Published By: Thomas & Mercer
Pages: 318
Released On: 17/02/2026
For Beth and Vince, on the brink of a break-up, their island getaway was a last-ditch attempt to save their crumbling marriage. Instead, it’s left them with a haunting memory: the discovery of a young woman’s body on the beach, and Vince’s arrest by suspicious local police. Now back in London after an alibi freed him, they’re desperate to move on—until a familiar face from that terrible night reappears on their street. One they hoped never to see again.
Detective Alison Hegarty was on the scene too, drawn into the case during what was meant to be a relaxing babymoon. Now she’s also back in London, heavily pregnant but in a race against impending maternity leave. Can she unravel the lies that connect the holiday murder, a long-ago crime and a new suspicious fall?
As Beth and Vince are forced to face up to the choices they made that night—and the lies they’ve told one another—one thing seems certain: you can run away from your secrets, but the truth will follow you home.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This flits between POVs and time periods, and whilst I like both narrative devices, I know some people (my mother included) would struggle with it. Honestly, I did struggle more than I normally do but I did get to grips with it and from then on it was seamless.
I started reding it one evening and after about 90 minutes I was halfway through, it was so absorbing. And I devoured the second half as soon as I woke up the next day.
You have six main characters, some nicer than others, and some with bigger roles than others, but they’re all well written. You’re not sure who to trust and whose side you’re meant to be on. Everyone becomes a suspect and you end up tying yourself in knots trying to figure it out.
It is fast-paced and tense, multi-layered with so much depth to it. There’s twists and turns and surprises and it really keeps you on your toes.
I have always been notoriously terrible at working out thrillers and whodunnits, but even I was surprised by the reveal in this. I had my suspicions that kept changing throughout but I didn’t see the ending coming.
The chapters are short (which I like) and snappy and fast-paced which helps add to the manic nature of the characters and the situation.
The one thing I’m not sure of is the ending. I mean, I didn’t see it coming, which is good in a thriller. But it also seemed to come out of the blue and it was all done in a handful of pages, like something needed to be tied up but she didn’t quite know how.. I liked it, don’t get me wrong, the ending was good, I just wish it had been drip fed slightly earlier so it felt like part of the main story instead of just this added-on end.
This is my second of Claire’s books I’ve read, the first being This Could Be Us, which is as far away from a thriller as you can get. Thrillers are my most read genre and I will definitely be putting Clare’s name on my list of thriller writers to look out for.
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