I love books where the past story is relevant in putting the present story together. This was the case with Justine who returns to her hometown to work on a case that could jump start her career. But this all changes when she sees that the accused is her ex boyfriend. With lots of secrets, huge twists, multiple POVs and an ending that left me reeling, I highly recommend this book. I can't wait to read more by this author.

A fantastic debut thriller, this grabbed me from the start and kept hold right up to the tense and twisty end.
Family drams, secrets, lies and murder. Perfect!

Justine is a top class barrister, one you’d want in court defending you, one you wouldn’t want to be facing as opposing counsel. But it’s all about to crumble when someone reenters her life she’d lost many years ago..

As Justine can’t control events around her, she is forced to return to her childhood home and face her past which with each chapter changed the narrative, changed my thoughts. I didn’t know where Hornsley was taking me on Justine’s journey.

This is a dark and twisted debut from Hornsley. One where I got a version of the truth which got superseded a number of times before I was finally told the actual events on the night that changed everything. Sarah Hornsley is someone to watch! Brilliant debut!!

Loved this twisty tale. Pacing was spot on and kept me hooked. The main character was not entirely likeable which is one of my favourite features in a story, and the ending rounded things off, but made you question everything.

Bad Blood was a fast paced story which kept me on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed the way it was written with flashes of the past from each character.

There were themes of domestic abuse and sexual assault which were well written.

Justine made a solid main character with a dark past to unlock, and character development throughout her journey.

I would definitely recommend Bad Blood, I really could not put it down.

After her father's death Justine was left by her boyfriend and sent to London. Her relationship with her mother has been difficult ever since. Now a rising barrister, Justine is given a case that could make her career but she has to turn it down as the accused is her former boyfriend, living under an alias. Now Justine is drawn back to her home town of Mersea and a quest for the truth.
This is a hard book to review because on the surface it is a very implausible story but it is written in an addictive style. The pace is fast and there are several twists which make it a really great, if undemanding, read. However, will I remember it...

Justine Stone is a successful barrister who is working on the case to prosecute her childhood sweetheart of a double murder. She hasn’t confessed she knows who he is to any of her colleagues as she is desperate not to be taken off the case and she has to take a trip down memory lane and return to the place she left twelve years ago uncovering her painful memories and buried past. This town is full of Freemasons hiding many a secret and Justine has to face her own buried secrets to get the answers she’s looking for.

This is a great debut novel with everything you need for an exciting mystery, crime thriller. Relatable characters, red herrings and believable plot.
3.5 🌟 rounded up

Many thanks to publisher, author and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I've been sitting on writing this review for a while because... WOW. This book had me hooked. It had everything. I can't even begin to tell you. I never saw it going in the directions that it did. The characters were written so well and their development was very strong. I think I questioned everyone I met in the book.

Just wow!

I don't think I guessed one thing right in this book, every twist had another twist inside of it.

Most of the characters were unlikable but that felt real to the story and necessary for the plot. After reading everything about Justine and her life, I think she has earned the right to be somewhat detached and anxious.

This was amazing for a debut novel, and I hope to see more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for this ARC

When Justine Stone left her family and hometown almost 20 years ago, she did so willingly, anything to forget what came before. But when her past comes right up to taunt her – and haunt her – she’s forced to look back at 18 years preciously. Everyone has had a reason to be flexible with the truth then, and it looks like history’s repeating itself now. But when everyone is focused on what’s in it for them, how do you decipher the truth?

A fantastic debut thriller, this grabbed me from the start and kept hold right up to the tense and twisty end.
Family drams, secrets, lies and murder. Perfect!

Justine Stone is a criminal barrister who has just been handed her first big case, a double murder, the accused is Brad Finchley except he's not, he's her ex-boyfriend Jake Reynolds and she hasn't seen him since he ran out on her on that fateful night but, to find out the truth about his case she needs to return to the place she left twelve years ago, which brings back all the bad memories she thought had been buried for good.

Bad Blood is the debut thriller from this author, a dual timeline set in the present and the past, told from multiple perspectives throughout and fraught with secrets in a toxic family where, however much they believe they are protecting their loved ones, their actions have far reaching consequences on others. This is a slow burn, with a multi layered plot, stripped back to reveal the truth of what really happened eighteen years earlier in Justine's family and explains the reasons behind what is happening in the present day. It's an intriguing read with some great twists and a surprising ending.

I'd like to thank Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the approval. I will post my review on Goodreads and Amazon.

WoW . . . . . . Bad Blood by Sarah Hornsley was so good! I ended up glued to my kindle all day and ended up reading it till the very end. . . . . What an excellent book Bad Blood was, I loved it. This book had everything. . . . .

A double murder.
A toxic past.
A family secret.
There's no law against keeping secrets. . . . . and there were lots of them, especially as It was also full of brilliant twists and turns which made it a roller coaster ride.

