I love a good thriller. When you find a great one and it’s all you can think about – when can I fit in a bit more reading time? Can I finish it before I fall asleep? I’m often found awake til the early hours because I just don’t want to stop reading! Here’s three of my recent favourites, you won’t be disappointed.
Five Days Missing – Caroline Corcoran
Strap yourself in and don’t forget to breathe! Reading Five Days Missing is like riding an old school fairground ride. There’s are twists, there are turns, you’re going one way and then you’re flung in the other direction. You go up up up and then shoot back down.
The book centres around Romilly and husband Marc. Romilly has just had a baby, but disappears from the hospital leaving the baby behind. Where has gone? Why has she left? Why has she left the baby behind?
The story is told from multiple viewpoints, mainly Marc, but also Romilly’s best friend, and latterly Romilly herself. Is Romilly suffering from post-partum psychosis? Or is there something else at play. The beauty of the writing is that you’re never sure what the real truth is, you’re led down a path by a certain character but then it switches and you question it. You’ll find yourself shouting at the book at times, and definitely not wanting to put it down! Five Days Missing is a brilliant thriller, but it’s also more than that. It’s about relationships, and trust, and love and parenting. It’s an absolute cracker, that you’ll want to read again and again.
The Paris Apartment – Lucy Foley
Jess goes to Paris to stay with her brother Ben. But when she gets to his apartment, she can’t find him. What she does find is a collection of quirky neighbours in a swanky apartment block, all with their own secrets to hide. What do they know? Do they know where Ben is and what’s happened to him?
I could not put this book down, it dragged me into its narrative with its twists and turns, and places to hide, and I couldn’t walk away. It’s a really great thriller, you just don’t know what’s going to happen next. There are blink-and-you’ll-miss-it plot twists and great action scenes, as the carefully crafted veneer of the apartment block slowly begins to crumble. Will Jess find the truth about Ben or will the apartment residents stop at nothing to keep their secrets?
We All Have Our Secrets – Jane Corry
We All Have Our Secrets is a real cracker. It starts off nice, with Emily the midwife delivering a baby, then wham bam you’re hit with twists and turns at a great pace. The narrative is told from multiple viewpoints, and multiple timescales, including some great action from the midst of WWII. Emily returns to her family home in Cornwall to find her elderly father being cared for by Francoise, a young French woman. Why is Francoise there? What are her motives?
There are some excellent plotlines that take you down a certain path right until the end, and you’re never quite sure who to believe (even after you’ve finished it). Make sure you have enough time to give to We All Have Our Secrets; once you start it, you won’t put it down!
*Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copies of these book. All reviews are my own opinions.
Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash.