I really loved The Wife Between Us when I read it earlier this year so I was quite excited to get my hands on this book, especially as the blurb sounded so enticing. I wasn't disappointed either as, once I started it, I simply whizzed through it, devouring every delicious twist and turn as the story progressed and more of the shocking truth came out.
Jessica, Jess to her friends, is a freelance make-up artist who gets jobs through a beauty agency and it is during a visit to one of her clients that she overhears a phone message about a paid for psychological research study being conducted on ethics and morality. Her client decides she doesn't want to take part which gives Jess a chance to inveigle herself in instead; she needs the money after all. So, she takes over her client's appointment and soon starts to realise that maybe she's bitten off more than she can chew when she is singled out for further studies with a far better remuneration. But what will it really cost her as she finds herself caught between the psychiatrist conducting the research and their philandering other half? When she starts to realise what she's really got into, will she be able to get out and get safe before things go way too far?
I do have reservations about certain aspects of this book and I suspect it will split opinion and indeed ratings depending on whether the reader is able to accept certain things along the way. Personally, I thought that the plot was so well crafted, even with the things that I had to swallow, and, although I wasn't quite wholly convinced by the ending, the overall ride was so thrillingly outlandish that I was more than willing to take one for the team and read on, gripped. Talk about dysfunctional characters colliding with a bang!
Characterisation is tricky to explain without revealing some of the, shall we just call them, interesting things that the three main characters get up to along the way but they are a bit on the complex side to say the least. To be honest, I really didn't like any of them, even with the redeeming things they did along the way. Jess was the most likeable, mainly due to her ongoing guilt about an incident in her past but even that didn't manage to tip me over to #TeamJess when things were going awry. The less said about the behaviour of the other two the better I think as the more I learned about their shenanigans the more I wanted to just eradicate them from my mind! But, as I've said before, I don't have to like characters in a book, I just have to connect with them and that can be in either a positive or negative way, I just need some emotional connection and, even though here it was pretty much all negative, it was there nonetheless.
The book is told alternately by both Jess and the psychiatrist. Jess's parts are much easier to read than the psychiatrist's as they are written to Jess rather than narrated and did take me a while to get to grips with but there is a reason for this method of storytelling and that does become evident by the end of the book and, with hindsight, it really does work but, on the flip side, I can appreciate why it could possible irk others.
As already mentioned the plot overall is not completely plausible but it does explore some really great psychological themes along the way, well the initial study was all about morals and ethics and there's also the addition of control thrown into the mix along the way too. Oh and it's rather dark too and does contain quite a few of the hard hitting things but nothing more than you would expect from a book of this genre.
All in all, despite some credibility issues, this was a good solid read that I thoroughly enjoyed. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Just finished this read and found it slightly monotonous. Flipping between just two characters voices was ok but became tedious by half way through. The second half quickened up and became more engaging, I thought the storyline had some nice twists but was also a little bit predictable and I didn’t really like or particularly care about any of the characters. I actually found the main character slightly annoying and also the worst dog owner in the world. Just felt a bit unbelievable and intense in an indulgent way that had to be persevered with.

When Jess Farris sneaks into a study on ethics to ensure her next rent payment, she didn’t anticipate how caught up in a web of lies and deceit she would get.

The second novel from the duo behind The Wife Between Us delivers pace and punch from the word go. I finished this in a matter of hours because I was desperate to see where the story led.

There are so many ‘bad guys’ and so much subterfuge throughout this story that it’s honestly difficult to decide who to trust, and poor make-up artist Jess, weighed down by a devastating secret of her own, is embroiled in cheating and lies.

I don’t want to reveal anything about the story - this is definitely a blind read, in order to fully appreciate the gasp moments, and the story flips elegantly between the two narrators, building up a narrative of just how far you may go for love.

A slight publishing error jarred throughout, every word requiring a double-f was reduced to a single letter f, making for a disjointed flow of prose and I am hopeful this will be rectified before final publishing. The only negative in a tale I lived and breathed every second of. Definitely one to keep an eye out for!

I was given a copy of this book by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Reading the other reviews it seems that I am in the minority as I couldn't get into this book and gave up on it. Sadly it wasn't for me

Loved this! Full of twists and turns and very unpredictable. Would definitely recommend to anyone who wants to get stuck in to a real page turner.

Holy moly this novel took me by surprise.
I'm not usually the biggest fan of thrillers but this one kept me totally engrossed and had a satisfying ending.
great read!

An intriguing concept of deceit and manipulation. Really enjoyable with horribly addictive characters and many twists and turns. The story will lead you down one path only to make a dramatic turn down another. Fabulous!

