s soon as I saw this book I was drawn to its gorgeous cover. Simple yet classy with a hint of danger. This reminded me of the book cover designs for Louise Jensen. After reading the synopsis (as above) I was hooked and knew this was my kind of read.

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.

The novel has a varied narrative structure. As well as the present-day first-person narrative from Katherine, we also see some third-person narration from Viola’s perspective. There is also an epistolary style narrative 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 the pseudonym of her maiden name, Katherine Baxter, but her married name is Katie Haynes.

As well having all the elements of a good domestic noir, this novel is also an inspirational tale of how a down-trodden woman overcomes her past to fulfil her lifelong ambition. I love reading books about writing, and The Pupil is no exception.

I recommend this book for anybody who likes Louise Jensen or Shalini Boland.

Under Literature love’s rating scheme this book has been awarded 4 out of 5 stars.

Katherine Baxter has always enjoyed writing so when she hears of a writing group led by the famous author Samuel Morton, she is eager to sign up. Her husband tries to discourage her, but she pays for it with her own money and signs up anyway. Sam takes a special interest in her and offers to mentor her. She meets his wife Viola, who is an infamous Literary Agent, and Viola says she sees promise in Katherine's novel and says she can get it published. Then things start going horribly wrong for Katherine. Someone seems to have it in for her, and is threatening her with the knowledge of something Katherine did 12 years ago.

I found this book to be a little slow starting out, but it didn't take long before it picked up and from there it turned into a psychological thrill ride. I really enjoyed and I think anyone who loves a good thriller will enjoy it.

I received an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley. This book had me from the very beginning. I love that it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I would highly recommend this book to my fellow readers. Thank you for the chance to review this book!!!!

The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin was not quite what I expected it to be, for starters the blurb implies that the book is written from the point of view of Viola when in fact readers mostly experience things from the point of view of Katherine. Despite this I enjoyed reading it as it was full of suspense.

Literary agent Viola is certain she's met Katherine Baxter before, so when her husband, bestselling novelist Samuel Morton, introduces Viola to the woman he has offered to mentor, she knows their paths have crossed before. The question is where?

As 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.

The Pupil begins with Katherine waiting to go to the last day of a creative writing course and anticipating her return to the drudgery of her daily life.

“This is it Katherine. One more day then it’s back to reality tomorrow.”

The course is taught by bestselling crime novelist Samuel Morton who’s on break came with the help of his wife Viola Matthews whose dad was a giant in the publishing industry. Sam has given Katherine and the others valuable insights into the writing process.

“Writers are selfish creatures. We take our inspiration from everyone and everything around us without permission…We are always observing, taking notes in our head, wondering if the scene playing out before us can be used and manipulated into plugging that gaping plot hole. We are predators, stalking the lives of others, using and abusing, bending and shaping at will.”

After the class Sam mentions to Katherine that he found her writing promising and would be interested in helping her to get it published.

Initially Katherine is over the moon, but she soon comes back to reality with a thud when she mentions it to her husband who mentions that he probably wants money from her in return and that he is unsure she can cope with it.

We learn that Paul had only agreed to her taking the course on the condition that she could fit it around their children’s schedule.

“I had never given him reason to think I could be successful at anything other than being a mother…I played the part of the subservient housewife pretty well too.”

I took an immediate dislike to Paul. Initially he seemed to be just dismissive of Katherine and a little bit selfish but as the book progressed it became easier to see that he was exerting a form of control over Katherine to make sure she fit into the neat little hole he had assigned for her.

In fact, this seemed to be a theme with the closest people in her life. Her best friend Helen reluctantly helps to keep it secret from Paul when she continues to see Sam to work on her manuscript but makes it clear that she thinks Katherine is wasting her time.

Even Katherine’s mum repeatedly emphasises how unlikely it is that she will succeed in getting published.

During the course of her meetings with Sam Katherine is introduced to Viola. Viola shows interest in helping her but despite her warm words is curiously cold towards her and we soon learn that Viola believes she knows her and has cause to want to cause her pain.

