This book was not what I expected. I found myself lost a few times while reading. There are some things that seemed to take away from the book and I feel didn't really need to be there.
Claire and her husband Duncan have a very strained relationship and Claire has finally reached her breaking point after Duncan’s latest affair. Claire has decided that she will finally leave him and plans to take her son Joe with her. Joe is obsessed with metal detecting and convinced that he will find treasure on their land. Claire has found the perfect place so that she can be hidden and Joe can still be close to his dad and the land where he spends all his time. Claire decides that she must sneak away and not let Duncan know that she is leaving. Claire has packed up Joe’s room but he seems to have disappeared. Claire continues with her plan to leave and continues her search for Joe from afar in her new home. Though Joe has disappeared a few times before, Claire believes that this time is different and because Joe is 18, the police are reluctant to get involved.
The story switches between past and present Claire and Duncan and explains the issues leading up to the demise of their marriage as seen through their perspective. Though Duncan was unfaithful to Claire, he loses himself without her and his missing son Joe and ends up lashing out at the people around him.
I wasn’t thrilled with the ending but it was a surprise that I didn’t see coming.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

It is a long time since I reluctantly turned the page in a book and forced myself to concentrate. The reason being – I don’t like to abandon a book and so I persevered. I was slightly put off by the title – Magpie as I feared the text would be haunted by the bird – but in reality there were a few mentions but not many. I get the whole ‘one for sorrow’ etc, but other than that – odd title. Maybe something I missed. Also the synopsis looked as though it would be exciting.

I am so sorry to say that I found the whole thing dull. Claire lives with her husband and son in what we are told is a beautiful glass house. He is has a successful veterinary practice and her son has given up on school and is a bit of an odd ball. Not surprised living where he does! Life is not good for anybody there and the plot unfolds between Claire’s point of view and Duncan’s with the addition of Before and After sections. It all gets a bit confusing and boring especially when things are repeated several times. I didn’t care about the characters, he was charmless and she has nothing about her whatsoever. Their son is characterless, just a name to hang in the air to give Claire something to go on about. So she decides to leave her husband – and what a splendid place she decides to move to – really?

I skim-read in a few places (a very few as I think that is cheating) but I was not enthralled by the endless descriptions of the landscape, the reservoir, the weather; just give me something to get interested in. Thrilling it is not, exciting it is not – well to be fair, that is just my opinion. For which I heartily apologise Ms Draper, truly.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

~ I was given an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review, I'm not associated with the author or publisher in any way and the views expressed are completely unbiased and entirely my own. ~

My rating: 2*

'Magpie' tells the story of Claire who lives with her son and adulterous husband in a house that she hates. Exposing her husband's double life leads to unexpected consequences for the family.
I was initially intrigued by the premise and was in the mood for a twisty turny thriller as the blurb promised, but quickly realised that this wasn't it unfortunately, and I DNF'd at 40%.

Most of all I found Claire a really unlikable character. She has a quite frankly toxic attitude towards her son's obvious learning difficulties, victimising herself for the most part, and her attitude towards motherhood in general is tiresome.

I appreciate that her husband is a horrible guy, but in spite of this its honestly just really difficult to sympathise with her at all because she just wasn't well rounded enough as a character. Her stream of consciousness consists of thoughts such as: "Wife of, mother of, Mrs Henderson – is that all I am to other people? Even in this day and age, defined by my relationship to men. That’s what you get if you choose to be a full-time mother. Certainly, in this part of the county. Though choose isn’t quite how I’d put it."

I find this nonsensical since as readers we are literally given no other information about Claire as a character other than a constant stream of her describing everything she dislikes about her family and marriage. The author has literally defined the character by the things that the character hates being defined by.

I also didn't feel that there wasn't any tension present regarding by her husband's affair(s) since she seems to have known about his extramarital activities for years before the story begins and sort of confronts him in the first few pages at a dinner table scene. I think it would've been a more interesting reading experience to uncover details with Claire as she confirms her suspicions and figures out the logistics of ending her marriage, but instead we're just given various descriptions of the occasions in the past where she's found out about what he's been up to.

