MP Emma Webster is the subject of trolling and online abuse. However, when her daughter, Flora, starts to be bullied at school and then a man is found dead
at the bottom of Emma’s stairs, things take a turn for the worse and Emma finds herself on trial for murder. It’s a did she/didn’t she scenario. She is determined to protect her family and her reputation at all costs.

I very much enjoyed this story. It’s quite a tense and suspenseful read. It really had me on the edge of my seat at times. It made think about how precarious life is, especially if a person is in the public eye - there’s nowhere to hide! It’s well written with some realistic and strong characters, not always very likeable I have to say. I found it engrossing, absorbing and thought provoking. And quite the page turner. If you enjoy courtroom style thrillers, you’ll love this one!

2,5 ⭐️

There comes a time in the story when the main character says “We will get through this. This is a mistake which you’ll learn from and then we’ll move on”, and that could be my inner self talking to me about the experience of reading this novel. It was quite the struggle! I have not read Anatomy Of A Scandal (maybe I’ll watch the Netflix show), but I read Little Disasters and, although it wasn’t for me, I decided to give the author another chance. Now I’ve come to the conclusion her books are definitely not for me. It’s not a question of the quality of the writing, which is excellent, but the delivery.

Reputation tells the story of Emma, a MP who’s drawing increased attention from the press and public after a paper feature and her try to push for some legislation to protect women from revenge porn. A silly mistake from her daughter Flora will unleash a situation which will end up with Emma on trial for murder.

The author doesn’t let you forget about the driving theme in the story, as the word reputation is repeated countless times. It seemed to be everyone’s main concern. I’m facing prison? Who cares as long as my reputation is intact!

During the first half of the story we witness the vitriol, hate and misogyny directed towards Emma just because she’s a woman in the spotlight. Although it was pretty accurate and disheartening, it was also quite repetitive so I didn’t feel the need to pick up my book to keep on reading as it looked like the story wasn’t moving forward. The second half is a typical courtroom drama so I enjoyed it more, although it also felt quite too long.

Emma is a pretty unreliable narrator so it’s not easy to determine if she’s telling the truth or not about what happened the night the guy died, and it won’t be after a verdict is reached that the whole truth will emerge with a couple of last minute twists (one more predictable than the other) that I’m still not sure how convincing they were.

Although sadly it wasn’t for me, don’t let my opinion put you off reading it as it was very well written and it has tons of glowing reviews.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster UK for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

MP and single mother Emma Webster works hard for her constituents and tries to be a good mother to her daughter. However when she raises her profile by taking on victim's rights she becomes the target of the trollers, abused and threatened to the point where she is terrified. Then her daughter reacts to her bullies in an extreme way and Emma must protect her at all costs.
This is the sort of book that I should hate and yet it is really hard to do so. The plot is manipulative and there are huge holes in it. Emma isn't exactly a sympathetic character at times and no-one comes out of the story well. The writing is adequate enough and there are too many twists. However it is also a terrific read in its genre and for a hit of this style it's great.

Another cracking page turner from Sarah Vaughan that taps into the zeitgeist. It's a very-of-the-moment account of life as a female MP and the dangers of life with the Internet.

I raced through this on a rainy Sunday. I always feel bad when I read a novel in a day, but I also think it means it's a great book. "Unputdownable" as they say.

Having read and loved Anatomy of a Scandal, when I saw this on Netgalley I just knew it was a must-read for me and Sarah did not disappoint at all! What a cracking read, I think it had a lot of similarities to Anatomy of a Scandal and I feel like it was referenced a few times - Sarah has a very unique style of writing and she makes it work!

A great write from Sarah. thank you to Sarah and Netgalley for allowing me this ARC!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily.
I have not read any other books by this author but have just watched 'Anatomy of a scandal' on tv and was thrilled to discover I had this book ready to start reading. Anatomy of a scandal is set around a politician and the court case forms the centre of the story; this book has those points in common but I found it completely different and just as enthralling. I think billing it as a 'courtroom drama' is a mistake because the buildup to the court case is very important, involving current themes of social media, trolling and bullying. I didn't find the outcome of the court case predictable, and the final twists in the story brought major surprises.
I've enjoyed this book so much I'm signing up to follow the author.