It isn’t long before Katherine begins to receive anonymous notes from someone who claims to know what she has done in the past and letting her know she is being watched. She doesn’t realise how much danger she is in.

I struggled with The Pupil at times, torn between being absorbed by the story and beginning to be a bit bored. I am not sure how much of this was to do with how little free time I had to read it though, so I didn’t get chance to read it in big chunks of time I just had to read the odd chapter here and there. This disjointed manner of reading might have contributed to how I felt about it.

Having said this, I would recommend reading The Pupil as the plot is a good one.

Katherine Baxter is a mum of two small kids, a housewife and to all appearances just another mother trying to get through the routine, the boring, the mundane. Behind this facade is a girl who had dreams of writing, of becoming an author and getting published. She also has a past which wrecked the lives of four people, was followed by the paparazzi and though she came out of it alive, she was definitely not left unscathed. Upto date, under a doctor's care with anti depressants and a careful watch by her husband she manages her life.

Attending a workshop for aspiring authors renews Katherine's hopes that she can write and sets in motion a series of meetings with Sam Morton who undertakes to mentor her, and his wife Viola who throughout the story blows hot and cold. It is only much later that you understand Viola's hatred for Katherine - illogical though it is.

Throughout the novel, you did know that something was amiss and halfway through I realised it was connected to Katherine's past and inextricably linked to the Mortons. Sad but twisted in Viola's mind was revenge of the most basic kind.

A suspenseful mystery trying to unravel the workings of the mind (which I think can never be fully and rationally understood!!)

Dawn Goodwin's twenty-year career has spanned PR, advertising and publishing, both in London and Johannesburg. A graduate of the Curtis Brown creative writing school, she loves to write about the personalities hiding behind the masks we wear every day, whether beautiful or ugly. Her debut "The Accident", a domestic psychological suspense novel that explored how jealousy, and grief can twist and tear open the normality of living, was published by Aria in October 2017. "The Pupil" is her second novel of the same genre and explores similarly dark themes as her previous book. She is a fellow geordie but now lives with her family in London. Her books are perfect for fans of Louise Jensen and Katerina Diamond.

Well, this one caught me by surprise! Now although this is classified as psychological suspense and explores themes that are extremely prevalent throughout the crime genre - such as lies, manipulation, revenge, cruel, controlling and deceptive behaviour from spouses, overbearing mothers, and dark secrets, this stood out from the others i've read. For a start, the story is intricately detailed and complex in places but not overly so and I found it to be readable with the tension building throughout. An absorbing yarn weaves it's way right until the end where the final denouement satisfies but ultimately could be criticised for being slightly too predictable. By the halfway point I was too engrossed to retire to bed and continued to finish it off into the wee small hours!

Most of what I felt for this book was positive, however, I did find that it was slightly overdramatic in parts and having just read another book that fell into the same trap of overdoing it, this irked me quite a bit. It is also quite drawn out and I felt the author was perhaps holding back the revelations until nearer the end but it didn't serve the book well as the middle part felt a tad long-winded with relatively little happening. None of the characters are likeable although I don't need them to be that way in order to enjoy a book but I know that some people need someone to cheer for whilst reading crime fiction.

I found it interesting that Goodwin chose to pen a story involving the publishing industry and that in turn made me wonder if this could be somewhat based on truth. It seems like maybe some of the tale is true or the author has dramatised events that actually did take place, after all she did has a career in pubishing. It's an intriguing thought but one we are not likely to discover the answer to. Having enjoyed this I plan to take a look at "The Accident", I just hope it's as well written but not as slow moving. I would say that this is better described as womens fiction as I think calling it a thriller is a bit of a stretch. Either way, it was a decent read but unfortunately a forgettable one.

Many thanks to Aria for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

An engrossing and compelling read. This follows the life of Katherine Baxter after she enrols on a creative writing course and becomes drawn into a world of intrigue and secrets. Although the plot does become a little melodramatic, it is nevertheless a real ‘page turner, and I found myself rooting for the main character, however flawed. A good read, and I shall keep an eye out for this author in the future.

