Twisty, tense, and totally unputdownable—The Break-In gives you all the domestic thriller vibes with a sharp, stylish edge. From the very first chapter, you’re pulled into a world of secrets, suspicions, and so many “wait, what?!” moments. 👀🖤

The writing is slick, the pacing is spot on, and the tension builds beautifully. Perfect for fans of The Couple Next Door or The Girl on the Train—but with a fresh, modern feel.

Best enjoyed with a cosy blanket, a strong coffee, and your detective hat firmly on. 🕵️‍♀️☕📖

I chose to read a free eARC of The Break-In but that has in no way influenced my review.

I thoroughly enjoyed Katherine Faulkner's debut, Greenwich Park, when I read it in 2021. So much so that I have been meaning to get hold of a copy of Faulkner's second book, The Other Mothers, for a while now. So when I heard Katherine Faulkner was on the brink of publishing her third novel, The Break-In, I jumped at the chance to read it. And oh my goodness, what a fabulous slice of domestic suspense it is! Gosh. Dark and unexpected. Complex and utterly riveting.

Alice Rathbone lives a comfortable life in her stylish Hackney-based house with her husband, Jamie and their young daughter, Martha. One afternoon, during a playdate, a man bursts into the kitchen. He grabs a knife from the kitchen counter and heads towards the room where the nanny is entertaining the children. Alice grabs the nearest thing to her, a bulky stool, and smashes the intruder, Ezra, around the head with it. She only meant to stun him, stop him from hurting the children. She never meant to kill him. Now haunted by that fateful day, under police investigation and with the entire community giving her side-eye wherever she goes, Alice cannot escape the guilt of what she has done. She becomes obsessed with Ezra's mother and sister, trying to find out why Ezra did what he did that day. But the more she learns, the more she begins to doubt what she initially thought. With those closest to Alice acting differently, Alice's doubt begins to spiral. Who really is Ezra, and what was he actually doing at the house that day...?

I loved The Break-In. It was my book of the month for May. I've always been a fan of thrillers where exceptional things happen to ordinary people, and that's very much the case here. At the start of the book, I found Alice a little annoying. She's got a great new job as an art restorer, a loving husband who works in the charity sector, a darling daughter and a gorgeous, stylish house. Granted, it's not in the best of areas, but there's a lot of regeneration going on locally and the future is certainly looking bright. But then Ezra arrives on the scene and the Rathbone's perfect life is shattered into a million tiny pieces. Things begin to spiral. Alice cannot get beyond what she has done and inserts herself into the lives of Ezra's family. She's desperate for answers, to the point of obsession. It made for uncomfortable reading, and I loved it.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. The Break-In is stuffed to the gills with suspense, with bucketloads of intrigue spooned over the top. Gosh, things really take a turn for Alice. A turn I certainly didn't see coming! This is a beautifully written domestic thriller that fans of the genre should definitely make a point of picking up. The plot moves at a great pace, leading the reader down the path of Alice's demise. The characters are mainly unlikeable, but that's never a problem for me. In my limited experience, Faulkner tends to make her lead female characters rather well-to-do, fairly naïve and a touch on the annoying side. Alice is most definitely all three. Saying that, I did find it interesting how easily Alice's thoughts and feelings were dismissed by those around her. Those who were supposed to care for her. I mean, she killed a man and, rightly so, was struggling to deal with it. Suggesting she 'get over it' probably wasn't the most sensitive of approaches! However, this is suspense fiction and not real life, so... All in all, I loved spending time in Alice's slightly obsessive, out-of-control world. This book took me places I never expected from the opening few chapters. There's a lot going on here with a large cast of characters, but the story was very easy to follow and immerse myself in. I cannot wait to read more by this author. Gorgeously tense, utterly compelling, highly unexpected, full of twists and turns, and completely engaging throughout. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of The Break-In. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

[Review will be published on 15th July 2025]

Alice has killed someone. She was protecting her home and family from an intruder. She can't get over the guilt of killing an eighteen year old boy. Leaving a mother without her son. Alice tries to repent, in doing so more questions need to be answered, as things are not quite as they seem...Read it!

A strong domestic thriller about a break-in that ends in tragic circumstances and a lot of unanswered questions. I enjoyed this book, although I felt the ending was a bit drawn out. A solid three stars from me.

I loved this book from page 1 and I can only say that the twists kept me enthralled. Alice trying to protect her child and the other children did what any parent would do by disabling the threatening intruder. Sympathy all the way until she does the stupid things during her bail of visiting Ezra,s family and bahiving in a stupid manner . This was a gripping read and throughout the theme was how well do we really know anyone. A superb read and I will look now to follow Katherine Faulkner,s other books. A great author.

Katherine Faulkner’s The Break In is a well written psychological thriller that starts strongly and keeps on going. I decided to read this book after enjoying ‘Greenwich Park’ by the same author and I was looking for more of the same. Well I wasn’t let down and this novel deals with the fine line between safety and paranoia, truth and appearances, and just how well we really know the people closest to us.

Alice seems to have it all, a successful career, a stylish home in an upscale part of London, and a content family life. But everything unravels during what should be a routine playdate when a disturbed man breaks into her home. In a desperate moment with her child nearby, Alice kills the intruder, a horrifying act deemed self-defence by the police. Case closed, or is it.

But Alice can’t let it go. As chilling anonymous messages and cryptic phone calls begin to surface, and those around her, her husband, nanny, even her closest friends start acting strangely, Alice’s certainty begins to crack. Who was the man she killed? Why did he target her house? And what is everyone hiding?