I appreciate a slow burner, in fact it's what unsually prefer in a story, but in between what I've already described, the narrative was bogged down by mundane details and descriptions of Claire and her family's day to day life, jobs, hobbies and belongings and suchlike, so overall I just want enjoying the way the story was told enough to want to see it through to its conclusion.

~ Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this title ~

Thank you to Sophie Draper and Avon for the ARC of MAGPIE.
The cover of MAGPIE made a promise it unfortunately didn't keep and I was left feeling rather frustrated with it. Sophie Draper is clearly an excellent writer, and the premise of the novel was very good, but in my opinion the execution let it down. The lay out of the story going backwards and forwards was very confusing, and I skimmed a lot of the writing, as good as it was, because I felt it just didn't add anything to the story. The descriptive passages were perilously close to purple prose and the ending wasn't satisfying. 3 stars because of the quality of the writing.

Claire has realised that her marriage to Duncan is over and has been for years. She can no longer put up with his serial infidelities. They have really been staying together because of their business and their son Joe. Whilst Claire hasn’t worked for years she has supported Duncan and helped develop the thriving practice he owns and works in as a respected vet. They live in a fabulous converted barn and on the surface have everything.
However Claire is planning to leave, she has rented a local cottage and is gathering things together to take with her. She just needs to find the right time to tell Joe, who now is eighteen but has troubles of his own. Just when the time seems right there is an argument and Joe disappears, it’s not the first time this has happened but everything is seems different this time.
This for me was a book of two halves. I enjoyed the first but not the second and certainly found the ending disappointing..

No no no no no. I hate books where animals are hurt, especially when it feels like its not essential - gratuitous violence towards animals is just not for me. Add a confusing storyline and horrendous characters and you've got a novel that just really isn't that impressive.

What a good twisty book. I had a good time reading this and trying to piece together what was really going on and what really happened that night. I was definitely happy with the twists they threw in there as well. Would recommend this one. Thanks NetGalley.

This book had really high hopes for me too read but I was disappointed. Especially when there's an animal featured and it gets hurt. That's one trigger that keeps me from reading it. It was slow and a little over the top for me in some parts. I feel like it could have been a great story if it had more depth to the story.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Magpie by Sophie Draper is the first novel that I've read from this author, and having few expectations going in, I found myself to be pleasantly surprised. This is a multi-faceted story that is slow to unfold, but due diligence is ultimately rewarded.

This is the story of Claire and Duncan, their son Joe, and the dissolution of a marriage. From the start, Duncan is an unlikable entity, and Claire offers a plethora of reasons to end their marriage. But sharing not only a son, but a complex past, presents a host of difficulties for the warring couple. What secrets from their joint history are keeping them so tightly bound?

While this is certainly a slow burn of a read, I believe it is worth the time, and I am intrigued enough to read more from this author in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC.

This sounds like a great book with its premise but unfortunately it’s bit executed very well.

It’s drawn out needlessly and poorly and the characters are unlikable. Usually when characters are made a certain way there are redeemable qualities but there weren’t any whatsoever in this case.

It was disappointing because I looked forward to this read but perhaps it just wasn’t for me.

Thanks very much to Netgalley and the publisher for this Arc.

I really struggled with this book. I cannot read or watch anything where animals get hurt, so I ended up skimming to miss those parts. The book was confusing going back and forth and just didn't have any suspense for me.

I liked this much better than Cuckoo, but if I had realized this was by the same author I wouldn’t have requested. I was very unpleasantly surprised by Cuckoo after hearing so many rave reviews... this was only a sliver better IMO.

Unfortunately the ratings on this one aren’t wrong.

Firstly I don’t think there was any real need to set the story in past and present. Unnecessarily confusing at times and added nothing to the feel of the book.

I found the story sooooo padded with page after page of unnecessary ramblings and repetitive information.

