Oooh, I enjoyed this. From the beginning (Claire's first diary entry) there's a real sense that all is not what it seems. I wasn't sure, at first, if she was deliberately deceiving us or if there was something else going on. As the plot unfolds, there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing.
The basic premise is that Claire is in what seems to be a near-perfect relationship with Noah. But then she turns up at his work one day to surprise him and he's not there. Not only that, but he hasn't been there for the last nine months - which means he's been lying to her for a long time.

I think this is a debut and, if so, it marks the start of a promising new career for Callie Kazumi. The characters were spot on, there were enough twists and turns to keep me reading. I sort of guessed the final twist but that didn't take away my enjoyment of the book. Oh, and what a GREAT cover too!

This book was totally different than I was expecting… in a good way! Just when I thought I was getting to grips with it, it changed direction, and everything I thought I knew I really didn’t! I read it quickly as I was desperate to find out what was going to happen next. It was definitely darker and more disturbing than I was expecting, but cleverly written and a really suspenseful read.. I’m looking forward to reading Callie Kazumi’s next novel.

Claire decides to surprise her hardworking fiancé with lunch one day when she finds that he has disappeared. With a past and present dual timeline this book was one that I couldn’t put down. Claire has not had a good past and with mental health problems which have gotten worse she is struggling. The relationship with her mother was toxic and I resonate with this so much, she is a victim of her own families doing,

I enjoyed this book, it was described as a thriller, but I didn’t find it suspenseful or thriller-esque. The story unfolded and I was able to predict most of the reveals! But I would recommend and read other books by this author.

This novel was FANTASTIC. I cannot recommend this book wholly enough. I read Callie’s elevator pitch on Twitter many moons back and I looooved it even then so actually getting to read the book was even better.

Cuckoo tells the story of Claire, who is in an amazing relationship with Noah - they’re engaged and life is good … until Noah disappears. Claire decides to take lunch to Noah one day only to find he hasn’t worked there for 9 months and didn’t tell her. Claire is frantic, desperate to know what’s going on and why Noah didn’t tell her, but he won’t answer her calls and her texts go unanswered and soon Claire has to take more drastic measures to try and find Noah.

This novel was amazing. Genuinely amazing; so very fast-paced and I was hooked from the very start. I loved Claire as a character, I found her so relatable and she has such a unique voice. The diary entries relating to her relationship with Noah were fascinating and the flashbacks to her childhood were sad, and I applauded how she’d come back from such a terrible childhood and had managed to find the love of her life - or so she thought!

This book had absolutely everything - it was thrilling, it had me on the edge of my seat, I never knew what was coming next and I was constantly surprised. I don’t want to give masses away as I feel like you need to read this novel blind to fully appreciate it.

Callie is a fantastic new writing talent, I am so incredibly excited to see what she does next and this blew my socks off!

I want to start by saying that the cover of this book really intrigued me and that’s why I initially put in the request to read this ARC.

Once I began reading I was very interested to see where everything was going and, while I did guess the ‘twist’, I didn’t let that take away from my rating at all.

I feel it was a little predictable in parts, however it was still a very enjoyable read and the premise and the characters were all very satisfying as a reader.

I will highly recommend this to other thriller readers!

Not a bad read from a debut author. Had me gripped and engrossed and couldn't put it down. All in all a good solid 4 star read

Thanks for the opportunity to review

Claire decides to pop to her husband’s work to deliver the lunch he forgot to take with him on their anniversary. However, when she arrives, she is told he hasn’t worked there in months. Claire has to try figure out what is going on …

I really liked this book! I was in a bit of a reading slump but this book totally helped me get out of it! I also stayed up late one night to read on and I haven’t had a book do that in aaaaages. I felt it was such a great read and found it easy to follow. I worried it was gonna be a creepy thriller but actually didn’t feel too much of a thriller. I really liked how there were diary entries as well as the usual narration to give different sides to the story.

I honestly think the only reason I didn’t give this 5⭐️ is because I guessed what was happening pretty early on 🙈 which is something I never do! I’m usually clueless so it’s the first time I’ve kinda known the way it was gonna go!

I’ll definitely be recommending this to people!

I went into this book with no expectations - this is Callie Kazumi’s debut novel - and I was surprised to find I really enjoyed it! I absolutely devoured this and finished it in two days. It’s a fast paced psychological thriller that tells a story through first person narration and diary entries, alongside regular flashbacks to the main character’s childhood. I really enjoyed this writing style for this genre as it forces you into a singular perspective and allows for slow trickles of information as you discover truths at the same time as the narrator.

I found the childhood flashbacks especially hard hitting and really made me pity the main character. The narrative moves to a court case around halfway through, which I did not enjoy as much as the first half of the story. But it was interesting to see the story fleshed out through the perspective of the other characters, whilst still perceiving it through the eyes of the central character.

Despite enjoying the novel, I did find the twist predictable, and was able to figure out where the story was going very early on. I was still able to enjoy the novel, but the element of surprise was lost on me.

Overall, a great debut, and I’m excited to see how Kazumi develops as an author in the future.

A new author to me, but really enjoyed this book. A page turning thriller with lots of unexpected twists. Definitely recommend

Firstly, I was captivated by the book's cover - it's very appealing! The story introduces us to Claire, who appears to have a happy life with her new fiancé, Noah. However, her world is upended when she visits Noah's workplace to deliver his lunch, only to discover he hasn't been employed there for months. Confused, Claire seeks answers, especially when Noah won't acknowledge or explain the situation.

