I've just finished The Only Suspect- having read several of Louise Candlish's other psychological thrillers, I knew I'd live thus one, but I feel it's her best yet! The first half is where the reader really gets to know Rick and Marina and really invest in them, but the 2nd half is so plot twisty it goes up another gear, it's incredible. Told along 2 timelines of 95 and present day, I loved all the 90s Brit pop references and pagers etc where life without mobiles and the Internet was just so different. I never saw the final plot twist coming AT ALL and I literally gasped!! What an absolutely fantastic read for 2023.

Superb storytelling makes this slow burning psychological thriller an excellent read.

I’ve not read by this author before but I absolutely loved it. Told across two timelines, the ‘present’ and ‘during the 90’s’ both linked to the opening of a nature trail and the murder of a young woman decades before.

Whilst the majority of the book is hugely predictable and the twists are obvious… just you wait until you reach the end where they come thick and fast! The relentlessness of their arrival makes this book really stand out as quite masterful. As mentioned, all the twists prior to those at the end, whilst entertaining and engaging to read are there only to dupe you into believing you have it all figured out - but just you wait!

Excellent character development makes the storyline believable. Candlish sets out a range of thematic scenes for her encounters to play out and they too are as rich and vivid as her pawns she plays across the board.

All in all a totally enjoyable read and one that I would recommend to my crime fiction followers. Thanks to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoy Louise Candlish's books - they are always very twisty and turny keeping you guessing all the way. The problem with this one was two-fold. Firstly I didn't really care about the characters who weren't very well developed and secondly some of the twists were reminiscent of those in The Other Passenger, one of her books that I had read recently. I thought they were done better in the earlier book with more power to surprise. This time I almost saw them coming because I knew things wouldn't be as they seemed. I would have preferred a bit more character development so that I cared what happened to them with perhaps a few less irrelevancies - I never did work out the point of Zara for example! A good book but not the usual standard of a Louise Candlish novel.

I am of course aware of Louise Candlish’s books and I’m aware that she receives a lot of high praise, but this is actually the first of hers I’ve read. And I’m somewhere on the fence with it.

I did find there was some blurring between the old chapters of Rick and the new chapters of Alex. At first this might be off putting, but it does become more obvious as it goes on and in the end I felt this blurring was very cleverly done.

It’s a slow burner. I was expecting it to come out running, but instead it drip feeds you until you’re swept up.

However, it wasn’t as thrilling as I expected. I’d heard that her books were full-pace mysteries, but I felt it just sort of plodded along. That’s not to say it was bad, no, I enjoyed it, but it just felt a bit safe and needed more finesse.

It definitely felt like a book of two halves. In fact I’d go as far as saying it felt like two different books. The first is a slow character study and the second half is the mystery thriller.

I did want to persevere and find out the outcome which is a good sign, but I wasn’t really fussed about getting there. Whilst pleasant to read, it never really grabbed me.

I felt a bit lost at times. I know thriller murdery books need a bit of mystery to keep you on your toes, but I felt the only reason I was questioning things was because I didn’t know what was going on in the first place. It wasn’t because a red herring flew out and turned everything upside down, I just wasn’t sure what was happening at times.

Reading some of the other reviews for this book and her other ones, I know she’s an interesting author to read, and so this won’t put me off trying her others, but it jut fell flat. Yes there were twists and turns and whatnot but I felt they came too late.

I know that whole review sounded really negative and like I didn’t enjoy it, but I did enjoy it. I thought it was an enjoyable read but it didn’t have that magic I was hoping for.

This is Louise’s best book yet… it’s a thrilling slow burner where I found myself totally consumed by the lives of the characters. There are plenty of hand over mouth moments which complement perfectly the tension built up. I highly recommend.

This was such a brilliant read, full of twists and turns that kept me hooked. I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend.

Louise Candlish is a brilliant thriller writer - The Only Suspect does not disappoint.
A well paced plot, interesting characters and a twist that you won't see coming.
4 stars

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

This was a great little psychological thriller which started off slow and then eventually picked up pace midway through. It's told through dual timelines, the POV switching between Rick in 1995 and Alex in the present. You're constantly trying to connect the dots to see how the two relate to each other, and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing throughout.

I did mange to predict some of those twists and plot points, but it was still an enjoyable read and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a nice twisty thriller-mystery to settle down with of an evening.

The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish is a slow burning book that really takes off at least half way through the book. Then there are so many twists and turns that you could be forgiven for losing track of what is going on.
I didn’t like the main male character, Alex and then realised I wasn’t keen on any of the main characters.
It took me a while to actually enjoy reading this book and I have to admit it wasn’t my favourite read by Louise Candlish but I did finish it and will read other books by the author in future.
Recommended

Alex and his wife live a quite, normal life in a secluded suburb of London. When a local group campaign to turn a stretch of overgrown land into a nature trail Alex begins to worry that the life he has built for himself will begin to unravel as long buried secrets are revealed.

