'Graham Greene's beautiful and disturbing novel is filled with tenderness, humour, excitement and doubt'

'It is beautifully done, a pleasure to read, a succession of deft, unobtrusive, yet masterly touches'

The most addictive of writers . . . a unique teller of tales

Dexter meets Gone Girl - I loved this this brilliantly dark and twisted novel. One of the best books I've read this year!

The twist at the end of the first chapter made me read through the night. Clever. Manipulative. Dark. Disturbing. What more can you ask for?

Brilliant - I was enthralled by the premise and it totally delivered. Five star entertainment!

Dark, shocking and very witty, this wickedly good read will make you run screaming from the suburbs

We're calling it now: Samantha Downing's creepy, sexy debut thriller is going to be the next Gone Girl.

So beautifully and elegantly written . . . the ending is amazing and there is a great twist. I loved it.

An assured and deliciously engrossing debut. You'll surely devour My Lovely Wife, but it will linger long after you've reached the last page

I pretty much inhaled this twisty, audacious, Gone Girl-y psychological thriller. This is the book that everyone is going to be talking about this summer. I can't shut up about it!

A genuinely fresh take on the psychological thriller genre. Expect dark humour and more loop-the-loops than a roller coaster

A dark and irresistible debut

My Lovely Wife is a knockout. It's an effortless page-turner

My Lovely Wife is dark, twisted-and impossible to put down. Samantha Downing has written a wickedly plotted and suspenseful psychological thriller

A fantastic foray into what we know-and what we do not-about those closest to us. Intricately plotted, fascinating characters - I loved it!

Domestic noir has rarely been darker . . . it's a psychological shocker

Utterly gripping . . . Expect more twists and turns than a bowl of spaghetti and block out a whole day to read this, because you won't want to sleep until you're done

This gripping page-turner offers a new take on the psychological thriller genre - the ideal beach read

A dark and clever debut thriller

Suspenseful, shocking thriller. Deliciously dark

Totally engrossing and I kept on thinking, one more chapter... an intelligent page-turner that makes you question everything

Truly horrifying in the most delicious way. Samantha Downing sucks you in with a great story, pitch-perfect prose and disturbingly dead-on insights into the dark side of human nature. I hope I never meet her in a dark alley....

I couldn't pull myself away from this story - a terrifying and riveting window into the mind of the perfect suburban mother with a taste for murder. Make sure you clear your schedule before you pick it up. Absolutely unputdownable

It's no mean feat to find something fresh in the crowded thriller field, but Downing pulls off an indisputable triumph with My Lovely Wife. Exemplary writing and outstanding pacing confirm Downing's talent, but it's her deliciously depraved characters that kept me flying through the pages. Couldn't get enough of this subversive love-gone-sideways tale!

Deliciously dark and twisted... It's a remarkable achievement, full stop.

Best new books to read this March

A highly original and dark look at the shifting power structure in a modern marriage. . . A funny, smart book

Darkly witty and strangely plausible, it's a read-in-one-sitting firecracker of a thriller, laced with explosive twists

A marital, psychological thriller with darkly comedic undertones

Bold and brilliant

This is a ringer of a yarn, shot through with enough tooth-clenching moments to make you have your dentist on speed dial

With a twisty plot that will leave you gasping, this deliciously dark thriller is on a par with Gone Girl

One of the best thrillers I've ever read

What. A. Book! 2019’s best thriller and a one-sitting read.

Brilliantly dark and unsettling, Lisa Jewell’s latest novel might just be her best yet.

A work of utter genius ... you’re going to love it.

Lisa Jewell is the most wonderful writer, and funnily enough we've written about a similar theme with our new books - cults, in microcosm and macrocosm. I can't rant enough about how brilliant The Family Upstairs is.

I absolutely loved The Family Upstairs. Intriguing, absorbing, unputdownable with characters so real they jump from the page.

Couldn’t put it down. Wish I’d written it. With characters that light up the pages, a twisty plot which unravels at perfect pace, and a house rammed with the darkest secrets, it’s brilliant.

Brilliantly dark and disturbing ... Absolutely couldn’t put it down, it’s so good!

‘Outstanding. So compelling, twisty-turny and riveting. I just couldn’t stop reading.’

All I want to do for the rest of the day is find out what’s at the bottom of it all. Too good.

Utterly compelling. Deliciously dark and twisty with characters who live on in your head. Lisa Jewell just keeps getting better and better.

Compelling and suspenseful for a long and chilly autumn night’s reading.

A gripping psychological thriller.

This is without a doubt one of my favourite reads of the year.

Featuring two entangled families and a house with the darkest of secrets, this is a compulsive new thriller from Lisa Jewell.

From the first page we were hooked. If you’ve got a lazy day planned over the Christmas break, this is the type of novel you could read in a day…It makes us shiver just sharing the plot and we guarantee you’ll be on the edge of your seats throughout.

Of the crop of great thrillers out this year, this is my pick [...] Lisa Jewell is brilliant at creating a menacing atmosphereand this is almost unbearably tense at times, with a knock-the-wind-out-of-you ending.

An enthralling tale rich in psychological suspense that mixes family saga with domestic noir.

Part family saga and part-psychological thriller, this is an exceptional read.

Breathtaking thriller

Perfect book to inhale by the fire. Had no idea how creepy and nuanced it would be but couldn’t put it down and stayed up half the night reading it. Highly recommend.