This was a great book which follows four female friends who take a vacation together in a rural area in an old barn, turned a B&B. You can tell from the beginning the tension in the air as they get ran off the road on their way and that's where they meet Matt, a cop who is on leave while helping his dad with the family business. Two are left behind to hail a taxi, which never comes, and once they finally all meet up, they end up in a bar for a few drinks. Our heroine Jodie, encounters a creep there and they all quickly leave and go to the B&B to drink some wine, to have a few laughs, and to relax.

After having a bad experience in her teens in which her friend was raped and killed while Jodie got away, she can't help but shake her gut instincts that something isn't quite right. I don't like the way her friends treated her and didn't believe her, and used her bad experience as an excuse to say she was having a mental breakdown.

She then goes to pick up her car from the mechanic, and when she gets back, two men are at the barn. She recognizes the one from the bar. Once again, her friends ticked me off and didn't come to her defense right away when she said "Hey this is the creep who tried to pick me up at the bar".

This whole book resolves around Jodie's determination to right the wrongs she felt she did to her friend all those years ago, and Matt ends up right by her side when he unexpectedly shows up at their doorstep. At this point, they must all fight for their lives.

Well, sometimes you're not strong until stong is the only option you have. The battle between good and bad seemed very long and drawn out and started about halfway into the book. You can sense both Jodie and Matt fighting their demons and each other as to who is in charge, but you can also feel the undeniable chemistry between the two of them as well.

The final scene reminds me quite a bit of the movie "Enough" in the fact that Jodie has had enough of feeling like a victim and has been training her whole life for this moment. She is going to go down fighting, just as you expect. Overall, this was a great, fast paced read. Thank you NetGalley for letting me give my honest review. ( )

Imagine if your worst fears came true … again.

At seventeen, Jodie Cramer survived a terrifying assault at the hands of three strangers. Now thirty-five, she is a teacher and mother, her memories of that past horror are buried deep – so when she sets out for a weekend in the country with friends, all she has in mind are a few laughs and a break from routine.

Unfortunately the weekend starts out as it means to go on -terrifyingly - with the ladies being run off the road by a big truck, at what must be the darkest part of the highway and Jodie then being accosted at the pub as they wait for a loan car. Thank goodness for Matt the handsome local garage mechanic who helps the ladies out that evening.

As the weekend progresses the friends start to argue and disagree which leads them into a dangerous situation bringing back all Jodies worst fears.

Gosh this book was intense! I really enjoyed the story, I liked Jodie, fell in love with Matt and bit my nails to the quick as their weekend unfolded.
I haven't read Jaye Ford's books before but I will be on the lookout now. Such a well written book with loads of terrifying details and heart stopping moments, with a great finish. Loved every minute!
Thank you so much to Netgalley, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles and Jaye Ford for the opportunity to read this advance copy of Beyond Fear. Another contender for best book of 2020 for me. ( )

Jodie, Hannah, Louise and Corinne plan a relaxing weekend away without their kids or husbands. It is Jodie’s turn to select the venue for the friends’ annual getaway and she’s chosen a newly renovated barn in the country town of Bald Hill, a short drive from Newcastle where the women all live. The weekend starts to go wrong when the women have a minor car accident on their drive to the barn, though this does provide the opportunity for them to meet Matt Wiseman, working at his father’s garage while recovering from injuries received in his job as a policeman. Though they do manage to squeeze in some some of the champagne-drinking and chocolate-eating they planned, the weekend turns very grim for the four friends when two men turn up at the barn and won’t leave.

A debut novel by a former journalist, Beyond Fear is a fast-paced psychological thriller and an easy read that I gobbled up in a single sitting. As a reader you know from the outset that something’s going to go wrong with the idyllic weekend but the author manages to build suspense by not taking the obvious route to peril and the lead up to the story’s turning point is very well done. The fact that two of the characters, Jodie and Matt, have secrets from their past that are likely to impact their behaviour in the dangerous circumstances which unfold here just adds to the tension because it is believable that they might do things the average person would not do. For me though the climax of the tension came a bit too early and though the author tried hard to maintain the suspense for the remaining half of the book it did become a little repetitive with long fight sequences and each woman taking her turn to have a mini meltdown before pulling herself together for the sake of her friends.

