This was a really great read that kept me wondering and guessing right until the very last page. Would highly recommend!

I love Teresa Driscoll and simply devour her thrillers before they've barely seen the light of day! So when I saw a new one hitting the shelves this month, I headed straight to NetGalley to request it. And while I did take a few days to read it, that is not reflected in the book at all, but rather how busy I've been the past few days that I simply wasn't able to devour it as quickly as others...but instead I had the time to savour it.

I WILL MAKE YOU PAY - the threatening words are enough to instill fear in anyone, conjuring up images of a vengeful hate puzzling to the logical mind. For journalist Alice Henderson, they began slowly and unremarkable that she dismissed them as nuisance calls. She didn't even notice that they only ever occurred on a Wednesday each week...until one Wednesday the tone changed.

"I am going to use a cheese wire on you."

It is then Alice begins to feel fearful. Someone has been toying with her, making idle threats that are now becoming more troublesome with each passing week. As she processes everything that has occurred each Wednesday it becomes frightfully clear that she is in danger. There have been phone calls, hang ups and the odd "gift" and, as every Wednesday comes around, something even more intimidating and frightening occurs.

Someone is stalking her and wants her to suffer. But why? What has she done? Is it something she has written? Is it something - or someone - from her past? Whoever this stalker is, he knows a lot about Alice and her personal life. There are even vague threats regarding her mother. But how did he even know her mother's favourite flowers are pink peonies? Or what care home she is in?

Clueless as to who this person may be, Alice is determined to continue going about her life as per normal. But her boyfriend Tom is so concerned for her safety that he hires ex-copper Matthew Hill, now a private investigator, to help keep her safe and find out who is behind the growing threats. Engaged to follow Alice on Wednesdays, Matthew works closely with former colleague DI Melanie Sanders whose hands are tied and is limited to what she can do unless the stalker follows through on his threats.

The good news for Alice...most stalkers are NOT killers.
The bad news...many killers are stalkers first...

But as the investigation goes deeper, Matthew discovers that Alice has been keeping her own secrets and is not who she says she is. Alice isn't really Alice. So who is she really? And who is she hiding from? Is her stalker something to do with her past?

And what is the significance of Wednesdays?

However, Matthew isn't the only one following Alice. Her co-worker from the paper, Jack, is also tailing her. He says he is concerned for her...but is that just a cover for something more sinister?

The stalker himself has a very dark, very sad past which is slowly revealed layer by layer throughout his alternate narrative told in the past and up to the present. It is easy to feel sympathy for him growing up with what he silently endured for many years and to see the love he had for his gran, and the closeness they shared. These chapters humanised him...despite the terror he inflicted on Alice in the present day.

Woven into the story is that of Alice's mother, who is battling a cruel disease that will soon take her mother from her. Throughout Alice's narrative we see her love for her mother and the heartbreak at the knowledge that she does not have much time left. These pages are enough to make you tear up.

The narratives alternate between Alice and Matthew in the present and the stalker in the past, showing snippets of all three as each chapter unfolds revealing more of the story, layer by layer. The tension builds throughout with a pace that has the reader devouring each page with speed. With plenty of red herrings and twists thrown in along the way, I narrowed my suspect pool down to two - but which two, you say? That would be telling. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover my suspicions were correct which, as I've said many times before, never deters my enjoyment of a good mystery thriller.

I WILL MAKE YOU PAY is a brilliantly written thriller with just the right amount of suspense and heartfelt emotion. The opening line "I am going to use a cheese wire on you." is enough to have you hooked right away and you will not want to put it down until the end.

I was thrilled to see the return of Matthew Hill and DI Melanie Sanders, both of whom have appeared in previous books "I Am Watching You" and "The Promise" , although none are a part of a series. Each book are standalones and in no way follow on from the ones before. In fact, "I Am Watching You" was the first to feature Hill and Sanders but interestingly "The Promise" actually takes place prior to the first book. So don't worry if you haven't read the others...although I highly recommend it simply because they are just brilliant!

