‘Rumours are like seeds, scattered on the wind. There’s no telling where they’ll land but land they will.’ (The Rumour - Lesley Kara)

What we know about Sally McGowan is that, aged ten, she stabbed five year old Robbie Harris to death. Following her release in 1981 she now has a lifelong anonymity order - her identity and location to be protected forever. What we don’t know is WHY, whether it was a game gone wrong as she claimed or something much more sinister. Maybe most importantly of all - we don’t know WHERE she is...

It starts with a whisper at the school gates. As the whisper gains momentum hushed conversations morph into something much more venomous. The realisation and horror that a convicted child killer could be hiding in plain sight evoking a myriad of emotions in the local residents - fear, rage and paranoia becoming the backdrop to everyday life in the close community of Flinstead.


Joanna’s narrative is a triumph, her conversational and at times gossipy tone really allows you to feel like a fly on the wall as the seeds of the rumour are scattered throughout the village.

As tensions ratchet and the underlying sense of menace threatens to implode it is increasingly difficult to know who to trust. I found my suspicions shifting almost as often as I turned the page. I was convinced I’d cracked it only to be left shaking my head in bemusement. The final pages had me open-mouthed in astonishment - try as I might I did not see it coming!

In addition to being a top-notch thriller, The Rumour also explores some complex and thought-provoking themes, morality, abuse and bullying are all dealt with sensitively. Most fascinating of all (in my opinion) is how one tiny seed can plant itself and create chaos in a community and how the repercussions of one or two whispered words can reverberate further than we can ever imagine.

The Rumour will be the talk of the town this winter - Highly recommended.

I loved this!

I loved the style of writing, the characters - everything!

Without giving anything away this book was fantastic and leaves you guessing constantly!
What a great debut novel.

The Rumour by Lesley Kara [BOOK REVIEW]

The Rumour is Lesley Kara’s debut novel, a gripping book about what people are capable of doing when they feel threatened and exposed. A thriller about paranoia, fear and suspense unlike anything you have read before.

When Joanna moved into a small town, all she wants to do is be happy, with her son Alfie and her mother being beside her. Her son Alfie had troubles with bullies in the big city, and all his mom wants for him right now is for him to be happy and fit in the crowd.

And when a rumour starts hovering around that a woman that has killed a child a long time ago is living in the town, under a new identity, Joanna decides to share this rumour around with her friends, in hope that this will hopefully result in Alfie making some friends.

But what happens when a simple comment goes all wrong, and starts spreading like a virus? And what if this rumour happens to be true? What if there is indeed a killer living undercover in this small town, and is very upset and wants to punish those who share this rumour around? Starting with Alfie...

The Rumour was a thrilling read for me, as I haven’t read anything similar before. We see the story from Joanne’s point of view, but mostly, we see the story from a perspective of a mother.
We see a woman who is overthinking everything regarding her child, always asking herself twice whether she has made the right choice, and always wondering whether her child is safe.

And I am not a parent, but I can imagine that every parent over-worries about their children. Even at some point all of us would wonder whether this is normal, or we are just being paranoid again?
And this initial moment has lead Joanne to become anxious and insecure, and feeling like something is wrong constantly.

I loved the plot around the child-killer, and how it slowly was developing throw a lot of characters.
I certainly did not expect that twist a few chapters before the end, and the final twist in the last chapters. This gave the story a whole new ‘’wow’’ factor, and I was really pleased.

I wouldn’t put it on my shelf of 5-star books, as I couldn’t get the biting nails moment. However, this books keeps you reading through, and I can’t wait to read more from Lesley. She is a great author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! A cautionary tale of what ifs and tall tales! Do we ever really know our friends and do they always tell us the truth?!

*4 1/2 Stars*

ARC kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting read with great characters. Shows you what some people have to go through during their lives and all of the lies that affect other people.

I really enjoyed Lesley Kara's impressive debut novel, The Rumour. The quality of the writing was excellent and the characters felt real. Set in Flinstead, a small English seaside town, it quickly became an addictive fast-paced read.

A rumour that infamous child killer Sally McGowan is living in Flinstead rapidly gains momentum. Fingers are pointed and accusations made. In 1969, when aged 10, McGowan stabbed a 5-year-old boy to death. She was sentenced for manslaughter and sent to a secure children's home where she remained until 1981. With a new identity and the chance to restart her life, was it possible she had settled anonymously in this small town by the sea?

Although not for everyone due to its subject matter of child murder (and quite understandably so), those who do give this book a go will, I'm sure, be suitably impressed. The crime isn't glorified. The perpetrator has been punished and rehabilitated. The reader is told how and why it happened and the devastating lasting effects on both families.

I enjoyed all the red herrings and twists. Yes, some were a little unbelievable but they added to the excitement nonetheless. Would I want to read more books by this author? You bet your cotton socks I would!

My thanks to Lesley Kara, Random House UK, Transworld Digital and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

One word, unputdownable!!! Superb, kept me guessing right until the end, will definitely be recommending this book

I literally burned through this book in a few days. Once I got going I HAD to know who Sally McGowen was..... and I totally didn't see the answer coming at all.

This is a very well written book with full and believable characters. My only one issue was what would be the chanced of Sally and Maria ending up in the same small town? That is the only part of the plat that I felt was a tiny bit weak but it is a minor quibble in much bigger picture of excellent writing. If you like physiological thrillers then this is absolutely the book for you.

Oh and very VERY final twist was deliciously chilling!

