The Narrator by K.L. Slater
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 4th January 2023
Published: 6th January 2023
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
What if the chance of a perfect life… put your daughter in grave danger?
Being a single mother is tough, but I’d do anything for my little girl Scarlet. I’d given up on my career as a voice actor when the call came, but suddenly I was the new narrator for a secret book from bestselling author Philippa Roberts, who has been missing for eight months. It was a lifeline for me and my daughter.
I hated that it meant leaving Scarlet with my ex in his perfect new home with his perfect new girlfriend. But I knew it was the right thing to do.
But as I start reading Philippa’s new novel, I start to wonder if it’s no coincidence that I’ve been chosen to narrate it. There’s something hidden in the pages of this book, I’m sure of it. Some clue to Philippa’s disappearance. And I don’t feel safe. I think I’m being watched. My room has been searched.
And then my ex’s girlfriend calls in tears and everything starts to click together. If I don’t find answers fast, I’ll lose more than my second chance. I’ll lose my daughter.
A completely gripping thriller that will hook you in from the first page and leave you gasping out loud. Fans of Our House, The Woman in the Window and The Wife Between Us won’t be able to put The Narrator down!
MY THOUGHTS:
An author, her assistant, an audiobook narrator and an obsessed fan make up the bones of Kim Slater's new psychological thriller with a difference. Coupled with a narcissistic ex-husband and his pregnant new girlfriend and you're tangled in secrets, lies and manipulation. THE NARRATOR is something completely different for Slater who wastes no time in slaying this addictive and twisted thriller. And it did take me a while to warm up to it and pick up the pace of the direction in which it was going.
The opening, rather than a prologue, launches the reader right into it taking place ten months prior with successful crime writer Phillipa Roberts preparing to attend an awards night in which she is expected to take the crown. But things go awry with a drugged bottle of champs and an abduction that lead us to a dark and dingy basement in which the author is imprisoned. What does the kidnapper want? Money? Or something more sinister?
As a friend of Phillipa's who had narrated each book in her acclaimed Tower series, Eve Hewitt was devastated by her disappearance. No one knew what happened to the acclaimed author but many had theories...some even whispered rumours. But then Eve suffered her own setbacks at same time with the death of her beloved father and the discovery of her husband's affair with her colleague. On the verge of a breakdown, Eve packs up and leaves London for the safety of her mother's house in Nottingham with her five year old daughter Scarlet.
Almost a year later, a hidden manuscript written by Phillipa is discovered. A tenth novel to the Tower series she had penned featuring DI Jane Tower. Almost at once, Phillipa's editor contacts Eve to ask her to narrate this latest book and without a second thought Eve jumps at the chance. But as soon as she's begun, Eve discovers inconsistencies between the manuscript and the previous nine books.
And so she decides to do a little digging into the events surrounding her friend's disappearance. But what she discovers only serves to puzzle her further. Rumours have it that Phillipa had had enough after nine books and was calling time on the Tower series and looking forward to settling down and focusing on her family. Surrogacy was planned to give her and her wife Fleur twins but things went wrong. Her finances were in disarray - was she being blackmailed? And then there was an overdose of sleeping tablets - accident or intentional? And why, after struggling to write the tenth novel and asking for a deadline extension, was the completed manuscript found hidden in the loft? If she had already written it why ask for an extension of her deadline? Nothing made sense...least of all the new novel! Had Phillipa been trying to send clues through her words as a cry for help?
Added to that is Eve's narcissistic ex, Hugo, a complete misogynist who disregards every thought or explanation that isn't his own, and overrides Eve's wishes regarding their daughter Scarlet. While Eve is in London he pays a visit to her mother where he then sweeps Scarlet away to his beautiful cottage recently purchased with his new girlfriend Saskia where he then plies her with expensive gifts and promises that no five year old can resist. Eve is livid but as she's in London, there is little she can do about it. Once again Hugo has manipulated things to his advantage leaving Eve as the bad guy. But when she arrives at the delightful chocolate box Bee Cottage for the weekend, intent on taking Scarlet back to Nottingham, she discovers that not all is as rosy as Hugo has made out.
And there is Chad. An obsessive fan who has his own ideas surrounding Phillipa's disappearance and in her absence decides, as her narrator, Eve will suffice as a substitute. And thus he begins to stalk her. On Twitter; via text message - "wait, how did he get my number?"; then email - "and my email?"; "bumping" into her in Primark; stealthily watching her every move and even offering his services as a handyman to her mother. A tad creepy.
Eve is beginning to wonder how her dream job has become a nightmare as she realises that she her her daughter could potentially be in real danger. But from who? She has no idea. But someone doesn't want secrets uncovered. Someone wants her to stop asking questions and looking into Phillipa's disappearance. Why?
And where is Phillipa? She's been missing ten months now. Is she still alive?
Wow! What a thrill ride THE NARRATOR turned out to be. Despite its slow start, it turned out to be an addictive fast paced page turner not to be put down! Intricately plotted and woven with a tangled web of secrets and lies, THE NARRATOR will have you questioning everyone's motives until that spectacular ending!
This was a very different book for Slater but it was every inch as addictive and twisty as her other thrillers. Even though we were rolling our eyes every time Hugo opened his mouth and Chad totally creeped us out...and we questioned Nina, Jules and Alicia throughout. While we may go through our own list of suspects and try to figure out what really happened...I dare anyone to see that shocking twist ending coming! Not even I, who is very rarely hoodwinked, had it figured making it all the more delicious and oh so deviously clever. Well done, Kim, for throwing us all off scent completely!
A well deserved 5 stars!
I would like to thank #KLSlater, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheNarrator in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Kim's first adult psychological thriller for Bookouture, ‘Safe with Me’, actually started life as a dissertation on her English & Creative Writing degree in 2010. She says" he creepy voice of Anna came to me strong and insistent . . . she wanted to be written, she wouldn’t go away. I’m so glad I listened!"
Kim first became published writing Young Adult fiction for Macmillan Children’s Books under the name Kim Slater. Her award-winning YA debut, SMART, started life as a short story for her MA in Creative Writing in 2012.
Kim is now a full-time writer. She has a daughter and two stepsons and live with her husband Mac in Nottingham and Yorkshire.
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