Exhibit Alexandra is a psychological thriller centring on three characters, told from the perspective of the story’s main protagonist Alexandra (Alex) Southwood. Alex is an aspiring artist studying in Chicago when she meets Marc, a fine arts student from her hometown of York. Her life is swept up in a whirlwind of romance which sees her marry Marc, move back to the UK and abandoned her arts degree. With two children, a steady job and house in the suburbs, the Southwood family live a normal life that is thrown into turmoil when one day Alex does not return home from work and police later find her belongings covered in blood. As the story unfolds, Marc’s desperate search for his missing wife unearths secrets from her past that lead him to look for Alex’s classmate from Chicago, Amelia Heldt, who could hold the key to Alex’s disappearance and answer the question is she alive or dead?

Billed from the offset as a twisting psychological thriller this story is reminiscent of recent bestsellers Gone Girl and The Girl On The Train. Using letters from her college days, reminiscences from the past and a her own perspective since the day she went missing, Alex’s narration is convincing, painting a portrait of a woman who is struggling with normal family life whilst watching her former classmate become a successful artist. The premise of the story is great and the plot keeps you turning the pages, but ultimately the book fails to deliver that “gasp of sudden realisation” moment that it promises. The character of Marc is slow, ponderous and feels a little too naive as the story unfurls leading to a climax that feels downbeat and laconic rather than an adrenaline fueled moment of discovery.

In short, the concept of the story grabbed my attention, the narration of the main character held it, but ultimately the book failed to deliver on all of that promise by signposting the eventual outcome too early in the plot, leading you to feel frustrated by the character of Marc as he bumbles through to the end of his hunt for his missing wife.

Really enjoyed reading this novel about a missing woman. Cleverly woven narratives from both the woman herself and her distraught husband. To be honest, I did see the twist that was coming, but it in no way spoilt the book for me. Enjoyable and intelligently written.

This is a great read. Cleverly plotted, the suspense is maintained almost until the end as we are led to uncover various leads and avoid the stereotyped "missing person" genre.
Marc is credible and his character sustained throughout. We lose respect (I did...others may well admire her) for Alex as her character develops in reverse. The title makes sense earlier than expected but not entirely.
A range of strategies such as letters, different perspectives and time shifts keep the reader alert but never lost; intruiged but not quite outwitted. Intelligent and provocative, I did enjoy this!

So, I was prepared for this to be an unconventional thriller. But I wasn’t prepared for just how unconventional it would be.

Alexandra Southwood is missing, she has quite literally vanished into thin air. The police are only vaguely interested at first, only as much as duty binds them to be.

As the days continue and Alex doesn’t return, the police delve into the Southwoods private life. Dr Marc Southwood is obviously expecting this. But what he isn’t expecting is the suspicion targeted at his wife.

Her disappearance must surely be an abduction or worse. She simply would not disappear of her own accord. It is incomprehensible.

I have to say that for a novel described as a thriller, exhibit Alexandra runs at a fairly slow pace, but it’s final few chapters more than make up for that.

Exhibit Alexandra isn’t going to be everybody’s cup of tea. But if it is yours, then you are in for interesting read.

Alexandra is missing and her family think she's dead, but she is being held somewhere - far away from them. Not at all what you think. A story about art, ambition, stifling creativity, thinking cruelty.

I loved this book. It was brilliantly written with plenty of clever twists in the storyline and the ending was fab. Highly recommended

Many thanks to Netgalley and Anastasia Bell for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

Well, I never guessed that ending; at least not until the last few pages. Alexandra is missing, having left behind her husband, 2 children and a lot of blood. We know she is still alive but the police are telling Marc there’s very little hope she is. Marc refuses to give up on her and continues the hunt in both Britain and America. Told mostly through Alexandra’s viewpoint and her discussions with her unseen captor, this is an interesting and disturbing look at life and art. A good read that has kept me up far too late!

Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis sounded interesting, and the reviews I had already read intrigued me. I was prepared for this story to be a little unconventional, and yes it certainly lived up to that!
For the most part I did enjoy this story and I read to the end. I didn't engage with any of the art elements at all, and in the end I had to skim through those parts. I guessed how the book was going to pan out, and whilst the details of how it manifested were clever, I just couldn't connect with it at all.

Told from the missing’s point of view, Exhibit Alexandra is not your usual thriller. Alexandra has been taken and the narrative follows what she imagines is happening to her family in her absence. How her family cope without her and will she be found, are the questions I had to have answers to. This book kept me up at night. A clever and well written take on the usual thriller.

Alexandra Southwood, a performance artist, husband of Marc and mother of young teenagers Lizzie and Charlotte goes missing one day but hasn't taken anything with her except the normal things she'd have at work. She does not use her mobile phone or passport, doesn't withdraw any cash or use bank accounts. Marc is insistent that their marriage was stable and happy so there is no reason for her to leave voluntarily. He is also insistent that she is still alive despite the police eventually believing the contrary.

