A brilliant, breathless and disturbing thriller from the excellent Mel McGrath. Set in the world of academe where female students are apparently committing suicide, Nevis is worried that there may be a worrying factor underlying these acts, which she sets out to investigate with the help of her adoptive mother. Although there are a few too many coincidences in the plot, this is a tremendous novel with important questions dealt with.

5 different things about this book

1. The characters, good and bad, are flawed, each and every one has irritating yet endearing features and idiosyncrasies about them, this was fascinating to me as a reader, they weren’t there to be perfect, admired or pitied, no apologies given but shown to be as they are, take it or leave it

2. The book is set in Bristol, not many are I have read, as an almost 18 year old I was thrust into ‘Somerset life’ re my parents job’s ( moving from Bradford ) Bristol was the London of the area for me at that time and a haven to explore, was good although at times strange to be back there, am not quite sure how residents would take to being called ‘feral’ mind you as the author refers to them, a few times

3. One of the book’s main characters lives in a canal boat, I loved the descriptions of the boat and the carefree ‘living’ that comes with this lifestyle

4. You have no idea at the start of the book just how serious a subject this book will cover, how only a decade ago this would have been snubbed as unsavoury to discuss and now how real,sadly, it all was/is and

5. The book ‘got to me’, I grew to like the characters and grew to care what happened, it wasn’t instant by any means, it took effort on all our parts but we got there, and it was a fascinating journey, well worth the few bumps on the way

8/10
4 Stars

The book opens with Satnam about to jump off the Clifton Suspension Bridge, a passerby helps her ring her best friend Nevis.
Nevis is a brillant Mathematics student at Avon University who struggles to connect with others even her own adoptive mother Honor. This sets off a chain of events that leads to the top of the university and asks questions of what is more important?

Reputation or student welfare?

This is a very readable thriller about a mother and daughter caught up in underhand dealings in the academic world.
The story begins on Clifton Suspension Bridge with a hospital worker trying to divert a suicide attempt. This opening is involves a character who doesn't appear later on but it eases the reader gently into the people and places that are going to become important later. The story then moves to the university setting and Nevis is introduced, friend of Satnam, the girl on the bridge. Nevis has her own problems but she tries to unravel why her friend would want to end her life. Caught up in this is Nevis' mother who comes to help but finds she is also involved with some of the characters from her own past and parallels are drawn.
I found the setting, in Bristol, and at a university interesting and somewhat different. Nevis' mother lived on a barge and descriptions of barge life and doings was also interesting and relatable. However I found the characters rather wooden and didn't really warm to any of them. Nevis, is a mathematical genius, and it was rather easy to see where this came from early in the novel. She is quirky and unable to relate to people, even her mother finds her hard to know, and that spilled over to the reader.
Cullen, the principle villain, is a suitably slimy and unappealing character, but I struggled to believe how he got away with some much over the years, or in honesty, why his wife married him or stayed with him so long.
But having said that, the book was an easy read, with enough plot turns to keep me engaged however I would have been more involved with it if the characters had won me over.
Many thanks to Netgalley and HQ for the chance to read this.

Not an easy read, a real slow burner which suddenly comes to life. A story line very topical, which proves that the past does eventually catch up with you and justice prevails. Well recommended, fascinating story great read

This is a really gripping novel without a doubt and I read it in two sittings . I really enjoyed the characterisation of Nevis , the otherworldly and naive young woman, a brilliant student at a fictional university in Bristol. Equally engaging was Honor, her adoptive mother, brave and resourceful who is still mourning the loss of her best friend and the love of her life, Zoe, who was Nevis's mother.
There are lots of intertwined themes in this, including parent child bonds and a history that will not stay silent. I loved the world of the bargees. There are twists and turns a plenty and the ending is satisfying and moving. But some parts do strain credulity a little, although the central plot feels horribly authentic.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a free ARC.

Really enjoyed this book and the varying twists to it. It does start to piece together quite nicely so there aren't any major shockers towards the end but definitely lots of questions as you go.

This book grips the reader’s attention at page one and doesn’t let go. At the university of Avon, there are attempted and achieved suicide of students and the university doesn’t want any suggestion that anyone other than dysfunctional young people are to blame. Then it transpires that another university has had similar incidents with overlap in the staff involved. Nevis is devastated when her flat mate Satnam tries to kill herself and starts to investigate the reasons. That leads to gradual revelations to keep the reader alert and involved. The characters, including Nevis’s adopted mother, are very carefully created. The story is very well told. Apart from the absorbing tale, this book has important messages about student care and welfare. These are much more attended to now but there is probably room to improve. Students may be late teenagers and more but they are still vulnerable and under pressure. The book moves to a satisfactory ending. I recommend it.

