Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I struggled with this. The character jumps and the whole coincidence of everything being connected was just a step too far for me.

I have read and loved other novels by Harriet Tyce but sadly this one just wasn’t for me.

I was enjoying the book when it was focussed on Anna. Then we were introduced to Lucy, a section on CCTV and then finally Marie. It felt like the book had been about Anna but then it felt forever until we picked up her story again. I skim read a lot of the CCTV section and Marie section.
The ending then became a bit bity. It was like I’d skipped chapters but I hadn’t, we were just being told about events after they had apparently happened. It started out strong but not one I’d recommend.

I normally love the authors books I have read two of her others but this one is a bit mixed to be honest. I found the plot good but sometimes distracting, the story seemed a bit long and didn't grip me unfortunately. I'm sure I'll be in the minority but this one I didn't love unlike her other books and it just couldn't match up for me.
Thanks to netgalley and the publistfor this arc.

In this latest offering from Harriet Tyce 3 women who seemingly have nothing in common end up working together to solve a few mysteries with one man being the common denominator
Told in 6 parts I will admit to being slightly confused while reading the first half of the book as I couldn't see where the story was taking me but once I'd gone beyond 60% everything seemed to slot into place and I raced through the rest.

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review. This review is based entirely on my own thoughts and feelings.

Overall rating : 4*
Writing skill : 4*
Plot: 5*
Pace: 4*
Characters: 3*
Concept: 3*

The first 50% of this book read like 3 completely seperate, short stories, or at least the start of them. I couldnt for the life of me work out how this story fitted together, how the stories were to be linked further on, but I had faith in the author to hit us with that show stopping twist I previously know her for. And as amazing as it was to see it all come together, something was missing for me, and at the end of the story I am still wondering about a few things. But regardless of my small brain, how authors come up with these stories, that by the end of the book all parts seamlessly come together is beyond me and I'm in awe! If you like a twisty who-dun-it then this will be the book for you. I'm going to read anything sent my way by this author, shes an amazing writer and her books are super entertaining.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

This is my first Harriet Tyce book. I did have a copy of Blood Orange once but didn't get round to reading it, and then it mysteriously disappeared, so who knows.

We follow three different women: Anna, Lucy, and Marie.

We meet Anna in Part 1 when she is released frrom jail. She is quite strong but I wondered if that was all a front. My immediate feeling was she had this hard outer shell developed whilst inside, but she had a soft interior that just needed love to help break through to it.

We then meet Lucy in Part 2. In love with her University Professor. I actually felt quite sorry for her. You wonder if she's dangerous, waiting to make her move, but I think she's just caught up in the idea of a romance, and I felt she was quite harmless, but naïve.

And then we meet Marie in Part 3. She was very much an enigma. I didn't know what to make of her to begin with, and for quite a while to be honest, but she settled into the story for me by the end.

There are lots of other characters, including Tom, Anna's lawyer, who was really caring and trustworthy and I really liked him. I am impressed by Harriet's ability to create three very separate main characters, and then somehow make them work together. It's fantastic to see how her mind works, fitting all these threads together and surprising the reader.

I was worried I'd get a bit confused by the various women, names flying about, how they all related, but it was instantly recognisable and I had no issue with it. I like that the women are front and centre. There are a handful of male characters, some nicer than others, and some more involved than others, but they fade to the background really with how powerful the female characters are written - even if they're not the nicest people.

There are also two mysterious narratives among the main storyline. There's one about two unidentified women, their fights over alcohol dependency, and the other showing the inner thoughts of an obsessed woman. They help tease of what's still to come from the book.

The amount of work and time it must have taken Harriet to get all the threads written down and tied up, first singularly and then together. It is very impressive!

I mean, traditionally, or stereotypically, however you want to view it, criminals tend to be men, especially serious criminals. But in fiction, it tends to be the other way round. And Harriet's done a marvellous job of creating three very different and yet very together female characters, all with a certain amount of criminality in them - either literally or figuratively.

It is such an addictive book. I read half of it before I went to bed one night and finished the second half as soon as I woke up. It's so good. I've read so many thrillers recently and whilst most of them have been really good, you think it can't be possible to keep having good ones, for them to be fresh and original and surprising. Surely all the twists are done. But this was as original and thrilling as any I've read.

Whilst it is an entertaining thriller, there are some important topics in it, none more so than the idea of whether prison works, or if it works as it is now. Are we really rehabilitating criminals? Are we making them 'better' people? How do we punish criminals? Should it be up to us who gets punished? Who gets to play God and decide what happens to everyone? It's a difficult tightrope to balance on.