For the most part the characters were well-depicted and largely credible though I did want to shake both Matt and Jodie for constantly blaming themselves for what was happening. However the people generally behaved as people might in such circumstances and I thought Ford did a good job of depicting the villains of the piece, particularly towards the end where we got some real insight into the pair and what drove them (though we never got a sensible explanation for why they chose to enter the barn when they knew it was full of people given they’d had the same access to the site while it was empty but I suppose I can go with the flow on that one).

There is a lot to like about this thriller including its strong female characters and snappy pace. There’s also a nice hint of romance which, because it’s only a hint, I rather enjoyed. I did think the first half was stronger than the second in terms of suspense but overall it’s a solidly entertaining read. ( )

I was fortunate enough to get an advance reading copy of this debut novel from former journalist and NSW local, Jaye Ford. The unofficial cover said that it was the most heart-stopping suspense novel from Random House, and although I can't 100% confirm that, it was one of the most brilliant books I've ever read. Rather than being an in depth police procedural, Beyond Fear is a quintessential thriller that focusses more on people than procedure and process. I've said in the past that a main character who has suffered previous trauma is more likeable and readers can relate to them more, and Ford has mastered that effortlessly.

We meet Jodie as she and her three friends, Corrine, Hannah and Louise, are taking their annual weekend away. They see it as a perfect opportunity for down time and a chance to relax from their busy lives as mothers, wives, and workers. It was Jodie's year to pick, and she has chosen a refurbished barn near Bald Hill in New South Wales. A tumultuous start to the weekend results in the ladies losing their car, and relying on local cop-turned-mechanic Matt for transport to town. The women are shaken, but it is Jodie who is completely distraught, and after an incident in the local pub, she is thoroughly rattled. Her friends do their best to be sympathetic, and as readers soon find out, the other women are completely unaware of Jodie's past - a past Jodie does her best to keep completely under wraps.

Jodie is clearly on edge, and as she grows more convinced something in not quite right at the barn, her friends become more distant and hostile towards her increasingly bizarre behaviour. Completely ostracised by her friends, Jodie becomes convinced she is losing her mind, convinced that maybe her devastating past has caused her to become a little unstable. She takes off from the barn, to cool down a little and try to settle her nerves. But her worst fears are confirmed when she returns to her friends and finds they are not alone.

I loved this book for many reasons, most of all because it is essentially a simple mystery tale. No complex forensic procedures, no grizzly murder scenes... Just a handful of complex characters, and an isolated barn in the middle of the night. It was a genuinely creepy read because you can put yourself completely in the position of Jodie. There have been times for all of us when we feel a little off, like something is not quite right. Beyond Fear recognises that, and shows that sometimes our gut instincts are right, no matter what our nearest and dearest think. I suppose it was creepier still because it is set in Australia, and it does not rely on elaborate serial killers to be more than terrifying.

If you're a fan of good crime and old-fashioned mysteries, I have no doubt you will love this book. It's strongest point is in its simplicity, and I will eagerly await Ford's next novel. ( )

The setting is rural New South Wales, an isolated barn, newly renovated as a country weekender, and far enough out of town to reinforce the feeling of isolation. Out of mobile phone connectivity range too, always enough to make holiday makers worried. The weekend does not start well when Jodie's car is forced off the road near their destination and things begin to go down hill from there.

Here friends don't share Jodie's suspicion of strangers and they don't understand what makes her so hostile when two men turn up on their doorstep. But Jodie has met them before...

BEYOND FEAR is certainly a nail biter. The tension builds well and I thought most of the scenario was quite realistic. Ford is good at putting the reader into Jodie Cramer's mind and letting us feel the apprehension that Jodie feels when the planned weekend away begins to go wrong.

I felt the book was just a little too long, particularly with the violent scenes towards the end, but then I guess we had to find out why these two men had turned at the barn. By the last 50 pages much of the mystery had been solved and so the author was left with the problem of how many of the main characters could be extricated safely.

That said, if I could write half as well as Jaye Ford I'd be happy. It did keep me reading far into the night. ( )