All In Her Head by Nikki Smith is a clever and intricately plotted story about Allison. An anxious librarian struggling with her memory and convinced she is in danger.

Is it all in her head?

This was a slow burner until about half way through, after that it got suspenseful with plenty of twists and turns throughout with a great ending. The characters were good, the story itself was interesting when it picked up and the style of writing was perfect. This is the first book I have read by this author, I’ll be keeping my eye out for more in the future.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading psychological thrillers.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

This is a debut psychological thriller.
This book is very clever and so compelling.
An amazing page turning debut.

Meet Alison. She’s a nervous soul. She’s quite happy in her little bubble working at the library and going home. But something is making her nervous which leads to a very unnerving narrative.

Nothing is quite what it seems in this book of three halves (yes I know that’s not technically possible). The first half is Alison’s present. Her life at the library. The second is the past, Alison and Jack’s past. Disturbing and upsetting events, events that contribute and explain Alison’s present. Then there’s the third part which ties the past and the present together. The thing is, the first two are intertwined throughout. The split timeline and jumping perspectives kept me on my toes. I was trying to get ahead of the narrative, trying to work out what happened to this couple!

Devoured in a day, I was glued to my kindle for the majority of a Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t until late in the story that all the tumblers in the lock fell in line with the key and everything started to make sense. It’s a rollercoaster and a half. A word of warning – if you’re easily triggered by things (I’m not going to disclose which things #nospoilers), then I suggest you don’t read this rather brilliant unnerving thriller.

Thank you Netgalley and Orion Publishing for the ARC of this book and apologies for the delay in reading - work committments!
This was a great debut novel and I would love to read more by Nikki. I liked the characters, it was extremely well written with great twists. A great new author for future reading.

Wow what a debut this is, seriously a stonker of a read which keeps you guessing all the time, I was hooked and it didn’t let up until the end, I loved both parts of the book and cannot wait to read more from Nikki, I love the unreliable narration not knowing who’s telling the truth and who’s not, just brilliant, everything about it was Fantastic 😊

What a truly heartbreaking read. Id never heard of postpartum psychosis until a few years ago, and I have 4 children. So I love that it's bringing awareness to it at the same time.
Felt it was written so well. Really gave you a feel, from both sides, what its like to cope with it. Brilliant book i thought.

A brilliant debut novel that keeps the reader guessing which is a must for the genre. There's a tension building and the intricate psychological aspects of the characters and their troubles make for a clever and well thought out thriller. I would absolutely read more from this author.

I struggled to get into All in her Head, I felt the story was boring and drawn out. I was disappointed as reading about it I felt I would love this book but I gave up in the end. Sorry not for me.

What a fantastic debut novel , loved the characters and the twists and turns . It was extremely well written and not what you’d expect when you start reading it . I’m glad the ending was at it was written , I’ll look forward to more from this author .

All is definitely not what it seems in Nikki Smith’s pacy debut, All in her Head. Still, doing justice to its considerable merits without spoilers is almost as much of a challenge as trying to define its genre. Is it women’s fiction, thriller, domestic noir? It is all these things, and more, thanks to a clever tangential shift in tone that effectively splits this story into two.

When we meet its protagonist Alison at the start of the novel she presents as a woman undone. The circumstances behind her unravelling life are not clear, although it is suggested that the root of it lies in the behaviour of her partner, Jack who she now believes is stalking her and leaving her letters in an attempt at reconciliation. So far, so predictable. The woman in peril trope is one that has formed the backbone of successful commercial fiction for many a year, and had this book followed the same trajectory it would have been solid enough.

At around the midpoint, however - not unlike the shock reversal in Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl - the reader is clued in to the fact that they’ve been misdirected all along and that the story is about something else entirely. Executing such a narrative sleight of hand is a risk at the best of times, which makes its presence in a debut novel all the more admirable. And for the most part it is successful, with Smith giving us just enough rope to hang our assumptions with.

The second and, for me, the stronger part of the novel, is a different beast altogether as we start to understand what exactly is going on in these characters’ lives. Smith is particularly good at inner psychological detail, and the preciseness of its observation and its accumulation is wonderfully done, resulting in periods of the novel that were almost too intense a reading experience at times. This visceral reaction is exactly what you want as an author, indicating, as it does, an emotional investment from the reader in the world you have created.

There is nothing half-hearted about this book or its desire to face its difficult subject matter head-on, and that is both its strength and, at times, its weakness. I felt, in particular, that the balance of Jack’s narrative, although necessarily slimmer, had the effect of almost minimising his particular dilemma which, at times, affected the credibility of his actions. Interestingly, I had a similar problem with Renee Knight’s Disclaimer, but as the success of that particular book demonstrates, it is not enough to spoil its enjoyment. As good as Smith’s skill at misdirection is too, she sometimes wavers on signposting this intention a little too much in the earlier chapters, with her insistence on what Jack has “done” sometimes threatening to undo the device she has so carefully orchestrated.

There is great readability and urgency to the prose here, with a sense of intrigue that will pull you through the story very quickly. I particularly enjoyed the narrative codas throughout the novel which grow in meaning as their context is revealed.

Overally, this was a brave, confident and skillfully executed debut; a curate’s egg of two halves but without the bad bits. Recommended.

Content warning for references to self-harm, psychological trauma and suicide.

