What a deliciously dark enthralling book this turned out be with a load of twists that made for a excellent read.
The story starts out quite simply Helen pregnant after four previous miscarriages meets with Rachel at an antenatal class, Helen is feeling quite out of place when her husband Daniel has failed to turn up at the class so she is quite glad of meeting the loud and exuberant Rachel even though she is the polar opposite of Helen and from there we are taken on a twisted and tangled web of secrets, lies and deceptions and my goodness there is o hell of lot going on in this book.
I was really impressed with the complexity and crafting of the story and more so when I found out this was actually a debut, all credit to Katherine Faulkner who I think has got a big hit with this first novel.
It’s a read I just couldn’t put down and I kept changing my mind as the story progressed as to who was guilty and also why and I loved that it had my head spinning. Rachel was a brilliantly written character I went backwards and forwards in liking and disliking her, in fact all the characters were well written and again not always likeable but I love that in a book.
So a really great read that I can highly recommend it’s one to keep you guessing.
My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing, Raven Books for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

After years of trying and a lot of heartache, Helen and Daniel are well on their way to welcoming their first child into the world. As are their friends, Serena and Rory. It seems like everything is coming up roses for the two couples, until Helen meets Rachel at her antenatal class which starts a chain of events that will change all of their lives forever.

As debut novel’s go, Katherine Faulkner’s Greenwich Park is an enjoyable read. The story is, by and large, familiar. It centres on two couples who seem to have everything from the outside looking in, until the chaotic Rachel enters the fray and upsets the apple cart.

The book is full of secrets which unravel as you move through it. I found myself feeling both sorry for and irritated by Helen’s vulnerability and naivety, which I feel was intentional and very well done. Similarly, Rachel’s presence is unsettling. From the get go you know her intentions aren’t what she makes out, and that she is about to blow the doors wide open on their lives.

I think the shifting narrative perspectives work well. Rather than just being stuck in Helen’s mind, we flit between characters as they all make their separate discoveries. This helps to give the book a pace which keeps you flicking through as you speed towards the ending.

My only bugbear is the sheer amount of exposition, which rather than intensify what is happening seems to take away from the immediacy of it. Instead of being shown, we are told. So, while the twists are unexpected and shocking, when the jigsaw falls into place, you also feel a little bit disconnected from all the action. I would have liked to have felt carried along by it all and make the final reveal myself, rather than hear it second hand.

That being said, the book is well-plotted and the ending is, overall, quite satisfying as all it’s twists and turns fall into full focus.

Wow what a story! Fantastic debut from the author!

Every chapter had me going wtf?! up until the last page!!!!! A great thriller with a brilliant plot twist/s I truly didnt see coming. I initially requested this book based on the title. Greenwich park being a one of my favourite places for me. I had thought nothing interesting happens in Greenwich but what a fun ride this was. Turns out crazy things can happen in Greenwich! It was fun seeing an area I know well in this story and made it even more real for me.

Initially disliked Helen because how can someone be so gullible!!! But in the end I realised she is just a good person who wants to help. The book is told from several perspectives, which makes it even better! Very gripping novel with great characters! So many twists and turns. The connections between the characters were really well written and planned out. Made the story fascinating. Couldnt stop reading!

4/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

A newly pregnant woman living a seemingly charmed life in London's Greenwich Park is befriended by a brash single mother, but as their unlikely relationship intensifies, she becomes increasingly unnerved by the friend's odd behaviour and determination to insert herself into her group of friends - and she's not the only one,

This is a debut thriller by the author and is very well written. You find yourself racing ahead in the book to figure out how everyone is connected and what is going to happen next. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Loved this book - very impressed it was a debut! It was gripping and had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing throughout. The author captured the different voices that wove throughout the narrative really well, and I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the Greenwich area (as a local resident!). Excited to see what this author comes out with next.

