Reader, never underestimate the power of Susie Lynes to take you, dangle you from a precipice, pull you back up just to drop you again and again and again! With The Perfect Boyfriend, Susie has both amazed me and broken me into a thousand tiny pieces! How on earth can I wait a year for the next book, I am bereft!
I love that Susie has come back up North for her latest novel. Set in Aberdeen, it’s a city I know well, having spent some of my student years there and she has captured the bleakness of the Granite City to perfection. That prologue set against the backdrop of the cruel North Sea invoked terror. The imagery was sublime and terrifying all at once. What a start, what a hook and this was swiftly followed up by a breath holding opening chapter that had me on tenterhooks!
The Perfect Boyfriend follows midwife, Kirsty Shaw, who bumps into a face from the past following a harrowing experience at work. Told from first person point of view, this created a very real sense of immediacy and provided me with that connection with Kirsty. Reading this (and all of Susie Lynes books), I really do experience the novel, it feels as though I am morphing into the vibrant characters she creates, she really knows how to make sure her characters crawl under your skin.
And talking about crawling under your skin, the introduction to Kirsty’s ex, Hughie Reynolds, is simply chilling and as I read about Kirsty’s teenage experiences and anguish with Hughie, I wanted to reach into the pages and wring his scrawny little neck. Hughie also comes to us in the first person and believe me, his is a head that you really do not want to occupy. He is evil personified!
Susie Lynes creates characters I hate to leave, closing the pages gives me anxiety; when I leave them to go to work I spend all day thinking about getting back to them. And when I close the last page over, I’m already grieving for my loss!
As soon as Hughie appears on the scene, a series of very strange and dark coincidences start to occur; Kirsty becomes increasingly preoccupied with the man who maintains he is not who she thinks he is. Dougie, Kirsty’s partner, attributes Kirsty’s anxieties to her pregnancy and her fascination with true crime. And the more others tried to reassure Kirsty the more I was getting ready to roll up my sleeves, jump in and gie her hauners!
There is so much I want to tell you about this story but that would risk dropping some massive spoilers and I’m not going to do that. It is fair to say that Susie Lynes is the absolute Queen of thrillers, of creating relatable characters in ordinary situations that you can imagine yourself in. Reading about Kirsty’s memories about Hughie, triggered so many teenage memories for me, about the feelings you believed to be love and that whole teen anguish and anxiety. And the little Ballerina in the jewellery box, I used to try and see her lying down when the lid closed too!
When you get to the end of this book, so many things you have read start to fall into place, that wonderful feeling of hindsight and this is exactly what Kirsty experiences too as we follow her on her journey.
There’s also a little Easter egg in The Perfect Boyfriend for fans of Susie’s work. I eeked a little when I spotted it and it gave me a wee warm Ready Brek Glow inside. If you know, you’ll know!
Tension simmers like a pot ready to boil over all the way through this book. Crafted to perfection from the creation of relatable characters, to the authenticity of the setting and the sense of experiencing the book and not just reading it, it’s simply sublime. Her prose is almost poetic yet never saccharine and every time she blows my mind!
Filled to the brim with lies, betrayal and secrets, The Perfect Boyfriend, kept me on edge right until the very end, to the point I couldn’t breathe at some points! The rug was well and truly pulled from under my feet more than once with jaw clattering twists and teasing tension. Folks, this is more than “it’s a belter”, it’s right off the belter scale!
Don’t miss it!

This was a strong psychological thriller and had that feel that I wanted from the first book. The concept was strong and enjoyed the overall suspenseful atmosphere that I was looking for. S.E. Lynes has a strong writing style and left me wanting to read more from S.E. Lynes.

Literally couldn’t put this book down! Fast paced , full of twists an turns I loved it! Thank you net galley for the early read

Another very enjoyable thriller by this author.