As a journalist for more than 25 years, Teresa Driscoll was also a BBC TV news presenter before turning her talents to writing fiction. This story was inspired by her own story when as young journalist starting out, she took a threatening call, three times, the same day each week. Fortunately for her, her calls ended with an apology on the third week, but her experience helped her to picture a scenario where that wouldn’t be the case, as the fear stayed with her much longer. This story helped her to examine that fear with a fictional story.

A delightfully creepy mystery, I WILL MAKE YOU PAY is a compelling, twisty and intriguing tale you will not be able to put down.

I would like to thank #TeresaDriscoll, #NetGalley and #AmazonPublishing for an ARC of #IWillMakeYouPay in exchange for an honest review.

I Will Make You Pay by Teresa Driscoll was an interesting read. Suspenseful and gripping, the story will captivate you from start to finish. Who is Alice and why is she getting threats? The first time it happened, on a Wednesday, she thought it was a hoax, but as they continue to escalate, she begins to be afraid. Why is this happening? Enter private investigator Mathew Hill. As the threats continue to escalate, we see the story unfold both in past and present. Who is doing this to her and how will it all end? A thrilling and suspenseful read!

Happy reading!

I was so tense reading this book I had to leave the light on. Alice is a journalist, leading a seemingly normal life. Then one Wednesday the phone rings and her mistake was answering it. The first threat came. Is it a hoax? The following Wednesday another threat comes, larger than the first and it becomes real. Then Alice’s past life is exposed, her current life is examined and all the while she is a nervous wreck, as is the reader. Who? Why? The ending will blow you away. Just read it already!

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book kept me guessing and as the story unfolds it only adds more questions with mystery behind every corner. Who’s doing this? And why?
I enjoyed Matthew and his life with his daughter. Lol. Parenting is quite the adventure. I liked the writing very much.
I appreciated the talk about stalking and the different methods of help for victims. It was very insightful. It was not predictable and I was dying to see who was behind this. If you like mystery/thriller then you’ll love this.

This was a NETGALLEY gift and all opinions are my own.

I was intrigued by this book. It was very well written and I was wondering who the stalker was while reading it. I was also quite surprised when it was revealed who was behind the attacks on Alice.

I could not put this police procedural down! I loved the setting, characters, and plot twists-didn’t see the ending coming! The author clearly knows about being a journalist and uses that knowledge to great effect in this story. I grew to be very invested in these characters-Julie and her co-worker Jack in particular-and would like reading more tales starring them. Thanks to #netgalley for letting me read #iwillmakeyoupay ahead of publication.

So, this book took me awhile to read...and normally, that's a bad thing. This time, though, it was my obsession with playing 'The Oregon Trail' with my daughter that caused the delay.

This is the fourth Teresa Driscoll novel I've read, and I'd say it falls somewhere in the middle--not as good as I Am Watching You, but far better than The Friend and The Promise.

I truly enjoyed the beginning of this story, but it quickly became bogged down with too many meaningless secondary plots, although I will admit to smiling about Ian. And because there were so few characters, and extremely limited red herrings, it was quite easy to determine whodunit. I actually called it within the first 5 chapters.

In the author's note at the conclusion, we learn that Ms. Driscoll went through a stalking incident during her years as a journalist. Thankfully for her, there was no escalation. But it's very clear throughout this novel that she knows exactly how Alice felt.

Overall, a fairly average story, but one worth reading...particularly if the idea of a stalker freaks you out.

This was a really intriguing thriller. Alice is being stalked by someone who wants to make her pay. For what - we don’t know (and don’t find out until the end of the novel). The story of her fear is told really well and the frustration that she feels is palpable throughout the story I didn’t suspect for one minute the stalker’s identity and was pleased by that fact. I was extremely annoyed to have to go out with about 15% of the book left to read and read the ending as soon as I walked through the door. Truly captivating.

Great mystery. Suspenseful and keeps you guessing to the end. Alice is a journalist and is being terrorized by a stalker every Wednesday. The story comes from several POV’s until the dramatic conclusion.

I enjoyed all the characters and would love to see Matthew and Melanie featured in other books. My first read by this author and it does not disappoint!

