REVIEW: The Librarian by Valerie Keogh

Valerie Keogh's The Librarian has an interesting idea but doesn't quite hit the mark. The concept of a quiet librarian's life getting shaken up by a mysterious threat sounds great, but the way it's written feels a bit flat and lacking in excitement.

The pacing is all over the place—some parts drag on while others rush through important moments. The characters, especially the main one, Ava, don’t feel fully developed. Her struggles and the challenges she faces come off as pretty one-dimensional.

The suspense, which is crucial in a psychological thriller, could be more consistent. There are a few tense moments, but the vibe doesn't deliver overall. The ending feels hasty and leaves a lot of questions hanging.

While The Librarian had the potential to be a thrilling read, it just doesn’t quite get there.

Thank you, Netgalley and Boldwood Books, for the free advanced copy for my honest review!

The first chapter or two are interesting but then it becomes a broken record of a paranoid character. The reader could literally skip the next 48 chapters and not miss any major details because the villains' monologue will cover everything the book never referenced. Also, the main character's profession, the title of the book, plays no part in the story. This could have been any person with any job or background.
I strongly recommend not reading this, even if it is free.

I rattled through this very fast, desperate to know what happens next. It's a bit of a crazy story though in many ways it's not unbelievable. A great holiday read!

Fans of terrifying thrillers can never go wrong with a Valerie Keogh novel and she is on chilling form with her latest, The Librarian.

Ava is not like most young women of her age. She has no interest in dating, partying or bar-hopping and instead prefers to keep herself to herself. Perfectly happy with her job as a librarian, Ava gets all the stimulation she needs from books and from the job that means everything to her. She has absolutely no desire whatsoever to have a partner and is at her happiest when she is by herself. However, when she is at long last persuaded to step out of her comfort zone, little does Ava realize that her life is going to take a drastic turn for the worst.

Going out for a drink is a harmless activity that many people indulge in. When Ava agreed to meet a friend for a drink, she never imagined that she would attract the attention of a man who wanted to get to know her – and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Ava had immediately rebuffed his advances and went back home having put the incident behind her. However, when things start going wrong in her life, Ava cannot shake off this horrific feeling that the man she had turned down might be on a dangerous mission to ruin her life after rejecting him.

With everything she cherishes in jeopardy, the quiet librarian must fight back. But she must tread carefully as she is up against a very dangerous enemy who won’t stop until he’s won.

A nail-biting edge-of-your-seat thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat until the last page, The Librarian is vintage Valerie Keogh. A nerve-jangling chiller about deadly revenge and dangerous lies full of tension, menace and foreboding, Valerie Keogh’s The Librarian is perfect for readers looking for a thriller that will keep them up all night.

This was a quick read and would be perfect to take away on holiday. Less library talk than I was expecting and our protagonist made some less than prudent decisions.

Overall though, it’s an entertaining popcorn read, one to curl up with on a chilly evening with a glass of your preferred or it’s one to take to the beach on a sunny day for a glide through easy read.

Thank you for the ARC Copy of The Librarian. This was a great mystery thriller and a great first read by this author for me. When she meets this mysterious man and what he intends was what kept me reading. What was this guys purpose with her?
It was definitely an interesting book and a quick easy read!

I absolutely love Valerie keogh books they're always addictive and gripping, and that was definitely the case for this story.

I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down!

I really rather enjoyed this. The main character, Ava, lives a quiet life as a librarian, a job she loves, with few friends and no man. An event that happened eighteen years ago at uni shapes her current life and she prefers to live a solitary but comfortable life with few distractions and even fewer friends. But can this bubble of seclusion and safety keep the past from interfering with the life she's built? A good story, fairly believable with a likeable, relatable character and a few good twists and turns that kept it interesting. I read it quickly, a sign of a good read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for giving me the opportunity to read it before publication.

Ava Warrington works as a librarian for the Tate Modern, she loves her job! She like to keep her life as boring as possible after a fateful night ten years earlier that still haunts her. As it approaches the ten-year anniversary of that fateful night things in Ava's life start to spiral out of control and it starts when Ava and her friend Poppy visit a pub for a drink. Poppy immediately finds a man very quickly and they get lost in a conversation. Another man approaches Ava and offers her a drink. She feels uneasy right away in his presence and declines. The man aggressively pursues her and when she moves away, he warns her that she will be sorry. After this a lot of things go wrong for her – she is suspended at her job, she finds a dead bird is outside her window, and she just feels unsafe. She certain the man from the pub is most likely the culprit as she has no other known enemies. Before her life continues in the downward spiral Ava knows she needs to find out who has it out for before it’s to late.