Kirsty is a midwife and is pregnant herself due to give birth in a few weeks. After finishing her shift one day she is sure she has just seen a face from the past that she never thought she would see again. Hughie was an ex-boyfriend but when she attempts to speaks to him, he denies knowing her. The years have not been kind to Hughie, but Kirsty knows it is him, now she wants to find out why he is trying to hide his identity.

The story is told by these two POV’s that provide us insight into the past and shows us these two characters back stories and how an unexpected encounter will all play out.

Full of suspense, this is a fast-paced book that I am sure many will enjoy, well thought out story.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy of the book, all opinions expressed are my own.

I've said in the past that no one writes characters like S E Lynes, and I stand by it, the characterisation in this book was second to none and it was easy to get invested in Kirsty and Hughie's story. I thought the concept was interesting and there were some good twists to the tale.

My only quibble would be that the plot did feel a little repetitive at times, and there were a few occasions where I was a little bored and wished the story would progress a bit.

Overall I thought this was a really good book and I would recommend it.

WOW! Just WOW! Definitely one of the best thrillers I have read in a long time! The prologue had me hooked at the first page, this book was read in a day! The descriptions were amazing. I managed to create the characters in my head. If you aren't Scottish like I am, the slang is easy to understand. Excellent characters and excellent plot twists. I could not put it down. I was devastated when it finished. Will definitely be reading more of this authors books.

Wooohhhhh... Hughes had me surprised first off. And tge back abs goth with wondering what was going to happen with the ex. So much backstory and it was great it was told. Not surprising another great book from S.E. Lynes.

Thanks to the author , the publisher and Netgalley for an early release of this book.

Book Title: The Perfect Boyfriend
Author: S.E. Lynes
Publisher: Bookouture
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: January 6, 2025
My Rating: 4.3 Stars
Pages: 358

Story is told from the POV of Kristy Shaw and Hughie Reynolds.

Story starts with Kristy Shaw, a mid-wife in the Labor Delivery room with an emergency delivery. Kristy is very much pregnant herself. Her supervisor is pleased with how she saved the baby’s life but has concerns about Kristy being so far along. She tells Kristy to take a break now- put her coat on and go outside for some fresh air. When she is walking back in to the Maternity ward she sees a female doctor walking with someone Kristy hasn’t seen in ten years.

It is Hughie Reynolds her high-school boyfriend who vanished without a trace. She calls out his name but he walks by. She runs towards him and he apologizes that he didn’t realize she was calling out to him and says. ‘I’m afraid you have me confused with someone else”
It turns out he is Dr. Barry Sefton, Consultant Anesthetist.

Hughie – of course does know Kristy. He left for a reason and is back as he has plans.

I read a lot of psychological thrillers and this was like no other.
Hughie sure had me fooled.

About the Author Sue Lynes formerly was a BBC producer, she earned an MA in Creative Writing. In addition to writing she was a Creative Writing Tutor at Richmond Adult Community College and now combines writing, mentoring and lecturing.

In her “A Letter from S.E. Lynes’, she talks about her inspiration for this story.

A must read if you are curious as it is a story in itself.


Want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 6. 2025.

Another brilliant read from Susie Lynes, Kirsty, a midwife, is taking a short break from her work, heavily pregnant herself she has just helped in a fairly traumatic birthing when she sees a face from the past she never expected to see again. Hughie Reynolds was an ex boyfriend who left school and the area as suddenly as he arrived, leaving only a letter. This letter had such an impact on Kirsty she almost had a breakdown. However Hughie denies its him and insists his name is Barry. What follows messes with Kirsty's head yet again as her partner Dougie and friends trivialise her feeling and insist she's got "pregnancy brain" and its her hormones.
The story is told through transcript from Hughie/Barry and Kirsty's point of view.
The novel is a perfect example of what makes a good psychological thriller, what do we as humans class as normal or abnormal behaviour and also how do we react to what's behind the written word, lots of this plot was un-detectable to me and I was taken aback by some of the plot twists
I'm grateful to Netgalley and Bookouture for this advanced copy, I will leave my review on Goodreads, Bookmory and Storygraph now and on Amazon on publication day

The Perfect Boyfriend is my first book from S. E. Lynes and it's definitely not gonna be my last! This book was an absolute page turner and it was so addictive that I couldn't put it down. I started the book late Saturday evening and finished it in one sitting on early Sunday morning - thanks to the coffee I got to do that hehe! The story telling in the book was so good that it'll get you hooked from the beginning, the many,many twists were really unexpectedly mind-blowing and this made the reading journey so interesting and fun. All in all, I highly recommend you to read this book when it comes out in Jan 2025.