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy via NetGalley.

Interesting read, kept me guessing right up to the end when the twist you do not see coming is revealed. A real thinker of who could it be. Teresa Driscoll treats the issue of stalking and emotions surrounding it with realism, honesty, and compassion.

A journalist experiences extreme anxiety when a stalker sends her threatening messages. As the messages escalate in scope and type, she battles her fear as well as the looming questions of who would do this to her and why. Author Teresa Driscoll keeps readers guessing all the way to the last pages of her excellent novel, I Will Make You Pay.

On what feels like an ordinary Wednesday, reporter Alice Henderson answers the phone at her desk to a distorted voice. The caller makes a threat and hangs up, leaving her breathless with terror. Her coworkers rally to cheer her up, but Alice is shaken. Then on the following Wednesday, another threat comes from the mystery man. This time Alice’s editor takes it more seriously and calls the Devon police department.

Alice doesn’t understand what’s happening. It’s not like she’s a reporter for one of the big-time publications out of London. She works on a small newspaper out of a city suburb, and for the most part she does special features. Why would anyone want to hurt her? What could she have possibly done to anger someone so much?

Her boyfriend, Tom, furious at her stalker, hires a private investigator. Matthew Hill used to work as a policeman but has since changed careers. He promised his wife that life as a PI would bring in better money and offer less dangerous work. After taking on Alice’s case, he’s not so sure the latter is true.

As the weeks go by, the attacks get worse: more menacing and definitely more personal. They happen every Wednesday, a day Alice has come to dread and hate. With a forced leave of absence keeping her away from the office, she splits her time between Tom’s home and her sister’s house. She just can’t sit on her hands, however, so Alice begins to work on other story ideas. She refuses to let the stalker ruin her life, even if he is bent on making her suffer for some unknown crime.

Matt Hill is determined to keep Alice safe, and a lead on a possible suspect gives him hope. The pieces don’t quite fit the puzzle, however, and as each Wednesday comes and goes Matt realizes he’s working against a clock. He uses every resource at his disposal, calling in old favors at the police department, to make sure the stalker can’t hurt Alice—or worse.

Author Teresa Driscoll takes a familiar storyline and infuses it with freshness. She builds a likeable, relatable protagonist in Alice. As the attacks on her get worse and no obvious suspect is brought forward, readers will begin to worry about who’s threatening her and why.

Driscoll takes a major risk in not revealing any connection between Alice and her stalker until the last couple of chapters, a feat considering the book runs more than 60 chapters long. In this case, however, the risk pays off. She accomplishes this by a two-pronged approach: offering readers compelling subplots with their own twists and turns and including a parallel storyline of the stalker’s life without giving any identifying details.

The result gives fans of thrillers an interesting advantage. By the end, they will know much more about the stalker than Alice will. In many cases where readers have more information than the characters, readers can get frustrated waiting for characters to “catch up” to the story. Here, with careful planning, the plot makes sense as is. It allows for a richer, more satisfying experience. The resolution also plays closer to the reality of these types of cases.

Those who appreciate thrillers or books about British characters (or both) will certainly enjoy this novel. I recommend readers Bookmark I Will Make You Pay.

A great mystery that has a lot of twists and surprises. The characters are believable and likable. As thestroy progresses the suspense builds to a shocking ending.

This is the type of thriller I am looking for. I read it in just over 24 hours. Not cheesy and predictable, not pushing the envelope with gore, vulgarity and x-rated events. I found this to be smart and loved that it was set in the UK. I found the changing perspective to be interesting, and, I was kept guessing the whole time. I also appreciate that the ugly things that happened weren’t described in great detail, but left up to imagination.
The only thing that I didn’t like about this was that by following the criminal’s perspective, it puts you in their head and makes it easy to empathize and justify their crimes. Although I can understand *why * they felt justified, I don’t like this device to get me to understand their feelings of justification.

