REVIEW: Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 16th September 2025

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 30th August 2022

★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

DESCRIPTION:

The 'New York Times' best-selling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder.

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.

The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s 'And Then There Were None', 'DAISY DARKER's unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.

MY THOUGHTS:

Darkness runs in the family...

30th October 2004: It's the eve of eccentric author Beatrice Darker's 80th birthday and the family have been invited to celebrate at her home Seaglass on the Cornish coast. They have spent years avoiding each other but as Nana's 80th approaches, and if a fortune teller's palm reading was correct, it will be her last. And so they descend in the hope of picking at the carcass of her remains.

Seaglass sits on a remote tidal island accessible only by a causeway at low tide. And it has been the only place Daisy, the youngest of the Darkers, has ever felt truly at home. As one of the first to arrive it is like she has never left, the fabric of the ancient house's woven threads a shroud in which she feels completely safe. Then one by one, the family assemble crossing the causeway until the tide cuts them off from the rest of the world until morning. And as they take their seats around the table, Nana announces that there will be a reading of her will. But don't expect them to break out the champagne. In fact, Daisy's father heads straight to the whisky while her mother downs the wine, claiming Nana really has lost her marbles. The bequests are delivered - strange, eccentric, poetic even, but they are pure Nana.

The family prepare for bed and the birthday celebrations ahead of Nana's 80th the following day, halloween. But as the clock strikes twelve, the Darker family are in for a surprise and as the hours count down, a deadly mystery begins to unfold. Nana is dead and on her chalkboard wall is a dark poem about the family written in Nana's hand. Or is it? Because when the clock strikes the following hour, several lines have been crossed out about another family member and the discovery of another body. Terror begins to fill those remaining as they wonder what this means - and who is doing this? But most of all, they are each left wondering will they be next? The Darker family has their secrets - some darker than others. But what secret is enough to kill for?

From the Queen of twists comes this dark and claustrophobic atmospheric nod to the iconic Queen of crime as she pays homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" with her own unique spin on the timeless mystery. Told from the narrative of the youngest Darker, Daisy, the chapters unfold hour by hour with snippets of the past peppered throughout as secrets begin to unravel, manipulating the reader as only Feeney does. The numerous clocks that all strike at once on each hour adds to the chilling atmosphere which only highlights the terror of the agonising eight hours that keep them all trapped together on the remote island during the token stormy night that also keeps them locked indoors.

As a Christie fan from my teenage years, I thought I knew what to expect and how things would play out. And in homage to Ms Christie, I was partly right (I guessed who was behind it) because well, it goes without saying if you have read "And Then There Were None". But Feeney throws her own spin on this terrifying locked room mystery with a difference and making it her own. And believe me, as eye-rolling as far fetched as it is, it is chilling and perfect in its own way that you won't see coming. As the mystery unfolds and you begin to piece it together with the reveal, you start to think back to the beginning to try and recall how it played out then. And then it makes you want to go back and re-read it in a completely different light.

While not my favourite of Feeney's, it is still an outstanding accomplishment to re-write Ms Christie as never before. Most of the characters are completely unlikeable except for maybe one or two. But one thing is for sure, you will see some of them in a completely different light by the end of the book. Weaving twists both effortlessly and seamlessly, Feeney truly manipulates her readers as well as her characters, enthralling us to the very end.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Alice Feeney is an author and former BBC journalist. Her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, was a New York Times and international bestseller. It has been translated into over twenty languages, and is being made into a TV series by Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros. starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Her books have been translated into over twenty-five languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Including her novel Rock Paper Scissors, which is being made into a TV series by the producer of The Crown. 

Alice has lived in London and Sydney and has now settled in Devon, where she lives with her husband and dog..

Social Media Links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

 

REVIEW: Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 28th April 2025

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 14th January 2025

★★★★ 4.5 stars

DESCRIPTION:

The million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists, Alice Feeney, returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage . . . and revenge.

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife as she’s driving home to share some exciting news. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by a cliff edge, the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there . . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible: a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change, but they don’t.

Husbands think their wives won’t change, but they do.

MY THOUGHTS:

There's no need to be afraid of the dead, it's the living that you have to watch out for...

The day Grady Green becomes a New York Times best selling author is the worst best day of his life.

While awaiting the news that he has made the bestseller author list, Grady calls his wife Abby as she makes her way home from work in London. When he hears her slam on the brakes and go silent he is worried something has happened to her. She tells him that there is someone lying in the road and that she is going to check on them to which he implores her not to. But Abby can't leave someone laying there. What if it had been her? Surely he'd want someone to stop for her? And so he hears her get out of the car and walk away. As the minutes tick by, there remains silence - all but the ticking of her indicator still blinking.

