Publisher’s Description
Three women. Three smouldering secrets. Who will make it out alive?
It’s 5 November, and a woman awakens to a nightmare. Bound and gagged, she lies trapped in the heart of a towering bonfire. As the smoke thickens, panic sets in – she’s moments away from being engulfed in flames. How did it come to this?
Rewind eleven months: Margot, a faded TV star, and her long-suffering friend Anna watch as glamorous Liv and her flawless family move into their street. The three women soon fabricate the perfect pretence of friendship, but each harbours her own deadly secret – and newcomer Liv senses something is terribly wrong beneath the polished exteriors.
As cracks widen in the veneer of perfection and lies escalate out of control, tension ignites. Bonfire Night is approaching and someone is set to burn…But who will it be?
You Killed Me First Book Review (Thrilling Reads Review)
Reading You Killed Me First felt like reading two very different books. One I really enjoyed. The other… not so much.
The first part of the novel didn’t feel like a thriller at all. It was slow, heavy on world-building, and read more like an episode of The Real Housewives: UK Edition, complete with a character who felt inspired by Posh Beckham. Add in POV chapters from dead characters, and I started to wonder if I had accidentally picked up a supernatural novel rather than a psychological thriller. I considered DNF’ing more than once.
Curious if others felt the same, I checked in with one of the big psychological thriller Facebook groups—and sure enough, I wasn’t alone. Someone suggested pushing through to the second part. I’m glad I listened.
Part Two is where the book comes alive. It turns into a tense, hair-raising psychological thriller that explores the price of fame, the weight of past trauma, and the lengths people will go to for revenge. This is the John Marrs I came for—dark, twisty, and emotionally charged.
If I used a star system (I don’t), I’d deduct one or two stars for the sluggish start. But the payoff in the second half is strong enough that I still recommend the book overall. Just a heads-up: if you’re struggling early on, hang in there—or, if you’re on audio, maybe hit that x2 speed until you get to Part Two.
