Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: HQ
Pub Date: 20th June 2020
Review Date: 15th June 2021
Blurb
The Perfect Couple… A match made in HEAVEN or HELL?
When Emily applies for a job as a housekeeper for widower Rupert, it’s a chance to start over – a steady job and regular money means she can work towards her own place, not sharing a grimy flat with old mate, Mags.
As Emily gets to know more about Rupert’s world – how he likes his supper when he comes in from work, who his friends are – she can make sure everything runs like clockwork for him.
Soon there’s a spark between them; Rupert likes Emily and invites her to stay. For good.
To the outside world, they really seem to be a perfect match. There’s just the small issue of what really happened to Rupert’s first wife…
My Review
This stunning domestic thriller brings classic gothic literature bang up to date, as the character of Emily is thrown out of her working-class comfort zone and into a spine tingling upper-middle-class world where nothing is as it seems.
Fed up with the slobby habits of her mate, Mags, Emily bags a job as a housekeeper to Rupert, following the death of his wife - Caro. Early on we see the first reference to Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca as Emily says: ‘I’m definitely not Mrs Danvers’. However, with Danvers being a surrogate for Rebecca in du Maurier’s novel; we are soon introduced to Caro’s surrogate in the form of Sadie. From the outset we aren’t sure whether Sadie is a friend or foe. She starts off as hostile, making Emily feel like an outsider, but the two soon become friends. However, the author’s clever and unpredictable plot will leave you wondering just how genuine Sadie is.
As a plethora of unexplainable and menacing incidents questions Emily’s sanity, she soon craves her old life. But who, if anybody, is behind it all? Nobody is above suspicion, including Mags, and this clever and twisty plot will have you turning the pages to discover what is going on. It feels like a game of cat and mouse – but you’re never quite sure who the cat is! Typical of Lisa Hall, the novel’s twisted conclusion will leave you gasping in shock.
I totally loved this book and recommend for fans of Lisa Jewell, Jane Corry, and Shari Lapena.
About the Author
Lisa loves words, reading and everything there is to love about books. She has dreamed of being a writer since she was a little girl – either that or a librarian - and after years of talking about it, was finally brave enough to put pen to paper (and let people actually read it). Lisa lives in a small village in Kent, surrounded by her towering TBR pile, a rather large brood of children, dogs, chickens and ponies and her long-suffering husband. She is also rather partial to eating cheese and drinking wine.
Readers can follow Lisa on Twitter @LisaHallAuthor