Arriving at the scene, Grady finds his wife's car, her phone still on and the promised celebratory fish and chips on the front seat. But no sign of Abby. And no sign of anyone in the road. It's as if she's vanished into thin air. What on earth happened on that cliff road? And where on earth is Abby?

One year later, Grady is still overcome by grief and hasn't been able to write since Abby disappeared. So when his agent Kitty (also Abby's godmother) offers him a writing retreat on the remote Scottish Isle of Amberley. Grady figures what has he got to lose. The island is so remote, it only has twenty five residents and offers the silence and seclusion he always longs for to write.

He arrives on the Scottish isle with his trusted companion Columbo, a black labrador, after a rough ferry crossing and the self-appointed sheriff and ferrymaster Sandy drives him to the secluded cabin that once belonged to famed author Charles Whittaker before his untimely death, thus bequeathing this little cabin to Kitty in his will. Grady welcomed the tranquility and seclusion, hoping it will kickstart his writing. At least, he did at first.

But then strange things began happening. The strangest of all being when he sees a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife Abby! Until he looks again and she's gone. Did he really see her? Or is he so sleep deprived he is hallucinating?

Despite the strange goings on (of which there are plenty), Grady manages to churn out what he believes to be his best book yet - which he titles "Beautiful Ugly" - and sends it off to Kitty. And then he makes plans to leave the island. But he soon finds no one is forthcoming with ferry times or even about him leaving the island. And soon, Grady begins to wonder whether coming to Amberley was the best thing for him at all?!

The Isle of Amberley is a strange place. It is six miles long and five miles wide (I don't do miles as I'm metric but even I know that isn't very big) with a total population of twenty five residents. But that's not the strangest thing about them (I'll leave that one for you to discover). And yet, there is no phone signal, no landlines, no internet, no connection with the outside world. Even the ferry runs just twice a week (weather permitting) and there is no timetable for the ferry out...because "no one leaves Amberley".

First off, a huge THANK YOU to Alice Feeney for NOT injuring or killing off Columbo, Grady's trusted black labrador and companion. There was a moment there when Grady told Columbo that he had to leave him there (in the cabin) as it would be quicker without him and I started getting anxious. NO! Don't leave him behind! And I had visions of him returning to finding Columbo missing or something worse. But thankfully (no spoilers), this didn't happen and Columbo is alive and well. Injuring or killing off a beloved pet such as a loving companionable dog is a big no-no for me in books and I have been known to stop reading the moment it happens, never to finish it. So THANK YOU!!

There are so many layers to this intricate psychological thriller by one of the biggest Queens of Twist authors. And the beautiful setting of a remote Scottish island is both atmospheric and claustrophobic at the same time. It's tranquility and isolation are used masterfully giving the air of an illusionary calm. It isn't long before Grady begins to notice strange goings on and the hallucinatory visions he sees has him questioning what's real and what's not. But it's not only Grady that is questioning the reality but the reader as well. And one has to ask, is someone playing mind games or is Grady finally cracking under the grief of losing Abby? And yet everyone behaves oddly and everything just feels off.

There's a tension that is palpable throughout with a spooky and sinister undertone that is both chilling and eerie. Which is only made moreso by the unreliable narration that we didn't know was unreliable. But who is unreliable and who is reliable? And the plot twist?! I'm not just saying that - it really DOES have a great plot twist! But buckle up, because nothing is as it seems on the Isle of Amberley. It's like the Hotel California - you can check out any time you want but you can never leave.

Feeney delivers some cliched quotes that pepper the story throughout but in a way that tells the story that is unfolding before our eyes. There are some very clever witty quotes and some you have to re-read to try and get your head around. The most memorable quote of the entire book is the very last line, delivered with maximum effect and jaw-dropping realisation.

A dark tale about marriage and revenge but with a devious and unique twist.

I would like to thank #AliceFeeney, #Netgalley and #FlatironBooks for an ARC of #BeautifulUgly in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Alice Feeney is an author and former BBC journalist. Her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, was a New York Times and international bestseller. It has been translated into over twenty languages, and is being made into a TV series by Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros. starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Her books have been translated into over twenty-five languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Including her novel Rock Paper Scissors, which is being made into a TV series by the producer of The Crown. 

Alice has lived in London and Sydney and has now settled in Devon, where she lives with her husband and dog..

