This book left an indelible mark on me. The author's phenomenal writing drew me in, and I was fully immersed in the story. Initially, I was skeptical about the unconventional approach of revealing the perpetrator from the outset, but my doubts were quickly dispelled. The author expertly crafted the villain, making me eager to unravel the motivations behind their actions.

Emotionally, this book was a rollercoaster ride, evoking feelings of anger, frustration, despair, and anticipation. The character development was exceptional, making it easy to become invested in their stories. The use of multiple formats, including articles, interviews, and first-person narratives, added depth and realism to the plot.

The author's meticulous research, evident in their acknowledgments, paid off in creating a believable and gripping story. With this being only her second novel, I'm eagerly anticipating her future works and will definitely be reading her debut.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advance copy. I'll be highly recommending this thriller to everyone when it's officially released in March!

This was a clever book and I liked the writer's style and pacing and the very different POVs of the two main protagonists.
I was slightly less interested in the forensic psychologist which read more like a textbook than part of the main story. I was also disappointed that having talked a lot about ghost flights the author made no mention of them or research she had used in the
acknowledgements.
Thank you to netgalley and Atlantic Books for an advance copy of this book
3.5 stars rounded up to 4

All I can say about Scenes of a Tragedy, is WOW

We follow Carly, who investigates a deadly plane crash, where two pilots were killed when their plane hit the side of a mountain. What follows is the introduction of a psychopath, and how their actions have affected the lives of all thoses around them

This was written so incredibly well, I could not put this down!

This is different from anything I’ve ever read before and so, despite the odd predictable part, I found it really refreshing.

When a plane crashes over the Lake District towards the end of the Covid lockdown, killing the two pilots on board, Carly, a disgraced journalist and ex-girlfriend of one of the dead men, vows to find out what happened.

We find out who caused the fatal crash very early on in the book, but what we don’t know is why. Through Carly’s interviews with the wife and sister of Daniel Taylor, the pilot who died alongside Carly’s ex-boyfriend Luke, we find out what made Daniel tick and what, or, who, influenced him throughout his life.

A really gripping read, character driven and very well written.

3.5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Carole Hailey and Atlantic for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Wow. This is a book that moved me and made an impact. The writing was phenomenal, I got completely sucked into the story. I was skeptical when the beginning of the book says that you’ll know who did it but not necessarily why because a lot of times thrillers make you wonder who did it and that’s where the twist happens to grip the reader. I couldn’t have been more wrong about my doubts. The author did such a good job with the villain that even knowing right away, I was completely invested in digging deeper and finding the meaning of it all. Emotionally, it was a rollercoaster. I felt anger, frustration, despair, and a feeling of anticipation throughout the entire book. I’ll try not to give any spoilers but the character you’re meant to hate is written in such a way that you will feel those emotions and want a sense of justice. The complexities of the plot make the story so realistic it almost feels like it could have been told from actual events. The combination of articles, interviews/transcriptions, and first person POV with the notes after each interview gave so much clarity to the characters and really made them feel real. You will be invested in this story and how everything unfolds. The author did mention in her acknowledgments that she conferred with experts in the aviation and psychology industries and you can tell. This is her second novel but I’m already anticipating many more from her and will definitely be reading her first novel

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

A plane crash unites a journalist with the pilots family, which changes any belief the crash was an accident.

Carly sets out to investigate the crash as she knew the first officer, little does she know on meeting the pilot’s sister that she would be meeting a woman that changed and poisoned his entire life. Izzy, is a masterclass in writing a malignant narcissist, which only becomes more engrossing when you hear from Daniel’s wife.

I only wish I could read this book again for the first time. The sleepy, calm writing is in direct contrast to the things you are hearing giving you a sort of uncanny satisfaction from this book.

Incredible.
I look forward to reading more by this skillful writer.

I received this eARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review, which this is. Thank you so much to both NetGalley and the publisher.

Did not finish. Just could not find the motivation to read this, I didn’t really take to the subject matter.

Wowsers, well that certainly got my attention! The way the author engages us as readers in the storytelling - a bit like mini autobiographies alongside notes, and testimonies, I felt like I was investigating the place crash myself.

From the get go were shown a psychological report but honestly that doesn't even predict half of what's to come.

I didn't actually find any of the characters that likable, but I felt so sorry for Danny like to us readers it was obvious what was happening and I had this awful feeling and I felt like I wanted to intervene and tell him to give his head a wobble.

Honestly this was just a superb yet disturbing insight into the life of a psychopath and actually how convincing someone can actually come across.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy.

"This is not a work of fiction, it is a cautionary tale. The story of a family that, on the face of it, could be yours. A story in which you may even recognise elements of yourself. But at its heart is a monster."

They say a tragedy has a way of bringing out the best in us; of pulling people together — but sometimes, tragedy just creates more tragedy.

A compelling, surprisingly dark story with a clever and engaging way of storytelling: Presenting itself as though it’s written by one of the characters like an autobiography, mixing up multiple perspective narration spanning different years, media snippets, testimonies and more to make it feel like we’re all a part of the investigation. At times certain sections lasted just a bit too long and broke the constant-jumping pace that was set out which made it a little jarring but it was generally a similar pacing throughout. Hailey definitely has a unique voice, I loved her last release and loved seeing how she experimented with bringing her own brand of storytelling to life again.

From the opening scene, we’re confronted with a psychological report letting us know we’re about to be up close and personal with narcissists and psychopaths— starting me off thinking I had no clue if I trust anyone we meet and that air of suspicion and threat creating a delightful kind of suspense.

Who appears at the start to be the “main character” almost acts like a curator of everyone’s stories rather than just a narrator - Carly, who lost her boyfriend and almost lost her brother in the crash is desperately trying to solve the mystery — her storytelling frantic, clawing and desperate, making me so curious about her even when she runs on tangents or shows us a messy side. Most other characters we meet are entirely unlikable, manipulative, deranged — an undeniably intriguing in a morbidly curious way.

We almost forget we’re solving a fatal mystery, getting caught up in the backstories and lives of the major players; and while it’s clear who the “monster” of the story is after a while, we’re left to keep reading through because if we already know that, what else is there still to find out?

A dark, highly disturbing but enigmatic story about control, trauma and real life monsters.

What a book! It grabbed me from the start and never let go, never dropping the pace or the tension and not allowing me to move until it was done.

Carly is a journalist struggling to find work after the Covid pandemic and reeling from the death of her pilot ex-boyfriend in an unexplained plane crash in the Lake District. Her idea to write about the environmental impact of ghost flights (empty of passengers) soon leads to the far darker story of the other pilot killed in the crash. It revolves around his (terrifying) sister and his wife and is told mostly through the interviews Casey carries out with them, followed by notes raising questions about what can be believed. It’s a very clever way of laying out all the details and makes impossible to not read just one more chapter throughout.

I really loved this book and the author’s writing style – can’t wait to read more from her!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

When an empty passenger plane crashes, Carly is determined to use her journalism skills to find the truth of what happened to her on-again-off-again boyfriend who was 1 of 2 pilots flying the plane. When she hears the stories of the other pilot’s sister and wife, she soon realises that there’s something sinister hiding within this seemingly normal family.

This book reminded me of The Push by Ashley Audrain but it has an interesting spin to it. I sped through each page as the writing flowed so smoothly. The story’s events were selected well and made me almost shout out loud at the characters. Although I despised the pilot’s sister Izzy, she had me chuckling at some points. I wish there had been more mystery behind the characters at the start. Along with this and not liking Carly and the pilot’s wife Grace, I wasn’t invested in the characters and felt I’d guessed the ending early on. However by the second half of the book, I was engrossed. The tension was built up so brilliantly that I could feel it reaching bursting point! Thanks Atlantic Books for this ARC!