I've just spent about seven days with Nevis. Nevis is at University studying mathematics. She is different to other people, and sees life as a series of equations, patterns, and probabilities. Nevis has one friend, her friend has attempted suicide, and other Women around her start dying in unexplained circumstances. Nevis does the maths and suspects suicide contagion, but what is the link? What is the connection to Nevis?, and who can stop it?...
An excellent well crafted tale of innocence, love, and revenge. The characters are vibrant and the story is gripping.
A well written story for a cold February

Two Wrongs by Mel McGrath.

A woman comes across a female uni student about to throw herself of a bridge into the abyss . The girl allows her to phone her friend Nevis who races to the bridge.

This is a brilliant read, from the moment you read the first page you will not be able to put this down. A well developed storyline with characters you either loved or hated.

A story sadly of today! A university student attempts suicide on the Clifton Suspension Bridge and at the last minute calls for her close friend Nevis, a rather nervous, introverted young girl whose past is about to catch up with her via her mother Honore. The Dean of the university and his staff play their roles in this unusual tale of life and death on and around the campus! Different, intriguing and well written, the characters sympathetically drawn and I was pleased that the right folk got their comeuppance!

I enjoyed this book. In Bristol, 3 girls attempt suicide. They are friends of Honor's daughter, Nevis, and Honor is terrified that Nevis might be next. When it begins to look as though the deaths might be suspicious, Nevis starts to try to find out the truth. Before long Honor discovers a link to her own past and secrets she's been keeping from her daughter all her life. This is a real page turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

I enjoyed this book. Partly because it was set in Bristol, my home town, but also it was different. I liked the character of Nevis. She is unworldly, has a mathematical brain, and takes people at face value. When her best friend attempts suicide she realizes she has no idea why. Slowly, she starts to put pieces together supported by her mother Honor, who is herself a bit different and hiding secrets from the past.

This was the first book I have read by Mel McGrath . I did find it hard to get into at first but i did persevere . The second half of the book really ramped up the tension and was definitely worth sticking with .Nevis is called to the Clifton Suspension Bridge by a stranger who has found her friend there trying to jump . Nevis has no clue what has gone so wrong in Sadnams life but she starts to dig a little deeper . Honor who is Nevis' mum arrives to help their relationship has been strained for a while and she hopes that being close to her will help that .
When another student commits suicide the university and staff come under closer scrutiny . A good twist and a satisfying conclusion made this an enjoyable read

This is very much a book of 2 halves. I have to admit, after struggling with the first chapter, I very nearly didn't bother reading any further. It did improve thereafter, but generally, the first half of the book was slow going and hard to read with poor editing.

The second half is this book's saving grace. The story picked up and the writing was so much better. It became exciting and I didn't want to put it down.

I've given it 4 stars because, despite the poor start, it did redeem itself and I enjoyed it overall.

Thanks to Netgalley for sending me this book to review in return for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this pre-publication.
I do not read too many psychological thrillers but ironically the last one I read was based in Bristol too. This one opens on the Clifton Suspension Bridge a stranger sees someone seeming trying to commit suicide, and as the former starts to talk the latter down the seeds are thrown down in a story that goes back some twenty years.
The story is set around the fictional Avon University, Satnam is the girl on the bridge and Nevis, her flat mate, is called to help her by the stranger. As she realises that all is not as it is Nevis digs into Satnam's life and discovers unpleasent secrets. Calling on Honor, her adopted mum, to help her parallels begin to appear between the past and the present.
I found this an easy read, although the subject matter should not be classified as such. The story is well written, without over complicated and confusing plotlines. The characters are well written and I felt I related to them with their characteristics, in particular, Nevis, being gifted and reserved, never really lets you close to her even as you get to know her.
The story progresses with twists and turns but nothing that pushes the limits of belief, telling itself from the perspectives of several of the characters allowing the story to develop and the strand lines to merge with one another as it progresses.

One girl jumped. And then another followed. In the city of Bristol, young women are dying in mysterious circumstances. The deaths look like suicides – but are they something more sinister?

The pace of the book starts off very slow but by the end of the book, it is a usual, thriller that meets the genre well. It is an easy read but not one I would re-read or discuss at in length.