Thank you S E Lynes, Bookouture and Netgalley for the ARC! 🫶🏻📖✨

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The Perfect Boyfriend was certainly a story you won’t be able to guess the ending to (amongst other twists it throws at you), but ultimately it didn’t work for me. I love S.E. Lynes and she is a phenomenal writer, as witnessed by her writing and imagination in this book, so understand it just didn’t work to my tastes.

Kristy and Hughie and the other characters were well written (though Hughie is the worst) and I enjoyed the ramp up as you read in trying to figure out if Kristy is just really stressed in the late stages of her pregnancy as those around her believe, especially her trusted partner Dougie, or if she is beautiful minding some connections. I say beautiful minding it because what I didn’t enjoy about this book is that the connections were truly tenuously pulled together and it takes massive leaps of the imagination to believe they could be connected. The ending of the book was also incredibly inventive but it took too much suspension of disbelief for me to engage with, and so while this was undeniably unguessable, I prefer a mystery that surprises you because you just weren’t able to put together pieces teasingly revealed or hidden well but somewhat believable, versus a leap and a jump. That said where this was well done in the story is a part at the end I won’t reveal that involved Kristy and Dougie and I think was a perfect ‘stop assuming based on traditional expectations’ part.

If you enjoy mysteries for staying mysteries throughout and leaving you shocked by the plot twists, but not necessarily ones you could go back and savor as ‘I should have seen it’, then this will fill your mystery and thriller cup just fine and you should absolutely read it.

Another mind blowing read by S E Lynes!! Kirsty is a midwife and is also expecting a baby with her partner Dougie. Whilst on a quick break on one her last few shifts, she sees someone she thought she'd never see again. An ex boyfriend called Hughie who ended things really badly with her when she was 18. However, this man who she's convinced is him and working at her hospital, denies all knowledge of knowing and has a different name.
What then follows is a crazy story which I won't go into detail here, but was very interested too by how we treat women that are in their late stages of pregnancy. So often dismissed because they're tired, hormonal etc and nobody believes her and thinks she's just being paranoid due to her condition
This author just keeps getting better and better and have loved all of her previous books too!

This author never disappoints and this new novel really threw me through a hoop. I was reading it all one way and then I got totally turned on my head and the ending of this book did not disappoint. I won’t spoil it but this is the type of thriller that keeps you guessing to the last page which is perfect!

Of course, he’s not….he was anything but and now he is back, or so Kirsty,his ex, is sure of

But Kirsty is about to give birth and when she approaches Douglas,her partner, her friends and then when bad things start to happen the Police she is goaded by the cry of ‘it’s your hormones’…..but she knows she is right…doesn't she?

What follows is an intriguing psychological thriller that captures the raw determination to be someone they want/need to be….at all costs

More twists and turns than a steep mountain road and plenty of red herrings made it a book that had to keep reading and quickly to discover just what was the outcome was going to be, and it was a surprise, and a big one at that

Great storytelling and suspense made it an excellent read with an added big smile for my Nan who also loved a digestive with butter on 🥰

The Perfect Boyfriend is another brilliant book by S.E. Lynes. In this story we meet Kirsty a very likeable character, if only there were more people like her in this world. Quite a twisty book with a surprising ending. Look forward to the next S.E. Lynes book which are always a gripping read.

