This is becoming a bit of a theme recently, but THIS BOOK IS GREAT! Dear Amy absolutely had me gripped from the start and I found it really difficult to put down. The story really drew me in and it was so fast paced I whipped through it in a few days.

In other news, I also finished reading an absolute shocker of a story this week – review on Friday – so this unexpected run of positivity will be short lived. Anyway, I digress…

Dear Amy is the story of a teacher, Margot Lewis, who also freelances as an agony aunt (Amy – hence the title). One of her pupils goes missing, and despite the police thinking that she ran away from home, Margot has her suspicions. At the same time, letters start turning up addressed to the Dear Amy column from Bethan Avery, a local girl who disappeared some years before who had never been found, suggesting that she had been kidnapped and asking for help. At this point, about a million questions are thrown up. Are the letters really from Bethan? How can a girl who has been kidnapped be posting letters? Why doesn’t she just say where she is? Are the two cases linked? Is Margot really as sane as she appears to be? There are so many layers, plot twists and unexpected events that take place in the novel that it really did have me guessing until the very end (if you’re sick of hearing me trot this phrase out, wait until my review on Friday. That book definitely didn’t have me guessing anything for ONE SECOND).

I was completely hooked by the storyline in this novel from the very beginning. I really liked the fact that the main character, Margot, was an unreliable narrator. Her mental health issues and the fact that she had stopped taking her medication made me question everything that she said had happened. I wasn’t sure if she was imagining whole chunks of the story, entire events/characters or if her viewpoint was so altered that the ending would be along the lines of ‘so I imagined the whole thing?’ I subsequently spent a lot of time trying to cross-reference people, situations and timelines to try to ascertain where the truth might lie. This might sound tiresome but I liked the added complexity and depth that this gave the main storyline.

However, I did find that when it came to sub-plots, especially the quite frankly weird and totally inappropriate love interest, the unreliability of Margot’s story made me second guess everything a bit too much. Was the character a complete figment of Margot’s imagination? Was his interest in her real? Was he who Margot thought he was? I think the story would have been just as interesting without this detail (it wasn’t the most scintillating romance ever) and overall I didn’t feel that it added anything to the book.

I liked the fact that the story wasn’t overly gore laden or too graphic. A lot is left to the imagination when the author describes the kidnappers actions and I think that this allows the reader to either brush over the repulsive events as too awful to think about or fully immerse themselves in their brutality, depending on their own personal preferences. I think that there’s often a fine line between too much and too little detail, but in this instance I think Helen Callaghan got it just right.

I don’t usually read so called kitchen sink thrillers so I approached the story with fairly low expectations, but I really enjoyed the book – it was a total page turner from start to finish. It was a fairly original idea (I think – like I said, I’m not a afficianado of the genre) so I guess fans of something like The Girl on the Train would really like it. I’m not saying that Dear Amy is as good, but it is close. The writing style is quite easy, pacey and isn’t overly descriptive, making it a good beach read if you want something darker than the usual chick lit. Lucinda recommends!

A cracking good read. Thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it

This book held my attention from the beginning. Margot Lewis, a classics teacher in a prestigious Cambridge private school, writes an agony aunt column for the Cambridge Examiner newspaper in her spare time (the "Dear Amy" of the title. Shortly after one of the pupils goes missing, Margot receives a "Dear Amy" letter from Bethan Avery, a young girl who vanished in 1998, and who was presumed dead. Is she? Where are the letters coming from? We assume the cases are linked, but how? Many questions are posed early on. Margot becomes tied up in the investigations, with a criminologist investigating the case. Gradually Margot's private life is revealed, as she goes through a messy divorce. What we see always, is a strong woman, at times doubting herself, but her strength is evident. I truly didn't see the reason for the letters coming at all - and towards the end I was sitting forward on my seat and couldn't get through the pages quickly enough. In fact the reason I am so tired today is because I couldn't go to bed until I'd finished the book! It was good to see loose ends tied up at the end, I hate when you're left hanging with the major thread closed, but the rest of the characters' lives left to the imagination. I was pleased that my questions were all answered. I'll look for more by this author. I was lucky enough to read this as an advance netgalley copy, and am more than happy to write this review.

I enjoyed this book, and found it quite disturbing in places. I had worked out the twist but that made me me read the book much quicker so that I could find out if I was right. Would definitely read more books by this author.

There were a few little things that didn't quite work but overall I really enjoyed this compelling book. I'm beginning to get tired of unreliable narrators but Margot was a compelling character. The plot was well paced and kept my attention. I look forward to reading more books by Helen Callaghan.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book. I really struggled with this book and got up to 34% read, but I just couldn’t finish it. It hasn’t gripped me up to this point so I have had to put it aside in favour of another book.

Fantastic, different to your usual run of the mill thriller. Kept me gripped until the last page!

A haunting tale which keeps you enthralled to the last page.