Sondra was on her way home after work when she saw a young woman looking as though she was going to jump from the Clifton suspension bridge. She talks to her, and Sondra finally persuades Satnam to call her best friend and flatmate, Nevis Smith. Nevis is unworldly and rather reserved - and she can't understand why Satnam hasn't shared her problems with her. She thought they shared everything. Satnam is taken to hospital and Nevis calls her mother, Honor. They've not been on good terms since a discovery Nevis made the previous summer but right now, Nevis needs her mother.

Well, Honor isn't actually Nevis's mother: she was Zoe Jeffers who died when Nevis was three-months-old. Died is putting a nice gloss on it too: Zoe committed suicide but Honor hasn't told Nevis about that yet and you might have thought that now Nevis is at university and doing well in her studies, Honor might have grasped the nettle and told Nevis that her mother was raped and Nevis was the result - but somehow the time has never been right. When the telephone call comes, Honor doesn't hesitate: she leaves her narrowboat and drives to Bristol, without even bothering to change out of her pyjamas.

Complicated, isn't it? Well, it's going to get a lot worse. Satnam's parents, Bikram and Narinder Mann, weren't entirely certain about Satnam going to university. They would prefer that she got married and have even got a nice young man picked out. Satnam has a boyfriend, Luke, but she's not doing too well on her Mathematics and Biosciences course and she's worried that if she falters there will be more pressure to go home and get married. There might be a way around this though. It seems that a couple of other students have taken advantage of the opportunity.

The dean of the faculty is having problems too. Professor Christopher Cullen is married to the Honourable Veronica Fanshawe-Drew, who prefers to go by her maiden name. She's high maintenance: they can't really afford the Regency house they live in but Veronica was determined that they should have it. Now she's determined to get pregnant despite the fact that Christopher doesn't really want a child. He doesn't know how they'd afford the expense for a start: he suspects that Veronica is already visualising a nanny and he's having trouble paying his debts as it is.

I came to Two Wrongs after reading Zoë Morris's review of Give Me The Child by Mel McGrath. If Zoë reckons a book is worth five of our Bookbag stars, then that's good enough for me and it's a firm recommendation of the author. I wasn't disappointed. The characterisation is excellent. I loved Nevis. She's otherworldly and a little naive but there's an honesty and generosity about her that warms your heart. She's brilliant at maths - even if she does try to reduce life to something which can be computed mathematically - and she believes in justice, regardless of the cost to herself. Perhaps the masterpiece is Christopher Cullen who catches your sympathy - for a while.

The plot is brilliantly constructed. It took me a little while to get the who-is-who straight in my mind but it was certainly worth the effort and it's very cleverly done. I always had a suspicion about what was going to happen just before it was revealed: I was very much involved in the story and there was one point when I had to remind myself to breathe. The book's highly recommended and I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy.

Sad to say this book isnt for me. I was excited to read it being set in Bristol but the lack of real settings for the book meant I quickly lost interest shame UWE wasnt chosen rather than fake Avon university. I also found the characters very boring and sadly I have given up 20% in as I really dont care enough about the characters to finish. I wont be leaving a public review as I never review books I cant finish

Strangely, this is the second book I have read recently titled Two Wrongs. What are the chances?

Mel McGrath's novel has an excellent opening, with a prologue in which a woman walking home from her hospital cleaning shift happens upon a younger woman climbing the fence on Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge, about to jump off to her certain death. I liked the choice to show this from the viewpoint of the stranger who tries to help, who has no idea what to say or do but knows she must try to make a connection.

The story moves on to several young women at the fictional Avon University, principally Nevis, friend and flatmate of Satnam, the girl on the bridge. Nevis Smith - "student mathematician, bird lover, and keeper of secrets" - is an interesting character. She seems not entirely neurotypical, though this is never named as such, and has been raised on a barge by her mother's friend after the death of her young mother, Zoe, when Nevis was a baby and Zoe and Honor just nineteen years old. The story follows events from Nevis's point of view ("If only people were as simple as mathematics") and that of her adoptive mother, Honor, as well as peculiar maths professor Christopher Cullen.

An apparent rash of suicides among students - the term "suicide contagion" is mentioned a fair bit - has the university worried, though more about its reputation than the welfare of students. There are certain matters they really don't want getting out....

Two Wrongs was an engaging and readable story - I was invested in the characters of Nevis, Honor and Satnam. Of the other characters, Cullen's head is an... interesting, if not pleasant, place to be inside. I also liked the "bargee" element of the story, although this is a fairly minor component.

A recommended read.