A tense, spiralling mystery follows that places Alice at the centre of a web of secrets, where each answer only leads to more questions and more danger.

I enjoyed this novel and intend to read more of Katherine Faulkner’s books in the near future.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The break in is a story starting with a terrible ending to a teenager -Ezra breaking into the home of Alice. The book covers how Alice copes with the aftermath of having to kill somone to protect her home and children. But not all is as it seems and she becomes determined to find out what connection there is between Ezra and her life. Loved the writing and that the book is full of lies and secrets gradually being uncovered

Alice kills an intruder in her house, then her life starts to unravel and she tries to she her victims family. Full of twist in this excellent thriller. Well plottedand will keep you hooked. This is the first book I've read by this author and will look for more. Thanks Bloomsbury publishing plc and Netgalley for this review copy.

I loved Katherine's Greenwich Park, so I was delighted to get my hands on this. Another triumph - a real slow burn of a novel. I hope it's hugely successful for her. I read it over a few days. Completely hooked!

Another twisty thriller from Katherine Faulkner - for fans of the domestic noir this author is fast becoming a go-to for and edge of your seat pacy thriller. One USP of her work so far, I have found, is that the main protagonist is painted so well as to inspire empathy in a way I haven't found in other domestic noir.

Recommended!

Not my first Katherine Faulkner book. The author is hugely talented and knows exactly how to hook a reader, especially on page1!! Brilliant, fast paced and a little bit twisty.

Wow well this book went in a totally different direction to what I was expecting. We start with a woman who during a break in ends up killing the burglar. As she struggles with the guilt over what happens she starts to receive anonymous calls suggesting he was there for another reason that night and that she is missing the truth. As she tries to get to the bottom of that night will the real truth be darker than she could ever imagine and is she putting her life and family at risk!

An OK read but not for me. Ezra breaks into Alice's house brandishing a knife. Worried about the safety of her friends and children also present, Alice hits Ezra with a stool. Unfortunately it kills him. While on bail awaiting confirmation of self defence, Alice goes to see Ezra's mother. At that point I lost all faith in Alice and the plot. Yes, there are lots of twists and turns but each more ridiculous than the last. Fiction - yes; plausible in any shape or form - no.

I really enjoyed this book, I always enjoy this authors work. A tragic and intriguing story that kept me hooked throughout. Fantastic

Quite an enjoyable read though found the actions of the main character quite annoying. Understand that without her somewhat absurd actions there'd be no story at all but the premise that someone would really be that stupid to act as she did spoilt this to an extent.

So well written and a number of twists and turns and the multiple viewpoints did add to the overall tale BUT couldn't overcome that, IMHO< main flaw.

Katherine Faulkner is fast becoming one of my favourite authors in the domestic thriller/ suspense genre. She is consistently brilliant at choosing scenarios that make you truly put yourself in the characters’ shoes.

This latest book is another gripping, explosive read that kept me hooked from start to finish. The story is told from multiple perspectives, each page filled with just the right amount of tension and twists. While many of the characters are highly unlikable, that only added to the intensity and realism of the story. Five stars!

Thanks net galley and another wonderful,book from Katherine Faulkner loved it.
Alice had two friends round to her house and their respective children round for a play date, also in the house was Alice’s nanny Bianca keeping an eye on the children while they watched the tv.
Then came the shock a young lad burst into Alice’s home with a knife in his hand threatening Alice to,tell him where he is, at that Alice picked up,her kitchen stool and hit him over the head killing him.
The police said it was self defence nut Alice was horrified sgevhad killed a young boy, and why was he in her house .
She felt so guilty that she wanted to see the lads family, knowing this was the wrong thing to do, which unravelled lots of secrets and in turn the book turned into an amazing thriller.

What a rollercoaster read. I’ve enjoyed Katherine Faulkner’s other books and this is just as gripping as her previous work.
Alice is hosting a play date when a masked intruder enters her lovely home, she kills him, and we start the book wondering whether she will be cleared of murder. Then other things about Alice’s life are slowly revealed through other points of view and changes of timeline, and we start to see that what seemed like a simple break-in might have been something else entirely.
This is a very twisty thriller. I was in the dark about who had done what, and why, for most of it, which is unusual for me. I did find myself a bit frustrated by Alice at points, and also wondered what on earth the police were doing, but these are very minor niggles because the plot hurtles along and everything I thought I knew changed frequently.
A great read.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

When Alice accidentally murders an intruder to her home, her life falls apart. She feels the need to make contact with the young man’s family as she feels the house was targeted and she needs to find out why.
This is an excellent book and I really couldn’t put it down. With many gasps escaping me as I read it, it is full of twists and turns that I did not see coming. It’s well written, meaning “just one more chapter” was never enough.
Highly recommended.

Gripping, twisty, and hard to put down.

The Break-In wastes no time pulling you in with a tense and chilling opening. The suspense builds steadily, and I loved the use of multiple POVs as it added depth and kept the momentum going. Alice is a compelling main character, and watching her life slowly unravel kept me hooked.

Though some of the plot reveals felt a bit overexplained toward the end, the pacing and tension more than made up for it. This is a slow-burn thriller with sharp twists, solid writing, and enough mystery to keep you guessing.

Highly recommend for fans of domestic thrillers that explore the blurred lines between guilt, grief, and truth.