Alexandra is a wife and mother who one day just vanishes - seemingly without a trace. Later, some of her clothes are found by a river with blood on them - her body though is not found. Her husband, Marc, continues to believe that she is alive and continues his search for her.

A very twisted psychological thriller told from flashbacks and by Alexandra in the present as she is being held somewhere imaging what her family is going through and how they are handling her absence. Without stating more - the twists and turns are surprising..

I thought this story was a little too far fetched, not very believable and at times confusing as the story is told fromAlex's view point even though we don't know if she's still alive. Thank you publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

"The very worst things in life, our most fearful nightmares, they don't happen all at once. They creep up, lodge themsevles gradually in our brains..."

I just finished reading this, in one sitting, because I could not put it down. From the blurb, believe me when I say that you can't imagine what a ride you're getting on. I would say that this psychological thriller will be very polarizing and that you'll either love it or hate it. I fall on the love side because it was quite unique, despite the inevitable (and so tiring) comparisons to GONE GIRL and the like. It seems I read so many books in this genre that are full of secrets and lies between husbands and wives, etc. Well, most have nothing on this one.

I'm trying to figure out how to review this without ruining it for future readers -- the initial point is "explaining the absolute abnormality of a woman who had always come home...not walking through our front door that night," says Marc when Alexandra Southwood goes missing. The family, living in York, has two young daughters. The police get involved quickly and begin an intense hunt, but this is not a typical 'detectives searching for a missing person' novel. The narrative is so bizarre as Alex tells an unidentified man her story "more honest than the police reports and newspaper articles. If it is not an actual truth, it is very much a human one." Interspersed between Alex's account are other points of view -- that of Marc, letters from her college friend, Amelia, and flashbacks painting a picture of their married life together. Bizarre, right?

Right away the reader senses something really off about this whole scenario. Where is Alex? What happened? Why? Lots of questions. Along with the forward motion of the story describing how Marc, his friends and family react to Alex's disappearance and the search for at least a body so they can have some closure, there is ART. ALL CAPS ART. I don't pretend to know much about art other than to be able to say whether or not I like a particular piece of it or not. It's not my thing, so I learned a lot about it from a much more learned source! I must say that was the least compelling part of this book to me until I got further in and found out more about Alex and what makes her tick. I can't say I liked her at all, was totally empathetic to Marc all along, and the other characters in the story were only peripheral to their relationship. Alex's main relationship was with herself.

So forgive this meandering and probably pointless review and take a chance on reading the book itself as it is far too complex for me to reduce to these few paragraphs to try to explain my reaction. I think the ending was quite a masterpiece even as I anticipated what was coming as I rushed to the conclusion. Certainly it would make an excellent book club book as there are so many ideas and issues that could be discussed and debated. Definitely one that was thought-provoking and I'll be pondering some of it for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the e-book ARC to read and review.

An excellent twist-filled novel that seems like a guilty pleasure until you realize that it's making you think. One day, Alexandra disappears. Her perfect husband (really, he is perfect), her adorable daughters, her beautiful house... she loses everything. You know she's not dead because she is the omniscient narrator, and it looks like she is being held captive by a man. But who is it and why is he torturing her with details about her family's life without her? Her husband Marc is doing everything he can to find her, even if everybody, from the police to his friends and family, tell him that she is dead and he needs to move on. The story kept me guessing and I was completely engrossed with the characters. At the same time, it brings up excellent points about the nature of art that really made me stop and think. And what an ending. It reminded me of a famous play, but the author has made it her own. It's a wonderful read for readers of psychological novels and art lovers.

Exhibit Alexandra is not your typical Psychological Suspense Novel. My guess is it’s going to be a love or hate type of book for most. I’m somewhere in the middle 😊 The story is quite unique and clever ... BUT ... I had it figured out very early. Using the art aspect was quite original and those that don’t see the twists coming are going to be quite surprised.

Wow... what a fascinating and unique psychological thriller by Natasha Bell. It's so refreshing when an author has a different eye for the clever ;). And my goodness .... this one has a different eye for sure.

