The blurb of this book made this sound like a speculative thriller which was going to get REALLY creepy and suspicious, but unfortunately this was more like a domestic thriller which isn’t one of my favourite types of thriller. It started off STRONG with a husband who’s red flags I was always seeing, and a new technology that is implanted in the brain (never a good idea) and has some strange side effects for the wife 👀

I didn’t have very strong feelings about any of the characters in this one. By the time I was halfway through I felt like this was getting a bit repetitive. The same conversations, the same thoughts, the same people. I felt like if you’re going to complain to anyone who’ll listen about how shit this implant is then maybe you should go and get it removed a LOT sooner than she did. Unfortunately, I also saw both of the plot twists coming from a mile away, maybe the worst part of having read so many thrillers now. But when you have a domestic thriller with two couples as the only characters, you can kind of guess what’s going to happen 😂

I know this sounds like I’ve complained a lot but I did actually enjoy this! The beginning really hooked me, I read this quite fast, and I reallyyyy liked the ending. I wasn’t sure where it was going to go but the ending wrapped everything up so nicely and I thought it was really clever. Overall, I would recommend this, especially if you like domestic thrillers anyway, but some parts might get a bit repetitive!

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review. I absolutely flew through this book and was gripped from start to finish. A highly intriguing yet disturbing story which really makes you think about the future of technology. A gripping edge of your seat thriller that I will definitely recommend. 5 stars

Wow wow wow what a book! Loved the idea of this book and imagining in this day and age how this could come about! I couldn't imagine having a chip in my head where i could hear my partners thoughts, its crazy! I really loved this book, the characters worked so well too!

Would you want your partner to hear your every thought? god no!! It would be incredibly intrusive but in the world of this book, that is exactly what happens.

Anna and Elijah have been married for 19 years and on the outside they look happy and loved up. Elijah is obsessed with new tech and gifts Anna the new chip that is inserted into your body that allows you and your partner to hear each other waking thoughts. Anna is against it but feels she has no other choice, will this bring them closer together or tear them apart?

Now it wouldn’t be a good story if these people didn’t have any deep dark secrets that they were hiding from each other would it! This was a fun, page turner that really made me glad that this is. It a possibility in today’s world. Grab this book and just go with it.

Thanks to Random House UK Vintage on NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. Publishes on February 27th, 2025.

I was drawn to this book, hearing each other’s thoughts….I meant can you imagine! I didn’t know what to expect but it didn’t disappoint, I raced through this as I just needed to know what was going to happen. A great take on a thriller, the controlling aspect to it is terrifying. I don’t want to give anything away but I was pretty satisfied with the ending, you’ll know what I mean when you read it!

It was a good story and I liked the ending but the prolific use of bad language spoilt it for me.
Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

I loved this book. I enjoy an Orwellian theme and Onemind was perfect.

Leaving aside that I don’t think many would want to share their thoughts with a spouse in reality, I loved the way this book flowed through all the little things it would make easier or indeed harder.

I didn’t like Elijah much but I really didn’t need to as the plot held me in its grip.

I found the premise of this book really captivating and original, which initially drew me in. However, as the story progressed, I felt that certain aspects of the execution fell short of my expectations. While the overall plot was intriguing, some parts of the narrative and character choices felt unrealistic or overly simplified, which occasionally pulled me out of the story. I was left wishing that these areas had been developed with more depth or a touch more realism to match the strength of the initial concept.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

I loved this book, it reminded me of the film what women wants but with a darker twist. Loved the characters and the pacing of the story. Saw what was going t happen but still a great read

I really loved this book, it’s my first time reading a book by this author and it certainly won’t be my last. I was in a book reading slump but I managed to read this book in two days. I’ve never read a book like this and whilst with it being set in the near future it felt far fetched it also wasn’t unbelievable. I did wish for a different ending for Anna but I’m glad that it was unpredictable.

The plot for this book sounded really intriguing but unfortunately despite it being set in the near future it took the oft repeated story of mistaking coercive control for love. It was padded with repetition and really mundane conversations between Anna and Elijah, with her seemingly having no mind of her own even before the Unity device except for her one terrible secret. Women have enough of being made to feel guilty and shame in current times without bringing it into the future too.

She spends pages telling him frantically that she loves him and he reacts by being a boring and quite frankly giant pain in the arse in the name of "love". I read this all in one Sunday morning sitting as I was intrigued enough to want to see where the author went with it, but I was disappointed with the ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for this ARC I exchange for an honest review. The views outlined are my own.

I loved this book! I've read many books by this author, but this one has to be the best one yet. In fact it's one of the best books I've read this year. The story just flowed right from the start. I really liked Anna, I was rooting for her, the nursery rhymes took me back to my childhood, there were many I hadn't heard for ages.
All in all I would recommend you read this book now. 5+ stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow do you ever wonder what goes on in your partners head, their thoughts etc? After reading this I no longer will be wondering. What a talking point between couples.