It is a very busy book. There is a lot going on. Not only in the three main stories, but many other things as well. Is there potentially too much going on? Perhaps. It works, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but part of me wishes it was a bit more streamlined perhaps. But it's fantastic as it is. So I'm going to say if I had to give it a star rating, which I don't usually, this would get a 4.5 out of 5. It is complex and exhilarating and a thrilling ride.

Harriet will definitely be on my list of thriller authors to look out for. I'll have to get my hands on a copy of Blood Orange again, and this time, keep hold of it and read it!

This one took me a little while to get into, I think because it took a while for each character to get their “first part/introduction” - but once I met all 3 women, I flew through the book!

I was completely gripped & couldn’t wait to pick it up. I knew the 3 women’s stories would all come together eventually but I couldn’t figure it out AT all. All the pieces were there but I just couldn’t put them together - which is a sign of a good thriller to me!

I do wish we had known a little bit more about Maria as I felt her character was a complete mystery!

Harriet Tyce is extremely skilled at writing female characters with terrible character flaws that you can't help liking. This is cleverly written, a complex story involving multiple women all in the orbit of one man- Edgar the charismatic criminology expert. How the lives and circumstances of the different women entwine is really intruguing- an ex-con, a masters student, a wife...it's so gripping. It was a 1 sitting read for me and definitely my favourite book of hers.

Twist and turns that kept me guessing, this was most definitely a page turner. The weaving together of the stories and the characters was very clever and how they all come together for the reveal at the end was very well done. I’ve enjoyed all of Harriet Tyce’s books and this is another one to add to that list.

Harriet Tyce does thriller twists and turns that would give Thorpe Park a run for its money, and LIC definitely had those. Told in 4 parts which although you assume must be connected in some way, it Is not until the end that it becomes clear how and even then it gets thrown on its head, again, once or twice. Cruelty, revenge and justice can often melt into each other. Those who are in charge of how much punishment for a crime should be restorative are in a very intricate and tricky position and one size does not fit all. Even the most level-headed of people can make mistakes or let the power change their understanding of right and wrong or being able to clearly assess their motivations. Especially when we don’t always have the full picture.

3.5* --> 4*

‘A Lesson in Cruelty’ starts off with a character called Anna. She has spent the last three years in prison but now she finds herself on the eve of her release. However, something happens during the night. Anna had plans for when she got out, but now she finds she has another mission first. I know, vague. Trust me though, you want to go into this one as blind as you possibly can. Anna’s story had me entirely enthralled. So cue fierce annoyance when that storyline was suddenly rudely interrupted by part two.

That part deals with Lucy. She has developed quite the crush on a professor and she is desperate to catch his attention, and then some. Something lurks in the professor’s life and past though. Maybe Lucy should be careful what she asks for. Finally, there’s Marie. All you need to know about her is in the book description. Marie is a recluse, who longs to be free. But does she deserve to be?

These three women’s stories will obviously come together at some point. Yet figuring out how was nearly impossible. The pieces of the puzzle were all there. I just couldn't get them to fit properly. Obviously, having these three characters makes things more interesting. However, it also annoyed me. Anna was someone to root for, to throw your support behind, to wish better things for. Lucy, on the other hand, irked me so much that if the entire story had been about her, I probably wouldn't have finished it. And Marie was just a big mystery, intriguing for sure, and I desperately wanted to know how she fitted in to it all.

Don't even get me started on the professor, though. He has very strong opinions on the prison system, feeling that it doesn't work. Criminals are not rehabilitated at all, in his opinion. There has to be an alternative to this lesson in cruelty. You'll have to read the book to find out what his alternative is, obviously. Personally I felt his opinion (or maybe the author's) was maybe slightly forced down my throat somewhat. I could have done with input from someone whose opinion contrasted his, just for some balance.

All in all, there were parts I enjoyed and parts I could have done without. It's really not until somewhere around the last quarter that things begin to pick up, that the tension starts to build and you wonder how things are going to end up. Seeing everything come together was quite thrilling, and yet the ending left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied as well, particularly for the character that sets all this in motion.

This is one of those books that's very difficult to review without giving anything away. I already feel like I said too much. Harriet Tyce's books always seem to leave me feeling somewhat conflicted, though, and this one is no different. For the most part I enjoyed it, but there were niggles. Still, 'A Lesson in Cruelty' is a cleverly plotted psychological thriller, full of suspense and intrigue, and it will definitely give you something to think about.

I have been looking forward to this book for sometime, “A Lesson in Cruelty” by Harriet Tyce is a fascinating read which focus’s on the lives of three women, Anna, Marie and Lucy. We are told of their three lives and how they eventually become entwined.

