The Stranger in my Bed by Karen King
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Suspense
Read: 23rd November 2020
Published: 23rd November 2020
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
‘We have a patient who has been involved in a serious accident. We believe he’s your husband.’
When Freya first met Phil, she thought he was the man of her dreams. He bought her roses every week, booked surprise trips to sun-soaked destinations, and showed her affection like she’d never experienced before. But over time the dream has become a violent nightmare. And now Freya is packing her bags, knowing it’s time she escaped their increasingly broken marriage.
But then Freya gets a visit from the police. Phil’s been in a horrific car crash and – as he comes around – it becomes clear that he remembers nothing since their blissful honeymoon two years before, back when their relationship was perfect. All he wants is to be happily married again.
Freya knows giving him another chance could be dangerous. But now he’s the one who needs her, it’s a chance to turn the tables, and to change the outcome of their relationship once and for all. After all, he will only know what she chooses to tell him…
But what really happened during those two years of marriage? And as they start over again, who is safe? And whose life is in danger?
Fans of The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors and Date Night, who are looking for a dark, gripping psychological suspense novel, will love The Stranger in My Bed.
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Karen King's debut psychological thriller THE STRANGER IN MY BED.
WOW! What a thrill ride! I simply devoured this book in a matter of hours not knowing who was lying, who was telling the truth and who was bluffing. This one had me blinkered till not quite the end and - BAM! Everything fell into place and it all started to make sense. But holy moly...this is one addictive read!!
The story opens with an unidentified person watching the subject of their hate storm out of the house, unlock his car and drive off at speed. They follow him...watching, waiting...wanting to see the moment he realises the brakes on his car have failed and he can't stop. And then - BOOM! They watch as the lorry pulls out of a side road and smash into his car. And though they don't want anyone else to get hurt...they hope HE dies.
When Freya first met Phil, she thought he was the man of her dreams. He bought her different coloured roses to signify his love and showed her affection like she had never known before. Within a few months, they jet-setted to Barbados where they married and honeymooned and enjoyed the first two weeks of married bliss. Freya could not be happier.
But over time that dream became a violent nightmare. Their last row was over a holiday he surprised her with to Dubai, expecting her to drop everything and take the next week off. When Freya told him she was in the middle of a big presentation for a major client and couldn't leave now, Phil switched from loving husband to a raging monster in a matter of seconds. Accusing her of being a selfish cow who spoiled for a fight every time he tried to do something nice, of always pushing his buttons, before throwing the newly presented roses in the vase that had been a wedding present at her hitting the wall and smashing into pieces on impact. He then stormed out of the house, jumped in his car and sped away.
Freya knew now she had to get away. He was never going to change; he just became more unpredictable and more violent that she now feared for her safety. Packing her bags and stuffing them into the boot of her Ford Fiesta, she is about to leave their broken marriage when the police knock on her door. Phil has been involved in an horrific car accident and has been transported to hospital in a coma.
Now three days later, Freya sits at his bedside hoping and praying that he will wake up. She may not want to remain married to him but she doesn't want him dead. Her older sister Daisy has been a real support to her, sitting with her and driving her to the hospital. Although the sisters have never really been close, Freya doesn't know what she would have done without Daisy over the last few days. Then when Phil regains consciousness it soon becomes clear that he remembers nothing since their blissful honeymoon...two years ago. Is his amnesia real? Or is he faking it?
He senses Freya's reticence and is troubled by it but all he wants is to be happily married again. However, Freya knows that giving him another chance could be dangerous. But Phil needs her...she can't leave him now. Is it possible they can start over again? She has never confided in anyone about the abuse she has suffered at Phil's hands and thinks it's time to ask her sister for her thoughts. Daisy tells her that if Phil is indeed violent, she should not ever go back. But Freya can see the man she fell in love with. Maybe he is a changed man and the fact that he can no longer remember the horrible times in their marriage means that they can start again. Besides, he needs her just now. She can't just leave him when he is so vulnerable and has no idea why. But Daisy has her promise that at the first sign of violence she must leave.
Meanwhile, the police are investigating the car accident and have discovered that the brakes have been tampered with. Someone wanted Phil injured...or worse still, to die. But who?