The book is narrated by Alexandra even though we are not sure if she is alive.. It is very confusing as large chunks are narrating what Marc and his friends and family are thinking and doing and then it jumps into Alexandra being captive in some capacity but the jump is sudden and every time caused me to lose the story as I had to look back to be clear where the change was. This is also not helped by some sections being a decade of so earlier when Marc and Alexandra first met. This timeshifting goes throughout the book. Then there are sections of letters that are arriving for Alexandra from someone she met while studying for a year in Chicago. The sections where Alexandra is narrating what the family are doing just grate as she wasn't there so why make her the narrator? The ending made sense on some levels but makes no sense for the sections that were Alexandra narrating about her personal situation throughout the book. It's hard to say more without too many spoilers.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was very well written and was gripping to say the least. Really enjoyed the book and would say its on my top thrillers so far this year. The story gets you thinking and about many topics, gender being one and its almost written in an art form.

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy of Exhibit Alexandra. What a deeply twisted psychological thriller this is. There are so many things I would like to say about this book but they would give so much of the plot away that I shall have to refrain from much of it.
This is a quite unique plot that becomes extremely thought provoking with regards to art and gender definition to name just two. I din't really take to Alexandra at all and whilst the plot twisted and turned keeping me guessing right up to the end, as things turned out I wasn't too surprised..

A Work of Art

Remarkably inventive this is a thriller like no other. Alex’s narrative takes the reader right into the core of Marc’s utter desperation at finding his wife missing but Alex isn’t there - so how much is imaginary, how much is real? How do we know that the story as it unfolds is the actual story or is it just a version of a story? This unique style paints a picture that is mind-bending and complex as the reader is left constantly questioning every word, every single minuscule detail.

Overflowing with creativity this is a book that will challenge your preconceptions and leave you marvelling at its brilliance.

Thank you so much to the Publisher and to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Highly recommended.

Thanks so much to Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and netgalley for the opportunity of previewing this really different thriller. It's part art, part literary debut, part crime thriller and I really enjoyed it.
This crime thriller with a difference is interesting and thought provoking and will keep you guessing until the last chapter.
Below is taken from the site of PenguinRandomHouse.com and describes the book so much better than I can!

ABOUT EXHIBIT ALEXANDRA

He thought he knew everything about her until she went missing.
Before she disappeared, Alexandra Southwood lived an average, happy life: devoted to her wonderful husband, Marc, and caring for her two beautiful daughters. But now, held in a room against her will, Alexandra is forced to think about all she’s lost, and imagine how Marc and her daughters are coping in the wake of her disappearance. She’s shown news clips of Marc, desperately appealing to the public for information on her whereabouts. She tortures herself with visions of her family’s devastated new reality. And as she envisions Marc’s distress, she can’t help but remember their courtship, their marriage—all that he saved her from and all that they’ve built together.

The premise of this novel falls within one of my favourite genres and so I happily accepted the ivitation from Net Galley to review it. I must admit to finding it a bit of a slog.

Briefly: Alex and Marc live in York, have been married for several, have two daughters and are successful in their chosen careers. All is going well then suddenly Alex disappears; police find her clothes and some blood on the river bank, and begins to look like Alex is dead. Marc refuses to accept this, continuing to believe that she will eventually be found.

This is a strange book in that Aex, being held in a room somwhere, by someone unknown, is watching these events unfold. As she relates this to the reader she laso looks back on her marriage and the time when she and Marc met. There is a great deal aboutmodern art which is quite interesting but unfortunately I found the tone somewhat teacherly and lecturing.

The narration from Alex reminds me a little of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, except that right from the start we know that the narrator is dead. Is Alex? If not dead, then where is she and why? All will be revealed, I hope, if I continue, but at 45% into the book, I'm not altogether sure I will.

This was a different concept of a mystery and took me quite a while to get into it. That being said I still wanted to read on hence the three star review and it took me to the last few chapters before I guessed the ending. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to review it.

I did enjoy this book but it was a bit strange...
Alexandra is an artist at heart. Life seems good for her and Marc and she moves back to the UK with him and then gets married and has two daughters.
We then find out she doesn’t come home one night after work. Marc is adamant that this is out of character so calls the Police but it takes them a while to take this seriously.
The story is told by Alexandra herself and it also tells of how Marc and their friends and family are all coping with her disappearance.
While trying to make sense of her disappearance Marc comes across some letters sent by Amelia to Alex in the past and it gives him an insight into Amelia’s hopes and dreams.
This was an interesting read but left me feeling a bit annoyed with some characters.
Thanks to Michael Joseph/Penguin Random House and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Enthralled from beginning to end. Asks difficult questions about the conflict between relationships and self preservation. Do you need to surrender one for the other?

I enjoyed this book, it was well written, intelligent and unusual.
The “twist” was definitely too predictable, however I stuck with it and thought the ending was very good.
I’d read books by this author again and would recommend if you like an easy reading suspense thriller.