I enjoy reading thrillers about women with so-called 'perfect' lives and this one certainly didn't disappoint. Helen is the pregnant woman who seemingly has it all. Rachel is the woman at the ante-natal class who wants to be Helen's friend - but why?? This book exposes dark secrets and has lots of twists and turns to keep you turning the pages.

A gripping story, which had me completely hooked until the (unexpected) ending, but I found it all very unconvincing, and the characters unbelievable. Rachel was too awful to be believable, and the plot seemed jus a little contrived. However, it's a great read, and would make a good holiday book.

A novel about friends and a baby group. I thought I had read this book before but it was well written even if I didn't care for the characters. How did they not see the truth about Rachel? I wanted to scream at them. A niggle I had was with the title. The vaguest link to where it was set as they live near the park but it's hardly featured. I found it strange that the book was named this given that this was the weakest link to the entire book.

This debut novel by Katherine Faulkner may be set in Greenwich, a very distinct part of London, but its characters are drawn so convincingly that you may recognise traits of people you are familiar with. Chapters alternate between the perspectives of six characters, which could be rather confusing, were it not for Faulkner’s superior writing talents and the fact that you quickly find out the six characters are related: Helen is married to Daniel, her brothers are Charlie and Rory, and Serena and Kate are her brothers’ partners. Helen and Serena are both expecting, but their impeccable, aspirational lives are thrown into disarray when another pregnant woman called Rachel inveigles herself into kind, vulnerable Helen’s life. This arrival sets in chain a motion of events and disclosures that Katie, who is a journalist, tries to investigate. It would be easy to focus only on the superb characterisations and many twists and turns but a big starring part in this novel also goes to Greenwich Park, which Faulkner evokes beautifully. An amazing debut from a new writer to watch out for – I cannot wait to see what Faulkner writes next. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in return for this honest and unbiased review.

Quite gripping and addictive, I read this in 2 days. Since university, its been Helen and Daniel (her husband), Serena and Rory (Helen's brother). Both girls have led privileged lives and are now expecting their first child. Then Rachel appears at Helen's antenatal class and despite having nothing in common, they strike up a friendship. Until Helen begins to see that the friendship was not spontaneous and that everyone appears to be hiding a secret.

What might have felt like a slow start quickly gains pace and you cant help but be intrigued with Rachel's strange behaviour and frustrated with Helen's kind heart. There are lots of twists and turns to keep the story engaging and unpredictable. Overall an exciting, thriller which attempts to right the wrongs of the past.

I loved Greenwich Park, I was so desperate to find out what was happening that I devoured it in one go. Mainly we follow Helen who is heavily pregnant, but we also see the story progressing through the other characters eyes. When Helen makes a new friend while at her antenatal classes, why does she then see her wherever she goes, and when she turns up at Helens door in need of a place to stay, Why does Helen feel like things aren’t right? This was such a good read!

A very gripping and readable psychological thriller. The only thing that spoiled my enjoyment of it was the formatting in the file - for some reason all the "i's were lower case and the capitalisation throughout the text was incorrect.

This suspenseful thriller is Katherine Faulkner’s debut novel and while it’s a well-plotted, creepy read, for me it probably didn’t quite live up its billing.

The story centres around two young well-to-do English couples on the brink of parenthood. Friends since university and with their husbands in business together, Helen and Serena are both pregnant. At her antenatal classes, Helen is befriended by the mysterious Rachel, who soon worms her way rather menacingly into all their lives, but what exactly is it that Rachel wants?

The tension built nicely in the first half of the book, and the ultimate outcome was somewhat unexpected and neatly wrapped up. The narrative switches mainly between Helen, Serena and family friend Katie. The story was a little laboured at times (pardon the pun) but it did pick up pace and held my attention until the end.

