A compelling book which I found difficult to put down. A tense psychological thriller with suspense, secrets, domestic violence, relationships and plenty of twists and turns.

I did guess the twist but this did not spoil the book as I enjoyed how it became slowly obvious as the book progresses.

Well written with engaging, believable characters -I really wanted to know what was going to happen to Katherine. I found the ending to be very satisfying.

I recommend this book but make sure you have plenty of free time as you will not want to put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I start? An absolutely brilliant book. I couldn’t put it down. Not only a good plot but some very interesting insights into relationships. Looking forward to Dawn Goodwin’s next book.

This book was very well written . It had me hooked right from the start. Great characters and a twist you wont believe. Highly recommend it.

I really loved this book. It as so well written and kept me completely hooked to the detriment of anything else I should have been doing. An unusual plot and a tight storyline. Believable characters and a well paced story.
A woman who wishes to be an author meets another author who can mentor her and help her on her way. That is just the beginning of the problems.....
It does not sound like much of a storyline for a thriller, but it really is very psychological.
Most enjoyable.

This was a different read for me. The main character Katherine, is married with grown up kids, who takes up creative writing under author Sam. Her husband does not believe in her, yet Katherine continues on, and Sam's wife Viola agrees to help her.
There are hidden secrets, controlling husband, domestic violence, and new relationships. I could predict the twist, but I finished the book in one sitting to get to the end.

Not my typical read but it sounded intriguing so i wanted to give it a try. I truly enjoyed. It was a good, suspenseful read for me! Would recommend.

Great read which kept my interest from the start. Believable characters and a a great twist at the end. Read it you wont be disappointed.

Katherine is a typical wife and mother although she has never given up her dream of being an author. She takes a writing course and meets novelist Sam, whose wife Viola is a literary agent. When Viola meets Katherine, she feels like she has seen her before. Does Katherine have secrets? Have the met before?
This book was a great, suspenseful psychological thriller! It kept me guessing until the end and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thank you to Dawn Goodwin, Aria and NetGalley for the ARC of this fantastic book!

Katherine Baxter leads a normal ,comfortable life being married to Paul and two children Jack and Lily. She has always like writing short stories but gave up when married life and motherhood changed her priorities, but since the children were older she decided to join a Creating Writing course with renowned author Sam Morton. He took an instant shine to her and encouraged her writing enough to pursue it being published. Paul refuses to accept that she can cope with this pressure, as he knows the secret she has kept hidden for twelve years. As Katherine is torn between listening to her husband or the support and encouragement from Sam, she starts to take control back of her life and pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a published author. When Sam's agent and wife, Viola agrees to represent her - she is thrilled but does Viola have alternative reasons for agreeing to help.

A story of a wife in a controlling marriage that finds the courage to break free when two strangers offer her a way out. Throughout, it hints at some tragedy in Katherine's past that convinced her that she is broken and needs Paul to tell her how to deal with life - it is only towards the end that you find out this past secret and the consequences of that day.

‘Literary agent Viola Matthews is sure she's met Katherine Baxter before. So when her husband and bestselling novelist Samuel Morton introduces Viola to the quiet, unassuming woman he has offered to mentor, she knows their paths have crossed before. The question is where?
As their worlds collide and the bond between Samuel and Katherine deepens, Viola realises she must take control.
If Viola is right, then Katherine needs to pay for something that happened twelve years ago.’

I had a tough week, but knowing I could go to bed early with The Pupil was enough to keep me going! It was gripping. I loved the writing element – all of the talk of writing classes, mentoring, publishers parties and agents – was right up my street!

I don’t think there was necessarily a twist because I had a fair idea of what was going to happen, but it was still tense and I really cared about Katherine by the end. Viola was a great character, really well portrayed.
I also thought the author dealt with issues of domestic violence and mental health very sensitively.

I’d definitely recommend, one of my favourite suspense thrillers of the year.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Aria and the author, Dawn Goodwin, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of The Pupil in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
I found the storyline to be well thought out and written. It took me awhile to guess what was going on. I enjoyed reading this book and had to complete it in one sitting.
Definitely well worth a read

I was kept guessing for most of the book about Katherine's secret past. It starts slowly but there were lots of hints that something bad had happened but the ultimate reveal was quite surprising. Up until that point, there was a huge amount of tension between her and Viola around the secret, which Katherine didn't connect the dots on for a long time so she was as much in the dark as us. Very good writing style that made me want to keep reading.

A very topical book and with lots of suspense giving you plenty to think about ... good writing and plenty of thought given to the storyline ...I enjoyed it

I received this book as and ARC from#netgalley in return for an honest review. Katherine wants to write a best seller and is thrilled when the famous author of her writing class offers to give one-on-one help. But Katherine’s controlling husband, Paul has other ideas. And who is leaving notes on her doorstep? What caused her breakdown? Is the novel any good? Why does Sam’s wife hate her? Or is it her imagination? I can’t wait for more from Dawn Goodwin

A really good, solid read that made me want to keep reading. Well rounded characters and a good pace. I did enjoy this one.