I enjoyed this, it had me gripped right from the beginning.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

TRIGGER WARNING: drug use, sexual assault, violence
Ava has her dream job and a quiet life. However, she is haunted by the past and now her career is at risk. Who wants Ava to suffer?
The Librarian is a psychological thriller set in London.
Ava is a quiet and hard working woman. She dwells on the past and a man she will never forget. Now, she turns down a drink with a man at a bar and he threatens to make her sorry. The next day she has a disaster at work and is suspended. Could the man have made good on his promise or is there someone else who bears a grudge?
There are plenty of sinister moments in the plot and there is a really tense atmosphere. This is balanced by a gentle humour about Ava's sister and best friend. However I did have to suspend my disbelief as the plot unfolds.
I found myself a little impatient to know about Ava's past with Simon as there are only vague mentions in the first half of the book yet has huge ramifications for her emotions and actions. Ava's choices and reactions to events are a result of her experiences in the past so as they are revealed we gain a greater understanding of her character.
It is a quick read and the plot twists and tension increase in the second half of the book. The ending was a little unclear and I felt as confused as Ava. Her doubts left me with the same uncertainty about the situations she faces about the past and present.
The Librarian is a tense and enjoyable psychological thriller.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the storyline at the heart of this book! The mystery aspect kept me guessing until the end and even when I thought I had it figured out there was still more to discover! The writing was complex and kept me engaged and entertained throughout. I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes mysteries about librarians with hidden pasts!

Compelling and suspenseful, it is twisty and unpredictable and kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through

Once again Valerie Keogh is the master of suspense and drama.

I loved this book. Her writing is so addictive I just cannot put her books down.

Highly recommended, 5 stars from me.

This book started off well for me, but then at times it became unrealistic. It was repetitive at times also. I liked it but I couldnt say I loved it.

This is an intriguing, if somewhat of a slow-burn, psychological thriller.

There is plenty of tension from the outset and the author does a credible job of building intrigue as the reader ponders on who could be behind the events in Ava’s everyday life.

There is an element of repetition as the author tries to convey the turmoil within Ava’s mind as she questions how much of what is happening is real and how much is a figment of her imagination.

The continual reference to events ten years earlier, but with very little being revealed until late in the story can be a little frustrating as it clear that the past holds some relevance, but the reader is kept in the dark as to its significance for most of the plot.

One of the strengths of the narrative is that it’s hard to work out who the culprit could be until the big reveal and there are plenty of twists along the way to keep the reader guessing.

With thanks to the author, Rachel at Random Resources and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to participate in the tour.

I wanted to like this one - I really did. I kept holding out for the plot to thicken and shock me but it never came. I think this story had a lot of potential but really lacked in the execution. I felt that the plot was rather shallow and predictable and the twist at the end felt typical and unsurprising. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ava Warrington is a librarian at the Tate in London - her dream job. She has a good friend who's always looking for Mr. Right and is just off a breakup, so the two go out to a bar together. Ava's not really interested in hooking up, so when Poppy gets involved in a conversation with a man, Ava decides to head out, only to be accosted by a handsome but somewhat threatening man. Ava stands her ground, but the man's parting words haunt her: "You'll be sorry!"

What follows is a campaign of gaslighting that would normally be followed by Satanic ritual murder in any other suspense novel, but in this one just leads to Ava's professional and personal misery (and a little bit of off-screen death). Ava can't help but wonder, is it all tied to that BIG THING IN HER PAST?! You know, the thing that will be referenced a thousand times but never outlined or explored in any way except to mark it as a signpost for OF COURSE IT IS.

You REALLY gotta suspend your disbelief for this one, folks. And the explanation owes some money to plenty of movies and suspense novels of the '80s (and not in a good way).

Meh. 2.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return for a rview based upon my honest opinion.

This was my first book by this author. It was an okay book, and was a quick read. I couldn't really get into the book though and found the main character fell flat for me. Maybe if I had liked the mian character, Ava, more I would have enjoyed the book more. I found the plot line kind of thin and some of what the characters did did not make sense, or were explained properly. There were a few twists and I initially found the book quite interesting, I lost interest about half way through the book.

I would definitley try this author again, as this could just be a one off.