The narrative alternates between the present and Claire's past, smoothly transitioning and offering a glimpse into her strained relationship with her mother. The beginning of the book was as bewildering for me as it was for Claire, leaving me puzzled about Noah's actions. As the plot progresses, it raises more questions than it answers, keeping the reader in suspense. Claire is a compelling character, and while I shared her desire for answers, I questioned her methods at times. Nonetheless, her friend Sukhi was a character I admired for her steadfast support of Claire.

The book took an unexpected direction, but it was a thrilling and suspenseful read! Filled with unforeseen twists and turns, it captured my attention all the way to its conclusion. I would recommend it.

Thanks for the book, an intriguing premise albeit one that is used rather a lot. I struggled to enjoy the writing style, particularly the diary extracts. But the childhood history was interesting.

rounding up to 3.5

claire goes to her fiancés work to find him missing and lying about his entire identity.

the writing for this felt really juvenile to me but the mystery of the plot kept me invested in wanting to finish the book. it’s definitely a slow burner but i’m glad i stuck with it.

i do wish we got a trigger warning for some of the topics touched upon in the book regarding claire’s childhood.

i personally, enjoyed part two of the book more than part one as i really wasn’t expecting the plot twist at all.

I was drawn to this book by the cover, it's really enticing! I'm glad that I picked it as overall it was very enjoyable. The writing style was really pleasant to read, the book was well-paced and I found the storyline interesting. In my opinion, the twist was pretty obvious but this didn't affect my enjoyment.

I only had two negatives. The first is that I think there were a few too many flashbacks to Claire's childhood - I appreciate a few examples of her relationship with her mother were necessary for the plot, but I got bored of them and found myself skimming these sections to get back to the present day action. The second negative is that the court scenes were very poorly researched, almost everything about them was wrong, and given it takes up about 30% of the book, I'd like to have seen a little more attention given to this.

Overall I did like this. It won't be surprising to regular thriller readers, but it was a well-written and enjoyable story.

Thank you Netgalley for my copy.

I liked this book. I felt compelled to finish it even though it went exactly where I thought it was going. That's fine though, I love being proven right with my first assumptions, it's part of the fun for me.

I hated Claire, she was juvenile and it like I was reading the thoughts of a teenager who had very little social interaction with real humans. However, I suppose some of the story does explain why it felt like this.

Looking forward to reading more by Kazumi.

The premise of the book follows Claire, who is newly engaged and walks into her fiancées office to find he hasn’t worked there for 4 months and now is avoiding her. I was drawn into the book by the beautiful cover and the snappy description and the writing really didn’t disappoint.

It’s super well written and with short chapters, diary entries it is a quick read which I loved. I was hooked on the plot from the start and read in a day, needing to find out the truth.

Only downside here is I did find the twist rather predictable and I imagine avid crime / thriller readers will do too. However it doesn’t take away from the read itself, I would definitely recommend it and the final page was a great.

This is definitely going to be a hit.

3/5 stars this book was very interesting flitting between Claire's (the maincharacter) childhood with an abusive narcissistic mother, her diary entries spanning her relationshipwithfiance Noah and the present where her live seems to unravel before her eyes as she learns her fiance does not work where he said,he has another girlfriend and is refusing to acknowledge her or discuss this with her. I can't say much more or I will give the game away but there are a fair few surprises along the way. What I will say is the pace at the start and end was good but it just started dragging slightly in the middle. All in all an interesting read with very well developed characters and I would definitely read another book by this author.

Thank you to net gallery and the author for this arc copy. Wow the cover of this book is what made me what to read it as a love the diamond ring with the blood dropping down it. This is one of them books that totally make you forget that you’re reading it as your so hooked and gripped from the moment you start reading. . It is so well written and it’s also so fast paced and the plot kept me interested all the way through the book to the very end. I really liked how the chapters were so short but well packed with information. The only tiny bit that I didn’t really like was the court scenes as they were a bit unrealistic and not very true to what happens in the real courts. The ending shocked me in such a good way.

This book begins with a woman called Claire going to her fiancés workplace, only to discover that he has not worked there for 4 months, and follows the events that occur.

(Also, going to be honest, I was sucked in by the book cover - it’s stunning !!)

I did enjoy this book! I thought the writing was easily managed and readable but the pacing did get a little bit slow at times, especially in the first half where it was a lot of the same things repeatedly. I think that the little vignettes of her reliving her mother’s harshness on her were well done even if her mother did come off a little flat sometimes - and her diary entries also helped to break up the text and keep it interesting.

After the dramatic reveal of Lilah’s death, the court scenes were my favourite part - it felt tense and I was still rooting for her (so naive of what was to come). When the realization dawned on me of what actually happened, it felt clear, and when the actual reveal in the text happened it was haunting and none of the suspense was lost on me.

The last page caught me off guard!! It does sound a little rushed, but it was a cracking ending to the book.

I do think that this book has potential to be popular in the future on places like social media, as it has an easily marketable twist. But, I do think that marketing it as a thriller is just not that applicable because the majority of the book was just plain crime/her wandering about being angry in the first half.

Anyway, I will still recommend this to people when it’s officially released and I look forward to more releases after this!

Disclaimer: This ARC was sent to me through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All of my review is my own opinion.

Thank you to the publishing house for granting me access to this book! 😌

Once this got going, I really enjoyed it. It has some unexpected twists and turns, and keeps you guessing until the very end. It is well written, it’s got good pace, and the short chapters leave you wanting more, and you’ll find yourself immediately reading on, even when you promised yourself, ‘just one more chapter’.
Not only would I recommend, it’s also made me want to read more books by this author.

With thanks to NetGalley, and the publisher, for an e-ARC to read and review.