Tom and Beth Hardcastle are living the perfect life with their daughter Poppy. Tom has a good job and Beth runs her own pottery cafe. Tom is late home one night when there is a knock at the door, it's the police.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I quite enjoyed it. I picked the book because the TV adaptation is on over Christmas so wanted to read it before I watch.

I read this book very quickly. It was an easy read with short chapters at times and different pov. I would say however this book was a typical thriller. It held my interest to the end with a major twist. From then on a few more twists with another at the end but this was venturing into thrillerland.

The story was at times for me personally uncomfortable with some of Tom's likes. Some of the scenes were a little gruesome.

Overall I was invested and did want to see what happened. I would read more by the author in the future. ( )

This was a surprise. I had it in my mind that this was one type of book and instead, I definitely got a different one. Not that that's bad, it just threw me for a loop.

This book has multiple POV which was definitely surprising for me. It has the wife, of course, but it also has the husband, the person presumed dead and a few others. All of these POV threw the story a bit as I didn't really like the POV of the husband, but I can see where all perspectives rounded out the story.

It's a good story but not necessarily filled with a lot of tension. Secrets are revealed in well timed spots and I did like the ending. Love the cover too!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. ( )

Consider these two possible thriller scenarios:
1. Husband is accused of murder and arrested. Wife considers him innocent. Surprise twist in the story occurs when husband is revealed to be the killer.
2. Husband is accused of murder and arrested. Wife considers him innocent. Surprise twist in the story occurs when husband is found to have committed more than one murder.

Both of these twists would have given us reasonably good jolts while reading. Because they can be unexpected and sudden, depending on the author's writing skills. But in this book, there is no scope of such a major surprise until at least 62% of the book. Why? Because till that point, the book talks of only one murder investigation and the title of the book has already told us that the person in question is a "serial killer". Thus, upto the 62% mark, I was not thrilled but just waiting to know when the second murder details will be revealed. What a huge spoiler in the title itself! ☹️ ( )

I enjoyed this book a lot, it has a good pace and managed to keep from boring me with descriptions or a whole lot of unnecessary waffling. The slow reveal structure was good and kept me gripped for the majority of the story. The reason this is 4 stars instead of 5 is because for me, the twist at the end was just... not compelling. The build up was there, but I had hoped it was going in a different direction entirely. I wasn't shocked at where it went, but I was disappointed. It made a lot of the things before lose some of its sense. I don't think I'd enjoy a reread of this book nearly as much. Still, it was a good read, and I am planning to read another book by this author. ( )

This story is told from the point of view of two main narrators - Beth and her husband Tom - with the occasional insert from another.

Neither of them are always truthful. The light of Beth's life is their small daughter Poppy. She will do anything for Poppy and every decision she makes is based on that premise. Tom and Beth have moved from London to the country to give Poppy a better life, even though it means quite a long commute for Tom as he still works in London. Beth has created a cafe where customers can paint ceramics while they sip coffee.

Beth is a very determined woman, and as the book progresses we learn that what Beth wants Beth gets.

In the end I was blown away by the way the story ends although there were hints of this earlier. ( )