Verity has lived in the same house for fifty years. The house she lived in with her Mother and sister, Faith. Now her mother is dead, her sister has left and its just her and her dog, Maudie.
The house is dilapidated and cluttered.
When a family of five moves in next door, Verity befriends Ailsa and starts tutoring her son, Max. Ailsa's husband Tom is a controlling, demanding man who is less than impressed with his wife's friendship with the strange woman next door.
But for the women, the friendship is mutually beneficial until one day, tragedy strikes.
The story is narrated by Verity who is extremely clever but definitely a little odd. Verity is a very interesting character and her relationship with each of the family members makes for an interesting read. There's a lot going on and lots of secondary characters who add to the story. I thought this was very cleverly written with a couple of shocking twists thrown in. I would definitely recommend for someone who is looking for something a little different.
Thanks you to Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What a delicious read, I felt myself drawn into Verity Baxter's life. A life lived in the same house for an entire lifetime, a life lived accumulating objects following the death of her mother and the final fracturing of her relationship with her sister. Some might say a lonely life although Verity sees it differently, Verity is absorbed by her job researching words for the Oxford English dictionary. Verity's life has stayed the same until new neighbours move in and she is asked to provide some tutoring for their son Max.

I think the success of Sabine Durrant's writing is the depth of her characters and the way she allows us gradually to get to know them. Your first impression of Verity and the new neighbour Ailsa Tilson alters gradually as words are spoken, deeds are done or not, and the lie of the land shifts just slightly.

In addition to the characters is an authenticity about the subject matter. Not to be too blunt Verity is a hoarder and the depiction of this trait is commendably depicted giving a sense of realism but avoiding using the scene for cliched reactions.

This is one of my favourite reads of the year, the depth of the book could be overlooked because of the roller coaster ride of a true psychological thriller, but to have both depth and thrills is an absolute treat.

I do enjoy this without and her flawed characters that creep into one another lives and tragedy inevitably occours .
No one can be trusted and a lot is explored here and a good thriller

The main character in Finders, Keepers, Verity, reminded me of another female character who latches onto another woman for friendship with devastating repercussions - Sheba in Notes on a Scandal.

In this case Verity has lived in the same house all her life and is a hoarder. Her mother has died and her sister has moved away so when Ailsa Tilson, her husband Tom and three children move next door, Verity becomes attached to them.

The story moves at a slow pace but I thought Verity was well-drawn and believable. Tom is manipulative and unkind, Ailsa is unhappy and begins to lean on Verity, which I thought rather unrealistic. They have nothing in common other than love for Aila's son Max.

It's an uncomplicated read. Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opporti=unity to read and review Finders, Keepers.

Ailsa Tilson and her family move to Trinity Fields for something new. They meet Verity, a shy woman who has lived in the area all her life, who seems little able to add anything to their world. But slowly and surely, Verity becomes important to the Tilsons, more important to some than others of course, and it may just be difficult to remove her from their lives. Much like Verity wraps herself into the Tilsons’ lives, so too does this book wrap its way around you. You have to know how it ends, you won’t stop reading until the conclusion.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing about this book particularly sucked me in, but it didn’t turn me off either. The main character is actually quite likable but it’s hard to understand why she allows the people in her life to treat her so badly. I did feel the need to finish to make sure she came out OK in the end, so that would clearly indicate some investment beneath the ambivalence and the meh.

Verity has lived in the same house all of her life. When new neighbours move in next door it’s obvious that the man likes his own way and his wife is not happy.
A slow moving story about manipulation and murder.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton UK for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to this book as I've loved everything else I've read by Sabine Durrant. I'm not sure if I got off on the wrong foot with this one but I just couldn't grasp the characters/timeline at all. I felt at times like I'd clicked into the wrong book on my kindle because things didn't quite seem to add up. I found it a bit of a struggle until about 70% where it began to make more sense and I found the ending quite enjoyable. I'm wondering if there was some sort of mix up with the kindle download and the chapters were out of order at the beginning.

I really loved this book. Very clever and thought provoking.

A real slow burner as gradually secrets are revealed.

Several times I thought I’d worked everything out only to encounter another twist.

Well worth a read. Five stars from me.

I have read this author before and this was another classy read. “Finders, Keepers’ is full of suspense, twists and turns with brilliant characters and a clever plot.

Alisa and Tom Tilson move to Trinity Fields with a view to making a fresh start and need to renovate their new home. Their neighbour, Verity whose eyes the story is told through, has many layers to her character and has lived in Trinity Fields all of her life.

There are secrets in both houses and a conflict immediately between the new neighbours and somebody who doesn’t want to change.

Absolutely loved the ending.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and Sabine Durrant for my ARC in return for my honest review.

Excellent read and highly recommended.

Ailsa Tilson moves with her husband and children to Trinity Fields in search of the new.
New project - a house to renovate. New people - no links to the past. New friends - especially her next-door neighbour, the lonely Verity, who needs her help. Verity has lived in Trinity Fields all her life. She's always resisted change. Her home and belongings are a shield, a defence to keep the outside world at bay. But something about the Tilsons piques her interest. Just as her ivy creeps through the shared garden fence, so Verity will work her way into the Tilson family.

Firstly I have to start by saying how stunning is this cover?! I absolutely love it and could find myself just staring at it.

Anyway returning to what the lies between the covers, I enjoyed this and the ending is fantastic. However, I thought it was missing something throughout and everything felt a bit obvious which was disappointing. Parts of the ending were obvious and others were not but I thought it was the perfect ending for the book hence why I said it was fantastic. The rest of the book did need an injection of something and I wish it had a slightly faster pace.

Without going into details, I liked the subjects Durrant tackles, they are hard-hitting and interesting to explore and think about. Pulling apart the plot I think there are some good plot threads running throughout the read but it does not pull together to the overall plot and I found the book as a whole quite weak.

This is told through the eyes of Verity who is a very intriguing character to get to know. I would not say I enjoyed her character but she is perfect for the read and I found myself questioning her motives and what she is really like the whole way through. Ailsa features heavily as well and it was interesting to see the two women get to know each other, they are so very different from each other and I did find parts of their relationship unbelievable. The less said about Tom the better, he was such a disappointingly obvious character and I was hoping for so much more.

Verity is without a doubt the saving grace of this read, she is absolutely fascinating and has so many layers and personality quirks to her. She may not be likeable but she serves her purpose and does so with aplomb.
'Finders, Keepers' is a slow read with an intriguing central character. I only wish it had more shocks to keep my attention.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy.

What a dark, wonderful story!

Finders, Keepers is like nothing I’ve read before! The writing is breathtaking, the characters strong and complicated. I think I’ve found my perfect book! The blurb doesn’t do this story justice. I thought it was magical.

I like Sabine Durrant and (normally) she writes highly engaging, thrilling stories. But this? I don’t know what this is. It’s like it’s been written by someone else.

A brittle, mundane, life story of a lonely, slightly naive, kleptomaniac who becomes obsessed and mistreated by her rude, overbearing neighbours.

What captivated me at the start very quickly descended into ramblings of great detail that held no interest. Quite frankly, the neighbours were boring and predictable and the main character was depicted as a frail, doddering 80 year old when she was only 52.

To say I’m disappointed is an understatement. I skim read the final passages in order to give a review but I shall not be recommending this as a good read.

Thanks to NetGalley for my advance reader copy and to Harper Collins for approving my request.

Wow this was a fabulous read and the slow build up of both suspense and tension made for a completely unputdownable book that I just loved. The character of Verity Ann Baxter was wonderfully crafted as bit by bit little snippets of information about her and her life gradually built up which left my mind reeling as to what was going on, was Verity hiding something and what the hell was going on with her neighbours the Tilsons !!
This is a extremely atmospheric read that pulls you in from the beginning, it’s creepy at times as you really do know something odd is going on here but the book is so cleverly written that you are never sure what it is but slowly more is revealed and it was so bloody good and what a deliciously twisted ending!!
So it’s a fascinating, brilliant and wonderful read and one that I just couldn’t put down and that for me marks it as a 5 star read and very highly recommended, don’t miss it it really is exceptional and many many thanks to Sabine Durrant for giving so much pleasure in such a great read.
My thanks also to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton UK for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

You can always rely on Sabine Durrant to create an un-put-downable novel. And, seeing as though it seems ages since she last wrote a novel, this was a real treat to receive.