4 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer

Alice is happy living in her small town and working at the paper. Life seems to be going pretty well until one Wednesday when she gets a whispered phone call tell her that they will use a cheese wire on her. Of course she is freaked out, I mean who wouldn't be? Her boss, work friend's and boyfriend to her not to worry. That she is a reporter and there are all kinds of people that harassing reporters with whom they do not agree. Alice does her best to move on and not think of it too often. That is until the next Wednesday when the stalker contacts Alice once again. After this Alice's boyfriend Tom contacts Matthew Hill a private investigator to protect Alice.

As the stalker intensifies we begin to find out that Alice herself has been keeping a secret or two from the police and Matthew.

I really enjoy Theresa Driscoll novels. She does something a little bit different than most authors, she has recurring characters in her novels but it is not told solely from their POV. Each novel features a new character with her mainstays playing more of a supporting role. A little different but fun.

I have a little confession to make. Although I have all of Teresa’s books on my ever increasing ‘to be read’ pile, I have only actually read a couple of them. Teresa’s latest book is called ‘I Will Make You Pay’ and it was released on 10th October 2019. I was lucky enough to get a sneaky peek at an early review copy and all I can say is ‘wow’. Now I have been reminded just how fantastic an author Teresa is, I can guarantee that her other books that are on that ‘TBR’ mountain, will not be on there for that much longer. I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘I Will Make You Pay’ but more about that in a bit.
I really felt for the character of Alice Henderson and I took to her from the start. As the story begins Alice is a journalist with a small local newspaper. There have been a couple of odd incidents but she brushed them off initially. Then she gets a phone call from somebody using a voice changer warning her that the unknown caller will cut her with cheese wire. When Alice sits and thinks about it, all of the concerning incidents have occurred on a Wednesday. Alice feels more and more unsettled as time goes on and the incidents continue but usually on a Wednesday. She ends up frightened of her own shadow. It was at this point that I so wanted to jump inside the pages of the book to give her a reassuring hug. She isn’t sure who she can trust and who she can’t trust and she certainly becomes more paranoid. There is an escalation in the incidents and at times I had real fears that Alice would end up dead. I kept everything crossed that things would work out for Alice, the perpetrator would be caught and the incidents would cease. Does all this happen? Well for the answer to that question you are just going to have read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
I was hooked on ‘I Will Make You Pay’ from the moment I sat down and began to read. From pretty early on I realised that I would develop a serious addiction with this book and I would be unable to put the book down. I binge read the book over the course of a day because I simply had to know how the story panned out and how it concluded. I also needed to know why somebody was targeting Alice and what they hoped to achieve. The pages turned increasingly quickly as my desperation to find out how the story concluded steadily grew and grew. At one point the pages were turning that quickly that the page numbers were one big blur. I soon got to the end of the book which I was disappointed about. I don’t mean that I was disappointed with how the story concluded but I was enjoying the characters, the author’s writing style and the storylines so much that I just wanted the book to continue. Mind you I was so focused on the story that I lost all track of time and I managed to shut out all other distractions.
‘I Will Make You Pay’ is superbly written. The author certainly grabs your attention from the start and once she has your attention, she will not let it go until you have got to the end of the last sentence on the last page. She keeps your attention by keeping the characters realistic, the storylines tense and dramatic and by introducing several twists and turns along the way. This is one of those books that had me totally gripped and on the edge of my seat throughout. It got to the point where I was wondering who to believe and who to suspect and not knowing who or what to believe. This book was definitely an unputdownable, page turner of a book that kept me guessing throughout.
In short, ‘I Will Make You Pay’ is another fantastic book from Teresa Driscoll. I definitely recommend that you read her books because she is a fantastic author. Now I have reminded myself just how fantastic an author she is, I can guarantee that her other books won’t be on my ‘to be read’ mountain for that much longer. I will definitely be reading more of Teresa’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

#I Will Make You Pay
#NetGalley

Journalist, Alice Henderson, dismisses the first threatening, anonymous phone call she receives and decides it is a prank. But then the same person continues to threaten and harass her and the pattern emerges that the calls are made only on Wednesdays! As it becomes clear that Alice is in danger, she contacts the police and they draw a blank. The story is told by two voices, the stalker and by Alice, the victim. Alice is a very sympathetic character who describes the love for her mother in a very touching way. I felt protective of her and wanted to discover the identity of the caller who was terrifying her,

A strong storyline with twists and turns makes this a real page turner. The characters were well developed and the plot flowed seamlessly. I found that I had to stay up and read........couldn't put the book down until I reached the ending. And what a surprise I found! Enjoyed the book very much and highly recommend it to those who love to curl up with a really good suspenseful thriller! But I warn you, you may lose some sleep!

