I really enjoyed Under the Harrow by this same author and highly recommend it. I struggled a little with this one. It might be because I couldn't help seeing the connection to the Earl of Lucan.
(For details on the Earl of Lucan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bingham,_7th_Earl_of_Lucan)

It's a fascinating true crime story. In this case, though, I had a hard time connecting with the main character's drive to hunt down her father. To me, it seemed clear that he was guilty in some way from the very beginning, whether in committing the crime or simply organizing it. Understanding why--her motive for seeking him out--is understandable. But the reasoning behind the crime just didn't work for me. Again, it might be just me on this one as, like I said, I really enjoyed Under the Harrow.

When Lydia was a child, her father brutally murdered her babysitter and injured her mother, then he ran off, never to be seen again. Lydia, her mother, and her younger brother moved away, changed their names, and tried to get on with their lives, but twenty years later, the effects of that day are still being felt by all of them. Lydia, now Claire, is a doctor, owns her own home, and has an outwardly successful life. But secretly, she still searches for her father, determined to find him and make him pay for what he did to their family.
This was a page turner, and I was really enjoying it up until the last 50 pages or so. I felt that the author wrapped things up too quickly, and left several loose ends. I would have liked to have learned more about the father's motivations and his feelings toward his children.

This is an interesting story, but I didn't care for the way that it's written. There is nothing wrong with the writing itself, but there is too much detail for my taste. Claire's father murdered her nanny after confusing her with her Mom. Mom got away, but badly hurt. This destroyed Claire's life and her brother's, who was just a baby. She is now a doctor in her thirties and has spent decades expecting but fearing the day when her father is arrested. He is protected by his rich friends, so the police haven't been able to find him. Then again, he may be innocent. Claire will try to find him on her own. I was interested in all this, what happened in the past and what Claire is doing to find him. Her brother's sad story was also compelling, but the novel failed to grab my attention completely. You know when you have to keep reading because you need to know what's going o happen? I didn't get to that point. Maybe it's the excessive details, including what all characters are wearing or eating, whether it matters to the plot or not, or what happens in Claire's life even if it's unrelated to the story (ie. the maladies and attitudes of her patients.) Other readers may like this style and they will enjoy this novel. I guess I'm easily distracted when there's not enough action.

This was a great read -- a solid thriller that raised a host of questions as the story unfolded. The life of a young doctor in London is dominated by her obsession with the past. A tragic crime from Claire's childhood remains unsolved, and she devotes vast amounts of spare time and money to investigating the case herself.

The compulsion is plausible, though -- Claire was at the scene of the crime, someone was murdered there, and it's likely that the killer was her father, who disappeared immediately and completely.

Among the questions I struggled with as I read: Is it possible for people without wealth, rank and power to find justice? Can traumatized children heal as adults? And just whose Double Life are we considering?

Some other reviewers have quibbled about the ending, perhaps because there were few clues and little foreshadowing salted into the earlier points of the story. It felt fitting to me. The author had created smart, believable characters, placed them in interesting, well-drawn scenes, and paced the action just right to carry me along to her conclusion.

Claire is a young doctor with a great future, but a tumultuous past. When she was a young girl, her nanny was murdered and her mother was brutally beaten. Claire's mother claims it was her father who committed the crime. Shortly thereafter he disappeared. His wealthy friends accused her mother of being mentally unstable--they insisted that she was the murderer and had inflicted her wounds upon herself. There was never enough evidence, though, and Claire grew up thinking if she could just find her father, she would finally get some peace. One of the couples she thinks might have helped him escape has a daughter, Alice. They played when they were children, but it's been years since they've seen each other. Claire books a fake event with Alice's party planning business to attempt to get close to her. If she can befriend this girl, perhaps she can get close to her parents, and finally get answers.

I really enjoyed Berry's Under the Harrow, so I had high hopes for this one. I love her writing style, and once I finally got into it, it was quite the page turner. It took awhile to get going, though--I almost abandoned it on several occasions because I just wasn't sure I had all the characters straight. There's also a little back and forth between Claire's perspective and her mom's in the past. These sections weren't delineated clearly enough. Claire's brother Robbie was also a bit of an extraneous character--not sure what he added to the plot, other than to stress her out more with his drug addiction. I thought it was a very original premise, though, and Berry's writing is so pretty I still enjoyed it.

What an absolutely addictive read!! The synopsis for A Double Life had my interest peaked, but honestly, I was completely hooked after only the first chapter! I enjoyed the well timed twists and found myself glued my kindle because I could not put it down! I haven’t read Flynn Berry before, but I connected with her writing style and will definitely be 1-clicking anything and everything she comes out with in the future! A Double Life is a 5 star novel that you won’t want to miss!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for the eARC.
Based loosely on the Lord Lucan case (he was never found), I absolutely loved this book.
Claire, a doctor in London, is told by the police (for the umpteenth time) there's been a sighting of her father who disappeared 26 years ago. Her father, separated from her mother, killed the nanny who was looking after her and her baby brother Robbie and severely beat her mother. The family changed their names and moved to Edinburgh. After university, Claire moved to London. She wanted to keep an eye on her father's friends and even obsessively stalked some of them, hoping to find the truth about her father. She's sure his friends helped him escape. In court her mother's character is blackened by both her father's friends and his family and Claire is sickened by the thought her father is a killer and has gotten away with it all these years. Her life the last 26 years has been put on hold as she obsessively looks online for stories about her family. The case is still being discussed and analyzed by groups on the Net, and she's constantly afraid she's being followed or people will find out who she really is. Her closest relationship is with her dog and her brother, who is an addict. She's terrified of losing him, but can't get him into rehab even though his life hangs in the balance.
By befriending the daughter of her father's best friends, she manages to get her father's location and travels to a Croation island, Hvar. (The description made me want to travel there, it sounds wonderful!)
The end satisfied me no end, terrific, what a superb psychological thriller, highly recommended.

While I adored Berry's first novel and was loving this one even more, a bizarre twist at the very end came out of nowhere and tainted everything that came before. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of the genre but I believe that this would have been a far better book without the events of the last four pages.

A terrific mystery thriller. The characters were wonderfully done. Loved the surprise ending, and the unusual settings. Had to look up the Men’s Club to see if it was real.

Great psychological thriller with excellent plot and character development! Look forward to more works from the author.

I gave up on this after only a few pages. It regularly violated the cardinal "show, don't tell" rule, and so it was very dull to read.

Not bad - I like the way the author tells a story, I just did not think this one was very compelling.

Claire has built a new life for herself after her father’s brutal attack and murder of her mother and the family’s nanny when Claire was just a young child. Her father escaped and Claire went on to become a doctor, but she’s never forgotten the man who tried to kill her mother, the same man who tucked her in at night and took her for ice cream. When the police alert Claire that there has been anther sighting of her father overseas, she discounts it, it’s happened so many time before after all. But it starts her thinking, how can she really go on with her life until she finds out what really happened that long ago night? And the only way she can find those answers is to find her father. While not as exciting as Under the Harrow, Berry’s previous book, this is still a darn good thriller