Published By: Michael Joseph
Pages: 400
Released On: 06/07/2023
Emilia Ward lives quietly in suburban London with her husband and two children.
Just an ordinary wife and mother. But also a bestselling crime writer.
When she starts writing her tenth Detective Miranda Moody novel, however, life takes a frightening turn: an incident straight out of one of her novels occurs in real life.
Just an unsettling coincidence, she thinks. Until it happens again.
Then someone she knows dies exactly like a victim in the book she’s still writing . . .
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This is like a book within a book, and both were expertly crafted. I take my hat off for someone who can craft one amazing story, let alone two.
Somehow, this turns out to be the first Claire Douglas book I’ve read, even though I’ve heard of her and her work. I can’t believe I haven’t read them before. They’re just perfect. And judging by the reviews of her other books, they’ve always been so, and I look forward to reading some more.
I started this whilst in hospital, thinking it might pass a few hours. What I wasn’t expecting was to get so sucked into it that I finished it in one sitting, not even putting it down for dinner, eating with one hand so I could continue. If it wasn’t for the nurses, I probably would have ignored therapies and the call of nature as well.
It is all consuming and absolutely spectacular. It’s full of twists and turns, it’s uncomfortable, it’s raw, it’s rich, it’s…and I know this is a weird word to use for a thriller, but beautiful. It really is. This thing she has created is just sublime. You think you know the answer but then it changes, and you end up suspecting everyone.
It’s slow. And whilst that may be a bad thing usually, I think that’s what makes it excel. It drip feeds you clues. It’s menacing, like someone is breathing down your neck. It’s the definition of a thriller. And in my opinion, the pacing is perfect. If you make it too slow, people get bored, but if you make it too fast, people aren’t invested. But by starting off slow, layering clues, you’ve got a thrilling, non-rushed, tense, and uncomfortable story.
I loved this gradual descent into madness that Emilia experiences. It’s so tense that she starts suspecting her nearest and dearest, she is unsure who or what to believe, and so is the reader.
It is a large cast, but your main ones are Emilia and her husband Elliot, their children Jasmine and Wilfie, and her father-in-law Trevor. Her friends Louise and Ottilie, her ex-husband Jonas and his new wife Kristen, and police officers DI Murray, DI Watkins, DC Jones, and Saunders. I’m sure I’ve missed someone out but my point still stands. Each character is developed so well and feel so real. And they all work wonderfully with Emilia, helping her, making her feel nervous, that you end up wondering who is a goody and who is a baddy, or whether everyone is a mixture of both.
As you get further in, you start to question what you’ve already read, things are often flipped around in your head, and will make you audibly gasp and sit further to the edge of your seat.
It is a fabulous premise for a crime thriller but also had the potential to be overly convoluted, confusing and complicated. But I think she’s hit the nail on the head and everything is balanced well.
I’m glad I’ve read it because it was brilliant, but I’m sad I’ve read it as that means I no longer have it to read.
Books By Your Bedside 