The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin was a fast paced read that kept me interested right til the end. It wasn't quite the shocking twist that I expected but I really did enjoy it.

Katherine is married to Paul who is 15 years older than her and she is terribly unhappy. He is cruel and controlling and she really doesn't have much of a life other than her children. After completing a creative writing course, bestselling author Sam and his agent wife Viola take her under their wing and she starts to believe that her dreams of being a writer could come true. Viola believes that she knows Katherine from somewhere but can't place her. Right until the very end we don't know the connection.

An easy, fast read that will keep you guessing. Thanks to Aria and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased

The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin is a psychological thriller that draws you in and keeps hold of you until the very end. Katherine is married to Paul, she’s a stay at home mum to their two children and a keen amateur author. She doesn’t have a bad life but feels she wants more.

Then a great opportunity arises. Following a creative writing course, bestselling author Sam Morton introduces Katherine to his wife Viola. He wants to mentor her but Viola feels she’s met Katherine before.

This book will keep you enthralled throughout. I can recommend it and look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley, Aria and the author for the chance to review.

A heart-stopping psychological thriller? That’s my kind of book! The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin promises twists and turns and I LOVE THAT promise. I have been reading some reviews and everyone agrees, this book is complex and gripping!

Check it out:

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 love having loads of books lined and up ready for me to read. Can’t wait to jump into this one!

I absolutely loved this story, a really exciting, dark psychological thriller about Katherine, a middle aged housewife and mother. Katherine has lost her way in life, with an over baring negative mother and an unpleasant and controlling husband. Feeling that something is missing she decides to take up a creative writing course, she meets Sam an author who offers to tutor her, and the story gets darker from there. The story covers a 12 year period and involves a dark secret that Katherine is hiding.

An excellent story which I read in a day, and really well written

I would like to thank Aria and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin’ in exchange for my honest unbiased review.

This book is full of suspense, twist and turns. Enjoyed this from the moment I started it.
Prior to reading this I had never heard nor read anything by Dawn Goodwin. After this book I certainly look to see if she has written any other books. Definitely one author to discover again,

I could not really call this a prsychological thriller but it was a really great read. Dawn has managed to bring in taboo subjects in a very easy to understand way. The story was totally plausible and from the start the reader is trying to work out what had gone wrong in the previous life of Katherine. Eventually the past and the present collide and all is revealed. .All bedtime stories should end in a lovely refreshing way and this story meets that criteria. A captivating read which I highly recommend.

When literary agent Viola Matthews meets Katherine Baxter, she gets the feeling they've met before. Her husband, bestselling novelist Samuel Morton, has run a course which Katherine has taken and seems to believe that she is a protege he wants to work closer with. Katherine herself is taking the course as a form of rebellion from her controlling husband and the humdrum domestic life they live. She's holding her own secrets which he uses to keep her in her box, as it were, and I found much of the novel infuriating as Katherine just seems to take it as a given.

As the relationship between Katherine and the Mortons proceeds, it seems inevitable that the past and the present are set to come crashing together - and when they do, what will be the result? I found this a slow moving thriller but I hadn't guessed the twist at the end, although some of the more minor twists did appear to me earlier in the book. It's hard to always be Katherine's cheerleader throughout as she can be at times not the most reliable narrator, which raises the question - who exactly is telling the truth, and why does Viola have such a strong feeling about her?

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this Advance Release Copy of The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin.

First time I've read Dawn Goodwin and I can't wait to read more of her novels. I found her narrative very addictive and hard to put down.
Katharine Baxter is an aspiring author who finds herself immersed in the life of a best selling author and his agent wife. She is married to an older and extremely controlling man and has two children.
She also has a secret from her past......................
How past meets present and all the drama in between will keep you reading to the very end.
Loved it.

