The Bride by Wendy Clarke #BlogTour @bookouture #Review #TheBride @WendyClarke99

The Bride by Wendy Clarke

Published by Bookouture

Publication Date: 20th May 2020

Psychological Thriller

300 pages

First and foremost, my thanks to Noelle Holten of Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this book as part of the promotional blog tour.

Book Description:

The moment Joanna told me she was engaged, I had this awful feeling that something was wrong.

We used to speak on the phone every day. Growing up I spent more time at her house than I did at my own. I’d always imagined what it would be like to see her get married, and now I didn’t even know her fiancé’s name.

She asked me to come and meet Mark and I intended to tell her to slow down. You can’t know someone for a month and be sure that you want to spend the rest of your lives together.

When I got to Joanna’s front door, only Mark was there. He was charming and gorgeous and nothing but nice to me, and I started to understand.

And then he told me that Joanna was missing.

My Thoughts:

My first thought once I had read this book was how well the author represented how we all judge people on appearances. Their homes, the cars they drive, the way they dress - we all make a split second, subconscious analysis of the person depending on how they present themselves. But are we right to go on gut instincts and first impressions or are we better off relying on the impression we get of people over a long period of time? Can we really ever understand someone even after many years of friendship?

Alice and Joanna have known each other since their schooldays. Okay, so they haven't seen each other for...longer than Alice realised, but people have busy lives theses days. We don't live in each other's pockets, and time soon marches on and it's years, not months since they last saw each other.
Alice's relationship has just broken down, her partner admitting an affair which has resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. She's not in a good place, so when she gets an invitation to stay with her oldest friend and meet her fiancé before they get married she jumps at the chance to get away from her misery and get to know her friend again after their time apart.

Things don't go according to plan though.  The beautiful apartment she has seen pictures of isn't quite as she imagined and when she pushes the buzzer it's not Joanna who answers - she's not there. A man's voice tells her that Joanna isn't there and is very cagey about where she is and when she will be back. Introducing himself as Joanna's partner Mark, he says he is happy for Alice to stay overnight and travel back in the morning despite not having been told to expect her company. There's something stand-offish about Mark which Alice can't put her finger on - he seems friendly enough, but is certainly holding something back. They spend a companionable evening together, with a personalised tour around the building which soon demonstrates that they seem to be virtually the only people there. The isolation puts Alice on edge, a feeling which only increases when she meets the 'security guard' who patrols the building. What is it about him that makes her feel anything but safe?

Admissions and revelations from Joanna's partner lead to Alice staying much longer than planned, despite her gut feeling that something really isn't right. Lines of communication between Joanna's parents and her partner are definitely not good, and Alice ends up with so many more questions than answers, yet feels obliged to stay around to support Mark.

The sense of tension that builds up is incredibly well written, with very subtle events happening which would make you feel very insecure yet in a way that you question your analysis of what happened. Should Alice trust Mark? She has so little to go on, yet she finds she is easily drawn into his version of how things are. But Joanna's relationship with him has been such a whirlwind, how well does her friend really know this man? With nobody around other than the creepy security guy and a lack of contact with the outside world Alice is certainly a lot braver than I would have been! I'd have been out of there at the first opportunity.

This book is a great demonstration of the saying "be careful what you wish for". Just because someone's life looks incredibly glamorous and perfect on the face of things, scratch the surface and you won't necessarily like what you find underneath. A chilling read which had me guessing right the way to the final chapters.

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0859CD6MZSocial

Apple: https://apple.co/2Tum0Vv

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2VBcCSE

Google: http://bit.ly/2Tif3rX

About the Author:

Wendy Clarke started her career writing short fiction and serials for national women's magazines. After having over three hundred short stories published, she progressed to writing novels. With a degree in psychology, and intrigued with how the human mind can affect behaviour, it was inevitable that she would eventually want to explore her darker side.

What She Saw is her debut psychological thriller, published by Bookouture. Her second thriller, We Were Sisters, was published in August 2019.

In her previous life, Wendy has published three collections of short stories and has been a short story judge for the Chiltern Writers Group, Nottingham Writers Group and The Society of Women Writers and journalists.

Wendy lives with her husband and step-dog in Sussex and when not writing is usually dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!

Author Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WendyClarkeAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WendyClarke99