Carole Hailey has written another page turner! The book is ostensibly about a plane that was flown into the side of the mountain killing the pilot and the passenger Luke, the ex boyfriend of a journalist who is determined to find out why the plane crashed. She has her own feelings of guilt about the boyfriend she cheated on. She is desperate for answers but also needs to revive her career. She knows that Luke would never have crashed a plane on purpose and using her skills as a journalist she interviews the pilot Danny’s family to see why he might have wanted to cause the crash and murdering his friend.
The rest of the book tells Danny’s story through the reluctant voice of his wife Grace and the voice of his sister. The author has clearly thoroughly researched the nature of the psychopath. At no point does the reader have any sympathy for Danny’s sister Izzie. In fact, her story is a horror story.
By the end of the book, the journalist Carly has her story and the reader has answers. A satisfactory ending but with some suspense about the future. Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review.

Carly is a redundant journalist investigating the crash in the Lake District of a ghost flight post covid. Flights with no passengers had to continue for airlines to maintain their schedules and landings when the population started flying again.
Carly’s on-off boyfriend was the co-pilot, there were. No survivors.
Danny was an experienced pilot.
The story is taken from interviews that Carly did with Grace (Danny’s wife) and Izzy (Danny’s sister). These are very contradictory - who is telling the truth, what is the truth?
As Carly gets to the bottom of what happened, she becomes reluctant as to whether to publish or not…..
Easy to read. Engaging. I enjoyed it.

i loved the silence project so was very excited to read this authors next novel. I loved it. Page turning, gripping and with a psychopathic antagonist who has you literally screaming at the page. I really enjoyed the narrative style and the interjection of the journalists notes as she is investigating a plane crash and the events leading up to it. Highly recommend.

I loved the sound of this book and was pleased that I was awarded it to read however it did not do anything for me when I read it. I found that the journalist interviews and reports that tell the story instead of enhancing my reading almost blocked it. I did not enjoy the writing style as I felt that it was far to clumsy. Some of the problem that I had was that I felt that a lot of the bits were from other books that I had read and so the story lost any originality that it should have had for me.

A journalist investigates her ex-boyfriend’s mysterious plane crash, uncovering a dark truth through interviews with the pilot’s family. While well-plotted, the story felt predictable, and the interview format lacked impact. Fans of psychological thrillers may enjoy it, but it didn’t quite deliver for me.

I was especially keen to read this new work by Carole Hailey as I'd found her previous novel The Silence Project very promising but frustrating. This time I hoped she would really get to grips with a story and give it a brave ending - but I've been left disappointed again.

The concept really appealed to me; piecing together a novel by using interviews and reports to tell the story, similar in many ways to Joseph Knox's highly impressive True Crime Story. Hailey begins brightly with a journalist trying to find the truth behind a plane crash that killed an ex-boyfriend. However, as the story progresses the hope that this will be a tough investigation into airline industry practices fades as what we are left with is a familiar gaslighting tale.

The writing is actually pretty decent and moves the plot along well, but there just isn't enough in the story to really make make this an original and interesting read. A missed opportunity as far as I'm concerned.

Let me say first that I really enjoyed Carole Hailey's first novel, The Silence Project'. This one, not so much. Probably because I don't like reading about monsters and I though that Izzy, the main character, was an absolute monster. I carried on reading the book to see what horrible thing she would do next, in the hope that she would get her comeuppance, which she kind of did. She was definitely compelling, and none of the other characters seemed to be up to her weight. Only her mother seemed to have an inkling of what she was really like, and sadly she died, though not at Izzy's hand.

I haven't mentioned the plot as I do tend to read for character, ant this is probably why the book had such an effect on me. This is the sort of book that lots of readers will love, and Ican see it sitting on crime tables, so for this reason I'm giving it 4 stars, even though it wasn't for me. I will look out for Carole Hailey's next book with interest.

If you are looking for a thriller that really will have you captivated then this is certainly the book for you.
A gripping storyline that had me turning the pages late into the night, and packed with twists and turns that you can't anticipate.