As usual, this is Sabine at her best: Brilliant characters, great plot and an intrigue that is weaved throughout the whole novel, keeping you turning the pages until the very end. Verity Ann Baxter is one of Sabine Durrant's best ever unreliable narrators - so cleverly done. I loved the setting and the contrast between Verity and her nouveaux-riche neighbours who give their house a facelift and the conflict that arises instantly when they moved in!

Everyone in this brilliant story is hiding secrets, but the biggest secret of all is the one that will have you flipping pages like a crazy person until you reach the end. oh and that end, all I will say is, well it's very haunting indeed.

This is a brilliant, convincing, well plotted and thought out thriller with Sabine's usual skill at drawing characters that seem so real! Verity Ann Baxter is unforgettable - one of the most convincing characters Sabine's written (other than in 'Lie with me')

Sad to have finished it!
Thoroughly, thoroughly recommend!!!
Thank you Hodder and Sabine!

Wow wow wow an another absolutely amazing thrilling & exciting read from Durrant. It is a slow burning exciting and gripping read. From page one your attention will be grabbed & you will be unable to put down this superb read. Another cracking book from this superb writer.

This book was certainly a slow burn but definitely worth it.

Verity is an unreliable narrator in the vein of Barbara from Notes on a Scandal - you know there's more to her than meets the eye but you're never quite sure what it is. Durrant slowly reveals more aspects of Verity's life and secrets - it's a real page turner!

I was so pleased to get this book to read as I’ve read all this author’s books, and with this one she’s done it again!
A well written thriller and I loved it.
Recommended.

I love Sabine Durrant - she's one of the few authors that guarantees a brilliantly written novel every time. Finders, Keepers is no exception - told from the point of view of Verity, who has lived in the same neighbourhood all her life, and who is increasingly intrigued by her new neighbours, Ailsa and Tom Tilson. When Verity offers to tutor their son, Max, who is struggling at school, Ailsa jumps at the chance. As a friendship grows between the two women, the two spend more and more time together. But both are keeping secrets of their own, and with their lives becoming increasingly intertwined, the chance of keeping those secrets hidden is ever smaller...

I loved how the storyline vacillated between the past and the present, the former detailing the circumstances around Verity and Ailsa's burgeoning friendship, and the latter exploring the consequences. As with all Sabine Durrant's novels, nothing is as it seems, and the plot is both complex and beautifully plotted. I really felt for both female characters, and I loved that each was as manipulative as the other in their own way. The ending was brilliant, too - dark, and yet somehow satisfying, with an excellent twist.

Will definitely be recommending this one!

Thank you to NetGalley, who provided me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

You can always rely on Sabine Durrant to create the very best unreliable narrators and Finders, Keepers’ Verity Ann Baxter is no exception. Peopled by dislikable, yet wholly compelling, characters, this story immersed me completely. I adored the setting - Tooting Bec, Balham and beyond - which brings together next door neighbours Verity, who has lived in her now dilapidated house since she was a child, and Ailsa and Tom Tilson who have just given their house an extreme makeover including digging out a basement prior to moving in.

Verity and Ailsa are polar opposites yet a friendship starts to unfold anyway, but is it really a genuine friendship? Things start to become fraught as Tom grows more and more disgruntled with the state of Verity's house, including the plants in the back garden which are invading the Tilson's land, and just what is that pervasive stink coming from Verity's house? Everyone in this atmospheric tale is hiding things, but the biggest secret of all is the one that will have you hastily turning the pages to the disturbing end.

This is an intelligent, slow-burn thriller and an absolute triumph of characterisation. Verity Ann Baxter is unforgettable - one of the strongest characters I've come across in recent fiction - I’m missing her already.

Big thank you to Hodder for allowing me to read this - I loved it!