When Phil comes home, the couple work at rebuilding their lives together...all the while Freya keeping an eye out for the return of his previous disturbing and abusive behaviour. But then strange things start happening. The back doors are found open one morning and Freya thinks the stress in trying to recall his forgotten memories has caused Phil to begin sleepwalking again. When they are found open again a few more times, Freya continues to put it down to sleepwalking...but Phil knows it isn't. Upon every occasion the doors have been found open, Phil has then found a note left for him in his study. Threatening notes saying "You will pay for what you did" and the like. But there is no sign of a break-in, which means someone has a key to their home. Feeling especially uneasy, he convinces Freya they should invest in a bolt for the doors...to stop him from opening them in the night.
So who is coming into their home at night? Watching them sleep? Leaving threatening notes? Is it the same person who sabotaged his brakes? If only he could remember, he might be able to recall any enemies.
However, not all is as it seems. Everything is smoke and mirrors and you start to wonder who is the abuser and who is the victim? What secrets are they trying to hide? As Phil begins to recover from his injuries is he also beginning to recover his lost memories? Or did he never lose them to begin with? As secrets start to come to light, the past comes back to haunt them leaving Freya with some major decisions to make. But has she left it too long?
My first thought as Freya gives her marriage a second chance is that she's deluded...but then I remember when I was in the same situation and I know that it is never as simple as that. She genuinely loves her husband and wants the man she married back and is hopeful that his amnesia will give them both that second chance. But what happens if and when Phil's memories start to return? What happens when she does something or says something he doesn't agree with? What happens when she sees that rage build in him again and another row ensues? What happens when that row becomes violent and he begins to blame her for his bursts of anger again? Can she excuse them as his frustration at his lost memories? Or will she see them for what they are? But by then will it be too late to leave him?
The cycle of abuse is the same in any language. They row, he accuses her of imagined slights, they row some more, he becomes violent, she cries, he apologises - usually with bouquets of roses - and she forgives him...again. And so it continues. Abuse comes in many forms and in Phil it is manipulative and coercive control that leaves Freya feeling that she is to blame for his temper. After all, she's the only one who does this to him...so he says.
BUT in an interesting twist, he has told Daisy that Freya was the abuser and HE was fearful of HER. Since he has no recollection of the past two years, he wonders could this actually be true? And so, Phil begins to keep things from Freya wondering if he can truly trust her. Or is that just an act?
Usually I can sense who is up to no good and who is may be doing what but THE STRANGER IN MY BED had me flummoxed. I couldn't trust either Freya or Phil as I honestly wasn't sure which one of them was telling the truth...or if they both were. I did tend to side with Freya, as a former domestic abuse victim myself, and found her to be more believable. But then it wouldn't be a psychological thriller if the possibilty of her actually being the abuser wasn't considered either...just to turn things on their head a little. In the end, I wasn't sure who to believe, although my spidey senses told me not to trust Phil. And then that had me questioning if his amnesia was real or not. It was a complete mind***!
Despite being a slow burn, I was hooked from the absolute beginning, as the story generated enough tension and suspense throughout to keep me engaged as I tried to nitpick my way through the debris of Freya and Phil's marriage. As I pondered the two mysteries within this story - the one surrounding the alleged abuse and that of the unidentified person who watched and waited until the right time to reveal themselves - I couldn't wait to see how the two stories would collide.
Told in the narratives of Freya and Phil initially and the sporadic inclusion of the mysterious watcher, we also get Daisy's perspective further down the track as THE STRANGER IN MY BED is tightly woven into a tangled web of secrets, lies and abuse. I had my suspicions throughout about a character or two which in part turned out to be correct. But I was still discombobulated about who was actually telling the truth. Many others have claimed there to be no real twist but final summation does give us a rather stunning reveal, which I found to be a clever twist.
When I turned the final page on my kindle I let out of sigh of WOW! What a book! I was left breathless throughout most of the book and by the time I read those final words...I was speechless.
The author may be knew to this genre but I believe she has perfected it well. Ditch the romance and keep churning out these thrillers. If THE STRANGER IN MY BED is anything to go by, Karen King has a promising future as a psychological thriller author. I look forward to seeing what she can WOW us with next!
I would like to thank #KarenKing, #NetGalley, #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheStrangerInMyBed in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Karen King is a multi-published bestselling author of fiction for both adults and children. She has also written several short stories for women's magazines.
Currently published by Bookouture and Headline. Karen has recently signed a two-book deal with Bookouture to write psychological thrillers. The first one will be out in November, and the second one in 2021. She is also contracted to write three romance novels for Headline, which will be out in 2021 and 2022
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Thank you for your lovely review. Xx
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