Member Reviews
I enjoyed this book. It was quite a slow read but still enjoyable although I did struggle with it at times because it was a little bit of a “plodder “ . It was only over halfway through this book hat the pace picked up and I finished it quickly. This was a new author for me and I’m pleased I read it and I’m happy to read more of this author I the future. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.
I absolutely loved this book
I loved the way that the story develops, bit by bit and chapter by chapter, So too does the tension. This is definitely a 'couldn't put it down' book.
I was never quite certain how the story would end. Everything is interlinked so the book has, for me, a very good ending.
Not to be missed
I had high hopes for this novel based on the blurb. Sadly it just didn't deliver. I found it difficult to read and could not get into it at all.
The idea behind this book was a good one, but I was disappointed by it. The writing is rather wooden and overblown, and the characters are all a bit cliched. I never got caught up in the book, so noticed irritations like the use of "discrete" instead of "discreet" and reference to a 24 carat gold bracelet - 24 carat gold is pure gold so would be completely unsuitable for jewellery. I wouldn't recommend this book.
Two Wrongs is a thriller of a story set in Bristol, a town I know quite well so that made it more enjoyable for me and more atmospheric .Young girls from the local University are seemingly committing suicide but why ?This is a story of revenge and deceit ,fast paced a real page turner and a very enjoyable read very cleverly written as by the end of the book the story had come full circle and all secrets exposed .Many thanks to the Publisher the Author and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review .
This is a dark mystery thriller that has you on the edge of your seat right to the end. Maybe because I know the area quite well, but I really felt the descriptions of Bristol, particularly the rain, added themselves nicely to the sense of isolation the story created.. This is a great thriller but it is also deals with some difficult issues including suicide as well as highlighting how easy it is for people in positions of power to abuse that power to control and manipulate others, especially vulnerable young adults. I have to say I really liked the main characters of Nevis and Honor, and their relationship, although complex, I thought it balanced with the dark story quite nicely. I actually think I’m going to miss them.
This is a very smart and somewhat creepy story told around university student Nevis who struggles to understand people generally never mind when her best friend attempts suicide and she knows other students know why but can’t find the answers, answers which become even more elusive when the other students commit suicide. Told from three perspectives, that of Nevis herself, her mum Honor who has been concealing details about Nevis’s past from her and from that of under pressure university dean Christopher Cullen. This had some great themes, very strong and complicated characters and was a real page turner, quite chilling really.
Rating: 1.3/5
The blurb describes this as being "perfect for fans of Ruth Ware". I am a huge admirer of Ruth Ware's work and this does not even begin to bear comparison!
Hidden amongst these pages is the basis of a decent novel. Unfortunately, it never makes it to the surface. It comes across as disjointed and certainly doesn't make for easy or enjoyable reading. At times it feels like a composite of different writers, whose styles just don't marry ... Or perhaps that it is an early draft of a story that is still awaiting its subsequent rewrites in order to bring the crude sections of plot ideas together.
I found it to be melodramatic and clunky. The characterisation is dubious and the descriptive language ranges from contrived, ludicrously over the top metaphors to the most hackneyed clichés.
I have not read anything by this author previously, so I don't know how typical this is of her style. However, if this is fairly representative, then I doubt I will be reading much of her work in future.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.
This book wasn't for me I'm afraid. I found it hard to read, with stilted prose and repetitve phrases.
There were elements of this that I really enjoyed, the best being the mother/daughter pairing that is at the heart of the novel. Their push/pull is realistic, the emotional terrain painfully believable, and their joint/separate investigative endeavours are pleasingly original. I also find the central concept of suicide contagion extremely compelling, and I like that this question isn't 'answered'.
Aside from that, I found myself disappointed. There are simply too many cliches here: from the awkward mathematician who understands the world in equations and doesn't 'get' emotions, to the historical rape case whose tendrils reach into the present day, the predatory university lecturers and vulnerable students, the emotionally stunted man whose mother didn't love him, the shallow wife who cares only for money and status ... I could go on. There's nothing innately wrong with any of these elements, but too many of them together make for a dull read. On top of that, the writing is functional at best, and sometimes not even that.