Social Media Links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

REVIEW: Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

 

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 15th August 2023

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 3rd August 2023

★★★★★ 5 stars

DESCRIPTION:

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things.

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from her push-chair, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.

Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning up mess and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything.

Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door . . . and their intentions aren’t good.

With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her, and the connections that bind them.

The Queen of Twists, bestselling author of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors Alice Feeney, returns with another gripping mystery filled with drama and her trademark surprises in Good Bad Girl.

MY THOUGHTS:

"Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things." 🐞

This story begins at THE END. 🐞

And it ends at THE BEGINNING. 🐞

Two Mother's Days, twenty years apart, collide as this complex tale unravels from the end to the beginning. And four very different women find themselves tangled in Alice Feeney's latest intricate web.

Twenty years ago, a baby disappears from a pram in a supermarket and is never seen again despite police's best efforts to track her down. The mother is distraught as her whole world as she knows it inevitably changes. Six months later, they bury an empty coffin in an attempt to gain closure if not answers.

In the present day, we meet Frankie. She likes to think of herself as a good bad girl. Life has taught her that people can't be trusted and the only thing you can count on is numbers. So that's what she does. She counts. Three times to open the door. Seventy five steps to the next gate. Twenty five to her car. Numbers calm her. But what she really loves is books. To lose herself in a world of fiction. And as a prison librarian Frankie's job is to ensure that everyone has access to books. She built this library to what it is today. She taught some of the inmates to read. She gave them an appreciation of books. Because in books you can lose yourself and they can be a saviour to your hurting heart just by burying yourself within their pages. And every day she leaves the prison and returns home to her narrowboat and wishes for her missing daughter to return home to her.

Edith's daughter Clio is a therapist who is need of therapy herself. She lives in a pink house with a very expensive collection that remains private to all but her. She tries to help others but fails to help herself. And when it comes to her mother, she has little care to spare. After tricking her mother into signing papers which gave her power of attorney and removed her from her home, she then dumped her into the Windsor Care Home after relieving herself of her mother's beloved dog Dickens.

Plucky Edith Elliot is high spirited and a prisoner in the Windsor Care Home. She has a plan to escape God's waiting room and return to her own home where she was happiest with her dog Dickens who was taken from her and dumped in a shelter, and she longs to take long walks with him again as she used to. But little do the powers that be know, Edith isn't stupid and she has a plan.

On Patience's first day of work at the care home, she found Edith crying in an armchair. It too was Edith's first day at the home and she was distraught over having lost her home and and her dog. When she discovered what had happened to Dickens to spent most of her savings and went to the shelter so she could adopt him. Now she brings him into the care home every so often so that Edith and Dickens are reunited once again.

But now Edith is missing!!

Enter DCI Charlotte Chapman (what a colourful character - in more ways than one...lol). But it seems she is not here to investigate a missing resident, but a murdered employee. And she has THREE suspects to TWO murders with only ONE victim.

The story unfolds through the distinctive narratives of each of the four women - Frankie, Patience, Edith and Clio. But how are all these women linked? And what do they have to do with the murders? Frankie has spent a year searching for her daughter which has brought her to Covent Garden, but will she ever find her?

Every nuance, every fibre, every braid of the story is intricately entwined as we try to untangle each invisible thread. Alice Feeney has a very distinctive and unique style and while this tale is not as dark as some of her previous ones, it is just as twisty and just as clever...given (also) that she wrote it at a very difficult time personally for herself. I normally prefer dialogue driven novels but I an enamoured by Feeney's unique style that she has me turning the pages at the speed of light as I try to untangle the web she has cleverly spun. She examines several issues surrounding motherhood like postpartum depression and the struggles that comes with motherhood. And yet still she thrills as the twists keep coming as slowly the threads begin to unravel to reveal the bigger picture. And while I did figure out pretty much every twist along the way, there was one I DID NOT see coming which left me speechless for a minute, as I went back and re-read what I just read to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me and I really did just read that.

I have only read three novels by Alice Feeney and she never ceases to thrill or chill me. I love her books which, while they are categorised as thrillers, Feeney has successfully shaped her own style of genre. I love how they are each different, exploring nuance and innuendo, whilst being thoroughly entertaining as well. I don't find her a slow burn at all though some readers might so be patient with this one, it really is worth it. 🐞

I would like to thank #AliceFeeney, #Netgalley and #PanMacmillan for an ARC of #GoodBadGirl in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Alice Feeney is an author and former BBC journalist. Her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, was a New York Times and international bestseller. It has been translated into over twenty languages, and is being made into a TV series by Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros. starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Her books have been translated into over twenty-five languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Including her novel Rock Paper Scissors, which is being made into a TV series by the producer of The Crown. 

