The New Girlfriend by Sheryl Browne
Published by Bookouture
Publication Date 3rd August 2020
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
My thanks to Sarah Hardy for the opportunity to be part of the promotional blog tour for this excellent book - my thoughts and opinions here are entirely my own and are unbiased. I had the pleasure of meeting Sheryl at a crime thriller author event at my local library last year and have been avidly soaking up her books ever since. This latest book has been my personal favourite so far.
Book Description:
Some secrets are more dangerous than others.
Cassie once did something so bad she’s never spoken about it since.
When her beloved son, Josh, dies suddenly in a tragic accident, Cassie is overcome with grief. And, as she cries on her husband’s shoulder, her phone lights up with a message that terrifies her.
I know what you did and I’m going to make you pay.
Somebody from Cassie’s past has found her and they want everyone to know just what kind of a woman she is.
As Cassie struggles to keep the message from her husband, someone knocks on the door of their perfect family home and Cassie discovers she isn’t the only person keeping secrets. Before her stands her son’s girlfriend – a girlfriend Cassie didn’t know about.
And when Cassie closes the door behind the new girlfriend, she has no idea who she has just let into her life. Her biggest secret is about to be revealed. And you won’t believe what Cassie does next…
A truly gripping page-turner that will keep you reading well into the night, The New Girlfriend is perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, My Lovely Wife and Gone Girl.
Cassie once did something so bad she’s never spoken about it since.
When her beloved son, Josh, dies suddenly in a tragic accident, Cassie is overcome with grief. And, as she cries on her husband’s shoulder, her phone lights up with a message that terrifies her.
I know what you did and I’m going to make you pay.
Somebody from Cassie’s past has found her and they want everyone to know just what kind of a woman she is.
As Cassie struggles to keep the message from her husband, someone knocks on the door of their perfect family home and Cassie discovers she isn’t the only person keeping secrets. Before her stands her son’s girlfriend – a girlfriend Cassie didn’t know about.
And when Cassie closes the door behind the new girlfriend, she has no idea who she has just let into her life. Her biggest secret is about to be revealed. And you won’t believe what Cassie does next…
A truly gripping page-turner that will keep you reading well into the night, The New Girlfriend is perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, My Lovely Wife and Gone Girl.
My Thoughts:
As I said in my introduction, I have been working my way through Sheryl's backlist of books since meeting her at a crime thriller night at my local library so was keen to check out this, her latest novel. I mean, that cover - you can't gloss over that on the shelf of your library/bookstore can you? It leaps off the shelf with it's vibrant colours and catchy tagline for a start: Your Secrets Her Lies. (Can you tell I am a girl who is taken in by a pretty cover design? I know...I shouldn't judge a book by its cover but hey...).
The book begins in a far less pretty manner, the prologue describing what turns out to be Josh's final few minutes of life. Maybe there could be a trigger warning for this opening chapter as it's quite an upsetting narration of how, whilst under the influence of a heavy night's drinking, Josh falls on to the train tracks and killed. It is told from his point of view, his thoughts of the evening's events and a vague background of how he came to be so inebriated. But there's always the feeling that we're missing something in his telling of what is going on - which all adds to the intrigue for the remainder of the book.
The main heart of the book is told by those left behind, the people Josh loved the most. And a couple of others. The author has done so well to weave her story so that we don't know how each of these characters figured in the months leading up to Josh's death. There's a massive rift between him and his mother Cassie, a situation his stepfather seems to have been keen to rectify right up to the end. The torment he puts himself through as he tries to come to terms with losing Josh is heartbreaking - I have to admit that Adam was the only character I really warmed to all through the book and he certainly had my heart strings pulling more than anyone else. Then there is Kim, a young woman who arrives on Josh's parents doorstep after his funeral complete with young baby in tow, who she claims belongs to Josh. Cassie and Adam have to decide whether she is telling the truth or not, a decision process which could mean they lose touch with their possible grandchild if they handle it all wrong.
I really flew through the pages as the plot meandered its way back and forth from the present day with Cassie and Kim's points of view taking the stage to months earlier when we get glimpses of life from Josh's view point. I frantically tried to work out who was telling the truth regarding the relationship between Kim and Josh - and indeed Josh and his parents - but while some aspects of the story were fairly straightforward to work out, others burst in and stole the show. It's hard to say much more than that without spoilers but OMG! that ending! I love it when an author manages to hide the biggest reveal right until the bitter end and Sheryl has done so BIG STYLE in this novel. It was one of those moments where I actually leapt from my chair on uncovering the final bombshell - one I certainly didn't see coming. As much as I loved this whole book, the conclusion is amongst some of my favourite reading of the year so far. I cannot recommend this book highly enough and I would love to hear whether it blows you away too. Personally I thought it was absolutely blummin brilliant.
Buy your copy here:
Amazon: https://bit.ly/2WYANud
Apple: https://apple.co/36E3tfL
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3cd5CzZ
Google: https://bit.ly/36FBL1V
About the Author:
Sheryl Browne writes psychological thriller and edgy contemporary fiction. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association, Romantic Novelists’ Association and awarded a Red Ribbon by The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, Sheryl has several books published and two short stories in Birmingham City University anthologies, where she completed her MA in Creative Writing.
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