After a slow start, this book produced a great twist, making the second half much more interesting and it became a very good read. Having thought about it, most of the stuff that was annoying me in the first half was explained by that twist, and so I am happy to give this five stars.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgally for sending me a copy of this book for review.

Right with all thrillers I review I am going to give you a vague plot summery so nothing is spoiled.

Margot is a teacher and part time advice columnist for the local paper with a shady past (as is the way with thrillers), one day when she goes into the paper to collect her mail she finds she has received a letter from a girl called Bethan Avery saying she has been kidnapped and needs Margot or Dear Amy as she is known to her readers help to escape, thing is Bethan went missing 17 years a go with only a bloody night dress remaining, Margot starts to worry that there may a link with this case and the disappearance of a girl at her school called Katie, Margot goes to the police but they are convinced it's a hoax so Margot decides to look into it herself, however a man from the historical crimes unit gets in touch with her and says he has seen something interesting in the letters and together they start to piece together what has happened to Beathan and if in fact it is her writing to Margot after all this time.

Now this book gets off to a slow start and we learn every detail of Margot's life so far , however as events start to come to light the book does pick up speed, I will say that I guessed what I thought was one of the twists and when it was revealed half way through I was on the edge of my seat even shouting at the book, then I waited for the second twist...and waited........and waited and no second twist came instead what we got was 100 and odd pages of filler. I am finding this more and more with recent thrillers and it is something that is making me sad, the author will reveal the big twist half way through and we then get pages and pages of nothing because they have written themselves into a hole and need to fill the pages somehow, I much prefer the twist to be about 50 pages from the end and the next 50 pages to be how we got there and the aftermath, if this had been the case with this book I think I would have definitely given it four stars as at the end of the day I read these books for the twist and this one packed a punch when it was revealed, however what we then got for the rest of the book was just boring and I found myself skim reading the rest as I felt I had been cheated and to be honest was a bit bored, we have about 30 pages of Margot and the guy from historical crimes driving around trying to piece together the events from the big twist which got dull after about 10 pages. Also mental health is used a a plot device in this book as a way to introduce an unreliable narrator and I don't think it was done well either if I'm honest.

So overall this was a disappointing thriller for me and not one I would recommend!

AND AUTHORS.....PLEASE STOP REVEALING YOUR BIG TWIST HALF WAY THROUGH THE BOOK! IT DOESN'T WORK!!

I have loved the opportunity to spend time researching novels to re-stockl our senior bookshelves in the school library that plays a central role in the life of the school. When I first took over the library was filled with dusty tomes that were never borrowed and languished there totally unloved.
Books like this, play a central role in ensuring that the library is stocked with fresh relevant fiction that appeals to the readers. It has a strong voice and a compelling plot that ensures that you speed through its pages, enjoying both its characterisation and dialogue whilst wanting to find out how all of its strands will be resolved by the end.
I have no hesitation in adding this to the 'must buy' list so that the senior students and staff of the school can enjoy it as much as I did. This is a gripping read that will be sure to grip its readers whether they are fans of this genre or coming to it for the first time through our now-thriving school library recommendation system. Thanks so much for allowing me to review it!

Great writing from Helen Callaghan. Portrays one journalists decent into darkness as she uncovers a lost mystery hidden within a newspaper agony aunt column. Would highly reccommend.

A pacy thriller that kept me guessing. The format of an agony aunt was a new one and it had lots of twists.

At first I found this book hard to get into but I am glad I persevered because I really enjoyed it. I found I was trying to second guess the answer but then had to backtrack because of the different storylines. A good read.

This book sounds right up my street so I happily started it hoping to get engrossed. Unfortunately I found this books writing style poor and couldn't get into the storyline. An interesting plot line at the beginning quickly turns to being completely predictable. I also found the characters unbelievable and unlikeable which added to my overall dislike of this book. I would not recommend to friends and family.

