Hi Everyone,

Hope you’re all well. I’ve been so busy the last few days I haven’t had time to sit down and write this. Im currently away on holiday so I’m going to try and get my thoughts down whilst I have a bit of spare time.

Book 📖

Thank you to @likely_suspects for this copy of The Only Suspect by @louisecandlish. Thank you also to @tandemcollectiveuk for a fantastically organised readalong. This was one especially fun as the group chat with the other bloggers was particularly lively and full of theories which was so fun. The Only Suspect is available for you to get your hands on here.

Description 🔖

Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife Beth in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so he’s not the most sociable guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but he’s a good husband and an easy-going neighbour.
 
That’s until Beth announces the creation of a nature trail on a local site that’s been disused for decades and suddenly Alex is a changed man. Now he’s always watching. Questioning. Struggling to hide his dread . . .
 
As the landscapers get to work, a secret threatens to surface from years ago, back in Alex’s twenties when he got entangled with a seductive young woman called Marina, who threw both their lives into turmoil.
 
And who sparked a police hunt for a murder suspect that was never quite what it seemed. It still isn’t.
 
No one else could have done it. Could they?

General Thoughts 🤔

I will hold my hands up and admit that I’m slightly biased because I love Louise Candlish but I loved this book. She delivered the domestic thriller goodness again and had me hooked. From the very start of the book, I was thrown into a guessing game trying to work out what had happened but also who people were. This book was a ride and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Characters 👫👭👬

I need to be careful about what I say about the characters in this book because “who is who” plays quite a big part in the story and it’s many twists and turns. So I’ll keep it as brief as possible without giving away any spoilers.

I really disliked Alex from the very beginning. He was a selfish, spiteful man who had no concern for anyone but himself. I felt so sorry for his wife Beth and I couldn’t see why she was hanging around and staying married to this guy. On the flip side, Beth also did some crazy things that had me gobsmacked. She overstepped some boundaries for sure however I still found it difficult to be angry with her when Alex was such a douche.

Writing Style ✍️

I love Louise Candlish and her books and this one was no different. She is absolutely brilliant at creating stories and characters that are so frightening because they’re normal, relatable people but they’re going through horrendous events. I spent so much of this book putting myself into the character’s shoes and questioning what would I do and it is this that I think I enjoy about Louise Candlish’s writing the most.

As to be expected, from this author, the story is full of twists and suspense and it was such a great readalong book because it was so fun to share theories with everyone. There were a few things that I guessed right in terms of what was going to happen, however I never quite got to grips with the why. That was a big reveal for me and I loved it.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it was made even better by the other lovely readers on the readalong. I’m a bit of a Louise Candlish fan girl, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I will like every book an author I love publishes. Fortunately, I did love this one. The absolute queen of domestic thriller did it again and gave us a book that took me on a rollercoaster full of twists, turns and shocking moments. I definitely recommend this book.

😍😍😍😍😐