Published By: Tinder Press
Pages: 320
Released On: 04/11/2025
I remember everything that happened in those three minutes at the beginning of the evening, him and me in the kitchen. That, and what happened at the end: the knife, and what I did with it.
Franca left the Netherlands behind to start her new life in England with Andrew. Andrew, whose parents lived in South Kensington but had a flat their son could ‘borrow’ nearby. Andrew, an old-fashioned British gentleman, who encourages her not to work but to instead focus on her writing.
Andrew who suggests a dinner party with his colleagues to celebrate their big upcoming launch. A dinner party that Franca must plan and shop and cook and clean for. A dinner party during a heatwave, when the fridge breaks, alcohol replaces water and an unexpected guest joins their ranks. A dinner party where everything she once was and everything she now is comes together and she feels like she might implode.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Tinder Press for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I’d had a spell of disappointing reads before this and so I was desperate to find something I could get my teeth into, and this was fantastic. I read the first quarter in about an hour, it just sped by. It’s one of those books that I wanted to dive into and read in one go, but I also wanted to take my time with it because it was so good.
Thrillers probably make up at least 75% of my reading, and whilst I love them, they can get a bit samey. So it was great to read one that was a bit different.
It isn’t your straightforward thriller. Yes there are obvious traditional thriller elements but it’s a quiet thriller. There’s suggestions hints, secrets, claustrophobia; there’s this heaviness about it, this fear, sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting for the jumpscare.
It’s mostly written in the form of a long letter that Franca writes to a character who I won’t spoil. It’s an interesting format to use, and it risked being a bit clunky and one-dimensional, but it is so seamless and adds more of a personal touch to the story.
What I find impressive is that, whilst there are flashbacks and whatnot, it is mostly set across one evening, and Viola has managed to keep it exiting, interesting, addictive, fun – you never want to switch off or turn away, and it never feels static or stale.
The characters are not particularly likeable characters, for a variety of reasons. They are all well written and she’s given us a broad spectrum of characters but I didn’t like any of them. That’s not a negative point as such , for me she’s written them very well, they’re just unlikeable characters.
Franca is a very unreliable narrator. I know there is this trope of the unreliable narrator, but I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with it, so I didn’t have any opinion on it, but it worked here. It means, as the reader, you’re never resigned or too comfortable, and that made it more interesting.
There are some difficult topics (I won’t go into them for fear of spoilers), and overall it isn’t an overly happy book. It is quite dark, but I think it balances well.
I’ve seen some other reviews that are giving it 1 or 2 stars, and I know we all like different things and I will never judge someone for their reading tastes at all, but I enjoyed this so much that is really surprised me to see such negative thoughts. But I think it has the potential to be divisive, and it’ll either be a 1 star or 5 star read.
I kept waiting for the THING to happen. You know, all books, especially thrillers, have a THING. And I was trying to work out what it was. And when I read it, it did surprise me. But then I thought, in hindsight, it’s quite obvious but very cleverly hidden. I wonder if I read it again, would I read it differently?
It is chaotic, messy, frenzied, frantic – in all the good ways.
Books By Your Bedside 