I received an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

*In Her Shadow* by Mark Edwards was a bit of a letdown for me. Despite the promise of a thrilling psychological suspense novel, I found it failed to deliver the kind of creepy atmosphere I was expecting. To be honest, I didn't find it creepy at all. The plot was weighed down by an overabundance of twists, which quickly became convoluted and difficult to follow. While the author threw in numerous red herrings, I found myself skimming to the end, already knowing who had committed the crime long before the final reveal. This made the unraveling of events feel somewhat anticlimactic.

There were certainly moments where the story seemed like it could go in an exciting direction, but the excessive twists and implausible developments left me frustrated rather than intrigued. It was, unfortunately, my least favorite Mark Edwards book to date, and I found myself disconnected from the characters and the plot long before the conclusion.

The story is suspenseful. Was Jessica's sister's death an accident or was she murdered? Is Izzy's ghost really talking to her four year old niece? Good writing but plot was long winded. Plenty of twists and turns.

Thank you to NetGalley, Amazon Publishing UK and Mark Edwards for an ARC of "In Her Shadow".

Nicely twisty one that will keep you guessing about Izzy and her......ghost. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

In Her Shadow was my first Mark Edwards book and I enjoyed it. A mystery with a touch of the supernatural, likable main character, story moved along pretty well. My only complaint is that it could have been a little shorter, I think that would have made the pacing even better.

I liked it well enough that I will definitely read/listen to another book by Mr Edwards.

**3.5 stars**

*Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the e-arc I received in exchange for my honest review.*

Another whirlwind of a book by Mark Edwards! It sees Jessica's 4yo daughter Olivia start to mention things that her Aunt Izzy has told her, things that only Izzy and Jessica would know, except Izzy died before Olivia was born, in what police ruled as an accident. As Olivia comes out with more and more bombshells, now about the day that Izzy died, Jessica starts to think that there was more to her sister's death than meets the eye. She starts to re-examine everything from the time of Izzy's death, trying to find out what everyone has missed. Then Olivia starts to make predictions about people and places around her, predictions that start to come true...

And the truth? It's even creepier than you'd imagine...

This is a chilling, gripping suspense novel, as I've come to expect from Mark Edwards. It races out of the blocks and the pace doesn't slacken until the last page. I was, as usual, oblivious to everything going on around me until I'd come to the final conclusion. I recommend this book to all lovers of psychological fiction and domestic suspense.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

Another cracking read from Mark Edwards, who is a master of dark psychological thrillers, and never fails to have the reader on the edge of their seat, trying desperately to solve the crime before the end of the book.

This book had me hooked from the start. The scenes with Jessica’s daughter were incredibly well-written, and the realism of Mark Edward’s writing only added to the levels of creepiness.

The book is carefully paced, teasing out the plot. Jessica is a fantastic character and you really want her to get to the truth. I finished this book in two sittings. I couldn’t wait to have all my questions answered.

Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers.

This is a great read and a well detailed plot that kept me engaged from the very start. I really liked the well thought out characters and found them to be believable. I cannot wait to read what the author brings out next.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Amazon Publishing UK in exchange for an honest review.

In Her Shadow turned out to be a very different book than I was expecting, which isn't necessary a bad thing. The blurb describes it as the story of a woman, Jessica, whose sister died four years ago. She always accepted it as an accident but when her daughter starts behaving strangely, she wonders if it might have been murder instead.

This is still definitely a thriller but the strange behaviour the daughter experiences gives the whole story more of a horror edge as she appears to be communicating with the ghost of Jessica's sister. This is the main bulk of the story and I was a little surprised that it wasn't more explicit in the blurb. Most of the tension and uneasiness comes from never being quite sure if her daughter really is communicating with a ghost or if there's something more sinister at play.

On the whole, this is a decent thriller and has a plot with some interesting elements and a solid sense of tension. Unfortunately I felt like it had a couple of flaws which stopped it being much more than that. Firstly, it is pretty long for a thriller and I felt like it could have been cut down without losing much. Perhaps more importantly, the ending suffers greatly as it falls into the folly of having every character suspected in turn, meaning when you reach the actual suspect you are not surprised because they are literally the only character left who hasn't been dismissed. This makes for a dull and tedious ending as you can tell by the pages left when it is a fakeout reveal.

Elements I liked however: the characters were pretty good. In particular I liked learning about Isabella, the dead sister, and I felt she was a very unique and interesting character to read about. Her job as a sexual therapist was something I've not seen before and it was handled extremely well. I also liked Jessica's relationship with her daughter and that was written very well compared to a lot of thrillers. Her daughter felt like an actual part of the story rather than a plot device that disappears whenever she stops being immediately important.

Overall, there was a lot going on in this story and I appreciated the depth and focus given to some of the side characters and plots. I think it was a shame about the ending as I was enjoying it a lot more until then, and I think trimming that down would have also helped with the overall feel of the book being too long. There is some nice creepy imagery and good characterisation to be found here, it's just a shame that some of the elements fell a bit short.

Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

I read this a long while back and wasn't sure how I felt about it as I noticed all the rave reviews so I recently went back and skimmed it again.
I found it an easily predictable story, I don't like the paranormal stuff that was quite confusing and didn't work for me at all.

Another winner from Mark Edwards! I discovered him a few years ago and now devour everything he puts out. In Her Shadow is another winner; I mean, who doesn’t love books about creepy kids??

A great book from this highly talented author. Dark and creepy, I freaked out on several occasions when reading - and little Olivia steals the show. Highly recommended if you like your thrillers, dark, creepy and psychological!!!!

Another fabulous book by the talented Mark Edwards. Never has any of his books let me down and this one was no exception. A brilliant five star read with lots of twists and turns.

Another awesome read from the master of psychological thrillers. It was creepy , with a supernatural feel and explored family ties and relationships. Highly recommended

Absolutely enjoyed from start to finish, u didn't want the book to end. Highly recommended, if you like books that keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat.

While it wasn't a bad book I'm not a huge fan like the rest of the reviews were. It seemed to lag and somehow just didn't draw me in completely. I found the characters kind of "wishy-washy" and simplistic. Just couldn't connect all the dots on this one.
3 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the author and publisher for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I was very happy with this book. A good pace, a few unexpected revelations and overall a pleasant read. I think I would have liked it to be a little longer but can't put my finger on what was missing to make it so, perhaps a little more background description. As the first book of this author I've read I was definitely not disappointed and would certainly consider reading more of his writing.

Mark Edwards skillfully weaves paranormal elements into a well told story centring around love, obsession, sex and drugs. The twists are frequent and although there are a number of false leads, the conclusion is both logical and surprising.
Mark Edwards will always be a writer I turn to when I want an addictive, easy read. This book, whilst enjoyable and engrossing didn’t quite hit the 5 star mark for me, partly because there was so much going on that the chilling elements got a bit lukewarm, but it was still a solid, engrossing and enjoyable read. You can’t ask for much more than that!
Thanks to Amazon Publishing UK for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I've read almost everything this author has written at this point. Sometimes I'm more critical than at other times, but I think the reason I keep reading is that despite a quibble here and there, his work is as intended: very suspenseful. This one was no different. Here's the set-up: Your sister dies from a fall, there are hints, five years later that it may not have been accidental, and to add further complications, your youngest child seems to be channeling messages from your sister. The suspicion, as well as the pool of likely suspects widens with each new revelation.

I was kept guessing. I'll say that much. You will be too. An entertaining read, and a good mystery from a more-than-competent author.