Justine Stone left her home twelve years ago, and she was never to return.

Now Justine's ex-boyfriend, Jake, has been accused of a double murder in the town where they both grew up in.
Justine is a barrister and she has to make the case against him.

She need to face the courts, but, she also needs to know all the the real truth on what happened when they were so young, and not just some of the story. . . . . Justine will need to tell the jury of the courts.

But, firstly she needs to return to where it all began so many years ago and reach the very heart of it, She must face up to the part her own family played in it.

You know what happens to Family Secrets. . . . They always have a way of coming to the surface and it doesn't matter how long it takes, they always come out!

Will Justine be safe when she starts to find out the truth! WoW!

I highly recommend this book. A big fat 5 stars for this excellent book.

Bad Blood by Sarah Hornsby, This is another book where the summary doesn’t match the story. She isn’t the one who builds a case against him because for one thing she’s a lawyer in London not to mention she knows the defendant which is something That causes a breach of trust in the judicial system. Now despite that she still investigates the story the thing I didn’t like about the book besides the main character Justine was that when she arrived in her hometown she said she hadn’t seen her mom in 12 years but when she realized her brother isn’t home She just immediately goes to her house… Does this village not have hotels? I do want to say the whole thing with her brother and the ending of the book made this worth reading all of it. Just be worn she isn’t likable and there are many things you may be like WTF? as far as the mystery and the conclusion goes it was really good and I would definitely read another book by this author I just didn’t like the main character the overuse of words in the story and a few things that had me raising an eyebrow but other than that you will probably love this book way more than I did.#NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview,#SarahHornsby, #BadBlood,#HotterInStoughton,

Justine left behind a traumatic childhood to reinvent herself as a successful criminal barrister, but 18 years after she left her hometown, a case lands on her lap that threatens to rake everything up all over again. As far as crime/mystery thrillers go, this one seemed to have it all, but I didn’t enjoy the storytelling. Justine’s first-person PoV was interspersed with others’ (historical) perspectives, but it didn’t really land well., For one, it was hard to keep track of what you as the reader knows versus what Justine did. For another, it felt like a cheat, not being able to discover everything with the person telling the tale. Plus, I found it hard to warm to Justine—lots of telling, but no real feeling.

The story too was predictable, though I had some unanswered questions (which could just be me not picking up the right bits, to be fair). For instance, despite going on about how wonderful the husband was, we never do get an explanation of how she got away with keeping him in the dark, and lying to him. How did he not pick up that she was hiding stuff when she was clearly off the rails, and given they were supposedly so in tune?

This is a gripping tale of murder. Justine is a criminal barrister, handed her first big murder case to prosecute. Except that the murderer is Jake, someone she used to love and hasn’t seen since she was 18. Justine has to give up the case, but in continuing to look into the crime all the secrets of her past begin to unravel.
This is a well written, intriguing murder mystery. I read it in one day and although I’d guessed at some of the plot, this still had a few surprises in store. An enjoyable page turner.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC.

Justice left home 18 years previously she is a flawed chracter that's well realised by the author. Full of twists that hooks you from the beginning.Cleverly plotted and will keep you guessing till the end. A very good debut can't wait to read more from this author.. Thanks to Hodder & Soughton and Netgalley for this review ARC.

Bad Blood was a work of art!! Each piece, each character was placed in a way that you had to follow the steps and clues, and I was hooked! I thoroughly enjoyed each main character in this story, how they told their story then and now in each event that shaped their lives. Very clever!
I can see a lot of readers will enjoy this book and crave more when this is finished. Keep writing Sarah!!
Many thanks to Hodder And Stoughton for the opportunity to read this arc copy via Netgalley. My opinion is my own.
#Netgalley, #HodderAndStoughton, #SarahLitAgent.

This is an excellent psychological thriller. Full of twists, secrets and suspense. The main character is so well drawn and almost keeps the reader at arms length , I didn’t particularly care for her but I was so invested in where this story was going. It kept me guessing and engaged from start to finish. I’ll look forward to this authors future work.
4⭐️

Bad Blood
Sarah Hornsley
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3.25)

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Bad Blood is a clever thriller, with plenty of twists and turns. Sarah Hornsley does a great job at creating suspense and keeping the story flowing.

However, I really struggled with the main character Justine, she was unlikeable from the start, her actions were selfish and she lacked growth. It was this flawed character I had me questioning if I wanted to continue reading.

That being said, by the time I did reach the ending I released that maybe the main character wasn’t meant to be liked and with that made me reevaluate my thoughts and the story’s intent.

If you love thrillers where the protagonist doesn’t have many redeemable qualities, this could work for you, but if you need a character arc of growth and redemption, Bad Blood might not be the one for you.