What Lies Between Us by John Marrs
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 7th November 2020
Published: 15th May 2020
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Nina can never forgive Maggie for what she did. And she can never let her leave.
They say every house has its secrets, and the house that Maggie and Nina have shared for so long is no different. Except that these secrets are not buried in the past.
Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. When they are finished, Nina helps Maggie back to her room in the attic, and into the heavy chain that keeps her there. Because Maggie has done things to Nina that can’t ever be forgiven, and now she is paying the price.
But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn’t know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way—even if it kills her.
Because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies.
MY REVIEW:
Every house has its secrets, except that these secrets are not buried in the past.
OMG! I have only read one other John Marrs book - "The Good Samaritan" - and that was more than a little twisted, but this one? This one is seriously twisted! WHAT LIES BETWEEN US is a dark and disturbing psychological thriller so twisted it will unsettle your concept of the mother and daughter relationship completely. It is a twisted tale of intense love and hatred and a deep dark obsession which immediately reminded me of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?". I don't even know where to start with this one...I am so blown away.
Thirty eight year old Nina lives a quiet life in the home she grew up in. She finds solace in the books she nurtures in her job as a librarian and the peacefulness of her workplace. But her life has not been a bed of roses. She longed to be a mother but the early onset of menopause when she was 19 put paid to that, aside from the fact she had inherited some faulty chromosomes from her father which would see any child she carried to term would be seriously deformed. Perhaps it is better this way. Or is it?
Sixty eight year old Maggie spends her days in her attic bedroom watching her neighbours go about their lives. The shuttered window gives her a limited view of the outside world but still she notices things that other people do not. She's the first to notice when Mr Steadman's curtains remain drawn and his mail starts piling up. She's the first to notice the bruises on the little girl across the road and when her mother hits her with such force she bounces off the wall.
But there is nothing she can do about it...or about anything. Because Maggie is bound to the lies she has told about the secrets she must keep to ensure the protection of the one person she loves most in this world. Her daughter Nina.
The two women are bound together in more ways than just the house they share, filled with its secrets from the attic to the basement to the garden beyond. For it is these secrets that keep them together just as much as the lies that have torn them apart.
For two years Maggie has been imprisoned in the attic, kept in place by the cuff around her ankle secured to the chain that keeps her in this room. It allows her access everything within her bedroom but not beyond. Every second evening it is exchanged for a longer chain that allows her down one flight of stairs for dinner with Nina. After that, she is accompanied back upstairs and allowed a quick bath before she is secured once again to her room.
Her daily meals are left by her door each morning consisting of breakfast, lunch and dinner....except for the one she shares with Nina every other day. The walls have been soundproofed, the windows triple glazed and a partitioned wall on the second floor is sealed by a door that remains locked at all times...the keys safely tucked in Nina's pocket. For Maggie, life beyond the attic room no longer exists.
So what terrible secrets lead Nina to imprison her mother in such a cruel way? What could be so shocking that Maggie must keep Nina from discovering the secrets of past at all costs?
There are times when Maggie questions her past actions...but she knows deep down that did what she had to do. To protect her daughter from ever finding out the truth. But what is the truth? What happened to make Maggie take such drastic action? And what were they that made Nina lock her mother up in her enforced ivory tower?
WOW! That was all I could say upon completing this book. John Marrs has created an intriguing and compulsive tale of a dark and warped relationship between a mother who will do anything for her child and a daughter who would do whatever it takes to make her pay. The terrifying situation Maggie finds herself in this co-existence with Nina that keeps them bound together through the secrets and lies and even the truths that they are both hiding. It is so cleverly written I found it hard to drag myself away and back into the real world.
The story unfolds through both Maggie and Nina's perspectives, both in the past and the present, as their respective narratives reveal their own unique stories and creating a palpable tension that kept me turning the pages. And with each side something new is revealed as bit by agonising bit, the secrets are slowly stripped away. Then, and only then, do we see the complete picture in all its technicolour detail.
So what makes WHAT LIES BETWEEN US the compulsive edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller that it is? Is it the 370 pages with only two main players, making it a clever yet claustrophobic read? Or is it the secrets and the lies that are slowly uncovered? Or is it the twisted nature of the intense love and hatred mixed with something darker?
Whatever it is, WHAT LIES BETWEEN US is a jaw-dropping and disturbing read that will shock you and possibly stay with you for some time to come, just as "The Good Samaritan" did...and still does.
A clever and compulsive read, WHAT LIES BETWEEN US is both chilling and addictive that will appeal to those who love their psychological thrillers dark and twisted. It is definitely not for the faint-hearted.
I would like to thank #JohnMarrs, #NetGalley and #AmazonPublishingUK for an ARC of #WhatLiesBetweenUs in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
John Marrs is a former journalist from Northamptonshire, England, who spent 25 years interviewing celebrities from the world of television, film and music for national newspapers and magazines. He wrote for publications including The Guardian’s Guide and Guardian Online; OK! Magazine; Total Film; Empire; Q; GT; The Independent; Star; Reveal; Company; Daily Star and News of the World’s Sunday Magazine.
Now a psychological thriller writer, his debut book 'The Wronged Sons' (also titled 'When You Disappeared') released in 2014 is a tense psychological thriller with over 240 x 5 star reviews on Amazon. His second book 'Welcome To Wherever You Are' is a suspense thriller and an Amazon #1 best seller, 'The One' (previously 'A Thousand Small Explosions') was relaunched in January 2017, 'The Good Samaritan' published in 2018 with his latest 'What Lies Between Us' published in May 2020.
He recently gave up his job to write novels full time. His first car at the age of seventeen was a three-door, Ford Escort with a Batman sticker in the rear windscreen. He thought the sticker was cool at the time.
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