Nuala Ellwood

This book has 384 pages. The fact that I sped through it in less than half a day should let you know it is a totally involving thriller, with a family dysfunctional enough to put the fear of god into even a dedicated Coronation St watcher. Add a strong female journalist, suffering from PTSD after covering news in Aleppo and the story gets good confusing and I couldn’t put it down until the last mystery was solved. An excellent excellent read, if slightly over the top in places- but a good ride all along. Highly recommended!… (plus d'informations)

There were many instances of characters 'nodding their heads' in this book. Nearly thirty, in fact. To nod: "Lower and raise one's head slightly and briefly." By the 30th instance of this tautology, it was getting really rather tiresome. Had the characters just nodded, I might not have noticed.

Irritation aside, this was a fairly decent psychological thriller up to about eighty per cent. Not long after that point, I was starting to fret. There was quite a number of unanswered questions, and I had to ask myself, how were going to be resolved in only 15-20%? They were, yes, but in a rush and not frightfully believably.

A shame after such a good start, middle and three-quarters, all of which race along compellingly. It's a story about a woman who wakes up from a coma after a car accident involving her and her daughter only to discover her daughter died, her husband has disappeared and her head is full of questions and fragmented memories.

It's not badly written, characters nodding away like Churchill dogs aside (oh, and the wretched present-tense which really does the book no favours), and it's a plot that certainly has legs…there's intrigue and mystery. But there's an imbalance: some parts are a tad too drawn out at the expense of the ending, which just doesn't gel.… (plus d'informations)

I've loved all of Nuala Ellwood's previous books and The Perfect Life is no exception. It's incredibly fast-paced and I raced through it.

This is the story of Vanessa, a woman with a great job and a nice life. She meets Connor and he just seems to make her life even better, perhaps even complete. There's a lot of back story to Vanessa though, a traumatic childhood which has affected her throughout her life and she's used to pretending, losing herself in a dream world. When she sees a property on an app that she likes the look of she decides to go and see it but makes up a different persona for herself. This eventually leads to a dead man in one of the houses she goes to see. Did she kill him?

It's actually quite a complex story when I think about it, one that is very twisty and just when I thought I knew where it was going the author took me in a completely different and unexpected direction which was a real surprise to me. This is such a cleverly plotted read and I thought the author did a brilliant job at keeping up the suspense. I found it really hard to put down. It's easy to read yet has some strong themes of childhood loss, grief, gaslighting and murder.

The Perfect Life is a book with two timelines, very close together yet everything has changed between them. I loved going back and forth between the two as the story unfolded before my eyes. A thrilling and chilling psychological thriller - I loved it!… (plus d'informations)

I found this book a bit difficult to get into, normally I'm hooked within a few pages or a chapter but I was almost half way through the book before I felt the need to keep reading it. It turned out to be a good book with a twist I didn't see coming! I ended up enjoying the book and thought it ended well and it does transport you through the lives. I wasn't too keen on the going backwards and forwards between then and now in the character's life but it did need to happen and is probably what made the book what it was. Not one of my favourite books but it was a good read.… (plus d'informations)