A wealthy couple are attacked in their home. The husband is stabbed to death while the woman is able escape out a window to a neighbor's for help. Suspicion falls on her ex boyfriend who has not gotten over her and doesn't have an alibi. There's tension amongst the detectives on the case and it worsens when one of them begins to suspect the wife. This was a well written thriller with an ending that I didn't see coming!

Duplicity by Sibel Hodge is an intriguing psychological suspense thriller. This is my first book by Sibel Hodge and I cannot wait to read more books by her as this was a great twisty read .

Alissa and Max Burbeck have a perfect fairytale marriage. The newlyweds are madly in love with each other and after their honeymoon hold a reception for a few of their friends. But Alissa’s happiness does not last too long as soon after Max is killed in his home office and Alissa barely escapes the intruder with an inch of her life. In comes DS Carter who is suffering through depression after a tragedy and has been passed over a promotion .He does not believe the case is as simple as it seems and suspects there is more to Alissa than meets the eye.

It’s very difficult to say much about the book without giving away some of the suspense so I will say as little as possible. There aren’t any lack of suspects in this book and the author keeps you on your toes trying to guess who killer is . The characters are very well developed and the ending was a complete surprise . Overall a great entertaining read with a 5 star rating.

Many thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

4.5 Stars

Sibel Hodge has done it again. She is quickly becoming one of the authors on my radar who I am constantly watching to see if she has a new book.

If I had any piece of advice about reading Duplicity, it would be don’t read anything more than the synopsis, don’t go looking through reviews looking for spoilers and try not to know anything about this book. What I will tell you is that Hodge does an incredible job of weaving a web that has you wondering WTF is going on and what just happened?

This is a fast paced, intricately woven “whodunit” with lots of twists and turns that will seep into your brain and you will not want to put the book down until you finish. I highly recommend this book.

A brilliant psychological thriller for anyone who loves this genre. This is the first book I have read by this author and going by this book alone I have clearly been missing out.

A real page turner that had me gripped all the way through, with twists and suprises I wasn't expecting.

Highly recommnended and a full 5 stars from me.

This book was almost 2 stories in one, because of the focus on a murder investigation and a girl growing up in an abusive home. It was also an amazing psychological thriller. The twists and turns were abundant, which always makes the thrillers more exciting, because just when I've figured it out, bam a new unexpected turn. Hodge was able to keep the guessing coming, because she made sure not to limit the amount of twists and turns she gave the book. Overall, it was a great read, even though she didn't quite develop the characters as much as I wish she had!

I thought this was a very interesting, well written mystery and then the first twist came into play and the story became even more interesting and THEN.......you've got to read this one! I look forward to reading more books by this author.

Another chilling and dark psychological thrillers from one of my favourite authors.

I kept reading but wasn't really that interested in this novel

Thoroughly enjoyable! A good, well written thriller, which will keep you interested right up to the end!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but the clues, as always are at the beginning. I loved the red herrings in the book and the end was excellent. Loved DC carter, he was like a terrier at a bone, especially when no-one would listen. Really good story, thoroughly enjoyable.

This is a real page turner! I read a lot of mysteries and procedurals - it's not often that I'm actually surprised by an ending. Hodge has done an excellent job with a twists that could have gone wrong. The plot, more than the characters, is the strength of this novel, which is hard to review because of spoilers. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC_ this is an author I'm going to look for again. Highly recommend.

Duplicity is the first book I have read written by Sibel Hodge and it won’t be my last. Duplicity has two points of view: ‘The Detective’( DS Warren Carter) and ‘The Other One’. I always enjoy books with multiple points of view. You are pulled in from the beginning and wonder who ‘The Other One’ is… and then we find out! This itself is a twist.

Alissa and Max have returned from their honeymoon in Australia and one night Max is murdered and Alissa gets away. The head inspector DI Wilmott is taken with Alissa and decides she is not a suspect, but Carter has his doubts. Carter is also dealing with the loss of his wife from cancer. Throughout the novel we really get to know Carter.

You can’t say too much about Duplicity without giving away too much. There are many twists and turns to Duplicity. You think the novel is going one way but then it isn’t! You find yourself not really knowing who to believe and everyone should be a suspect! There are twists up until the very end and you find yourself thinking, “What did I just read”?!?!? But in a good way!

Duplicity is one that should be read in one sitting if possible. I wish I had been able to.

Duplicity is recommended.

4,5 Stars

This is one of those books you should not know too much about before you start reading. The blurb says enough about the story. There are Max and Alissa, newlyweds for 4 weeks. Then Max gets stapped one night and Alissa is able to escape. Alissa is stunning beautiful and charming, everybody falls for her and is charmed by her. The Detective Inspector on this case is charmed by her as well. His subordinate Inspector does not feel that way. He mistrusts Alissa. And he reveals the secret about the murder.

