A bit of a mixed bag for me. I found the story really engaging but I did lose focus at times.

Many thanks to NetGalley for this copy.

This book was a tough read for me. It progressed slowly and felt repetitive, leaving me confused at times. I considered giving up more than once, but in all honesty, by the time the story finally reached a conclusion, I had already lost interest and didn’t really care what happened to them.

While some readers might appreciate the relentless tension and the heavy subject matter, I found it quite distressing and overwhelming. It even gave me nightmares as I tried to piece together whether these issues reflected real life.

Although the concept had promise and certain parts were done well, the pacing and repetitive nature made it hard to stay engaged. In the end, this wasn’t for me, and I struggled to get through it. Two stars.

I have mixed feelings with this one. On the one hand, I actually liked the plot. On the other hand, I disliked the main character, Laura, a lot. I get her past trauma but it feels like she's very incompetent and can't do well her job. Besides, the pace of the book was veeeery slow for the main part, which doesn't help into getting hooked to a thriller, in my opinion. The ending wasn't that bad, in my opinion. It's a 50%-50% for me.

This is a book where you need to read your trigger warnings.

I found this book really hard to get in to, the writing style wasn't much to my taste. The story is rather harrowing to read and I struggled in some parts of it as I found it rather heavy going.

I’m not sure really how I felt about this book. It made me uncomfortable and at times questioning my own issues with mental health. It had a good premise and the writing was great. No low review mark for me because it wasn’t the book that had issues it was my own personal issues that felt a bit wonky.

I selected this book almost at random, wanting a break from the sappy romance that has dominated my reading list in 2022. It certainly did provide that change!

The Interview focuses on two women: Laura, the interviewer, skilled at her job but currently undergoing a psychological crisis of her own, and Jenny, a traumatized teenage girl who came in drenched in blood. But is she the victim or the villain?

As Laura, and her associate Niamh, endeavor to discover the truth, they story becomes enmeshed in dark folklore, and awakens memories from Laura's past. Memories that will destabilize her, and may sabotage their task.

This is a story of the psychological scars left when the physical scars heal, and how even when they are hidden, they are never truly gone. At times Laura's behaviour frustrated me so much I wanted to shout at her. Jenny's scars were deeper, longer, and chilling. Her story may disturb some readers.

Niamh provides a lively counterpart to Laura's darker edge, given what is all-in-all a fairly grim story at least a taste of sunshine.

The Interview is a tense and quite harrowing read, exploring the effects of PTSD, and steps taken to reclaim ones identity. I'm not sure if I could say I enjoyed it, because it was, overall, fairly bleak, but I did find myself compelled to read it, to discover what really happened to Jenny, and to hope Laura would make steps to get herself sorted before she dug herself a very deep hole.

An interesting book, a slow start but I enjoyed it once I got invested, Following multiple POV, which is a style I enjoy personally. Very intriguing.

I have never read anything from Gill Perdue. She presents a different writing style, which keeps you engaged and curious till the last page. You will get slowly into the story, trying to realise what the truth is. Dear reader, please remember that the truth is not objective, it depends how we describe it, it represents our beliefs and particular point of view. The Interview is a fantastic piece of work, where instead of being just an observer of the action that is happening, you can hear the thoughts of the particular characters involved in the main action of this book. You are in someone else’s head, not only eyes, but thoughts - I found it very captivating! The story is full of details, but do not be scared, it definitely is not boring. You will understand the secrets from the past which can impact even the best professionals. How anxious and traumatic events can influence life and not only the personal part but also professional, when it is too late, and you cannot divide one part from other. What will happen if you hide in your safe space, and it will be too hard to realise what is not real and unreal?
If you are a fan of thrillers, psychological thrillers, you will sink into this story and will not leave till the end. Highly recommended.
Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for ARC of this book to provide the honest review.

I hit February before finding my first three star read of the year; that's not bad going. The Interview is a book that has a good narrative hook to it but ends up being too repetitive and slow moving to reach greatness. It's topic matter is dark and if you have a sensitivity to child abuse, sexual and physical and sexual violence, then be wary of this. But despite the dark and gritty topic, the novel failed to really grab me. It was a quick read rather than a powerful or thought provoking one.

