Excellent book. Fast pace and well developed plot. I never saw the end coming but an excellent twist . Fully recommend this book. Once you have started it you won't put it down. Enjoy

This wonderful book is pervaded by the metaphor of a roller-coaster – the vacillation on the threshold, the hesitating final commitment to the point of no return, the slow and suspenseful climb towards the pinnacle of release, and the subsequent headlong hurtling and unexpected switches of direction. The action revolves around occupational therapist Kirsten Calloway, happy in a demanding but rewarding job and in a stable and clearly happy household with her impressively capable husband Mark and talented daughter Jess. However, Kirsten is plagued, tempted and ultimately driven to recklessness by the one thing her otherwise perfect life lacks: sex. A tangle of joys, lies, exhilarations, disappointments, complications and tragedies starts from a chance encounter at a school reunion event, to which Kirsten is lured against her better judgement by the shameless misrepresentations of her sister Helen. Kirsten finds her life simultaneously fulfilled, scrambled, accomplished, destroyed, soured and sweetened by a disturbingly plausible sequence of individually simple steps. Just as in real-life roller-coaster rides, it’s never exactly clear where the preliminaries end and the breathless, page-turning acceleration begins, and after some exhilarating twists and turns the end of the ride arrives too soon. In addition to the brilliantly-constructed plot, the characters are highly memorable, even those with minor parts to play, and strikingly true to life. The sparkling dialogue is a real highlight, at the same time both guiding the narrative and capturing the true dynamics of everyday dialogue; Kirsten’s decision-making (the internal dialogue of Kirsten as the book’s narrator) is presented beautifully, allowing us to identify and empathise fully and naturally with her predicaments and hesitations. The astute observation and witty detail might distract you from the subtly camouflaged elephants in the room – behind the thrills and spills of extraordinary events happening to apparently ordinary people, the narrative insinuates quietly deep explorations of big themes you thought you understood: what we really want from life, why we live with the people we do, how we face the madnesses love can induce, and the key roles played by lies, mobile phones and biscuits. If you’re in search of a thought-provoking, sexy, exciting and life-affirming thriller, this one’s for you.

A very good read and a real page-turner. Highly recommended.

Heard about this from a friend. It's an exciting thriller-cum-domestic drama novel which I found compelling. About a woman who embarks on an affair while wanting to keep her marriage together, it also has a crime/whodunnit element. So all the things which make for a perfect holiday read. Great twists and turns which I didn't see coming and ending that I found very satisfying. Recommended.

Kirsten Calloway knows she should be grateful, with a stable marriage (24 years and counting to Mark), decent job (as an occupational therapist with the NHS), and a wonderful teenage daughter called Jess. But she also has a raging libido that won’t shut up and Mark’s no help, prefering to go on a bike ride. At a school reunion, she bumps into her old friend Dianne who had a similar problem and scratched the itch using a discreet agency which arranges casual sex for people who want to keep their marriages together. When Zac, younger and handsome, enters the picture, Kirsten seems to have it all but Zac wants more than she’s willing to give and will stop at nothing to get it. A debut novel (from an established screenwriter), this is being touted as “this year's most sexually charged and shocking thriller” and while I don’t deny it has a raunchy premise, it’s hardly shocking and the sex scenes are no more graphic than you’d find in any other novel. Having said that, it’s told well and Kirsten is a great lead character, even if I did spend a lot of time thinking “no, seriously, don’t do that”. All of the characters, in fact, are well realised as is the family dynamic with Kirsten, Mark & Jess and London is used well as a location, all sidestreets, lanes and parks. The plot runs well, the story is decently paced and while the climax wasn’t entirely a surprise, it did take a couple of turns I didn’t see coming, though it does kind of wrap itself in knots to have a final twist. Well written, entertaining and believable, I’d very much recommend this.