Kirsty is on a quick 15 minute break when she sees someone she thought she would never see again, although when she calls his name, he acts like he doesn't know her, is it really him? Then other strange things are happening, which all seemed to start when she thought she saw him, are they all linked?

I absolutely love Susie's books and this one did not disappoint, read from Kirsty and Hughies narrative, this is a fast paced thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat! This book deserves your full attention, grab yourself a cuppa, you are in for a ride!

If you are looking for a book that messes with your head, don't look any further. You have just found it!

Kirsty is a lovely woman. She is always ready to help people whether it's the new kid in town or an elderly neighbourgh. The only thing she sometimes forgets is to take care of herself and she really should start doing this.

What seems obvious and acceptable for some people around her, is not enough for Kirsty. She digs deeper and by doing this she digs a hole for herself...

Well, the author had me fooled more than once and she even made me go back and reread a sentence here ant there because I firsst thought I had misunderstood, because I could not believe what I saw. And it's those things that turn a good book into an excellent one. 

I had a lot of fun devouring this story. 5 stars

Thank you

WOW! What have I just read?
Only the best book yet by S E Lynes!
I know I say that with every new book from this author, but really, this book just blew all the others out of the water.
It is fast paced, edge of the seat, jaw-droppingly brilliant and I highly recommend it!!

Kirsty is leaving work after a tiring shift when she spots someone she never thought she'd lay eyes on again, when she approaches him he denies ever knowing her, she's convinced it's him, could the memory of the trauma she went through back then be playing tricks on her imagination or is the boyfriend that vanished without a trace really back, she wants answers and she's determined to get them, but at what cost to her and those she holds dear?

The Perfect Boyfriend is the latest thriller by Lynes, told from the perspectives of Kirsty and Hughie. This is a fast paced read, with short chapters that grabbed me from the first page and didn't let go till the last and I devoured it in a matter of hours. Kirsty was a very clever lady, with an extremely kind heart but boy was she naive! She got herself into so many situations that she could easily have avoided if only she'd been thinking straight, and I do think Dougie could have been a bit more supportive of her theories. Hughie, every time the chapter switched to him, my blood pressure went up and let's just say it was a good job he was fictional because I would have been arrested by now, what a truly horrible man! There were so many twists in this story that I got a crick in my neck from this rollercoaster journey. The easter egg, to find this you will need to have read her first novel Valentina, which I did way back in 2017 so it was a bit of a major hunt for me, but a successful one in the end and, having been there since the beginning, I'm looking forward to my award and drink! Once again Lynes has surpassed herself, especially with that very unexpected ending. Absolute pure genius!!

I’d like to thank Bookouture and Netgalley for the auto approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

This book is crazy! I can’t even say anything outside of the synopsis except for adding names. Kirsty and Dougie should be going through the most exciting time of their lives - Kirsty is due to have a baby within the month, and as a midwife, she’s so excited to finally be on the other side in the delivery room.

All of that changes one day, when she sees Hughie Reynolds at the hospital. He’s a new anesthesiologist there, but Kirsty has known him for a long time. They were friends, then dated for awhile when they were in school, but Hughie wanted to have sex and Kirsty wasn’t ready. After she declined his advances, he vanished, just leaving her with a cruel note telling her that he never loved her.

Eleven years later, when she sees him, Kirsty’s first reaction is to hide. Her shock gave her the courage to go up to him and say hello, but Hughie seems confused. He has an English accent, his name is Barry, and he has no idea who Kirsty is. She KNOWS it is him, but everyone ignores her as being hormonal, even when things start happening that don’t seem right…

Then, all I can say is things get wild. The book is written as recordings from a documentary about Kirsty and Hughie, which I thought was fun. The ending had several good twists, and the story itself was a page turner. It is slightly hard to understand the Scottish brogue (no, I didn’t listen to the audiobook, I mean while reading!) but that’s a really small thing. Otherwise, this book was great and very original. 4.5 stars, rounded up.

(Thank you to Bookouture, S.E. Lynes and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on January 6, 2025.)