Alice has lived in London and Sydney and has now settled in Devon, where she lives with her husband and dog..

Social Media Links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

REVIEW: Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Suspense

Read: 8th April 2022

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 19th August 2021

★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

DESCRIPTION:

Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.

Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts – paper, cotton, pottery, tin – and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Ten years of marriage.

Ten years of secrets.

An anniversary they’ll never forget.

Adam and Amelia are spending the weekend in the Scottish Highlands. The remote location is perfect for what they have planned.

But when their romantic trip takes a dark turn, they both start to wonder – can they trust the one they’re with?

Because every couple tells little white lies. Only for Adam and Amelia, the truth is far more dangerous.

MY REVIEW:

Think you know the person you married? Think again...

"Rock Paper Scissors is a story about a couple who have been married for ten years. Every anniversary they exchange gifts - paper, copper, tin - and each year the wife writes her husband a letter that she never lets him read. A secret record of their marriage, warts and all. By their tenth anniversary, their relationship is in trouble. Sometimes a weekend away can be just what a couple needs to get them back on track, but things aren't what or who they seem."

Wow! That's all I can say. Despite my many interruptions that prevented me from reading this book quicker and it's slow start, here I am half an hour or so after finishing it and I am still trying to digest everything. What a ride!

The story starts off slow, and not a fan of slow burns in general, I was finding it difficult to connect with Adam and Amelia because all they seemed to do is bicker and didn't even appear to want to be married to each other. So why were they? If the journey from London to the Scottish Highlands was long and arduous for Adam, then it was even moreso for the reader in some aspects. If they weren't arguing, they weren't even talking. By the time they reach their destination of Blackwater Chapel, converted to a home many years before, they are so far out in the middle of nowhere and pretty much just want to fall into bed and sleep off the journey. Here's hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

Amelia works at the Battersea Dogs Home (she won my heart for that alone) whilst hubby Adam is a screenwriter who just can't seem to hit the bigtime and make a name for himself. Adam has a condition (which I won't even attempt to try spelling without Google) which basically means he suffers from "face blindness", where he cannot see faces or recognise them or their expressions. It's something I've never heard of before so the concept was new to me and added an interesting dimension to the story...in more ways than one. It certainly makes living with someone with the condition a little difficult at times. And as Adam is a workaholic, Amelia takes a backseat to what is essentially his driving passion...and ultimately have his screenplay make the big screen someday.

So when Amelia wins a raffle at work for a weekend away in the remote Scottish Highlands, she thinks it's the perfect opportunity to spend some time together and maybe address some of their issues. In other words, this weekend away could make or break their marriage. But the long drive to Scotland proves to a little more than either of them can handle. And why somewhere so remote and out of the way? And in the middle of winter? To top things off, there is no phone signal, the electricity is a bit hit or miss but at least there's a back-up generator. And failing that, candles. But the chapel is anything but warming - both in temperature and atmosphere. And almost from the moment they set foot inside the creepy 9th century structure, each of them have a deep sense of foreboding. This weekend is not going to end well...for either of them.

Then strange things begin to happen. The power goes out. A face at the window. Bats in the bell tower. Locked rooms and secrets abound. And then there are the whispers in the crypt...whispering their names in the darkness. Meanwhile, outside the storm is howling with snow knee deep so if they were hoping for a quick escape it wasn't going to happen. Their Morris Minor Traveller was buried beneath the snow drifts. They were stuck here.

Throughout the course of the two days, Adam and Amelia begin to question how well they really know each other. Both of them are hiding secrets, but what? To get through this they will need to rely on one another, but can they trust each other enough to do that? And who in this great big vast expanse of the middle of Scottish nowhere...is Robin?

Just wow! When I began ROCK PAPER SCISSORS I had a completely different rating in mind, but then it picked up pace and twist after hoodwinked twist was revealed, changing my mind completely! In fact, it was so good I only deducted half a star for the slow start. While I pieced a bit of it together, it was still as confusing as Adam's face blindness and didn't make a whole lot of sense. There is one clue that is so obvious when you look back and admittedly, I did question it at the time but then thought nothing of again...until all was revealed. And just when one twist was revealed, along came another and another and another! How many twists could be packed into this chilling tale? A whole lot and thensome.

The story is told from three perspectives primarily - Amelia, Adam and Robin - with a letter written on every anniversary interspersed throughout. As the story is set in the present day, the letters sprinkled throughout tell the rest of the story leading up to the present. It really is a clever touch and quite ingenious. Particularly when you discover the significance of them. Honestly, the letters are raw, sentimental and heartfelt you truly sympathised with everything that was dealt the couple. But they are not for his eyes and she will never let him read them. Until now.

The setting is just perfect. Usually Cornwall is my favourite setting for atmospheric thrillers, but the remote Scottish Highlands are also perfect...particularly for this thriller. Adam and Amelia are completely cut off with Bob, their loving and loyal Labrador dog. There is a raging snow storm around them and they have no electricity, no phone signal and no way of calling for help. Added to that, Blackwater Chapel is said to be haunted by witches who whisper your name three times before killing you. 

But that isn't the most chilling part...in the midst of the remoteness, they are not alone. Someone is there watching their every move; orchestrating every nuance; and they have no intention of letting them go without first playing ROCK PAPER SCISSORS.

Nothing is at all what it seems in this addictive thriller that will have you turning the pages as soon as the pace picks up until every final twist is revealed. And believe me, the pace really ramps up in those final few chapters as twist after twist comes barrelling at you from nowhere! I really didn't think I would would enjoy this thriller that is creepy and atmospheric as well damn chilling (especially the end), but Alice Feeney has redeemed herself with the slow start and certainly made up for it with that headspinning race to the end! I am still reeling.

ROCK PAPER SCISSORS is a thriller where nothing is as it seems. The story itself is not at all what it seems. It may be slow to start with but when the pace picks up it REALLY picks up and it won't let you go until the chilling end.

This is my second Alice Feeney thriller and I am so thrilled I didn't give up on it because ROCK PAPER SCISSORS was soooo good it knocked me completely for a six! It is atmospheric, creepy and chilling and perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and C.L. Taylor.

Note: While there are some tense moments regarding Bob the Labrador, he isn't harmed. Although Amelia does work at Battersea Dogs Home where not all dogs are as fortunate though this isn't focused on. The only other mention is a dog in one of the characters' pasts which left me wondering as to its fate and although it did meet a horrific end, it is again only mentioned briefly. Had there been too much focus on this, I would not have been able to read it.

I would like to thank #AliceFeeney, #Netgalley, #HQDigital for an ARC of #RockPaperScissors in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Alice Feeney is an author and former BBC journalist. Her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, was a New York Times and international bestseller. It has been translated into over twenty languages, and is being made into a TV series by Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros. starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Alice has lived in London and Sydney and has now settled in the Surrey countryside, where she lives with her husband and dog. His & Hers is being published around the world in 2020.

Social Media Links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

REVIEW: His & Hers by Alice Feeney

 

His & Hers by Alice Feeney

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 12th December 2020

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 28th May 2020

★★★★ 4.5 stars

DESCRIPTION:

If there are two sides to every story, someone is always lying…

Jack: Three words to describe my wife: Beautiful. Ambitious. Unforgiving.

Anna: I only need one word to describe my husband: Liar.

When a woman is murdered in Blackdown village, newsreader Anna Andrews is reluctant to cover the case. Anna’s ex-husband, DCI Jack Harper, is suspicious of her involvement, until he becomes a suspect in his own murder investigation.

Someone is lying, and some secrets are worth killing to keep.

MY REVIEW:

I've always said that there are three sides to every story - your's, their's and the truth! In this case, it was "his" and "her's"...but where WAS the truth in all of this? Because it seems that it was nowhere to be found. As a reader, we don't know what to believe as the narrators appear to be so unreliable...and yet only one of them is. But who is it? And what part do they play in it all? 

And then...it comes. And I am speechless. WOW!

Never before have I been played by an unreliable narrator quite like that of HIS & HERS. I am impressed beyond all measures though I feel I need to stop and take a breath and just absorb what I have just read. It all makes perfect sense in the end but...HOW is it even possible? Prepare to be shocked...or impressed...or both!

The rundown...

His: DCI Jack Harper, Major Crime Team, is tasked with investigating the murder of a Jane Doe found in Blackdown Wood.

Her: Anna Andrews, former BBC news presenter now news correspondent assigned to report on the murder. Also ex-wife of Jack Harper.

Blackdown: A picturesque chocolate box village in Surrey, two hours south of London, filled with bad memories for "His & Her".

BBC news correspondent, Anna Andrews, had worked the newsdesk for two years in the previous anchor's absence. Cat Jones went on maternity leave with her first child and subsequently fell pregnant with the second paving the way for Anna to fill her shoes on the lunchtime news. But when Anna arrives one morning ready for make-up and to be prepped for camera, the last person she expected to see walk through the door was Cat Jones in all her redheaded glory. Pasting a smile on her face whilst seething inside, Anna reluctantly stepped aside as her predecessor reclaimed her place on the newdesk whilst she was cast aside.

Then news of a body found in Blackdown Wood surfaces and the powers that be task her with covering the story in a place she never wished to revisit. With her trusty cameraman Richard in tow, Anna returns to Blackdown, where past and her memories will come back to haunt her again. It's still early morning when they arrive at the crime scene and, despite the knowledge that her detective ex-husband had returned to Blackdown, she isn't quite prepared to run into him there.

After suffering a tragedy that broke down their marriage, Jack Harper left London and returned to Blackdown where he no heads the Major Crime Team. He received the call about a Jane Doe found in Blackdown Wood and along with his rather exuberant and eager DC Priya Patel begin investigations. But nothing prepared Jack for what he was to discover upon arriving at the scene. He knew this woman. He was with her last night. And now she was dead. 

Then to make matters worse, his ex-wife Anna arrives with a cameraman in tow...seemingly the first of the press to have caught wind of the murder. How was that possible? Who told them? What does Anna know?

Both Jack and Anna share a history together as well as a past in Blackdown itself. Both have a different stake in the case and both have secrets which they are keeping from the other. But is Jack or Anna capable of murder?

Then Jack discovers fingernail clippings in a tic-tac box in his glove compartment and Rachel's phone in his boot. And strangely, a knife from his own knife block in his house has gone missing. Then when there is another murder at the very place Jack had been at the exact time of it occurred, he begins to wonder if someone is trying to frame him. He knows someone is watching him. He can feel their presence even if he cannot see them.

Meanwhile, Anna wakes from yet another drunken sleep to a tidied room and a photograph that was taken on her 16th birthday...a day that she would rather forget. Of the five faces smiling at the camera in that photo, two are now dead. Is someone killing off each of these girls who are now women in revenge for something that happened in their past? But who? Rachel may have seemed the most likely, but she was the first victim. Helen was clever enough to get away with it, but she was the second. Who's next? Her? Anna also feels as if someone is watching her every move...but who...and why?

Tragedy may have torn them apart but another may bring them back together, as Jack begins to wonder if Anna may be in danger...and Anna feels that Jack is the only one she can trust. 

However, in summary....no one can be trusted in this thoroughly addictive psychological thriller that will have you turning the pages and keep you on your toes right up to the shocking end. HIS & HERS is filled with red herrings that will confuse you and possibly drive you mad trying to figure it all out. Everyone, it seems, has a motive...but who can you believe?

My first read by Alice Feeney, HIS & HERS starts off slow and grows with a palpable tension that becomes a complex and twisted tale that was so deliciously dark it was thoroughly addictive. Cue the chocolate box village surrounded by dark creepy woods, the brutal murders that were seemingly too close to home and the constant second guessing, this cleverly plotted story truly makes for compelling reading. And then, just when you think all has been revealed, there is that shock ending...

HIS & HERS is told through three alternating perspectives - his (Jack), her (Anna) and an unknown person that could be him, her or someone else entirely. Both are equally convincing despite being unreliable narrators. It will have you guessing, second guessing and even third guessing the complex turn of events resulting in these brutal murders. But nothing is as it seems...and no one is who they seem either. Even revisiting Anna's teenage past leaves nothing to chance. I can also understand Anna's need to be liked and accepted...something every teenager is sure to experience at some point in their lives. But those girls were truly horrible. 

Despite being a slow burn, HIS & HERS does pick up with a promise to deliver the goods...and it does! I especially love the use of the friendship bracelet Anna made as a teenager used on the cover and incorporated into the ampersand (&).

I will however include a trigger warning:- rape, animal abuse and grooming.

Deliciously dark and addictive, HIS & HERS is a fast, fun and entertaining read that had me snookered right up to the end!!

I would like to thank #AliceFeeney, #NetGalley and #HQStories for an ARC of #HisAndHers in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Alice Feeney is an author and former BBC journalist. Her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, was a New York Times and international bestseller. It has been translated into over twenty languages, and is being made into a TV series by Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros. starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Alice has lived in London and Sydney and has now settled in the Surrey countryside, where she lives with her husband and dog. His & Hers is being published around the world in 2020.

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