The Engagement by Samantha Hayes
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Suspense
Read: 5th January 2023
Audio Links:
Published: 10th January 2023
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
You thought you had escaped him. Until he proposed to your daughter.
‘There’s someone I want you to meet,’ Belle says, as a man draws up to her side. He’s tall with dark hair and stubble on his square jaw. He’s not exactly smiling, but the corner of his mouth curls upwards as he slides his hand around my daughter’s waist.
I grab my husband’s arm to steady myself, as the room spins around me.
I stare into the man’s eyes – jet black. Nothing and everything hidden behind them.
Fear prickles my skin as I remember what he did.
How I only just escaped.
All the lies I’ve had to tell since.
‘I want you to meet Jack,’ Belle says, brimming with excitement. ‘He’s my fiancé.’ She rests her head on his shoulder. ‘Isn’t it exciting? We’re engaged!’
Fear hammers in my chest. I have to stop this.
My daughter’s life is in danger, and it’s all because of me…
A totally gripping psychological thriller from an Amazon No1. bestseller that will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and have you gasping at the twists. Fans of The Housemaid, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will be flipping pages all night long!
MY THOUGHTS:
Wow! I have to say that this has to be one of Samantha Hayes best thrillers I've read. Unlike any other of her books, which I've always found to be slow burns to begin with, THE ENGAGEMENT had me hooked from the very first page. And I could NOT put it down. I ended up devouring it in one day, staying up into the wee hours just to see how it all panned out and if my suspicions were correct.
Hannah hasn't always had the life she now has with partner Rob and the lights of her life, her two daughters Belle and Amber. She has never revealed her past or its secrets to anyone and would be quite happy if she never had to think of those dark days ever again. However, she carries the reminders with her daily from which she can never really escape whilst at the same time, they also went some way to give her life she has today.
It's her daughter Belle's upcoming 18th birthday and Hannah and Rob have planned a surprise party for her, inviting friends and family, some of whom have travelled far and wide to be there. But Belle throws a spanner in the works when she's not on the flight she's meant to be on returning from France the day before the party, instead she has rescheduled her flight for the following day...unaware of the surprise party her parents have planned for her for the same day. When she arrives home barely in the nick of time, she has a surprise of her own...arriving at the party and introducing the much older man by her side as her fiance Jack. Hannah and Rob are speechless.
But for different reasons...
As she looks at the older man by her daughter's side, Hannah is sure she recognises him. And his name isn't Jack. His is a face from her past that she thought she had escaped and he is a very dangerous man. And that is how she knows that their whirlwind courtship was no chance meeting. And it's not Belle he wants...but Hannah. But how can she tell her husband and her daughter the truth about him without revealing her past and all its secrets?
That's about all I can say without revealing spoilers because really there is so much to this story that will have your head on a swivel. I enjoyed the multiple perspectives and past and present timelines. I had worked out how the past factored into the present as it was fairly obvious to me but there was a final twist that I never saw coming until the final pages. And then it all fell into place seamlessly.
I'm always prepared for Samantha Hayes' thrillers as being slow burns because they generally are but I didn't find that with THE ENGAGEMENT. It was a wild ride from start to finish with a pace I could barely keep up with. I didn't start this book till fairly late in the day and didn't foresee finishing it till the following day, but it was so engrossing and absorbing that I couldn't put it down until I had pulled back every layer and uncovered every aspect to know how it all ended.
The story shines a light on a part of reality that many do not want to see or acknowledge. It is a dark place deep in the heart, yet on the edge, of society that most simply ignore and pretend its existence. But Hayes takes us to this very real part of society and its depths that is shocking and despicable filled with unsavoury characters with vile motives. She handles it perceptively with sensitivity and awareness, and with an ultimate sense of justice.
From the opening prologue to the final epilogue, THE ENGAGEMENT had me entirely "engaged" from beginning to end and has to be one of my favourites, if not my favourite, of Samantha Hayes' thrillers I've read to date. It was different but a thrilling nightmare from which I couldn't escape...in a good way!
A well deserved 5 stars!
I would like to thank #SamanthaHayes, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheEngagement in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
When not writing, Samantha loves to cook, go to the gym, see friends and drink nice wine. She is also studying for a degree in psychotherapy. She has three grown-up children and lives in Warwickshire.
Social Media links:
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