Katherine gave up her identity when she married Paul. An aspiring writer, she was working as a waitress ( not in a cocktail bar, mind you). Some of you probably are not old enough to know what song that is from! Anyhow, she was working hard to make ends meet when she met Paul. Paul is 15 years older than her and very financially stable. He provided a comfortable life and together they had two children. The problem is that Paul is very demanding and controlling. He literally dictates every single thing Katherine does. He is very adamant that he does not want her to become a writer.

They live in a neighborhood where all the moms stay home and their lives revolve around their child's activities. None of the other mothers want to be friends with Katherine, in fact they are hostile with her and exclude her from everything. Something happened in Katherine's past that the entire town seems to be aware of, which has turned them against her.

When Jack is 8 yrs old and Lilly is 10, Katherine decides she needs to do something for herself. She enrolls in a writing course taught by a best selling thriller author, Samuel Morton. Now this is where things get interesting. Samuel takes a special interest in Katherine and takes her under his wing to help her write her first novel. Is he truly just interested in shaping her into an author or does he have some romantic intentions? Samuel seems to have more of a "working relationship" with his wife Viola and it makes you wonder if he is taking a special interest in Katherine to fill a void. Katherine has a big case of fangirling, which I am sure much of us can relate to!

The ratings are all over the place on this book. People either loved it or not so much. I did like this book and I thought it was very well written. I think that if you go in expecting a thriller type book, you may be disappointed. If you go in expecting to read about a woman chasing her dreams to be a writer and the emotional hurtles she has to overcome, than you will probably like it. I found it interesting that the author really focused on the the struggle an author goes through while writing a book. Katherine had a lot of self doubt that she had what it took. Would she be able to live with the people bashing her books in reviews? This book that she put her heart and soul into? Even the best selling author Sam worried about if he "had another book in him." I am not an author, but this all seems very plausible that this is the struggle that authors go through. So since I am interested in books this was interesting to me.

I did like Katherine and was cheering her on to write a novel. I did ponder if Sam and Katherine were going to end up together as a couple. So it did intrigue me to read on. I will say that the ending was a bit predictable and I never felt a ton of suspense. There is nothing wrong with that because I did enjoy reading it. There is mystery surrounding Katherine's past and Sam and Viola have some questionable actions that make you wonder. I gave this book 4 stars because I did enjoy it, but it wasn't the edge of your seat thriller that I had expected. Again, nothing wrong with that, it may be that I have just read so many crazy, twisty thrillers lately.

Thank you to Dawn Goodwin, Aria and NetGalley for this ARC to read and review!

I read this in exchange for an honest review and omg it was so good., I was drawn in from the start. I knew that something had happened in the past but I wasn't sure what it was. I mean there were a few clues but nothing that jumped out at me and was like this is what happened. I did not care for her husband, he was a complete and utter ( I wont say the word that I want to ) but I think you will realize when you read the book. I liked the way that the author led up to the climax of the story. So good, read this book. Thanks for the opportunity to read it!

Very good book. Did not expect it to be so descriptive and interesting, I would gladly recommend the book to others, please read. Already recommended to my mum to read, I saw facets of people I knew in these books,

The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin a four-star read that will give you a good grade. This book really does show us that you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors and just as you wouldn’t be happy in that relationship doesn’t mean they aren’t. This story is a complex one, I don’t know if I didn’t fully enjoy it as it was lacking, or I dint fully enjoy it because I didn’t like all of the characters. The first-person narrative had some good points, it was smattered with some other things like some mysterious diary entries and little I know what you did last summerness. This made it more rounded and more compelling than it otherwise would have been as a whole.

Disappointed and another weak ending to a thriller
I wanted to love this book and at times the story really gripped me and I couldn't stop reading, if only to confirm my suspicion that this was too similar to other books I have read recently.
The main character having a secret in her past that comes back to haunt her seemed a cliche and I couldn't warm to any of the characters. Katherine's inner voice and thoughts just drove me mad and don't get me started on how much I disliked the end.