I have read a few of Simon Kernick’s novels before and this is the best to date. Once again, this author gives a fast-paced, exciting story with a clever, well-structured plot throwing out many twists and turns along the way. It begins with DCI Cameron Doyle having three murder suspects in the police station who, he believes, are all lying to him. The novel looks at the situation from different viewpoints but mainly Matt and Kate, who are married with Kate being two months’ pregnant. They are in England, having a break from running their hotel in Sri Lanka. Matt arrives back at the holiday cottage to find a dead woman in the bed, and it is not Kate. Kate is missing. She has been taken and her life is threatened and the kidnapper sends Matt a link to a website showing her almost being hung. This is one of those reads which I couldn’t put down and had me fearful, disbelieving and laughing out loud in parts. The scene with the guy in a Barbour jacket and the undercover policeman had me guffawing. Many thanks to NetGalley, Headline and Simon Kernick for my ARC in return for an honest review. This has to be made into a film. Highly entertaining and a cracking good read. Couldn’t recommend a novel more.

This is my first book by this author but it won't be my last. I loved the plot, the characters and the writing style. I was totally lost in the gripping, gritty and page turner book. I was totally blown away! It was one of those you wanted to find out the ending but didn't want it to end! Loved it.

This is my first book by this author which, considering how impressive his back catalogue looks, is a bit incredible and also something that I intend to remedy in the (hopefully) not too distant future. So Matt comes back home to find a dead woman in his bed and his pregnant fiancée Kate is missing. Matt is then contacted by person unknown and given quite explicit instructions which he must follow to the letter if he ever wants to see Kate again. But just how far is Matt willing to go to save the one he loves, and is the one he loves really who she says she is, or is there so much more going on behind the scenes? Oh my! This book hit the ground running and didn't let up until the very end. It had me, along with Matt, running around, chasing my tail as I tried to figure out what in the heck was going on. My sympathies waxed and waned between the characters as I got to know them better which only added to the way it just kept me on my toes. It is so well and very cleverly plotted - all interconnected and containing so many secrets, lies and more that its share of duplicitous behaviour. Pacing matches the narrative and ebbs and flow as the story unfolds. Characterisation is well done - no mean feat as - well - shall we just say that not everything is always what it seems! With all the twists and turns along the way, by the time I got to the end I was pretty all spun out and a bit dizzy. But, and I haste to say this, also thoroughly satisfied. As already mentioned I took a peek at the author's back catalogue and have already added a couple to my tbr - just need the time to crack on with them.

Wowser!! This is one superbly written fast paced psychological thriller, with that many twists and turns your head will be spinning. I could not put this book down, it’s totally engrossing, gripping you from the first page until the very last where the final twist will surprise you. Matt is 33 when he realises he is never going to make it as an actor, when one night something happens to him which makes him re evaluate his life. He decides to travel, it’s whilst he is Sri Lanka that he meets Kate a co-owner of a hotel, they are now engaged and expecting a baby. But how much does Matt really know about Kate? she has never really told him much about herself. They have now come back to the UK whilst Kate is pregnant with the intention of going back to the Sri Lanka and the business once the baby has been born. Kate had lost her mum to cancer when she was just 17, she had never met her father and begged her mum to tell her his name at least before she passed away. One night someone killed Kate’s boyfriend and Kate suffered severe head injuries leaving her in a coma for 3 weeks, the killer was never caught, Kate claims to have some amnesia leading upto and just after the incident. Matt knows non of this. She did start to build a relationship with her father Sir Hugo Roper after this happened. He had helped her set herself up in Sri Lanka. Sir Hugo Roper is not just Kate’s dad, but he is a very wealthy man the CEO of Peregrine Homes, he is dying of cancer only has a short time to live. He has lost one daughter after she fell off a roof after taking drugs, he has disowned his son, and he doesn’t like his stepson. DCI believes that Roper has had some very dodgy dealings over the years including people going missing but there is nothing he can prove. DCI Cameron Doyle is in charge of the case and interviews the three, he knows they are all lying but his hands are tied as to who he can charge for what from the evidence he has. Matt has been out with his mates, he arrives home late expecting Kate to be asleep in their bed, but he gets a shock, and Kate is not there. Kate has been kidnapped. Matt is contacted and has very strict instructions he must follow if he is to see Kate again. How far would you go to save the person you loved? I highly recommend this to anyone who loves a good crime thriller, psychological thriller, you will not regret it. Simon Kernick has written and plotted a brilliant story. I would like to thank #netgalley and #Headline publishers for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

This is a really engrossing and clever thriller set at a breakneck pace Everything is going right for Matt Walters, a beautiful fiancée and a baby on the way. Everything’s fine until he finds a dead woman in his bed, and his fiancée Kate is kidnapped. From that point on the novel becomes a breathtaking rollercoaster of a read as layers of secrets are peeled back and the truth becomes the main casualty. Many of the short sharp chapters flip back and forth between Matt and Kate alternatively narrating their own desperate plight before culminating in a harrowing cliffhanger by chapter end. The clever plotting means that you wait in eager anticipation for the story to flip back for a resolution only to find it is setting up another cliffhanger. The pace and tension never flags Intermingling with this are chapters featuring Kate’s estranged father the “respectable” Sir Hugh Roper , who it seems has a very chequered past. In the background there is also DCI Cameron Doyle trying to fathom out who is guilty and who the real victim is in all this. Both of these characters provide different perspectives from the main characters adding depth to the story . They also serve to increase the sense of unease that neither Matt or Kate is as innocent as you are first led to believe. A very good thriller.