I wasn’t engaged in the storyline and really found myself not caring about the fate of any of the characters, except for perhaps Katie. I found Margot to be unlikeable (my preference is unreliable) and whiny (I get enough of that at home, thank you very much). The plot was slow moving and, without getting into too much spoiler-y detail, I just didn’t get the whole thing with the letters; it seems like it took WAY too long to solve the mystery.

Absolutely loved reading this. The storyline grips you from woe to go, and there are twists and turns to keep you guessing throughout. A must read!

I have really struggled to get into this book. It seems at this time, this book isn't for me.

Pleasantly surprised with this one. I just finished reading 'Everything Is Lies' and I wasn't exactly thrilled with Helen's writing so it was with lowered expectations that I approached this one.....and I was wrong. This is a much stronger novel than 'Everything is Lies' and has a more believable and complex story. It is a tightly wound thriller that has lots of twists and turns and some of the scarier moments really got my heart racing!! I did work out the end before it was revealed but it didn't spoil it for me, I still enjoyed reading on to see if I was right or not. If you enjoy a gripping thriller you will love this one!

Thanks to Net Galley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this but I found it sort of boring at times and it struggled to keep my attention, I also felt that it could have been longer.

Loved this book. It kept me gripped. A well told story with a very unexpected ending.

Would recommend had me gripped from the beginning to the end

I came to this party late, I did hear a lot of good things about this book.

We are following agony aunt column writer, Margot Lewis, who received letters from girl missing 20 years ago. Is it a hoax ? Or it is true!
The story is heart wrenching, another girl is kidnapped and the police and Margot are trying to find her. We listen to katie( the kidnapped girl), thoughts and struggles to keep a life.
This was emotional read with shocking perfect ending .
This book was beautifully written .

This is a gripping psychological thriller with quite a few twists and turns. Margot Lewis is a teacher and also an agony aunt for a local paper in Cambridge. When a young girl goes missing, Margot starts to receive letters, cries for help, from another young girl who went missing 20 years ago. Margot soon finds herself on a cat and mouse trail.

This story had me on the edge of my seat at times, although I did think it a little far fetched. The narrator was quite 'chatty' but I liked her. I thought the plot was an interesting concept and there was rather a large twist which I did work out. However, it didn't ruin the story for me as I wanted to read on to find out if my surmising was correct. It's a roller coaster of a read and I found it very difficult to put down.

An engrossing, exciting and intriguing mystery which held my attention to the last page. Recommended.

Margot Lewis is an agony aunt and she starts to receive letters from Bethany Avey who has been missing for two decades. Katie Browne a school girl has gone missing and Margot suspects the letters will lead to Katie.

I really enjoy psychology thrillers at the moment. Some I find very good others quite average. This thriller started out really well and I was quite hooked.

The book wasn't quite what I expected. Due to the title Dear Amy I was expecting a story based on letters or diary entries, or even told through them. However it didn't distract me from enjoying the book.

I did work out quite early on what was probably going on and when revealed I was proven correct. I did think that the story was a little predictable and times I did think how really plausible the story was concerning Margot. At times I was getting confused what had actually happened to Margot but all does come clear.

However I enjoyed reading the book, not the best out there but enough for me to stick with it and to find out how it all ends. A little more than average thriller whuch I would recommend to anybody who enjoys this type of read.

Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review the book.

Some interesting twists and a variety of voices/characters means this has many elements of an engaging thriller but for some there may be some bits that just don't ring true and times when the pace slows that might still interest.
You have teacher and agony aunt columnist, Margot, as the central character who starts receiving chilling letters supposedly from a young girl who has been missing for 20 years but with a pupil at her school disappearing recently the questions and sense of the 'clock ticking' on the mystery it is set up for some intriguing psychological tale.
Margot is a complex character that some might not warm to but her engagement with the puzzles and desire to help leads the story on. It is possibly a little longer than necessary and could have more pace but I found it had some interesting ideas and wasn't as predictable as some recent thriller reads

The premise of this book was unusual and intriguing, but I found the plot line rather far-fetched and unrealistic. However, I enjoyed reading it and there was a great twist towards the end.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Well written and keeps the reader hooked, descriptive and inventive.