My thanks to NetGalley and Orion for an advanced copy of the book in return for a fair review.

All in Her Head has all you want from a psychological thriller: deft plotting, plenty of mystery to keep the pages turning, and a twist few readers will see coming. Nikki Smith’s debut demonstrates her mastery in successive reveals which turn the narrative on its head whilst remaining utterly convincing and leading to a satisfying denouement. Nikki Smith is a fantastic new talent.

All In Her Head is a book that left me reeling. The first part was as I expected, with two different narrators, Ali and Jack, a married couple who for some reason are apart. I suspected conflict of some kind, possibly one afraid of the other. But as I read more, and the reasons why they were living apart became clearer I realised very quickly that what I was reading was completely different, and this novel was a lot more than what I was expecting.

As the story progressed it switched narrator at crucial moments and I needed to carry on reading to find out what happened next. This happened with both characters and it was done brilliantly. Often it doesn’t work well or feel natural but it is a long time since I have felt so tense when reading. I felt fear, frustration and sadness and I can’t even say why. This is a novel which you need to read knowing as little as possible about it.

An absolutely wonderful novel to read during lockdown, I raced through it.

Nothing is as it seems in this compelling, haunting and emotionally charged debut. I raced through the pages, not wanting to put the book down until all my questions were answered.

OMG! What a rollercoaster ride! This complex, multi-layered thriller dripped with suspense and had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Told in dual timelines by two narrators, there’s an atmosphere of foreboding from the start. What did Jack do that ended their marriage and fills Alison with fear? What is it that Alison isn’t remembering? Who is Sarah and what does she want?

The brilliance of this book is in its iceberg quality - so much is hidden beneath its smooth surface. A masterclass in thriller writing., it is spectacularly written, deftly plotted and full of so many twists and turns it made my head spin. My head was full of theories and questions, which shifted as truths were slowly revealed. And while I did guess some of the twists early on, I also fell for many of the red herrings expertly plotted along the way. Alison and Jack are both complex, captivating but flawed characters. I felt for Alison immediately, her fear and anxiety radiating from the pages. It also made her an unreliable narrator, making the story all the more intriguing and unguessable.

A merging of psychological thriller, suspense and domestic fiction, All In Her Head is a breathtaking debut from an exciting new talent. There are a lot of great thrillers out at the moment, but this is one you shouldn’t miss.

Wowzers what a superb debut novel. This book was amazing and will definitely be in my top reads for 2020.

A captivating story and a marvellous début psychological thriller!

Nikki Smith has delighted me with this clever and gripping thriller. I was not prepared for the exciting and intense experience this book unleashed on me, nor was I in the least disappointed with this superb twisty story.

Alison Reid is suffering from a terrible trauma that happened years ago and symptoms of amnesia still remain with her. Paranoid and absolutely convinced that she has several stalkers, people have told her that her mind is playing tricks on her. But is it?

All in Her Head is a brilliantly involving and clever novel, that messes with the reader's perception of the narrative very early on in the story. This ingeniously crafty approach had the effect that I was thrown off course straight away, so was pulled in different directions as I tried to figure out exactly what was taking place. Extremely compulsive from the start, Nikki Smith writes with flair and originality, keeping me on tenterhooks throughout. I was never sure whether or not I liked Alison but I think this was a most likely a deliberate ploy. There was something amiss about her and likewise, her ex-husband Jack and they both had their own agendas.

The author’s talent made All in Her Head a wonderfully electrifying story that I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated for the entertainment it was. The ending was something of a surprise to me as I did not anticipate the conclusion. This is a little gem and a book that I'm so pleased to have read!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel at my request from Orion via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

All in Her Head is Nikki Smith’s debut psychological thriller and is one of my favourite debuts of the year so far as it explores perception, mental illness and many other interesting and intertwining topics. It also packs a real emotional punch. It follows Alison who is struggling due to trauma suffered in her past but seems to be suffering from amnesia so she can't quite remember all of the details of what actually happened to her. She's paranoid and feels she's been stalked by various people and most people tell her it's all in her mind but is it, or does she have more reason to fear than most?

This is a startlingly original thriller and Ms Smith writes about the human psyche and mental illness with a depth and complexity I rarely see in these types of books. It's wickedly clever and completely compulsive from start to finish and has you going over and over in your mind about what is really going on yet when things start to unravel you realise you couldn't have been further from the truth. A cracker of a read and a page-turner that thoroughly delivers. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

Still shivering from that subtle, chilling last line. Very clever.

The book as a whole is similarly clever, although if you read a lot in this genre (as I do) and know what to look for, the misdirection is obvious. I enjoyed Part 1 the most; it was clear that not all was as it seemed, and that kept me reading. Some of the truth was very obvious to me, but I still wanted to find out the exact details. After that, although interesting, the rest of the book didn't hold any significant twists for me, and I found the funeral fakeout in particular a step too far (cheap and obvious).

Nevertheless, this is a well written book from an author I'd read again, and I cared about the characters enough to wish that that chilling last line didn't exist.

"All In Her Head" is a brilliant debut novel by Nikki Smith. Utterly absorbing, with twists and turns that will keep you gripped until the very last page. Can't wait for her next book!

Brilliant. Intriguing and thought provoking story which kept me reading into the night. I was hooked from the start and had no idea how the story was going to end. This is a memorable read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.