Genre: Psychological/Crime Thriller
Publisher: HQ
Pub Date: 28th October 2021
Review Date: 7th July 2021
Blurb
MEET THE WALSH FAMILY
Lucy: Mother. Wife. Falling to pieces . . . Aidan: Father. Husband. In too deep . . . Connor: Son. Friend. Can never tell the truth . . .
Everyone in this family has something to hide, but what are they trying to protect, and at what cost?
IT WAS ALL FOR YOU.
My Review
All For You is an incredibly twisty thriller that explores the fragility of a person’s mind, and what a seemingly ordinary person is capable of when driven to despair. Narrated from three different perspectives, the novel pushes the sub-genre of domestic noir not only into that of crime but also borders on the gothic.
Lucy is an orthopaedic surgeon who has given up her career to care for her sick teenage son, Kieron. She is characterised as a caring wife and mother, and with her perspective being delivered through a first-person narrative, is the character that the reader becomes mostly invested in. But like most first-person narratives, it is what is left out that makes this narrator so unreliable. How far can we trust her?
Aiden is a vet, and Lucy’s husband. With his own dedicated chapters, his perspective is told through a focalised third-person narrator. We learn very early on that he’s hiding a secret – but this isn’t as obvious as it first appears. As the anonymous person behind Aiden’s secret is revealed - as well as the secret itself – you won’t be able to turn those pages fast enough to discover what is going on! Although my first thought as to who this person was turned out to be wrong, it was relevant to something much further in the past. I’m not saying any more than that! Omg this is sooo twisty, you wouldn’t believe!
Connor is Lucy’s eldest son. He also has his own focalised third-person chapters. The novel’s prologue reveals something terrible has happened to Connor, and with his two best friends (Ryan and Tyler) recently having gone missing, it is the events leading up to Connor’s disappearance that the story centres around.
As the narrative flashes back in time, we see Connor, Ryan, and Tyler starting back at sixth form. It is revealed that whilst away at summer camp, a teenage dare went wrong and something terrible happened to Connor’s girlfriend, Hailey. I don’t want to include any spoilers so won’t say what happens or who exactly Hailey is – but it is the events surrounding the accident and what Connor and his friends did that summer that give a sense of unease and feeling that something even worse is about to happen. However, as the novel reaches its conclusion, its title All for You becomes even more significant. As somebody who devours psychological thrillers by the bucket load, there aren’t many twists that I don’t see coming – but I can honestly say this shocking conclusion left me gobsmacked.
I would recommend this book for anybody who enjoys a really twisty read, where the absurd and the possible merge.
About the Author
Louise Jensen has sold over a million English language copies of her International No. 1 psychological thrillers The Sister, The Gift, The Surrogate, The Date and The Family. Her novels have also been translated into twenty-five languages, as well as featuring on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestseller's List. Louise's sixth thriller, The Stolen Sisters, will be published in Autumn 2020 by Harper Collins.
The Sister was nominated for the Goodreads Debut Author of 2016 Award. The Date was nominated for The Guardian's 'Not The Booker' Prize 2018. The Surrogate has been nominated for the best Polish thriller of 2018. The Gift has been optioned for a TV film. The Family was a Fern Britton Bookclub pick.
Louise also has a penchant for exploring the intricacies of relationships through writing heart-breaking, high-concept love stories under the pen name Amelia Henley. Her romantic debut, 'The Life We Almost Had' is out now.
Louise lives with her husband, children, madcap dog and a rather naughty cat in Northamptonshire. She loves to hear from readers and writers.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an Advance Review Copy of this book.