The characters were all unlikable and un relatable.

I haven’t read the authors first book yet, it’s on my to read list. Judging by the reviews this book may just be a blip!!

This is the story of Claire, her husband Duncan and their son Joe. It is told from the perspectives of Claire and Duncan, Before and After a series of events happens to them. I’m sorry to say that I did not particularly enjoy this book for a number of reasons. First of all, the story did not flow well from the Before and After and from character to character and I found the storyline at times very confusing. The writing style is all over the place as Claire’s story is told in the first person and for the most part in the present tense but Duncan’s isn’t. Some of the sentences are so short that it felt too staccato and jerky. The format also means that there is an awful lot of repetition that it becomes tedious. There are a lot of statements of the obvious too. Did we really need to know so many times that Joe is Claire’s son?? The story seems to be full of unnecessary details that adds little to the storyline except to fill pages and detract from the point of the story, it becomes boring and any sense of menace or suspense is lost. The characters are not very likeable especially Duncan who is downright unpleasant, so much so that he seems a caricature of an angry man. Overall, this is a disappointing book.

I had previously read Cuckoo by the same author and enjoyed the atmospheric writing but found the storyline to be somewhat lacking. I decided to take a chance on this book being an improvement. Unfortunately, although some of the writing was absorbing the story was quite dull. It never seemed to get anywhere and while there were a couple of twists at the end, one at least was predictable. It was little more than a love story rather than a thriller. Some parts promised excitement and tension but this tended to fade into nothing. As a reviewer I am always reluctant to give a poor summary of a book that has taken many months to evolve. However, as a reader, while I appreciate beautiful writing, it is more important to have a reason to keep turning the pages.

A story about a marriage breakdown, a tragedy that shakes a marriage to its core. An autistic son who goes missing and an abandoned, once sunken village.

The marriage has gone very bad indeed and the two in it aren't that likeable, but their son has gone walkabout and the novel looks at the reasons behind his disappearance and search for him. Next to the home where they have just moved is a sunken village and so that's the first port of call. Except this village was supposed to be abandoned yet there seems to be people there...walking about....

The story about the sunken village and the coins - I would have liked more of this and think it would have made a more gripping novel. Magpie was a slow burn and not really a thriller as we experience the marriage breakdown and the search for a missing boy. The landscape is unusual and I think more could have been made of this. For me at least - sunken villages have been in a few things I've read recently and they never fail to interest me. There was a lot of information about the coins and this was interesting but did get a bit repetitive at times. The atmosphere was well done throughout however and the writing cranks up an increasingly chilling atmosphere.

I felt it was a mix of two books - one about a marriage and the other a chilling ghostly suspense novel. I much preferred the second.

Sorry but this book wasn't for me, too long and drawn out and couldn't really get a grasp of the story line.

I did do a fair bit of skim reading to get to the end so I won't read any more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I was so bored by this - the story was going round in circles, the before and after chapters were confusing and there were endless, endless descriptions of everything - thoughts and feelings, scenery, weather, the state of the kitchen, a whole paragraph on someone opening a packet of chewing gum.....(zzzzzz). I did manage to get to the end by skipping and skimming most of it, and the two twists did surprise me, but it was not worth the couple of hours getting there.

I think too many people get bogged down in what places a book within a genre. Many, many books cross genres, having elements of thriller, horror, crime, etc., and so I find it simpler to ignore the genre and just read.

Draper's debut, Cuckoo, was one of those books that everyone was talking about. And now, with the dreaded second novel, Magpie appears to be the subject of some harsh reviews, some of which are unnecessarily so.

Magpie is one of those slow burning thrillers, one which demands your full attention as a reader. Draper has a way with words, able to draw you in and hold you there, breathless, while the story unfolds.

This was a good story, but was a bit too long and drawn out. I did finish it but skipped ahead and skimmed much of the text. Would make a great film though; could just imagine NicoleKidman playing Claire.