I received this arc through net galley in exchange for an honest review.

In all honesty what can I say but wow, wow, wow.

Oliver and Ciara meet by chance in a supermarket pre lockdown one, and spend the first part of lockdown together.

But did they meet by chance really, who is trying to keep secrets her or him?

I would recommend this book to anyone, a really easy book to get into and I raced through it.

4.5 stars. This is the first book I have read by this author but it certainly won’t be the last. The whole unique idea behind the storyline grabbed me straight away and I enjoyed the covid aspect of it. Great twists and turns which I genuinely didn’t see coming. Loved this book.

A mystery set in Ireland during the first covid lockdown. Sounds crazy but I really loved 56 Days. Though, I wouldn't have thought I would given how current and lingering this pandemic is proving to be.

In this novel Ciara and Oliver meet and start a relationship just before the start of the lockdown drama. It made me feel ever so mildly nostalgic for the first lockdown when everyone took it seriously and life reached a quiet, simpler rhythm. A blissful time from my perspective. But, back to the book, things aren't as simple as all that as, clearly, there is another agenda at play, yet to be discovered.

Some cracking twists in this story and good character development. The book bounces back and forth between Ciara and Oliver within the last 56 days. There is also another perspective from the police set at the end of that period working to suss out what transpired. I've not read a Catherine Ryan Howard book before and hope DI Leah Riordan features in her previous works. Her relationship with her partner Karl is worth the price of admission by itself. Leah's a smart cookie and has great instincts. If I've stumbled upon another police procedural series I will be jolly happy!

Loved this! Cracking plot with SO many surprises and two very compelling central characters. Yet another fantastic read from Ireland's queen of crime fiction. Highly recommended!

Coronavirus or murder that is the question!
Do you trust someone enough in a pandemic to move in or do you run?
This book is so good I thoroughly enjoyed it.
At a time when the world stood still its clear the imagination did not and thank god it didn’t.

Thanks to Atlantic Books, Catherine Ryan Howard and NetGalley for the ARC of 56 days.

What an absolutely gripping thriller, this book has stayed with me long after turning the last page! The kind of book that once you've finished reading it you want to find someone else who has read it just so you can talk about it!

I will be honest, I was a little nervous about reading this book. I haven't read many books that are focused around the Covid-19 lockdown and felt that this could've gone one of two ways. As it turned out - I bloody loved it and read from cover to cover in 24 hours,

56 days ago, Ciara met Oliver in a supermarket queue. They hit it off, but after just a few dates, the national lockdown threatens to separate them just as they are getting started. With households not being allowed to mix, they have two choices, either they return to their respective homes and don't see each other for two weeks, or they move in together and spend the initial two weeks under the same roof, getting to know each other without any other distractions. Whilst it may seem like a rash move, neither of them have any family in the city and the thought of spending lockdown alone is enough to push them together.

56 days later a body is found in the apartment and has been there for a while. What happened? Was lockdown an opportunity to cover up the perfect crime?

Told over two timelines and both Oliver's and Ciara's perspectives, what follows is the back story of the relationship between Ciara and Oliver as well as the present day analysis of the investigating police officers who find the body. Together, they work well at piecing together the perfect psychological thriller that grabbed my attention and willed me to keep on reading.

The Covid-19 references are of course part of the build up, but unlike some post apocalyptic/ end of the world style stories, the pandemic is more of a scene setting rather than a key part of the plot. It works really well, and it didn't heighten my anxieties in the way I feared it would.

My only (minor) criticism is that with duel perspectives, there are at time sections of what feels like repeated texts, each characters interpretation of key events. At first you find yourself thinking 'I've read this before' but it quickly becomes apparent that there are subtle differences in their understanding and experience of each conversation.

I would certainly recommend 56 days to any one who asks me! 4.5 stars from me!

Whilst this is set during lockdown and makes references to COVID-19, it’s definitely not the main focus of the story. Essentially it’s used to bring these two characters together and I would say not that relevant to the main part of the story.

Be warned this book does jump around timelines a lot, from present day, to 56 days ago to suddenly 73 days ago. At times it did get a little confusing trying to figure out where we were up to but apart from that it worked really well in bringing the whole story together.

It’s a definite page turner and one that had me saying ‘Oh just one more chapter’ as I couldn’t wait to find out what was going on. It’s a story that is full of twists which I was confident I had figured out until another twist was thrown at me which I was not expecting at all and thoroughly welcomed.

I don’t want to give too much away about the plot, but it had me gripped and at times my stomach was in knots especially during one scene where we find out something that happened in the past. This reminded me of a real life high profile crime / case, which is actually mentioned briefly in the story and I think that’s what made everything so tense.

Overall this was such a fantastic thriller which weaved the current pandemic in seamlessly, executed a number of brilliant twists and kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end!

My thanks to Atlantic Books Corvus for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘56 Days’ by Catherine Ryan Howard in exchange for an honest review.

I trust Catherine Ryan Howard to deliver the kind of thriller that is going to keep me glued to my e-reader for the duration. So, I read this domestic noir without any advance information apart from that it was taking place during the pandemic lockdown.

Dublin - 56 days ago: Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue. They start dating during the same week that the pandemic reaches Ireland. When the government lockdown begins, Oliver suggests that they move in together and be lockdown buddies. Ciara thinks this will give their relationship an opportunity to grow.

This sounds like the premise for a romantic comedy; yet the cover tag line: ‘could this be the perfect murder?’ suggests not.

Chapters move about in time as we are provided with the perspectives of both Ciara and Oliver. It is quite clear that there is more to Oliver than is obvious on the surface. Yet what? Aside from this, there are chapters designated ‘Today’, which involves a police investigation. No further details to avoid spoilers.

‘56 Days’ did effectively capture the claustrophobic aspects and day-to-day challenges of the lockdown, including the quest for loo rolls and pasta.

As expected, it proved an addictive read that I found impossible to set aside and so read it in a single day. It certainly had its twists and turns, that I felt emerged organically from the plot.

In the popular sub genre of domestic noir/suspense thrillers, ‘56 Days’ was a clear 5-star read for me and I look forward to Catherine Ryan Howard’s future projects.

56 Days is entertaining and fast paced - a tale of two strangers who make a hasty decision at a time of extreme stress, fear and anxiety. Multi-layered, brimming with suspense and with well-portrayed characters, this book certainly kept me on my toes. Set in present times, it felt very familiar, occasionally too familiar - a reflection of the early days of the pandemic, when no one could have predicted what was to come. The book has a dual timeline, focusing on a murder investigation in the present day and an exciting new relationship in the past. Occasionally, the two main characters give their persepctive on the same scenes, leading to some repetition, but I found myself trying to read between the lines - what they weren't telling each other, the secrets they were hiding ... 56 Days was a brave book to write (who could have known we would still be living in a Covid-19-filled world on publication day), but it doesn't come across as gimmicky at all. An engaging, unsettling and surprising domestic noir thriller - Brief Encounter with a rampant virus and decomposing body.

This is one of the best thrillers that I've ever read in my life. Every time I thought I had figured out what was really going on, there was a new twist or turn that kept me on my toes -- and the final one completely upended every theory I had had about the book.

I wasn't initially sure how I'd feel about a lockdown set book, mostly as we were still going through it when I read it. But it was expertly navigated - you still felt the presence of the pandemic, but it wasn't an overwhelming presence in the book. It still gave it that eerie, unsettling edge without being too overpowering.

This is the first book I’ve read which records the Covid-19 pandemic. Cleverly interweaved with the story of a couple meeting and deciding to move in together. A great read; very clever. You never know who you might meet and their truth. Highly recommended

This book is written about what happens to a couple during the pandemic.
Who have to spend a lots of time together.
Quite a few twists
A good read
Thanks NetGalley

Loved that this book was set during the pandemic. It made it feel relevant.
The twists and turns were good and unexpected and although you knew the final outcome the journey there was entertaining.
The author knows how to keep a reader engaged.
I liked the differing POV as they put meat on the bones of the story although as the timelines moved backwards and forwards and his/her accounts weren’t consecutive it was sometimes hard to remember what had happened in the previous account and which particular date we were revisiting.

56 days is about finding love at the start of the global pandemic we’ve all been living, some people may feel they’re not ready to read about this topic while we’re still living it, however I have no objections as this is our life but I get that some people want to leave all that behind when they read so be aware the current global situation features within this title. It does not drone on about the crisis but is important to the storyline as 56 days ago Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue and are quickly drawn together, at the same time COVID 19 begins its huge impact on the country. 35 days ago not wanting to be kept apart by lockdown Oliver suggests they move in together. Today, detectives arrive at their door to discover a decomposing body inside. What has happened inside these walls?
This is a captivating thriller, with the twists and turns we come to expect in this type of book. There were the occasional times I felt things were a little repetitive, but hey I felt that during COVID too so maybe it’s hard not to add it to the storyline especially knowing it was written during lockdown too

I recommend reading this book because as always Catherine has brilliantly written
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title

After the shit show that was 2020/early 2021, it was inevitable that an event as significant as the pandemic would spawn a number of books set within those strange and crazy months. When I first read the description for this book, I thought there was a risk of it being a bit contrived, using lockdown as a way to create a 'locked room' mystery, but actually the overall plot for this book is not dependent on the pandemic at all, and stronger for it. It's a strong and pacey thriller that deals with relationships, the secrets we keep and the way our past dictates our future, and the author cleverly uses the pandemic and the lockdown as a device to enhance the sense of claustrophobia and tension that exist within the story anyway. It keeps you guessing and works really well.

Whilst some people have said they don't want to read about the pandemic, I was really intrigued by this and weirdly enjoyed reflecting back on those surreal early days. That said whilst it takes place during the first lockdown, it's more about the closed-room opportunity that lockdown creates - forcing two people who barely know each other to move into together with deadly consequences - than the pandemic itself. Both (main) characters were oddly likeable, despite clearly having dark pasts, making it hard to know who to root for. I enjoyed the tension, knowing the outcome up front and then trying work out what had led to that result but the multiple timeline (and POV) was a little confusing at times. I also loved the two detectives and the banter between them - although in the end their inclusion was kind of pointless as they didn't solve the crime and at times a bit too graphic with their description of the decomposing body for example.

This was a great concept of using the Covid 19 lockdown as a backdrop to the story. Oliver and Ciara find themselves moving in together during the start of the lockdown even though they barely know each other. Lots of secrets and hidden agendas come to light through very clever writing.

A really clever thriller. A meeting of two strangers who have only had a few dates before Covid hit. A choice to make - stay apart during lockdown or become a bubble and live together. A tense thriller set in the eeriness of a shut down city. No-one knows they are together. A big secret is divulged and the story is dynamic from there. A really good story.

I found this book hard going at time, loved the story line but found the multiple POV confusing. This was my first book to read with a Covid background, which didnt bother me at all. I found it ok and enjoyed the characters

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great storyline with excellent characters. I would highly recommend this book as it was a great read.