I always fail at the first hurdle (usually the 2nd of January 😂), but I am hoping to do a couple of things regarding my reading and my blog

• Read some books from my TBR pile, which I’m desperate to get through
• cut down on blog tours, as there’s too much pressure to read a book in a limited time
• Only request one book at a time on NetGalley (this ones going to be hard)
• if I’m not enjoying a book, I DON’T have to finish it, after all there are far too many amazing books out there to waste time on a duff one!
• learn to say “no” it’s ok NOT to agree to read and review every book that comes my way (my new mantra😂)
• Read more books by authors that are new to me, I’ve already got a couple lined up…..so watch this space!

Although I haven’t compiled a list of my top reads, here are just some of the books I really enjoyed this year and would highly recommend.

My top five most read posts

You can read the reviews here……

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2016/02/11/author-interview-behind-closed-doors-by-b-a-paris/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2016/02/08/behind-closed-doors-by-b-a-paris/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2016/01/26/tainted-love-by-kimberley-chambers/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2016/02/26/between-you-and-me-by-lisa-hall/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2016/06/10/the-sister-by-louise-jenson/

My First read of 2017

My first read of 2017 is Snatched From Home by Graham Smith, this is a book that has been sat on my TBR pile for a while, it’s also by an author I haven’t read yet which means I’ve already started on my goals for 2017

Books I’ve read to watch out for in 2017

As the end of the year approaches I would like to say a huge thank you to each and everyone of you who follows my blog and wish you all a fabulous New Year and hope all your dreams come true.

Lorraine x x x

 

 

Her Husband’s Lover by Julia Crouch #Review @thatJuliaCrouch @headlinepg

Book description

After the horrors of the past, Louisa Williams is desperate to make a clean start.

Her husband Sam is dead. Her children, too, are gone, victims of the car accident in which he died.

Sam said that she would never get away from him. That he would hound her to death if she tried to leave. Louisa never thought that he would want to harm their children though.

But then she never thought that he would betray her with a woman like Sophie.

And now Sophie is determined to take all that Louisa has left. She wants to destroy her reputation and to take what she thinks is owed her – the life she would have had if Sam had lived.

Her husband’s lover wants to take her life. The only question is will Louisa let her?

This is an absolute cracker of a read and what a compelling and unsettling thriller Her Husband’s Lover by Julia Crouch turned out to be. I have read numerous novels that have been described as domestic noir, but this one takes you somewhere much darker, it’s disturbing and uncomfortable at times, but it’s a hell of a twisted tale and one that was difficult to put down, I was so caught up in this novel I was reading it at every possible opportunity.

Her Husband’s Lover concentrates on two protagonists Louisa the poor heartbroken widow who not only lost her husband, but her two children in a car accident, and Sophie the pregnant mistress, the stark contrast between the two make them even more intriguing. I love an unreliable narrator in a story, but the author goes one better here and gives you two! The story is told from both Louisa and Sophie’s POV, past and present which really works for this novel. I have to applaud the author on her character development both characters are complex, and I found my sympathies towards each character constantly shifting for reasons I’m not going to go into, as I don’t want to give away spoilers, suffice to say by the end of the book I was absolutely astounded that my opinions of the two were reversed completely. Neither character are particularly likeable I found them selfish, manipulative and very unreliable, which normally means I struggle with the whole concept, but thanks to authors skilful writing I was desperate to learn more about these two.

Sometimes I find a novel told from two characters POV and past and present can appear disjointed, fortunately this wasn’t the case and the author goes between the two very skilfully. I wouldn’t consider this to be a fast paced plot, as the story is unravelled slowly building on the tension and suspense until it reaches fever pitch, but it’s one that will pull you in and keep you in its clutches to the very last shocking page. As the plot builds in momentum the author reveals more shocking events, it’s then you realise what a well constructed and dark tale Her Husband’s Lover really is. Nothing is what it seems in this novel and that’s what I enjoyed the most about this book, what the author does brilliantly is play with the reader’s sympathies, she pulls you in one direction and then throws a spanner in the works, making you question everything you believe. Julia Crouch has written a brilliant and compelling psychological thriller that I would highly recommend to lovers of psychological thrillers and domestic noir.

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️out of 5

Print Length: 480 pages

Publisher:Headline (26 Jan. 2017)

Amazon UK 🇬🇧      Amazon US 🇺🇸