The Pupil is a novel that starts quite slowly and develops very well into an interesting story. The main character, Katherine is an aspiring novelist who is being mentored by an acclaimed author. He and his wife seem to be taking a special interest in Katherine and there is some mysterious connection between them and her. Meanwhile, Katherine’s home life, while appearing comfortable and secure, is not what it seems. As the book progressed, so did my sympathy for Katherine and I was intrigued as to what traumatic event had occurred in the past.

Overall, I enjoyed the book; it is well written and held my attention and interest. I’d read more by Dawn Goodwin.

The Pupil starts with a present-day first-person narrative from Katherine’s perspective, where she is coming to the end of a week-long creative course in London. The group are all going for a drink to celebrate the end of the course but being a mother of two primary-school age children, Katherine needs to get home. Luckily she has her friend, Helen, to help her out and Katherine is able to socialise with her new writing buddies, where after a few drinks her tutor offers to mentor her for free.

Writing has been a life-long passion for Katherine but she has always been surrounded by negative people with no faith in her ability. Her mother thinks it’s a pipedream, her best friend thinks she has enough on her plate being a mother, and her husband thinks she should be content washing his socks and cooking his dinner. But her tutor, Sam, is a prolific writer and for him to have faith in her has re-lit the passion she has for writing. When her husband shows little interest in her news, she knows he will just belittle her, so instead of telling him about her mentoring sessions with Sam, she persuades Helen to cover for her. Uh-oh!

When Sam’s wife and agent, Viola, meets Katherine, she is sure she knows her from somewhere but isn’t sure where. Viola offers to represent Katherine but without giving away any spoilers, we soon learn that Viola is the antagonist.
from Katherine’s past, where we see glimpses of her diary as a teenager. But we also know there is something sinister that has happened in Katherine’s life since she has been married. Katherine writes under her maiden name, Katherine Baxter, but her married name is Katie Haynes.the story unfolds.
Very enjoyable book.

This is my first read by this author. I’ll definitely be going back and reading her debut novel.
This psychological thriller was so good that I read it in one sitting! I just couldn't put it down, as each time I thought I was going to take a break something else happened to make me want to keep reading.
The author writes well, the characters were well-fleshed out, it had a strong suspense factor, and a good twist.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin is a psychological thriller that I read in one day. Katherine (who I did not warm to) who is stuck at home looking after her two children, dreams of being an author. Her husband Paul does not support her dream. Katherine enrols in a writing course and meets Sam a well known author. Sam decides to help Katherine with her manuscript. While working together she meets Sam's wife Viola who is sure that she knows Katherine from before

I love the author’s style

I was lucky enough to read and review Dawn Goodwin’s first book and my final sentence said ‘I will certainly look out for any further books by this author.’

When I received this book, I started reading in one day and finished it the next day. I just love the style of writing of this author; you become embroiled in the life of the main character and really want to know what is going to happen. As in the first novel, there are twists and turns and although I half-guessed the ending, it was still brilliantly executed.

Katherine has been married for over 10 years to a man 15 years older than her and very set in his ways. She feels reasonably contented with her life mainly because of her love for her 2 children, Lily and Jack, but all her life she has wanted to be a writer. She manages to find a creative writing course which fits into her lifestyle and makes an immediate connection with the course mentor, Samuel Morton. In addition, she meets his wife, Viola Matthews, who is also Samuel’s agent. Both Samuel and Viola convince Katherine that her fledgeling novel is worthy of potential publication and she agrees to meet up with Samuel on a regular basis to fine-tune her plotline and characters.

This is where the trouble begins as knowing her husband Paul will not be supportive of her ambition to write has to arrange clandestine meetings with Samuel. Although Katherine has no intentions of having an affair, she is moved by the support and sympathy he shows in her. Viola is also supportive but veers from being over helpful, giving Katherine a brand new laptop, to be very cold towards her. We soon realise that Viola has discovered the terrible event that has hung over Katherine from 20 years ago although we are not told what this is until almost the end of the book.

It is this terrible event that has given Katherine’s husband Paul control over her. He was willing to support her and look after her but in return feels she should pander to his every whim. He is the classic case of a controlling husband who wants the ‘little woman’ to be a homemaker and look after him and the children and have no life of her own. This even goes as far as texting her every afternoon to tell her what to cook for his tea!!

Added to this Katherine had an unhappy childhood as her father left her mother when she was a teenager and she has had no contact with him ever since. Even then her writing helped her with her unhappiness, but with no encouragement, she had given up her ambitions.

All these various threads are drawn together brilliantly with an explosive ending. I would thoroughly recommend this book although you will need some time to read it because you will want to know what happens.

I hope Dawn Goodwin continues to keep writing such good books and I am really looking forward to the next one.

Dexter

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review