Fourteen year old Jenny is found at the side of the road, traumatised and covered in blood. Doctors quickly discover that it is not her blood, but they also find evidence of long term and systematic abuse. Detectives Laura and Niamh from the sexual violence team are called to fact find, a mission that is made more urgent when it is discovered that her stepfather - and the likely source of the abuse - is missing. It becomes a battle of wills between the detective and the teenager, one that Laura's own spiraling mental health is not helping.

The first two thirds of this novel are slow. Really, very slow. The use of three perspectives didn't help here. You get Laura's perspective, who is frankly fairly incompetent despite being described as the best detective Niamh knows. You have Niamh, who is the only competent adult in the room. And Jenny, who is distressed and disjointed which is understandable, but is also written in a way where it's difficult to know what's been said out loud and keeps calling herself and everyone else dumb bitches which gets tedious quickly.

Whilst the core of the novel is the detectives trying to tease details out of Jenny, it also spirals outwards as Laura's mental health plummets. You get glimpses into her past, including her training and her own experience with sexual violence and it ricochets into the present affecting her thoughts and actions. The abuse and violence is depicted very graphically, and often repeated, yet is set alongside fairly mundane descriptions of Laura's home life and how her anxiety is crippling her in the wake of becoming a parent. It's strange and the two halves didn't always fit together well.

That said, at the core of this is an interesting story. It just took a long time to get anywhere and was waylaid by repetition and a lack of direction. It's dark and graphic to the point of being uncomfortable at times, yet I failed to engage with any of the characters even the ones like Jenny who should have been sympathetic. So it's a solid three stars from me; not awful, but not stand out either.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed some elements and hated others. I liked the premise of the story but I felt that the execution failed a bit. For a thriller, it was too slow for me.

the interview followed a girl who mysteriously appears at a hospital, mute and unresponsive. A whole drama unfolds when things are revealed about her family life; and the book also follows an agent who works alongside victims of suspected assault, whilst it felt dragged out at times describing her life, it gave a good back story

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for a copy of this book to read.

I dont know what to say, I think I enjoyed the book, but it took a while for me to get along with the way it is written - told in different timelines I usually enjoy this writing style but I felt a bit like at times too much was being thrown at the reader and it was hard to keep up with what was going on in each POV, i enjoyed the story enough to continue and think the last third of the book was the strongest.

Not the worst thriller but would only recommend to a handful of people.

3 stars

A harrowing but brilliantly written book following two special Victim investigation officers interviewing a 14 year old girl. The story was told in such a way that you knew most of what was happening with enough left ambiguous as to not reveal everything at the beginning.

I loved all three points of view and found that each character had such a distinct voice. There are a lot of trigger warnings for this book so please look them up before reading.

I am so pleased there is going to be another book following this investigation team.

Jenny a fourteen year old girl is bought to hospital after being found in the street covered in blood, although she doesn't appear to be injured .. so whose blood is it?

Jenny's mother and brother have been found injured after a car crash and Jenny's stepfather Stuart is missing.

Jenny is admitted to a psychiatric ward at Abbot's hill hospital. After a medical examination it is clear that Jenny has been abused.

Laura Shaw and Niamh Darmady specialist victim interviewers, from the Irish Gardaare are sent to interview Jenny who is refusing to speak. As they struggle to reveal the truth Laura finds herself questioning her own past - can she help Jenny and find out what happened as well as dealing with her own issues?

I was gripped by this psychological thriller. The tension is dark, gritty but well written, it's dealing with difficult subjects.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange of an honest review.

A bit of a slow burn initially but definitely worth persevering with. An intriguing read and a great debut novel. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this. I tried a few times to finish it but I just couldn't connect with the characters.

I'm sorry, I'm going to have to DNF this one. It's definitely dark and I'm finding the implied themes of child abuse too uncomfortable to read about. Other reviews suggest the whole thing basically takes place in the interview room, and everyone in that room is already both annoying and boring me, so I'm cutting my losses with this one.

This started out quite intriguing, I have to be honest though, it did drag out a bit in the middle. However, the ending was good with some twists and turns.

The download date was unfortunately missed, I would be happy to re-review if it became available again. I have awarded stars for the book cover and description as they both appeal to me. I would be more than happy to re-read and review if a download becomes available. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

A dark, disturbing crime thriller set in Ireland. I found the narrative slow paced and I could not engage with the story so failed to finish the novel.