A great introductory chapter! Engaging and sympathetic, I already want to know what happened to Emma and how she ends up on trial. I have bought the finished copy and cannot wait to finish it.

A story of our days- Emma is a backbencher labour MP, who is willing to speak up about the tough and controversial issues, such as porn revenge. She has lost her husband to her really good friend after being elected and she is very protective of her 14 year daughter..

Everything changes when a political journalist, who she has been working with to push a new law, is out to get revenge following a night together.

This will terminate with his death- but is she guilty of killing him?

So many layers to this book, but first and foremost how women (and even more successful women) are perceived by the society and how men feel the right to throw verbal abuse at them.

Emma is an MP and single mum , juggling her time between the two and making a pretty good job of it all .
But tragedy is just around the corner and slowly Emma's life becomes unravelled and she finds herself on trial for murder .
Brilliant writing from Sarah Vaughn but the characters were so unlikeable -I didn't really care what happened to them

Thankyou NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review

A well written and very well researched book which covers some dark issues so not just an easy read. I’m probably a bit out of the loop in that whilst I do use social media I never seem to enjoy stories that feature quotes from it. Just a personal thing though.

Emma is an MP and has a promising career ahead of her. But then a scandal with her daughter followed by the dead man in her house. Can the truth be found out without losing her reputation in the process.

I'm not usually a big fan of political stories but this one interested me. It wasn;t quite as good as Id hoped and I wanted a different reasoning for the events but I liked the twist with her daughter and step mother. The plot is quite a steady flow throughout the story. The ending was good and I liked how everything was tied together especially the section with Rebecca. A good read but not quite for me.

I have to admit I have a copy of Anatomy of a Scandal sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read ... I will definitely be reading it sooner rather than later after reading this title!
Emma Webster is an MP whose personal life has suffered as she has entered the political world - she has lost her husband and does not have as close a relationship with her daughter, Flora, as she would wish. As an MP she is considered fair game by online trolls - she has her supporters, but of course she has her detractors and she feels under constant threat of attack. Her friends and family consider her to be faultlessly honest
This is a psychological thriller and a court case - the plot is fast moving and there are twists and turns - a compulsive read.
The subject is very topical.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Sarah Vaughan/Simon & Schuster for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book had me hooked from the start - I flew through it. A really fascinating read dealing with a very topical issue

All hail to my new court-room crime fiction writer; none other than the brilliant Sarah Vaughan. I do not know why I did not read any of her books before, and I feel lucky enough to be included in a Tandem Collective readalong for two of her books - one being 'Reputation'. And what a treat this one was.

First of all, even though I thought the plot was going one way, it went a totally different way. But I did not mind one bit. Because by the end, I found this a brilliant well tied-up thriller, that it was definitely worth my time. I have started to love a good suspensful court-room crime novel, and this was went into so deep and the author did such a thorough research on everything that went on in court, that it felt super intense at points. I honestly did not know how things would turn out for the main character.

Definitely will be reading the author's back log now, as she's made an impression on me and I very much looking forward to seeing her previous book being adapted for the TV series soon by Netlix.

Kindly thank you to the publisher for approving me for an early read of this in exchange for an honest review,

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A clever and well-written in vogue book. A recommended read.

Great first chapter but hadn't realised that was all there was. Difficult to review the whole book from that so middling 3*.

A brilliant and timely novel on the way the voice of a woman in the public sphere is distorted through the lens of societal mores, this novel spoke to me on so many levels. As a woman in her 40’s, it is too easy to understand exactly why Emma Webster decided to go with the magazine cover that really thrust her into the spotlight-she was seduced into feeling like a sexual being again, something she had not been since the dissolution of her marriage to Flora’s father, David.

Her feeling of invisibility as she orbits the hinterland between maiden and crone, is instantly relatable. She wants to use her unexpectedly premature promotion to local MP,-predicated on wanting to be able to create visible, tangible change-to elevate the voice of the underdog, whether they are home grown or foreign. Tackling the issue of revenge porn and demanding tougher sentencing for the lives which are, in many cases, irreparably ruined, she is making a stand for women’s rights, and causing no end of backlash in her wake.

So when the novel opens with the death of a man, potentially murdered, and lying unnamed on the floor, you want to know what led up to this point and, more importantly from the tone of the novel’s synopsis, whodunnit and why.

It is the age old story of the hens in the henhouse squawking for help and disturbing the farmer from his sleep, who decides that having put chicken wire around the coop, they should just be quiet and go to sleep. Unfortunately, he has imprisoned the fox in with the chickens, so when he finds blood everywhere in the morning, he blames the chickens for not being louder. And this is the case with the #MeToo movement, apparently women have ‘spoilt’ men’s fun in being able to ogle, harass, intimidate and otherwise persecute the women in their lives. Crimes are meaningless and forgettable as vigils and marches proclaim ‘Never again’. Until it happens again, in even more luridly reported headlines and op eds.

In the midst of this, we have a female MP who is in a position of power, someone who could raise these issues in Parliament. In order to get here, however, she has lost her husband, physically and metaphorically. The David 2.0 is a remodelled version, far fitter and happier than he was with her, therefore here is her failure as a wife. Her daughter, Flora, is being bullied via social media as well as in school, her step-mother, Caroline, is more aware of this than Emma, so there is strike 2, she fails as a parent. Shocking, and yet scarcely predictable scenes in her constituency clinics , when she comes face to face with the face of male vehemence. Her voters feel she has let her down, as she is fighting for women’s rights, against a sea of ‘whatabouttery‘ from the men. She is even, according to men on Twitter, ‘unrapeable‘ (btw, none of this surprises me, you do not have to dig very far at all to see the absolutely appalling language people seem to feel is acceptable to throw out from behind their keyboards on a daily basis. How sad is that?)

As Emma’s life seems an entirely thankless and powerless existence, you stop and wonder is it a pyrrhic victory, her MP-ship? Can effective change ever be more than aspirational?

But as you dig deeper into situations and relationships, you quickly become aware that misogyny on an epic scale means pretty much any ,man in her life could be the corpse. And if so, good riddance.

She is fighting battles on so many fronts that it would be easy to write her off as a victim, but this is a woman who has passion in her blood, and a promise to her father to keep. The MPILF, as she is known by male MPs is absolutely not going to sit down, be quiet and behave. However, in so doing, is she ignoring a woman who needs her, so much closer to home?

A political, social, and psychological thriller which could have been weighed down by its dark subjects, this is an incredibly engaging novel which examines just what you have to sacrifice in order to build a reputation worth fighting for. And, when you look in the reflection of it’s glow, do you even see your true self anymore?

When it is broken, will its shards turn and cut you,

Can it ever be rebuilt?

Who wants to destroy Emma, and why?

Is it what she represents, or her actual self who is a target?

There wasn’t anything I did not like about the way Sarah writes, from several, principally female, perspectives. She creates a highly readable insight into Parliamentary processes, the work of MPs ,and just who you can-or cannot-trust. It deals with subjects which many might feel disturbing, however, whilst she is not unflinching in the depiction of the consequences of certain individuals actions, she is never exploitative in discussing suicide, murder, and revenge porn.

Reputation is such a brilliantly written thriller and so timely! Sarah's such a skilled writer at giving the reader many layers of story and emotion to propel the book along. The themes of how women are treated at work and at home resonated loudly and is definitely one I've already been recommending and will continue to do so! A proper page turner; loved it!

I loved this fast paced thriller. I couldn’t put it down, I read it in one sitting. Highly recommended. Five stars ⭐️

Many thanks to netgalley and Sarah Vaughan for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

I wanted to give ‘Reputation’ 5 stars but something held me back. It’s an engrossing read and its fast pace style keeps you on the edge of your seat, however my expectations were perhaps set a little too high as I had so enjoyed ‘Anatomy of a Scandal’. Maybe it’s not Sarah Vaughan’s fault per se as there has been so much media coverage in the last couple of years of political scandals and social media shaming that to read about yet another, albeit a fictional account, of such an issue felt a bit too much like overkill.