I stumbled into this book without knowing very much. Luckily. There are two narratives. One is The Detective and the other one is “The Other One”. Who that is stays a secret for quite a while. As I said you better do not know too much about the story. There are a lot of twists and turns. In the first half there is a lot of police work and some repetitive explaining about what happened that night Max was murdered. But in the second half things start to get exciting. Then the fun begins. I have to admit there are some unlikely things happening. And some things are really too convenient. But this does not belittle the entertainment value. It is just fun to read. I must admit I get bored with all those bosses who are ignorant and hostile to their detectives which are the only ones who get the right conclusion. There are a lot of implausible things in this story. But it is entertaining and fun to read. So if you like a twisted psychological thriller which is a page turner and you don’t need everything to over realistic, then get this book.

Duplicity

Hot dang she's done it again!!

Sibel Hodge is one of my favourite authors...the kind of author you find yourself waiting on tenterhooks for their next novel to be released!
Not only does this roller coaster ride take you up and down, you also go upside down, side to side...it's like Willie Wonka's great glass elevator!!

You won't ever fail to be disappointed by a book by Sibel, Duplicity is no exception! I was completely blown away by it, a well deserved 5* read!

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book, with thanks to TBC on Facebook, Netgalley and the publisher.

To the outside world Max and Alissa have it all, love, riches and a beautiful house.... Until Max is suddenly dead, stabbed in the back while working in his office at home one night while Alissa is unaware in the bath.

The investigating detective, DS Carter isn't convinced with Alissa's account of the night in question, but when the acting boss develops an almost childlike obsession with Alissa, he knows he has his work cut out to find the real killer rather than Russel, the scapegoat ex.

I have to admit that the first few chapters of this were a bit of a struggle, partially due to the various characters being somewhat unlikable, with the exception of DS Carter. However, once I persevered, I found myself really quite drawn into the story, needing to know the truth behind such an intense deception.

All in all, it was well written, with enough to keep me guessing until the end and I would enjoy seeing DS Carter popping up again in future books.

Duplicity by Sibel Hodge has a dual narrative. One of the main characters and narrators is DS Carter,an investigator in the murder case. The second narrator is the unsub(unknown subject) whose identity is not revealed until the last section of the book. I liked the character of Carter from the start.He was a good cop, frustrated by the system but still dedicated to his work. I like how he was able to see past the lies and deceit of other characters. I also like it when detectives go rogue. The author created a clever plot by having two very different detectives working on the same case. The second detective is DI Richard Wilmott who is the exact opposite of Carter. I enjoyed reading about these two conflicting personalities.

On the other hand, the second narrator really intrigued me. The author introduces the unsub(The Other One) from childhood.We get to see a child grow up in very tough circumstances and later see how they turn out as an adult. These narrations were so dark yet compelling at the same time. It is through them that we get a background story of how the victim and unsub met. We also get some details on the motives behind some of the actions of the MCs.

This book is filled with twists and turns that made it quite a page-turner. One of the main twists that I really liked was about the unsub. The author did a fantastic job revealing bits of information about the unsub’s identity throughout the book. The first revelation was one of the biggest twist for me. All along, I had made assumptions about the unsub. I mean, I didn’t know who they were but I thought one detail was pretty obvious but turned out that it wasn’t. You will have to read the book though to get what I mean.

What I really liked

As I have already mentioned, I really liked the two narrators. The twists also made this book quite an interesting read. I like how the author kept the surprises coming all the way to the end. At some point, it seemed like everything had been settled only for Hodge to come up with another big twist that I couldn’t have predicted.

If you enjoy psychological/crime thrillers then you should read Duplicity by Sibel Hodge. This book will keep you guessing up to the final chapter. It has everything that makes a great thriller; secrets, obsession, jealousy, lies and a murder case. It is dark, twisted and gripping. As I have already said, this is one of the most entertaining thrillers that I have ever read.

Really gripping read.. But there was a point where I almost lost it as it was rather too far fetched. But I decided I would overlook that as I was generally enjoying it too much to stop. Nice twists and turns.

Sibel Hodge is one of my favourite authors and any book of hers that I've read has been brilliant. This one was no exception. It had me enthralled from the first chapter. I loved the way the book was written from the viewpoint of two of the characters. An absolutely fantastic suspenseful psychological thriller and one that will stay in my head for a long time to come.

An absolute must read for fans of psychological thrillers.