Joanna has just moved back to her hometown to be near her mum and to give her son Alfie a new start at a school where he won't be bullied. However Alfie and Joanna are finding it hard to settle in and in the playground one day while trying to talk to other mothers for Alfies benefit she repeats a rumour she heard. From here, everyone is twisting the rumour and soon there are severe consequences to be had.
A slow burner of a book, it seemed to pick up a bit about half way through and then I couldn't put it down. I was quick turning the pages until the very last page.
Many thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book for my honest review.

This book blew me away . It grabbed me right from the start. I didn't want to put it down. I cant wait to read more of Lesleys books.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press and the author, Lesley Kara, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of The Rumour in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
This book offered a very interesting premise, so I was very excited at the prospect of reading it. It is a debut novel that really blew me away.
I thought the storyline was really well written with engaging characters. I was hooked from the outset and definitely did not see the end coming. This is my type of thriller. I read this book in one sitting.
Definitely well worth a read.

The Rumour is a book that will completely draw you in. From reading other reviews on Goodreads I cannot believe that this is only a debut novel, it was so well written and completely hooked me from the very beginning.

Joanna has moved back to her childhood town and finds that she doesn't really fit in. That is until she happens to mention in passing a rumour that she heard in order to impress the school's mummy clique. An apparent child killer has moved to the local vicinity and is being protected by a new identity. What this book explores so well is how a rumour can quickly spiral out of control and start to ruin people's lives.

I was suspecting everyone for the majority of the book and when the killer was revealed I was so completely shocked! I cannot fault the book at all.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

This debut novel by Lesley Kara had me hooked from the start.

Someone has a secret, but it’s not who you think!

There’s a tense undercurrent right from the beginning of the book. As the story unfolds snippets of the secret come to the surface. I found myself second guessing every other character, thinking it was them with the secret.

The story starts off slowly, despite the tense undercurrent that was present right at the start of the book. The main character is introduced along with the secondary characters, many of them leaving their mark on the reader as the secret is revealed.

The secret is that a child killer is supposedly living alongside the residents of the seaside town of Flintstead. When Joanna, the main character, hears this she sets off on a quest to find out as much as she can about who the person is that harbours this awful secret; who is it that has been given a new identity and allowed to live among them?

Joanna becomes obsessed with the rumour that she helps to spread, as well as the story of the child killer who was given a new identity. Everywhere she goes in her daily life she wonders if the people she interacts with are the notorious child killer.

The book will have you hooked right from the start. I couldn’t put it down once I started reading it. I thought I knew who the child killer was, then the story took a twist down a different path and I was sure it was another person. I had no idea it was the person who is revealed to be the killer until much later in the book.

The book is very cleverly written, the writer interjects the real killer’s thoughts every now and then but you really don’t get a sense of who this person is for quite some time.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The fast paced rhythm of the story kept me invested right until the end.

I highly recommend this book. It’s a brilliant debut novel

This was an unexpectedly enticing tale about how a split second decision can ruin your life, how rumours and gossip, however well-meaning, can have drastic effects on others.

Going by the blurb, I knew I was in for a treat with this book. It’s exactly the kind of twisty thriller that sucks the reader in and won’t let go.

But I got more than I expected with this story. A lot more! Well crafted and red herrings all over the place, it kept me guessing right up until the reveal. If you enjoy the mystery/thriller/suspense genre, then this book is for you!

Thank you to Lesley Kara, Random House UK Transworld, and NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is really well written and so easy to get in to. It keeps you guessing and I definitely didn't guess who the child killer was. There were so many 'suspects' to choose from.
It also highlights the repercussions of what can happen in a small village when a rumour gets started.

Highly recommend it and look forward to the author's next one.

I had heard good things about this book, but when I started reading it, I thought it was going to be really predictable. Wow how wrong was I! After guessing wrongly at least three times through the book, I still didn't guess correctly.
This book was well written with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing. A story of witness protection, rumours that get out of hand, a great read.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an advance ARC.

The Rumour explores what happens when a rumour sweeps a small community. Apparently, according to the gossips at the school gates, a child murderer is living in the small community under a new identity.

Joanna has moved back to her childhood seaside town to give her child the type of life she can’t give him in London. But, if there is a child murderer living in the community then who is it? And how do we find out?

I closed the novel at the end not realising I was holding my breath for the last few chapters. This novel blew me away and I can’t believe it’s a debut.

Easy 5 stars.

This is a cautionary tale of the dangers of idle chatter. Joanna is the central character of this book, she has recently moved back to her childhood town from London, and for various reasons is keen to make friends and ingratiate herself (and therefore her son) into the dominant group of school mums. Overhearing them talking about the news that there is possibly a notorious child killer living amongst them, she sees her opportunity and lets slip a juicy piece of gossip that fuels the rumour mill and unleashes a series of events that no-one could have predicted.
The actual reveal of whether the rumour is true or false was interesting, but where I felt Lesley Kara really succeeded was in telling the story of small town England where paranoia and prejudice fan the flames of the rumour. Where no-one really knows their neighbour, anyone who doesn't fit the social norm is cruelly ostracised when the rumour mill kicks in and where mob mentality is quickly evoked on the back of a story based purely on assumption.
This is a fantastic debut and I look forward to reading what Lesley Kara writes next.

My thanks go to the publishers and New Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review

A captivating story that Explores what can happen to a child killer under police protection. I was kept guessing about the identity of the child killer and found this an interesting read. Through the eyes of Joey, a mother of a young boy, we suspect several of the characters and see how rumours can flourish in a small town.

I enjoyed this book, showing how dangerous a rumour can be!! Keeps you guessing through the whole story as to who committed the crime years ago!! Really good story, and a clever twist. Thank you