An extremely interesting read with twists and turns you don't see coming. I love the way the story lets you into the psyche of both the psychologist and the subject taking part in the survey. What would you do for money? How much trust would you put in a psychologist and how much would you let her control your life? When the experiment is ended and the subject and psychologist become close things become very interesting - their lives become entwined but the question is, how much of it is fate and how much has been controlled...?

An obsessive story full of deceit and jealousy. Well told it draws you in to the end.
Jess becomes involved in a lucrative morality study run by a glamorous psychiatrist, Dr Shields. However as the questions become more invasive and move in to the field Jess becomes concerned for her own safety. She cannot tell who is telling the truth or who she can trust. Unaware initially that she gphas met Dr Shields estranged husband things start to become even more complicated.
I found I was completely drawn in and thought the whole concept was original and a bit different. Definitely recommend giving this a go.

A slow start, did not think I could carry on reading, pleased I persevered as really enjoyed this, what turned out to be a well written book, full of twist an believable content, with real twist at the end. Excellent!

I usually read in bed, either in the mornings or at night before I go to sleep, or when I'm travelling. Rarely do I set aside time to read when I'm up and about during the day and have chores but that's just what I did in order to finish the last 25% of this dark psychological thriller, as I was too impatient to wait until bedtime to complete it.

At one point, eminent therapist Dr Shields refers to doubting her husband, Thomas, and I briefly wondered why the writers hadn't named the novel Doubting Thomas, which I congratulate myself for thinking would have been a better title! However, title notwithstanding, this was well-paced, exciting and introduced an oft-neglected type of villain as well as a nicely gutsy heroine. I found myself thoroughly enjoying the twists and turns and would definitely recommend this to fans of the genre. I also enjoyed hearing about other real-life psychological experiments.

My one criticism is the heavy-handed use of the passive voice instead of using 'I' and 'me' when one of the two narrators gives their side of the story. I'm not quoting from the book - but as an example, imagine telling someone about your first hour of today but never using personal pronouns. So: 'a cup of coffee was drunk; a shower was taken and an outfit selected before breakfast was prepared.' I realise it was meant to underscore the formality and emotional void in the character but after a while it got so overwhelming that I wondered if there was to be a gender-reveal twist.

I’m always a little wary of novels that are co-authored because, from experience, I’ve found them a little uneven. However, due to the positive reviews of their first book I decided to give this one a go.

Jess is a make-up artist, working in New York, when she seized the opportunity to take part in a psychological study about morality. Initially the study seems unremarkable but as time goes on she is drawn under the spell of the enigmatic Dr Shields and events take a darker turn.

This book was really compelling. The alternating narrative worked really well and there are several satisfying twists. An undemanding and absorbing read.

Another great read from the authors of The Wife Between Us. So many twists, don't try to second guess what's happening, I did and I was wrong!

I loved this book - the author did a great job in building up the tension as the story moved along and I thought it was a good ending. The second book I've read by these authors and I'll certainly be looking for a third - recommended

One of the best books I’ve read this year!!! Had me gripped, could not put it down until I reached the end!! So many dark twists that kept me guessing! Absolutely brilliant read!!

This is such an amazing book. I loved the duel perspective of the two women and they were both such intriguing women with some very dark secrets.. You could real feel Jess's uneasiness and panic as the story progressed and i was really rooting for her. I found it amazing how organically the relationship between the women built and shows just how much trust you can wrongly place in someone.

I read this book as I really enjoyed the wife between us. I found the story compelling and very slow burning although the main character is not that likeable. I also struggled with how the main character ended up in the study by chance yet the story planned out the way it did. However, that aside, I did enjoy the storyline and the darkness in all of the characters.

After reading and loving the ‘The Wife Between Us’ I just knew I would not be disappointed. I just loved the writing style instantly. As I started reading it I was under the writers spell.
A psychological thriller that will keep you guessing and wanting to know more. It certainly has dark parts within it- which adds to the suspense.
The characters are exceptionally written with both strength,rawness and darkness.
This book will give you lots to think about and you will try to second guess what happens next.
Expect the unexpected.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for my eARC of this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review

Totally twisted, totally compulsive and absolutely totally magnificent !!!
How else can you describe this book it’s just different from anything I have read before and what a brilliant combination that we have in Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks to write such an addictive psychological thriller like this.
It starts slow but builds up with unreliable narrators and you are never quite sure just what is true or what is happening all you do know is you just can’t put the goddam book down because it’s incredibly good and so damn intense. This is going to be a big hit and it really deserves all the hype it’s one hell of an amazing read and I guess you can tell I loved it from start to finish.
My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Creepy & disturbing psychological thriller. Split second decisions can lead to life long consequences. How culpable are you if you didn't see it coming or intend for it to have those results? How much can you know & trust another person? How much do you know yourself? Can you trust yourself? Is honesty always the most important? Is it safe?