Could not put this book down. Implant behind your ear and the same with your partner and you never have a thought all to yourself again. I thought to begin with that it would be novel, but as the story opened up and the horrors started to unfold, all I wanted to do was to get the chip out of Ann's head myself.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this excellent book.

I loved the premise of this book, it was something really different - a thriller meets sci-fi! But I think I got a bit too much in my head (no pun intended!) around how this world would really work and things not adding up. So it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

So, the story! In a not-too-distant future, where everything is controlled by apps and microchips, Anna’s whole home is digitised and her whereabouts are tracked by husband Elijah at all times. She’s not as into all the techy stuff as him so doesn’t have the apps on her phone (seriously Anna? Not even the one that can open and lock your front door?) Now there is a new techy thing - Unity. And Elijah gets them microchipped for their anniversary so now they can be closer than ever by being able to hear each other’s thoughts.

But Anna has a mega secret she would never want Elijah to know. So why are we doing the bloody Unity thing then Anna?!

What I didn’t get was - you share all your thoughts with Unity, so wouldn’t it just be an absolute cacophony in there? But Anna and Elijah only ever seemed to get the thoughts intended for each other, or when they were really angry. And nursery rhymes. What about the constant chatter going on in there? Or is that just my brain? It would be such a nightmare. And I couldn’t accept that Anna would even be married to Elijah - she seemed a very strong independent woman when she meets him at university and the red flags for controlling behaviour are very much there from the offset. I would think at least her mate Mandie would have said at some point “mate, he’s a wrong un.”

And I won’t spoil but I had a bit of an issue with the ending and whether it worked with what we know about the technology.

However, all that aside, it was a cool concept and I was intrigued by the storyline and felt there were loads of potential ways it could have gone - but I didn’t guess how it did go! I just really hated Elijah and could not fathom why Anna was with him, even before getting inside his head!

4.5 ⭐️
Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for this ARC. The views outlined are my own.

Plot

When Elijah suggests going to OneMind to celebrate their ten-year anniversary, Anna is dubious about getting the implant that enables partners to hear each other’s thoughts. However, she’s eager to please him, and to make up for the fact she can’t give him what he really wants, she agrees to take this step towards the ultimate intimacy.
What starts out great, ends up escalating as Anna tries to keep old thoughts and memories at bay. Anna's mind becomes a prison she can't escape. How long can she keep the traitorous thoughts at bay before she drives herself mad?

Review
I can see from the available reviews that everyone’s perception is vastly different. The unique plot is what struck me to want to read this book, and I felt it didn’t disappoint. My only criticism would have been that I’d liked to have seen a neater ending, but that’s me being quite petty.
I thought the pacing was excellent, the plot was exciting and the characters were intriguing. I’d definitely recommend this story and I’ll be on the lookout for more books by this author.

Anna thinks she has a wonderful marriage - high-tech addict husband Elijah goes out to work while she paints pictures of cats and has boozy lunches with her friend. When he suggests they get microchipped in order to hear each other’s thoughts, she isn’t keen in case he hears secrets from her past which could ruin everything.
This is an enjoyable book, although a lot of the story was the same. However, it did have a really good ending. I just thought Anna was a really pathetic woman, while being presented as a victim. She chose to have a safe marriage where she was financially propped up but I felt we were meant to feel kindly towards her. A decent read.

A potentially interesting story about a married couple, Anna and Eli, and the implant which Eli buys for them on their tenth wedding anniversary. This implant will mean that they can read each others thoughts which, with Eli's coercive and controlling tendencies, can only lead to trouble for Anna.
Unfortunately, the plot didn't live up to my initial interest and I struggled to engage.

The pacing for me was very slow. At 10% in, the plot has barely moved and, by 20%, I had lost much interest. Breadcrumbs are trailed relating to Anna's past, their attempts to have children and a friend she no longer speaks to but, with the slow pace of the story, these attemps at intrigue fell flat.

Every now and again a book will come along that has a more unique plot to it that sets it apart from all the other thrillers out there which follow the same plots and tropes. This one sounded really intriguing but unfortunately it dragged on just a little too much. The vast majority of the book was padded with mundane conversations between Anna and Elijah with not much happening. The last quarter of the book did pick up a bit but was all very predictable. In general it was interesting enough for me to rate it what I would class as ‘good’.
I really struggled with most of the characters as they were all pretty unlikeable. The only exception to that for me was Mandie.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Anna and Elijah are happily married. Approaching their tenth wedding anniversary, Anna has high hopes of a holiday somewhere warm, but tech mad Elijah has other plans. Enter Unity, and the Executive Package.

I enjoy this author and having read her previous books I had high hopes for this one.

Dystopian in its premise, the plot idea was good. However, the repetition was extremely annoying. The whole narrative appeared to consist of headaches, meetings, muting and the dreaded endearment ‘hon’. The repeated doubt expressed by Anna that Elijah’s chip was working properly was just filler.

I prefer a shorter book that sticks to the plot, expresses itself well, and satisfies the reader. Too much filler and repetition is a no no for me.

With apologies to the author.

2 * purely for the idea and the ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK.