The Woman Before by Jennifer Moore
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 4th August 2022
Published: 13th July 2022
★★ 2 stars
DESCRIPTION:
From an exciting debut author comes an addictive, atmospheric psychological thriller about a mysterious woman and house of shocking secrets…
A perfect home
When Fern and Paul move into the large, old house on Crenellation Lane, with beautiful high ceilings and a luscious garden, they think they’ve found their dream home. After the devastating loss of Fern’s twin sister, it will be a fresh start and somewhere to raise their first baby.
A destructive obsession
But as soon as they arrive, Fern starts having terrifying nightmares about the woman who lived there before. When the woman showed Fern around, they bonded over their pregnancies. Now, Fern can’t let her go. Does she have something to do with the strange things happening in the house? Paul fears his wife has relapsed, obsessing in the same way she did with her twin.
A fatal secret
Fern questions the neighbours about the previous owner, but nobody wants to talk. It’s like the woman never even existed. Refusing to give up, Fern uncovers a shocking secret and now suddenly her whole family is in danger…
From an exciting debut author, this is a chilling psychological thriller about a house of secrets, perfect for fans of Claire Douglas and Lisa Stone.
MY THOUGHTS:
I wanted to like this book...I really did. But I'm not sure what it was about it that I didn't like. Maybe the fact I found it too wordy and too filled with description or scattered incessant monologuing by Fern. I'm a dialogue person. There's nothing wrong with monologuing...but it needs to be engaging and I wasn't quite sure if this was. It began OK and then I got lost. I understand that Fern's loss of her twin Linny was devastating and I appreciate that but I found it a tad depressing more than thrilling. I think the fact it was exploring the grief more than being an actual thriller, it failed to hold my attention and my mind kept wandering that before long I'd read half a dozen pages and no idea what had happened.
I do so love an atmospheric haunted house thriller but it was so shrouded in Fern's grief more than anything else that I found it difficult to see past that. Unfortunately I didn't get to finish it to find out if it got any better or got worse. I have no idea if she had a boy or a girl, who the mysterious Marte was, the truth about Linny's death or even how it ended. I would have liked to know but really...I could't get past all of the things I didn't like about this book to continue.
A pity, really, as the premise was intriguing. However, one is not going to like every book we read despite the fact that so many actually enjoyed this one. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I need to revisit this one again later when I'm in a different mindset.
I would like to thank #JenniferMoore, #NetGalley and #HQDigital for an ARC of #TheWomanBefore in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Her numerous funny children’s books (writing as Jenny Moore) are published by Maverick Arts Publishing and her debut psychological thriller The Woman Before is published by HQ Digital, Harper Collins.
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