Many thanks to the author, Teresa Driscoll, to NetGalley. and to the publisher Amazon Publishing UK for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced reader copy of I Will Make You Pay. I happily gave this new novel 5 stars and hope that you will try it also! I plan on reading more of Ms. Driscoll's books in the future,

Alice Henderson, a journalist with the "South Devon Informer", is busy finalizing her article about the scheduled demolition of a council block when she gets the first call. An electronic voice insinuates an alarming threat. She's a bit rattled, reports it to her boss, arranges for more security at her home and contacts the police. A stalker, perhaps? Comes with the territory, maybe someone Alice upset with a story? She goes on about her business, until the very next Wednesday when a flower delivery to her office creates more concern for Alice. Her boyfriend, Tom Stellar, an attorney, decides to engage private investigator, Matthew Hill, to watch over Alice especially on Wednesdays. It doesn't seem to deter the stalker because the very next Wednesday, Alice is attacked in the street even though Matthew is right with her. Things escalate. Alice is panicked and afraid, takes time off work, hides out at her boyfriend's place or with her sister. This cannot go on. Who is the person behind these threats and what is their end game? The truth is, no one can protect Alice. NO SPOILERS.

I really was enjoying this book with the stalker theme until the ending. Although I didn't really care for the "HIM" chapters, I understood that the reader was getting a look into the personality of the person who would eventually be revealed as the stalker. Alice did the usual stupid things that women in fiction books do when there is someone who is going to harm them -- they don't listen, they take risks, they trust the wrong people. It's not being brave, it's being dumb to go out when there's a lunatic wanting to hurt you. There were red herrings but most readers will be able to figure this out pretty quickly. Alice was definitely the perfect victim and I just couldn't warm to her or worry too much about her. She was lucky she had so many people interested in caring about her and protecting her. In the end, the whole reason for the stalking was pretty lame and I just felt let down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the e-book ARC to read and review.

Wow. Mixed feelings. This is a perfectly competent mystery, with so many things done well. There are both alternating points of view and alternating timelines, which all worked seamlessly for me. The prose was unobtrusive, and didn't create many stopped-in-my-tracks moments for this picky reader (exceptions mentioned below).

There were plenty of suspenseful scenes, but as a whole the story never entered thriller territory for me -- I think because the main character, Alice, never seemed fully engaged with her world. She's a British journalist with a current stalker and a past scandal. She's caught up in sussing out the former and suppressing the latter, but her reactions are sometimes trivial and sometimes hysterical. I couldn't get a handle on just who Alice was.

The characters who seemed authentic to me were the private detective, Matthew, and the police detective inspector, Melanie (who I understand are recurring characters in a series). Midway through the book I thought I knew why Alice was so aloof from her fiance, Tom, but by book's end end there was an entirely new explanation at hand. And, by the way, I liked the ending -- it had both inevitability and surprise.

My main quibble with the book was the overuse of one particular gesture to indicate a broad range of reactions among the characters-- they all widened their eyes. After it had cropped up multiple times, I let Kindle do a search, and the device is employed in 10 different scenes. Sorta robbed it of its meaning.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance readers copy.

This book wasn’t for me. I really wanted to get into it but I just couldn’t. I haven’t been digging thrillers as much lately and I was hoping that this one might get me back on my spooky game again but unfortunately it didn’t. It was slow but also really abrupt at times which made for some really painful pacing. I might go back to it another time and try again, because I did skim quite a bit of it. But overall, just not my cup of tea at the moment. Thank you for the ARC.