Author: Rachel Ryan

Rachel Ryan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. She can usually be found writing in coffee shops, hanging around libraries, or walking the streets of Dublin, making up stories. The Woman Outside My Door is her first novel.

Photograph by Ailish Kerr.

#BookReview Someone You Trust by Rachel Ryan @rachelryanbooks @SimonSchusterCA #SomeoneYouTrust #RachelRyan #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview Someone You Trust by Rachel Ryan @rachelryanbooks @SimonSchusterCA #SomeoneYouTrust #RachelRyan #SimonSchusterCA Title: Someone You Trust

Author: Rachel Ryan

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Aug. 1, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 272

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

Amy jumps at the opportunity when she’s offered a nannying job in picturesque West Cork. The assignment is for the friendly and welcoming Carroll family, whose stunning house is situated on a stretch of remote and rugged coastline overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It’s the perfect chance for Amy to escape the suffocating city and the man who made her life hell.

With two adorable children to oversee, a pair of generous employers, and more freedom than she’s enjoyed in years, everything seems wonderful. So why can’t Amy shake a creeping sense of unease? Perhaps it’s the husband’s erratic behavior. Or the fact that she was never told about the reclusive teenage son whose bedroom is next to hers. Or maybe it’s the strange messages that somebody has been painting around the local village.

Quickly, it becomes clear that all is not well in the Carroll marriage, nor in their idyllic rural community. Whispered secrets and strange occurrences fill the breathtaking scenery with menace and, as the days pass, Amy learns that the refuge she has sought just might be the most dangerous place of all.


Review:

Brisk, riveting, and suspenseful!

Someone You Trust is an ominous, character-driven thriller that introduces us to Amy, a young woman who, after fleeing Dublin for a quieter existence and a place to hide, quickly discovers that everything is not as perfect as it seems in the affluent home of the Carroll family she’s employed by, everyone has a secret to hide, and danger lurks around every corner.

The writing is crisp and edgy. The characters are anxious, secretive, and flawed. And the plot, using a back-and-forth style, is a menacing tale full of twists, turns, revelations, insecurities, lies, obsession, manipulation, domestic abuse, infidelity, troubled pasts, and familial dysfunction.

Overall, Someone You Trust is a tortuous, addictive, unnerving tale by Ryan that is deliciously relentless, surprising, deceptive, and bursting with misdirection.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Rachel Ryan

Rachel Ryan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. She can usually be found writing in coffee shops, hanging around libraries, or walking the streets of Dublin, making up stories. The Woman Outside My Door is her first novel.

Photograph by Ailish Kerr.

#BookReview The Woman Outside My Door by Rachel Ryan @rachelryanbooks @SimonSchusterCA #TheWomanOutsideMyDoor #RachelRyan

#BookReview The Woman Outside My Door by Rachel Ryan @rachelryanbooks @SimonSchusterCA #TheWomanOutsideMyDoor #RachelRyan Title: The Woman Outside My Door

Author: Rachel Ryan

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Nov. 24, 2020

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 288

Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

From an unforgettable new voice in suspense fiction, The Woman Outside My Door is a thrilling page-turner about a young mother who can’t shake the feeling that her son’s “imaginary” friend is putting him in very real danger, and she will stop at nothing to keep him safe—perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Mary Kubica.

All children have imaginary friends, Georgina tells herself. It’s perfectly normal, and they all grow out of it in the end. But when her seven-year-old son, Cody, tells her about New Granny, the new friend he’s met in the park, Georgina is instantly suspicious. Something—call it maternal instinct—tells her he isn’t making it up.

But maybe Georgina is losing her mind. It wouldn’t be the first time, after all. And with her own mother’s recent death leaving her bereft and trying to cope with life as a busy working mom, it’s no wonder she’s feeling paranoid that Cody has invented a “New Granny” to replace his beloved grandmother.

Her husband, Bren, becomes the voice of reason, assuring Georgina that it’s just a game, the product of their son’s overactive imagination. But what if Cody’s imaginary friend is not so imaginary after all?


Review:

Tense, ominous, and clever!

The Woman Outside My Door is a suspenseful, psychological thriller that introduces us to Georgina, a young wife struggling with the loss of her mother who becomes even more unhinged when her seven-year-old-son appears to have a new imaginary friend that phones him and gives him treats.

The writing is crisp and edgy. The characters are vulnerable, unreliable, and distressed. And the plot unfolds subtly into an eerie tale of secrets, obsession, heartache, shame, loneliness, deception, familial drama, and utter desperation.

Overall, The Woman Outside My Door is a crafty, engaging, sinister tale by Ryan that kept me engaged from the very first page and is without a doubt an exceptionally promising debut.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

            

 

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Rachel Ryan

Rachel Ryan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. She can usually be found writing in coffee shops, hanging around libraries, or walking the streets of Dublin, making up stories. The Woman Outside My Door is her first novel.

Photograph by Ailish Kerr.