Anna Flynn has just served three years in prison and is about to step out and try to start a fresh although her past haunts her every move. Lucy is obsessed with her law professor who is already married yet she still dreams of having him to herself. And Marie who live a reclusive existence in Northern Scotland and still doesn’t want to face others. The story is so well written and I felt pulled into a web of intrigue and suspense that kept me guessing to the very end.

The characters are excellent and for me a big part of my enjoyment in this novel as well as the intriguing plot full of mystery and suspense. Set in Oxford and Northern Scotland, the story is atmospheric and so well written that I felt I was there with the characters.

As the story develops we begin to see the connections between the characters and the tension steadily builds making it very difficult to stop reading till the end. “A Lesson in Cruelty” is an excellent psychological thriller that kept me completed transfixed throughout and on finishing it wanted to read another one of the authors books. I would like to thank both Netgalley and Headline for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this, but the whole package is so disappointing. I was drawn in by the blurb, which having finished the book is not at all an accurate representation of the story. The book starts off strong but quickly dissolves into a bizarre, far-fetched mess, with multiple forgettable characters and a rushed ending that jumps about erratically and tries too hard to deliver a shock twist. I was waiting to understand how these women connect together and it turns out, clumsily and badly. It felt like I was reading a half-formed first draft, which is a shame because I loved BLOOD ORANGE.

#ALessonInCruelty #NetGalley
Anna wants a fresh start. She doesn't believe she deserves it, but after three years behind bars she has finally paid her dues. Most of them, anyway. Lucy craves the attention of the only man she can't have, her alluring Oxford professor. He's married - not for the first time. Maybe she should be next in line? Marie the recluse has been locked up for too long. She's not ready to be free, but some rules are meant to be broken. Everyone wants a perfect life. But not everyone is prepared to take it. Unless someone decides to teach them a lesson.
Thanks to NetGalley and Headline Wildfire for giving me an advance copy.

This book is unique because each story feels completely separate from the other, and until the last 30% of the book, you will never be able to guess how they all come together.

Each story has its own mystery, so they are all intriguing in their own way. I liked the different POVs, but I was also a bit confused about what was going on at the start, which made this a bit of a slow burn for me.

But once the pieces of the puzzle start to come together, I wasn’t able to put the book down. The twists and revelations were worth the wait!

Wow this book is going to take some recovering from
This book did not take the turn I expected it to from reading Anna’s story but oh I was so impressed
The book is focused on 3 women; Anna, who has just been released from prison, Lucy, who is studying criminology and Marie who is living in a remote house in Scotland. How on earth were they going to be related to each other
This book was read in one day, I struggled to put it down This is the perfect book for me. It was a complex, intense, legal thriller that gave me all the feels
I really did feel for Anna and what life had handed her.
This was a great book and it is highly recommended

It was entertaining enough for me to binge read it on a flight but not a memorable one. I already forgot most of the plots as it is presented in 6 parts which confused me for a while, as they didn't match and made no sense to me. Eventually, everything comes together. However, the last part felt quite rushed, like everything had to get together somehow very quickly.

Rating: 3.2/5

Presented in six parts, "A Lesson in Cruelty" initially tells the stories separately of three women: Anna, who has been serving time in prison, but is due to be released on parole; Lucy, a talented and ambitious law student, but who is unhealthily enamoured with her college professor; and Marie who has been leading a secluded existence in Scotland. Each of the three strands could potentially be a story in its own right, but the reader knows that they will prove to be somehow interconnected - because that's just how these things work in fictional literature.

For the first two-thirds of this novel I was absolutely hooked. Yes, there were some aspects that required me to grant the author some artistic licence, but I was more than happy to do so, because it was making for compelling reading and there was a palpable sense of drama and tension developing - particularly in the threads relating to Anna and to Lucy. The third string of the plot, featuring Marie, was harder to swallow, but I was prepared to overlook that for the sake of the novel as a whole.

Disappointingly, in the final third, the tight execution of the story really did start to unravel. Plot developments seemed rushed in this closing section and the resolution to the mystery was just too convenient, too contrived and stretched credulity beyond the acceptable parameters of dramatic fiction. This was such a pity after all the positive aspects there had been during the build up, with so much tension and excitement being created. Overall, "A Lesson in Cruelty" is still an enjoyable read, but if the earlier quality level had been maintained throughout, then it would have been even better.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

Harriet Tyce has an amazing talent of making her characters literally jump off the pages, this book being no exception. This is the type of thriller that you will definitely leave you breathless!

I usually enjoy books with multiple perspectives/narrators but I found that in this book, they only confused me. And while the reveal about two thirds of the way through, when the three perspectives coalesce and come together, was satisfying, it only heralded a particularly far-fetched and unsatisfying final third. Not a book for me, I’m afraid.