Author Louise Candlish is a skilled writer who has the knack of slowly drawing you into a story, gradually revealing pertinent pieces of information so that you think you've solved the puzzle, only to then be proven incredibly wrong.

In The Only Suspect we initially focus on Alex, wondering why he is so worried about the nature trail. The story then jumps back to 1995 and we are introduced to Rick, a young man who meets an enigmatic woman, Marina. Rick slowly fall in love with Marina, despite the fact she's married. Holding Rick at arms length Marina admits that her husband is very controlling. Rick is prepared to do anything to help Marina escape her unhappy marriage.

Back in the present Alex begins to behave strangely, things aren't helped when his wife allows a friend to move in after becoming homeless. You then begin to wonder how the two stories are connected, particularly when we learn that Alex changed his name a number of years ago. This really does add an air of mystery as you keep trying to figure out which character from 1995 he is.

The 1995 elements of the story grip you far more than those set in the present. Rick is a knight in shining armour, desperate to save the damsel in distress, even if he ends up putting himself in danger. However, it's that constant sense of never quite being able to see the complete picture that is unsettling. One moment you think you've figured out what is happening, the next you are doubting and take off on a new tangent.

While the conclusion isn't a shock, I still wasn't convinced there wasn't going to be another twist until I actually read it.

YES! YES!! YESSSSSS!!!!!
This book had me reading late into the night and waking up the next day feeling like a had a hang over due to the lack of sleep thinking about it after I finished it.

Most reviews start with the beginning of the book but I’m starting with the end and OMG what an ending this was! Loved the way the book slowly built up to an ending that was quite frankly brilliant. It’s set between the 1990’s and the present day and this is done exceptionally well and just makes the story flow so well. If you start reading this book thinking it’s just another run of the mill storyline - as I admit I did -you are in for a surprise as it just goes off on unexpected and clever tangents. Take a bow Ms Candlish

This was as gripping and readable as Louise Candlish always is, and included two proper 'didn't see it coming' twists!

Wow, This pulled me in straight away, I absolutely loved the duel timeline from the 90s to the present day.

What a page turner, had me hooked throughout and twist after twist, which I didn't see coming.

Another fab thriller from this Author which like our house would be amazing on our screens.

So my reading has slowed lately due to some busy periods of work etc so unfortunately am not as quick getting through the TBR pile. However the latest release from Louise Candlish got rapidly moved up the list due to having read all of this authors last few books (and slowly working through the back catalogue too!)

‘The Only Suspect’ introduces us to Alex who is happily married to his wife Beth. He likes to keep himself to himself despite Beth’s involvement within the community and specifically a new nature trail. A nature trail that will disturb a local site that’s been untouched for years, a site that Alex wants to remain undisturbed but how far will he go to ensure that happens?

The story is told from two different viewpoints at different stages of the characters lives, intertwining characters that you know will link up for the conclusion but just how is very cleverly written in the classic Candlish style. I won’t give anything about the twist away but I was literally convinced I had it all figured it out before being so completely wrong I almost went back to the beginning of the book to see what I’d missed! I don’t think I’ll be the only one who does this, a fantastic psychological thriller that would wholeheartedly recommend.

Another winner from Louise, surely one of the best psychological thriller writers out there. Alex and wife Beth are happily married in their leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Though Alex prefers to keep himself to himself, which includes a lack of social media or being present online, he’s been a good husband and a kind neighbour. Until his wife announces that a nature trail is being created, making use of the disused piece of land behind their home. Which is a good thing, right? Er, well, suddenly Alex is at his wits’ end, worried that decades long secret will resurface in more ways than one. Cue flashbacks to 1995 when an entanglement ended in the worst possible way. Alex swiftly becomes someone his wife, and her friend, doesn’t recognise. What is he hiding? And what happened that hot summer when everyone seemed to lose their heads? Expect to be satisfyingly bamboozled in this fast paced, twisty turned, beautifully plotted novel.

Omg 😱 the twists and turns in this book just keep on coming!
A really clever, riveting read, this is definitely a book to look out for and added to your tbr pile!
Easy 5 star book

Louise Candlish is such an amazing author. I highly recommend all of thier books. This book is no exception to this, it is incredibly gripping and fast paced

The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish


A big wow from me. Read the book in a few days as like her other titles once you pick up the book it grabs you from the very start and keeps you guessing until the end.
Full of suspense and lots of twists to keep you on your toes .
Brilliant plot , fab characters . Can't wait for the next one !

OMG, twists galore! I certainly didn't see any of them coming, not even a slight hint.
Definitely worth staying up late to finish the book.
I highly recommend this one to go straight to the top of your tbr pile.
One to look out for and not to be missed.