A claustrophobic, atmospheric and gripping crime thriller. Running between then and now. The reader is left guessing what really happened in that remote cottage in Cork ? Bet you get it wrong I did. Another fantastic read, I loved the plot, the story line is both original and so clever. A real page turner and a must read. An easy five stars and so Highly Recommended.
I would like to thank the author, Atlantic Books and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

This book was set in the format of a time hop, jumping between Play, Pause, Fast Forward and Rewind. At the start, for the first few chapters I found it difficult to keep up with jumping from different characters point of views and time frames. However, after a few chapters, I got the grasp for who everyone was and the flow of the book. Once this happened, I did not want to put it down and became very invested in the characters. I really enjoyed the fact that unlike most thriller style books it's quite obvious that there are one or 2 bad characters, however with this book, the majority of the characters make you uneasy. It was great to see all the characters stories develop and merge to make a very interesting and unexpected ending. I was very lucky to receive this book from Netgalley and ReadersFirst as advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review and feedback.

I’m so sorry I didn’t rate this book at all. At first I thought it was going to add some social comment on displaying your life on Instagram, but that barely figured in the plot. Completely unbelievable that the female character would run away without confronting her husband. Highly unlikely that there would be two creepy males with dodgy pasts in such a small village where everyone would know each other’s secrets. Obvious from early on who the killer was too!! Peopled with totally unlikeable 2D characters (except the waitress).

A man is watching a woman sleep in a bed when he realises there is someone else in the room with her. This person then attacks her and murders her. Who is this woman? Who is this man? And, the bigger question, is who is the murderer?
Natalie O'Connor is a married Instagram influencer who went offline a week ago, her husband has just reported her missing and a budding journalist Audrey has been given the story to write a few words on an online entertainment website. Audrey runs with the story on the hope of making it upstairs to the real news department.
This story hops between the various characters - Natalie, Audrey, Andrew the manager of some holiday cottages in Cork and Jennifer the owner of a rundown B&B in Dublin. It also hops between different times. This keeps the suspense going. We see the story from different aspects and at different times.
I loved this book. Catherine Ryan Howard really knows how to keep your interest and she tackles a number of subjects in this book - murder, privacy issues, social media, pornography and paedophilia all come together as part of the story.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and Catherine Ryan Howard for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Audrey is a junior on a news site and aspires to be a reporter. An Instagram influencer disappears and Audrey manages to interview the worried husband. Her boss is pleased with the story but she will be taken off the case if it becomes a crime. She decides to take off and follow up the story on her own. Pacey and readable the plot is well developed. Its complex and credible and my only criticism is that the basic plot is guessable from very early on and there is nothing in the way of a twist. A good read

I found this a very difficult book at the start. The confusion came mainly with the author adding timings to each chapter that I still do not understand what they related to. There was a surplus of characters at the start but once I came to grips with them I found they all had a personality that added to the story. Once I decided to ignore the times but just read I loved the book. The chapters being headed Forward, Rewind or Pause added to the readability as it explained when each part was taking place. It certainly was a great plot full of unexpected twists and turns with an ending that I did not expect.

3.5 stars
A well thought out thriller. I liked it but didn't love it, mainly because I didn't love any of the characters, maybe because of all the shifts back and forwards in time.
I will still read more from Howard as I've enjoyed her work before and the book was well written.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very cleverly written book that might just make you reconsider how much information you share on social media or how you look at your next hotel room!! Initially there seems to be too many characters to keep track of but as the story progresses all becomes clear as the different stories are expertly knitted together to reveal the killer, the motive and the means. The reader is kept on the edge of their seat throughout by the different timelines and character voices.
Well done,.. great thriller!!

What a heart stopping, creepy and twisted tale.
Fantastic plot which keeps your attention throughout. I thought I knew where this story was going, but I really could not of predicted the outcome and the many shocking turns that got me to the end. Kathryn Ryan Howard is an author to watch and after reading this masterpiece I will definitely be reading more of her books. Outstanding.

This ARC was courtesy of Netgalley - all thoughts and opinions are mine and unbiased

WOW - a truly original concept - Absolutely loved this - Brilliant !!

This is a modern, timely story - taking in social media

Fantastic opening - grabbed me immediately - couldn't put down

Highly recommended

First Catherine Ryan Howard book I have read, it won't be the last.
Completely gripped from the beginning.

Full of twists, turns, and suspense
You don't know exactly where it's going to go

Brilliant read, highly recommended

Thank you netgalley, Catherine Ryan Howard and Corvus for allowing me to read and review this book.

Rewind sounds like an interesting concept, a crime domestic thriller with chapters named forward, rewind, pause, etc, meaning she plays with time and the narrative moves backwards and forwards through time along with the characters.
The novel is about an instagram star who announces she is having a break from social media and disappears, and she hasn't informed her husband or friends of her plans. A up and coming journalist scents an opportunity and places herself at the centre of the investigation.
With a high octane opening, this thriller looks at the risks of living your life online.

Hmmmm... I had high expectations of this one but unfortunately it just didnt deliver.

It didnt quite hit the thriller or mystery genre in my opinion and it all honesty was predictable and more of a 'who done it' novel.