Most of the characters were pretty dislikeable - anyone else find it hard to root for and/or get excited about characters you find fundamentally a bit dull or unpleasant? There were a few events that stretched credulity (mainly relating to things Helen did in a heavily pregnant state) and an upsetting and unnecessary outcome for a baby (just my own opinion). All the same, a decent enough thriller to escape into, and no obvious plot holes that I could find! 3/5 ⭐️

This book will be published in April 2021 and I read a digital copy of it courtesy of #NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing. As always, this is an honest review.

The synopsis really intrigued me on this one, however it wasn't quite as I was expecting. I found it a bit slow and it dragged in places, I found that I couldn't connect with the main characters either which was unfortunately very off-putting.

I had high hopes for this book but it was too much of a slow burn.
I have said before that the books I enjoy most are the books that have a hook in the first couple of chapters - that is just my personal reading style.
I did stick with this slow burn book and about two thirds of the way in I was so glad I did as it took off and I couldn’t put it down.
It’s dark, twisty and the ending was so good. I just wish the story was the same sort of intensity all of the way through. I stuck with this book because I was gifted an ARC but had I paid for it I would probably have given up on it and would have missed out on the fantastic ending.

When Helen is forced to take early maternity leave due to previous pregnancy complications she finds herself feeling lost and lonely as all her friends are busy with work and life. She decides to attend a local NCT class but when her brother and his pregnant wife do not arrive or her husband she's left feeling vulnerable and alone. The only other alone pregnant woman is Rachel, loud and brash and not her usual type of person at all. Rachel then seems to be everywhere when Helen is out shopping, reading in the park or catching up with friends. Is it really a coincidence that they keep randomly bumping into each other? It's not long before Rachel is involved in Helen and her siblings lives.
I read this book in one sitting as it was really pacy and intense. There were times when I found Helen annoying for being so apathetic but she was a great character and it helped move the story along that she was so trusting. I loved that the setting was local to where I live so the descriptions were very familiar and made it all the more creepy. A fantastic edge of the seat read. There were times when I doubted all of the characters within the novel, there were lots of unexpected twists and turns throughout.
Thank you to netgalley for a preview copy of this book in return for an honest review.

An accomplished debut which improves in the second half as the tension ramps up.

First half - I found it hard to warm to our lead, Helen, and her seemingly passive acceptance of a cuckoo in her gilded lifestyle home. In fact few characters were likeable, apart from journalist Kate and about to retire detective in a sub-plot you know will suddenly become important to the plot despite it's seeming lack of connection to whats going on.

As we head into thriller territory though the increased pace caught me and I found the book hard to put down, with twists and red herrings coming thick and fast.

If this isn't released with the words 'For fans of Girl on a Train' plastered all over the marketing material all someone in publicity's doing their job wrong!

I was highly anticipating reading this book. The blurb caught my eye which is why I submitted a request for an early ARC. However, I have reached around 26% on kindle and I am going to have to DNF. I didn’t not warm to Helen as a character at all. I found her to be whiny and self-centred. This book just ended up not being for me and I couldn’t find the enthusiasm to continue on. A real shame.

In many ways a classic 'outsider looking in' novel, the fact that this is told from the perspective of the insiders is quite refreshing.

The good: Greenwich Park is twisty and gripping and has a great sense of foreboding. The twists seem predictable, but then often twist again, which really keeps me on my toes as a reader. The voice of the main perspective, Helen, is not exactly unreliable, but it is uncertain, wavering, in a satisfyingly subtle way. You're often as unsure as Helen as to whether what she is experiencing is real or not.

The not-so-good: I had a really hard time distinguishing between the voices of the three women whose perspectives the narrative shifts between.

Overall: it's hard to imagine a thriller fan who won't be satisfied by this.

4/5 stars

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

Well crafted, thoroughly enjoyable psychological thriller, that kept me reading into the night.
Helen meets Rachel at antenatal classes. It soon becomes clear that Rachel has targetted Helen and her close family - but why? Is it their money/lifestyle, their family business that she is after? Is she really pregnant? How did Helen's parents die?
Well written and highly recommended. I look forward to reading more from Katherine Faulkner.