Alexandra Southwood is living in York with her husband Marc and their beautiful two daughters Charlotte and Lizzie. Alexandra is happily married until the day she disappears. Heart-broken Marc refuses to believe that his wife is dead even though his friends, family, and detectives are believing that she may no longer be alive. Marc embarks on a journey to find what happened to how wife Alexandra.

Natasha Bell enters into the world of art and identity. Wow... I definitely learned a few things in this novel about how in-depth you can become as an artist.

This is a very thorough character driven novel. If you enjoy a mystery within a mystery with a very excellent psychological twist then you will love this! What I really enjoyed about this one.. is it left me really thinking. There were some aspects of the novel that I was scratching my head with and I still haven't figured out minor points BUT this is what keeps your fingers turning those pages!

The story is told from Marc's perspective and Alex's perspective. I was a little confused in the beginning of who's perspective we were following but as the story progressed.... this worked itself out :).

I do have to say... this story is very hard to review without any spoilers. So.. I will leave you with this.... if you're aching for a different psychological thriller please put this one on your list! :).

Overall, 4 stars. I will be looking forward to seeing more from this author.

Thank you so much Netgalley, Crown Publishing, and Natasha Bell for an advanced arc in exchange for my honest review.
Posted to GR: 3/4/18
Publication date: 3/13/18

This is hard to review without spoilers BUT I'm giving it four stars based on Bell's different way of telling a somewhat basic story. The narration is from Alexandra's point of view so you're really up inside her head, which can sometimes be a bit much. There's an art imitating life (or life imitating art) thing, there's the trials of marriage, and there's how one views oneself in the universe. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This isn't for everyone (Alexandra can be full of herself) but it's definitely worth a read.

This is such a hard to book to review without giving to much away, but I am going to do my best. Alexandra is just like most wives and mothers. If she isn’t at work, she is at home with her husband and girls. They play games and watch tv together. Alexandra has a love for life and art. When she goes missing, her family is devastated. Her husband refuses to lose faith she’s alive.

This story is told from Alexandra’s POV, it is what she believes how events transpire after her disappearance. It is the present, with glimpses of the past, how she and her husband met, and other aspects of her life. It does get a little confusing at times, but it ends up working rather well it all comes together.

Alexandra life seemed perfect from the outside, but from her POV, it was clear their was some issues, some she didn’t share with anyone. She is one those characters, you want to feel for, especially in the situation she is in. But at the same time, I didn’t find her all that likable. I did however feel more connected to her husband, he loved her, and so determined to find her. And did his best with their girls in their mothers absence. A few other characters, were just as mysterious as Alexandra’s disappearance, so it was interesting to see the role they played in her life and the mystery too.

There were some underlying themes that I sensed right away and others that were buried deep within the mystery behind Alexandra’s disappearance. The characters were well developed, and played their parts just right, whether they were family, friends, law enforcement or even suspects. The ending was a surprise and boy was a big twist! I will want you, the pace is a little on the slow side but this is a good thing when it came to particular thriller.

Exhibiting Alexandra was most definitely a mind twisting psychological thriller, that will keep you guessing and wanting more.

So, in the beginning part of this book, I thought this would be a four-star read.

I liked our characters and the mystery was compelling. I thought I had figured things out – the author’s clues were subtle, but there if you were paying attention.

I was enjoying it.

Then, the author did the unforgivable…she spoiled her own book.

Roughy a third of the way through, the author introduces a peripheral character – a character completely unimportant to the book. The entire purpose of the character is to give you a clue as to what’s going on. Did I say a clue? I mean a big, honking, neon lights and arrow and fireworks and couldn’t’ be missed by a six-year-old clue. Then, the character disappears for a bit. And then later, comers back to give you the same clue again in case you missed it the first time.

And my enjoyement of the book was ruined.

I did continue to read, largely in the hope (however shallow a hope it was) that this was some red herring – that perhaps the author was playing with the reader and then would have some twist revealing that everything she led us to believe (or should I say hit us over the head with) was wrong.

Nope. The reason behind everything is everything that character X (the completely unnecessary to the plot character) tells us.

Not happy.