Published January 28th, 2025 by Thomas & Mercer
Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Crime Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
Happy Publication Day to this heart-pounding thriller. Thank you Mark Edwards for sending an eBook ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
In this mesmerising thriller from the bestselling author of Keep Her Secret, a family’s fresh start is just the beginning of their nightmare…
Ethan Dove’s family has moved to a new home in a safe community, and it’s exactly the fresh start they need. Not only is his marriage to Emma hanging by a thread, but his son, Dylan, and twelve-year-old daughter, Rose, deserve to have a happy childhood.
After Rose is bullied by the boys across the road, Ethan is relieved when the woman who lives next door steps in. Fiona Smith has come into their lives at just the right moment, and when she offers to look after Rose during the school holidays, Ethan and Emma can’t believe their luck.
Which is exactly what Fiona wants. Because, far from being the perfect neighbour, Fiona is the last person you should trust with your child. With a vicious plot for revenge, Fiona is happy to train Rose to be her accomplice, especially when she begins to suspect that Rose might not be as innocent as she appears…
The Psychopath Next Door is a gripping and twisted psychological suspense thriller set in the terrifying world of Mark Edwards’s bestselling The Magpies universe.
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MY REVIEW:
He’s done it again. Mark Edwards never fails to deliver, and The Psychopath Next Door is another first-class thriller that sees Edwards turn the ordinary into our worst nightmare.
Ethan Dove and his family have got the fresh start they were looking for after moving to a new home in a safe neighbourhood. And when Ethan’s daughter, Rose, is bullied by two local boys, he’s relieved that his new next-door neighbour, Fiona, steps in to help. This is exactly the kind of community he was looking for. And when Fiona offers to look after Rose during the school holidays, Ethan and his wife, Emma, are thankful for the help. But Fiona isn’t what she seems. Because lurking beneath the smiley, helpful exterior is a cold, calculating psychopath hell-bent on revenge. And she’s decided that Rose is the perfect trainee accomplice.
As soon as I heard that his latest book was set in the same world as his unsettling Magpies series, I knew it would be a winner. Edwards has been an auto-buy author for me for a number of years and he gets better with every book. This nerve-shredding thriller had me hooked from start to finish but it was the finale where Edwards shined, delivering one of the best twists that I have ever read. And those final lines were truly terrifying.
Lucy Newton from the Magpies Trilogy makes a welcome appearance in this book. I always find her so much fun to read and loathe, but I found someone I might loathe even more: Fiona Smith. Fiona is a strange, unnerving and fascinating character who knows she’s a psychopath and embraces it. Fiona has just been released from prison and now she’s finally free to exact revenge on the people she blames for putting her behind bars. But the real star of the show in this book is Rose. That child made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and was truly terrifying. As a parent all I could think was how her parents were going to feel and what they might do. But I never could have predicted what ANY of the characters would do in this book.
A magnificent thriller that will have you hooked from start to finish, I highly recommend this book.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mark Edwards writes books in which scary things happen to ordinary people, the best known of which are Follow You Home, The Magpies, Here To Stay and The Retreat. His novels have sold over 4 million copies and topped the bestseller lists numerous times. Mark prides himself on writing fast-paced page-turners with lots of twists and turns, relatable characters and dark humour
Mark live in the West Midlands, England, with his wife, their three children, two cats and a golden retriever.
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Thanks for reading Bibliophiles xxxxx
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