The Woman Inside (Detective Dan Riley #4) by Anna-Lou Weatherley
Genre: Psychological thriller, Crime thriller
Read: 6th April 2022
Published: 13th January 2021
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Daisey Garrett wakes up in a hospital bed. She remembers her boyfriend has left her for another woman, but she doesn’t remember what happened to her the night she was attacked in her own home.
Daisey shouldn’t be alive but against all odds, she’s survived an ordeal most would never recover from.
But Daisey’s mind is broken. She’s on edge, drinking too much and, despite the painful breakup, finds herself in bed with her ex, Luke. And while she desperately tries to keep herself together, she can’t shake the feeling that she is being watched.
Yet the missing pieces of that fateful summer night are beginning to surface…
The lies she told the police.
The lies Luke told her.
Daisey’s memory is flickering like a faulty light bulb, flashing with images just out of reach.
She can’t remember. She mustn’t.
An absolutely gripping, addictive page-turner, The Woman Inside takes you within the tangled mess of people’s lives and the dark secrets they hold close. Perfect for fans of Gone Girl, Before I Go to Sleep and The Wife Between Us.
MY REVIEW:
Although I have only read two others in this series - "The Stranger's Wife" and "The Night of the Party" - both of which I loved, it is fast becoming one of my favourite series. I love the fact that you don't need to read each book or in any particular order - as you can see, I read Book 3 and 5 before backtracking to this one, book 4 and I wasn't lost in any way. I think because Anna-Lou Weatherley focuses on the story itself rather than the team of detectives and their personal lives, we are able to follow each book no matter what order we read them. Although we do get a little of Dan's personal life, it's just an inkling and it never overshadows the main focus of the story.
The title, THE WOMAN INSIDE is a little ambiguous in which that it can have a double meaning. I won't say much more as to do so would reveal a major spoiler. But rest assured, this is an addictive tale that will that will have you promising yourself "just one more chapter"...
The story begins with Daisey Garrett at an after-work party thing that she really isn't enjoying and would much rather be curled up on the couch at home binge watching something more appealing on Netflix. She gets a little inebriated in the wake of her ex-fiance having run off with a younger woman, a former student of his no less. But that of course didn't stop Luke from coming around earlier for a little stroll down memory lane across the kitchen table. A couple of her colleagues are talking about the Rose Petal Ripper's latest victim, a former employee of the department store in which they all work, Fern Lever who was found dead, naked and with her throat slashed.
Having heard enough, Daisey heads outside for a cigarette to calm her anxious mind when a Good Samaritan offers her a light. She's not sure who this person is but she gets a strange vibe from him and finishes her cigarette quickly to escape him. It didn't occur to her till later that he addressed her by name. Does she know him? Does he work at Warwick's too?
A little more than tipsy, Daisey decides to head home early when the flirtatious Tommy White, with quite a reputation, insists on escorting her home...especially with a killer out there. Daisey thinks Tommy only wants one thing and she doesn't intend on relinquishing that for him. After ensuring she is safe home, Tommy leaves but when the doorbell rings soon after, Daisey thinks he has returned, thinking he's going to get lucky.
It isn't him.
All at once, Daisey sees the figure in front of her before she sees the hammer he's wielding...and then everything goes black.
Detective Dan Riley was called out from leave to head up the investigation into the Rose Petal Ripper and after two killings he gets the call that there has now been a third. As soon as he sees the scene, he knows it's the same killer. Daisey lays naked on her bed, arms folded across her chest with her throat cut. And with her is his calling card - a single pink rose with a scattering of petals around her. But there is something different about this scene, Dan assesses, and is shocked to discover that Daisey is still alive...though how or why is anyone's guess.
The next thing Daisey knows is waking in a hospital bed with a raspy sore throat from the breathing tube that had kept her in a medically induced coma until she was well enough to wake. Dan is at her side almost immediately. But any hopes he has of a description of her attacker and details of what happened are dashed when he is informed that she has traumatic amnesia. Daisey remembers nothing of the day or night of the attack. She may recover her memories...but then again she may not. But it's up to Dan to solve this case with or without those memories. Not just for Daisey, but for the other women he's killed also.
I really love Dan. He is a good hardworking decent copper, even if doesn't always go by the book, relying on his intuition which has never failed him yet. His boss, Superintendent Gwen Archer, isn't one for cutting corners so is not at all impressed by his incessant need to act on this "infamous intuition" of his when what they need are cold hard facts. Although I don't know his team all that well they each have their parts to play and they do it well, without question or angst.
The story unfolds primarily through Daisey and Dan's eyes, though the chapters are not titled as such but you do end up realising whose narrative it is soon enough. Daisey's is in the third person whilst Dan remains in the first person. There are a few flashback chapters beginning in 1987 with an excited couple preparing for the birth of their twin girls and the progression of the family and their troubles throughout the years until September 1997. Coupled with these flashbacks and the clues I picked up along the way, I managed to work out the killer and a major plot twist very early on - about 20 to 25% in. But that never spoils my enjoyment of a good book.
The plot twist is so seemingly far fetched almost that to pick it is pure guesswork, genius or the workings of a detective's mind. It's that far off course. But when you see it, you realise how much sense it makes. I did feel the ending dragged out a little bit once the reveal came, but maybe that's because I had already figured it out...I'm not sure.
THE WOMAN INSIDE is indeed an engaging thriller that moves along at a steady pace. It's not my favourite out of the three I've read, but it is still as thrilling and addictive that keeps you turning the pages until the end. It is also a very different tale in the way it sympathises with both sides of the coin and provides plenty of food for thought.
Although it is the fourth book in the series, THE WOMAN INSIDE can be read as a standalone easily enough without getting lost. I love how each of the author's books explore the villain and their victims as well a little of the investigation without bogging readers down in the procedural aspect. Perfect for fans of crime thrillers that don't focus solely on the investigation.
I would like to thank #AnnaLouWeatherley, #Netgalley, #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheWomanInside in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Obsessed with all things crime related, her adult fiction titles include Chelsea Wives and Wicked Wives, both published by Avon in the UK and Bookouture in the US and Canada, Pleasure Islandpublished by Bookouture, and Black Heart, The Couple on Cedar Close and The Stranger’s Wife(featuring DI Dan Riley) published by Bookouture.
She lives in London with her partner, her two sons and her beloved dachshund, Iggy.
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