Max and Alissa are newlyweds, madly in love and the envy of all their friends; their world is shattered when Max is brutally stabbed to death in their home and Alissa manages to escape through a window. The police investigation begins with many questions. Why had Alissa escaped? What were the killer’s motives? As Alissa tries to pick up the pieces of her life and mourns the loss of her husband, the lead investigator, DI Carter, begins to wonder if she is telling the truth. After all, there are three sides to every story. His. Hers. And the truth…

Duplicity, by Sibel Hodge, is a novel full of suspense and psychological thrills. After reading some killer reviews of this book, I knew I had to read it, and to the top of my TBR pile it went! Every review was correct: this novel was utterly addicting and I was hooked from the initial moments.

The novel opens hours after Alissa Burbank has successfully evaded a killer in her home; her husband has been pronounced dead and she is resting in police custody. Detective Carter enters the scene, a honourable man with a tragic past, to take her statement and work the case. As he begins to unravel the scene, he begins to question everyone’s involvement in the murder and soon, he realizes, nothing is what it seems.

The novel is alternatively narrated by “The Detective”, who is DI Carter, as he tries to work the case and find out who is responsible for the murder of Max. I loved this character and found myself attached to him; Hodge gives him quite the back story. The other half of the book is narrated by “The Other One”; this character speaks of their atrocious upbringing and personal demons; it is obvious that this narrator is the perpetrator responsible for Max’s demise but it is not clear who this person is until much later in the book. This narrative style had me on edge; between the niceties of Detective Carter and the twisted, vile thinking of “The Other One”, I was violently flipping pages to come to the resolution of the plot! By the second half of the book, I couldn’t put this one down.

I do not want to give much more away about the plot, but let me tell you, the twists and turns in this one are awesome. The big one at the end, that one was completely unexpected! Well played!

Overall, this read was just plain fun; I’d highly recommend it to any lover of psychological thrillers (or someone who just wants to read a really, well-written thriller!). This was my first experience with this author’s work and it will not be my last! I cannot wait to see what else Sibel Hodge has up her sleeve! I gave this one a 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

Thanks to the publisher (Thomas and Mercer), the author (Sibel Hodge) and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this novel; it was my pleasure to provide an honest review.

Psychological thriller done right!

This book totally surprised me, and then surprised me again. It's so hard to explain why it did without spoiling it. So I will do my best explaining why you need to read this book and why I need to read more Sibel Hodge! This was my first book by Hodge, and I am very interested in reading more.

I would like to thank NetGalley/Thomas&Mercer for the chance to view this book for an honest review. It was an absolute pleasure.

So, onto why this book wowed me.

Alright, so we have our two main characters, Alissa and Max Burbeck. Newlyweds, in love and all that jazz. One night while at home, they suffered a break-in, which left Max dead and Alissa running to the neighbors for help. So, why didn't the intruder hurt Alissa too? Alissa claims she saw the intruder, described them as wearing a disguise that covered the face and also covered the shoes. She then ran into the bathroom (where she had conveniently been bathing while Max was murdered) and escaped out the window to the neighbors. The police come and find that the bathroom was not especially hard to break into, so why didn't the intruder try to come after Alissa? Or is Alissa lying...and why? As the detectives do some digging, they find out that a lot of people are upset with Max due to his housing company. So, could it have been one of the tenants who murdered him? They wouldn't really have a reason to kill Alissa too.

Enter crazy ex-boyfriend Russell. Russell and Alissa dated for many years, childhood sweethearts. But, Alissa out-grew the relationship and Russell did not. As you can guess, he didn't take the breakup well, bordering on stalker. We find out that Russell crashed the Burbeck wedding reception, was totally plastered and seems to have a motive to have killed Max. He was attempting to stay in contact with Alissa and trying to tell her not to marry Max. Russell claimed that Max was a bad guy and that Alissa didn't really know him. So...he's a suspicious character.

One of the inspectors (DS Carter) on the case had recently lost his wife and was having a hard time at work. He lost a promotion to a younger, skeezy guy. DS Carter also had recently been reprimanded for trying to dig further into another case when they considered it over with. But he knows he was right then and something feels wrong with this case too. Something about Alissa seems off. But her friends describe her as loving, caring, totally in love with Max. She does seem to play the part of distraught widow but there is something else there, something he just doesn't believe. But, with the last reprimand, can he take another chance? He's a seasoned detective, so he's going off his gut. He seems to be alone in his thinking, so is his career worth losing over just a gut feeling?

The other part of the book describes a character who is unknown to us, who has an awful childhood living situation. We don't know if this is past or present. The child describes their horrible life on a farm with their family. The parents fight constantly and so badly the child often hides and the mother is left beaten. When the child goes to school, it's like a getaway. But, the child knows they are not normal. So they learn to act normal, by mimicking other children. Learning to say the right things and do the right things. Later on, we learn who this child is and their part of the story. (Loved this part! Totally caught me off guard!)

Man, what a thrill!