This book couldn't hold my attention and I only made it halfway through before I stopped all together. The synopsis sounded great and I like suspense/thrillers, but this one slogged so slowly, I couldn't stay with it. I didn't particularly like any of the characters, particularly Margot/Amy, who seemed weak and snively to me, nor did I feel any sympathy for the kidnapped girls either. Usually I would have had to keep reading to see who did it or if the girls got free, but it took me 2 weeks to get through the first half of the book (I average 2/books a week) so I knew my heart wasn't in it.

I was excited by the premise of the book but this one disappointed. I'm still thankful to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting plot which made an enjoyable read. It gathered in pace as the book went on and I liked the twists and turns.
I didn't connect to the characters the way I usually do in a book but it didn't spoil the over all enjoyment.

I enjoyed this book a lot and read it at every available opportunity. The twist was great and I certainly didnt see it coming. I would absolutely recommend this book to my friends & family.

I could not put this down - a great twist and very well written

Ugh... This book was recommended to me as I needed a book with a name in the title for a reading challenge. And what a challenge it was!

I dislike anyone that feels the need to bump out chapters with pretentious and superfluous descriptions, words and phrases which rather than add value, just adds frustration. There are gaping holes throughout and the most annoying characters I've come across in a long time.

The synopsis was good enough to make me choose it without checking out any reviews. Having now read the book, I find the synopsis quite misleading.

As always, this is only my opinion and I see there are some people that have enjoyed it.

Thanks to Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I know a lot of people just loved this book but I'm sorry it just wasn't for me.

Dear Amy has been on my radar for a while and when I had the chance to review it, I was excited to sit down and devour it. I love psychological thrillers and discovering what debut authors in this genre are writing about, so this book was right up my street.
It was a well written, pacy read with a brilliant hook at the beginning and a plot that kept you guessing the whole way along. I did see the twist at the end, but this didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book. I would highly recommend this for holiday reading or a book you want to immerse yourself in on a rainy Saturday afternoon. I would definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy this genre and I hope to see more from this author in the future.

I was lucky enough to get an e-copy of this from NetGalley - all thoughts and opinions are completely my own.

I had my eye on this book for a while so when I saw it on NetGalley I had to request it, and read it as soon as I got accepted. The start of the book completely captivated me, the split perspective between Katie and Margot was brilliantly written. I was completely invested in the story and from the first chapter I had so many questions buzzing around my brain just waiting to be answered!

Helen's writing style builds up the perfect amount of suspense so it doesn't bore you because nothing happens, but instead you feel like anything could happen at any time and it makes you want to carry on reading just to see how the story develops. It really was a brilliant start to the book!

However sadly I felt the second half didn't quite live up to the first half. I felt that everything exciting and noteworthy had already happened in the first half, so the last parts didn't seem as important. There was a twist but for me I just didn't feel like it was very believable.

I know books don't have to be believable but this ending just felt a little too extreme for me, and I felt the book had a lot more potential than it got credit for! Everything just happened so quickly and it was a very abrupt ending that left me a little unsatisfied. I felt that there were quite a few loose ends and questions I'd have loved to be answered, so it wasn't for me.

However saying that there were some positives and I really did love the character of Margot. I loved how headstrong she was and how she went out of her way to help someone in need, she really was such a wonderfully created character and was the star of the book for me.

Overall it wasn't a bad book, I did like the idea behind the narrative and the characters, I just think it deserved a bit more 'oomph' for an ending!

when i first started reading Dear Amy, i thought it was going to be just about a missing girl getting in touch with an agony aunt for help, but this book was so much more, you have Margot Lewis who's a teacher at a school but also works as an agony aunt for the paper for the Dear Amy, after a local missing girl who disappears Margot starts to receive letters to her Dear Amy column Supposedly from another missing girl who went missing 15 years ago going to the police and and thinking it could be linked maybe help find Katie the girls who's gone missing leads Margot to martin who's interested in the letter's and helping Margot, with lots of twist's and turn's that i did not see coming i was shocked and gripped .... Helen Callaghan has come up with an amazing story a very well told story its a book that is Unputdownable and addictive and in parts chilling it's a 5 star read and a book that will keep you up all night and a book that i would read again and would buy for friends

Excellent mystery story! I did figure out the twist before it was revealed, but that didn't ruin the story for me at all.

This isn't my usual type of read but I was drawn to the blurb on the back and at first it had me totally hooked, I could even imagine this being turned into a to drama but half way through it fell flat. Yet you find yourself continuing to read to get the answers you can predict but hope are wrong (I wasn't). Saying that I did enjoy it but think it could have been better , a great idea that didn't live up to the expectations

Oh my wow... it's been a while since I've read a book that had me entirely gripped, but Dear Amy did it! The book was wonderfully written, the pace increasing as the story unraveled, and the ending leaving the reader satisfied (but wanting more). I was reading later than I should have on a school night... and then the last chapter I was due to read was so anxiety inducing that I had to continue so that I could sleep. I can't wait to read more from Helen Callaghan!