The jumpy timeline became quite confusing at times, the book isnt written in chapters as such but as Play, Pause, Rewind. The ending left me deflated as it was more a confirmation than a shock ending.

In my honest opinion I'd say it was far fetched, unclear with a disappointing ending.

Thank you to netgalley and Atlantic Books for the ARC.

Andrew is the manager of Shanamore Holiday Cottages, He watches his guest with a hidden camera but he sees her being murdered. but who is the murderer?
Natalie came to the cottages for answers about her husband. Was he having an affair and if so with who had he stayed in the cottages?
The answer will be revealed in a shocking conclusion.

Rewind is a very clever and tense read as it keeps giving little bits of information and clues right until the end. At times unpredictable you need to concentrate to work everything out which I loved. I shall definitely be reading more from Catherine.

Very much enjoyed this book and the title gives you an idea of what makes it different, it hops around in time which I usually don’t like but it works here.

It’s an easy reader which is what I want from my books, nothing too taxing!

Read if you like whodunnits.

A novel concept starting with the murder and working backwards. I did guess the perpetuator half way through but it was a good intricate novel that kept me interested. Thank you NetGalley for letting me download it free.

I received a ARC copy of this book from Netgallery to my Kindle in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank Blackstone Publishing and the author Catherine Ryan Howard for letting me read it.

The book is a Fatal Attraction / Voyeur / Thriller combination

It has you gripped from the very beginning with the title being PLAY where you learn that Andrew the manager for lettings of Shanamore Holidays Cottages has just witnessed a live murder via the secret camera that he has installed in cottage no:6, originally for his own voyerism. The murderer then smashes the clock where the camera is, but who is the murderer and how did they know that there is a live camera feed?

The book then reads like a tape recording PLAY, PAUSE, REWIND, FORWARD

Natalie is an Instagram / blogger with over 100K followers, but is her life really as she deplicts in her pictures?

When Natalie and Mike move into their dream house in the most expensive street in Ireland, things start to go wrong. A follower of Natalie’s on Instagram arrives with a flower basket as a moving in present and whilst Natalie is unsure, she invites Alice into her house and offers her coffee, but then realises that her “real” life is not as her pictures have shown, when the only mugs that she has unboxed are ones with silly quotes and not really insta worthy. She hears a click, click, click from the front room and realises that Alice is only there as a fan and to take pictures for her own achievement of meeting an “Instagram Star” Alice is thrown out of the house and Natalie starts to think is this lifestyle worth the hassle, but is now committed due to being paid for product placement and paying the mortgage.

Natalie then posts a picture of a suitcase and lets her followers know that she is taking a break from social media and modern technology, but where is she going?

You find out that Natalie has doubts about her marriage when a book that she bought for Mike goes missing, a bill for Shanamore Cottages is posted by hand through her letterbox and she is being followed by a woman who happens to be in three locations that Natalie is.

When she questions Mike he thinks that she is being paranoid and this leads her to believe that he is hiding an affair from her. Do the answers that she needs lie at Shanamore Cottages?

The story also includes Audrey an entertainment writer for Ireland’s internet based paper whose life is going nowhere and has three weeks to find and move out of hers sisters spare bedroom. She is given a job by Joel, her boss to find out where Natalie O’Connor has gone after her husband reports her missing a week later. (TBH I did think that this would not normally have happened, putting a rookie on a missing person interview)

Things start to unfold when Audrey has her write up posted on line and emails and comments are flooding into Audrey’s inbox. There is one that stands out amongst the others from a girl called Orla working in The Kiln Cafe in Shanamore that regonised Natalie from Instagram when she called in to have a coffee and to find out who the creepy guy was that she had seen hanging around the back of the house when she woke up and had been accosted on the beach by.

Everything then moves at a fast pace throughout the book and you find out about Andrews childhood, his one time first love that he has never got over and what he is really up to.

You have Seanie the policeman who returns to Shanamore where he went for summer holidays as a child and now the only policeman living in the area. The story doesn’t evolve about his relationship with his fiancée after they both move into the bungalow.

You also have Jennifer a receptionist at a run down B&B who thinks the world is against her and has grudges with every guest that enters and leaves the B&B. What is her connection to Andrew? What secrets does she hold?

An enjoyable book and a page turner. I only gave it four stars due to its focus on the trials and trebulations of being an Instagram star and the unrealistic part of Audrey being so involved with the murder story.

A good fast-paced thriller with plenty of twists and turns. The main characters are well-drawn and you switch between their differing viewpoints effortlessly. Although the identity of the whodunnit didn't entirely surprise me, the full truth behind it did. This novel also benefits from having storylines behind each of the main characters, and they're gathered together neatly - and convincingly - in the end. I would definitely recommend this book, and read others by this author (who I had not previously heard of but will investigate further now).

This is an easy read which holds the reader's attention because of its style and no nonsense approach. There is no clutter of unnecessary description. It gets down to business from page one. The story jumps about in time which could put some readers off but I found it works as a clever way of updating you on what has happened and might happen. The perpetrator of the murder is not a secret but it is not revealed till the end whether there really is a conspiracy or just a fantasist. There are two male characters who provide distraction and make the ending a process of confirmation rather than surprise.