Unfortunately, this is a mediocre execution of an intriguing concept.
My thanks to HQ and NetGalley for the ARC.
This was a brilliant fast paced thriller, a really unique concept- why are so many young girls suddenly killing themselves in the most horrible manners? A great read focusing on family love, the bond between a mother and daughter and revenge.
An excellent psychological thriller, so excellent it gets five stars from me, and thank you net galley and the publishers for giving me an advance copy, once I picked it up I just could not put it down until I had finished the novel.
This was a super mediocre thriller!
I had previously read a Mel McGrath thriller before so I was looking forward to reading this one but it lacked suspense and any real thrills.
The plot was very generic. Definitely something I've read before lots of times.
I didn't really care for any of the characters or feel any connection to them.
I felt it was super obvious where the plot was going.
I did like the fact it was set in Bristol as that's not too far from where I live.
I also appreciated the fact that it raises some important issues that face young people at university.
However, the whole book just felt flat and didn't so much for me. It was just a pretty average book unfortunately
TW: murder, violence, rape and suicide
*A strong 4.5 stars for this book*
Girls are dying, from the outside it looks like suicide but to the trained (suspicious) eye it seems like there could be more to their deaths than originally though.
Now I'll start by saying that I had actually guessed the villain quite early on but intriguingly, this didn't take away from the story as I read it.
It was still well paced and catchy - if you actually get what I mean.
I still felt like I had to turn those pages quickly to reach a conclusion.
What was extremely clever was how the story appeared to come full circle, the characters lives intricately woven without them even realising just how close each of them were to the truth at any given moment.
In the end it presented itself like a high stakes cat and mouse game, the question was just who would get caught because as we all know, every action has its consequences.
Two Wrongs might not always make a right but they certainly do in this explosive novel.
#TwoWrongs #NetGalley
An ok read.
Female students are doing suicide on Clifton Suspension Bridge but why? What terrible thing happened to them?
Satnam was trying to jump but a woman by the name of Sondra asked her not to jump on which she asked her to call Nevis. Nevis, her friend, starts to investigate the reason behind her friend's decision to jump.
Characters of the story were ok but some of them were unlikable like Cullen and Honor. I didn't feel connected with them.
Told from three POVs of Nevis, Honor and Cullen, this book picked up at the beginning but loses its charm in the middle and became boring at the ending but still I would like to say that it's an ok read. Although her previous two books were good.
Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for giving me an advanced copy of this psychological thriller.
Really enjoyed this book. The plot was engaging and the characters were interesting. I would reccomend this. I haven't read any others by the author but will do now.
I did not like this as much as Mel’s other books. It seemed to lack the intensity, but perhaps I just had higher hopes for it. Overall it is a good read though.
I found this a dark and chilling read all wrapped up into a very cleverly written thriller. The book is set in Bristol where young women are dying but rather than suicide is something more happening to them? Honor's daughter lives in Bristol ,will the same thing happen to her? through out the story we also discover more about Honor's past, will her past finally catch up with her? can she save her daughter's life? It is a very well executed story that left me thinking about it when I was not reading it. I look forward to Mel's next book.
. Based at a fictional West Country University, the story starts with a potential suicide attempt by Sat am, one of the students. She calls for help from her best friend Nevis, who finds herself dragged into a seedy world of dodgy professors, corruption and inflated marks.
It's a fast paced entertaining story, which I enjoyed reading.
This is Mel McGrath's third psychological thriller and I found it to be an easy read although it didn't particularly grip me. It's set in Bristol where women students appear to be committing suicide. Honor fears that her daughter may be at risk and while investigating she is pulled back into the secrets of her own past. I loved the atmospheric Bristol setting but I found it hard to like any any of the characters, I guessed the twist early on and sadly I felt that the thriller aspect was absent.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC