A very well written psychological thriller, but not quite exceptional enough in plot or atmosphere to make it truly stand out.

This is my first book by Rayner, but I will keep an eye on what she comes up with next, because this book was very entertaining. The story was gripping and fast paced and though my suspicions were confirmed, I found it to be an engaging read!

“I sometimes get the sense that the same things happen over and over again: that everything is a variation of something that has happened before and that life works like water, in currents, with things tugged away from us and other things returned”. ~ The Girl Before You by Nicola Rayner
Review___________📚📚📚/5
Courtesy of Avon Books, NetGalley, and Nicola Rayner ~ Pub Date 5/27/19

Naomi has lost her sister.
Kat has lost her friend and the would be love of her life.
Alice has lost her way and is determined to find answers to her marriage and her husband’s past.
The past and one woman are tugging on the present lives of Naomi, Kat, and Alice.

These people have one thing, one person, in common, Ruth.
Ruth, who left her sister the night of a ball.
Ruth, her left her best friend with a secret.
Ruth, who left a man with a dark and violent obsession and a wife who wants answers.

“The Girl Before You” is a psychological thriller by Nicola Rayner. Rayner has brought characters to life who you may think you know until your turn the page and realize you could not have anticipated their actions. The women in this story are not flat archetypal characters. Their thoughts and actions are honest and thought provoking. The story takes place in the present and fifteen years prior as university students.

I enjoyed the author’s use of the timeline in past and present. She develops a solid storyline from which these characters emerge and expertly ties their lives together.

Though I did anticipate the ending Rayner did throw a few curves in there. The story did not have the tidiest ending leaving with me questions that went unsatisfied. Of course, the past is always tied to the present and often times it returns those things to us which we thought were lost and left there. Not all questions have answers.

I did enjoy this book and rate it 3 stacks out of 5. Rayner is one to watch as she develops her talent as a suspense thriller story teller.

The girl before you was a thoroughly enjoyable read. The blurb didn’t captivate me immediately but it was somewhat alluring. Although the novel dipped on occasion during the early stages it really did draw me it and towards the end I could not read fast enough. Each new development was so unexpected. The character changes were at first a little difficult to follow I felt but once I got used to it, that it worked a charm and contributed well to the flow of the plot. Most of the characters were very credible, I could almost picture a Christie, Alice, Ruth and George from my own university days. It wasn’t predictable at all which is one trait that contributed to my high opinion of this book, I hate predictable endings. I thought the ending was a very good conclusion to this really enjoyable novel. I’ve given 4 stars but I’d give 4.5 if I could. I’m looking forward already to reading more from Nicola Rayner.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book.

Overall, I liked the plot and storyline in general of The Girl Before You. I particularly like books written from different perspectives but I find this book quite confusing at times. This is mainly due to the fact that it’s told from three different viewpoints AND different time periods. It also meant that at tiles the story dragged on a little more than necessary.

This has a good plot but I feel like the way it was written was confusing. It was jumping back and forth in time and between characters and it made it difficult to keep track of everything.

This book had suspense and mystery...and I did enjoy it. But i can't lie that it took me time to get through it and there was a point where it was almost a DNF. The reason was because of the number of characters and how the story's pacing was confusing. Without giving away any spoilers, the resolution seemed out of left field and unsatisfying, being created in haste rather than with time. I'm not sure I'd recommend this book to friends because of the lack of depth in some of the characters and the unrealistic interactions between others.

A gripping psych thriller and multi arc drama here...


I love books that look back to college or university days it's one of my favourite types of dual timeline to read and this one was really very clever - different interactions and motivations and in present time a wife who starts questioning everything she thought she knew about her husband...

There's a stellar cast of strong female characters and a thought provoking underneath to it all plus the plotting is taut and effective and beautifully done.

Overall a really great read.

The Girl Before You was just ok for me, I liked the setting of the book and the mystery, of Ruth and what really happened to her. The story is from three different view points and different time periods. The book dragged on and was a little confusing at times. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I enjoyed this book but I wasn't blown away by it. I liked some of the description and imagery - and the ending - but I got quite confused in some scenes and also found it a bit predictable. I think there was just a bit too much going on in the plot and jumped around a lot. I did engage with the characters and wanted to read through to the end but it wasn't quite there for me.

Thanks to Avon and Netgalley for this eARC

Thank you so much NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC. in exchange for my honest review.

After I received the arc, I racked my brain because I could have sworn I read this before. The plot sounded so familiar, the way the story is told, sounds so familiar. I was convinced I had read this before..

I haven't read it before, but there are some a lot like this. I was really hoping there would be something in this book that really set it apart from all the other ones I have read that followed this plot.

However, this book did have a good foundation. It does try to set itself apart from all the other books of this genre. The characters are strong and I did become fully invested in them. I didn't really have the "Omg have to finish this to find out who did it" urgency while reading this book, which was kindof a plus for me, because I was able to take my time and really get to the heart of the story and the characters.

This is a solid 3 stars from me!

Although the premise sounded great, the book kind of fell a bit flat. The characters were developed well.; the plotline OK. Unfortunately, I was confused by the switches in time and who was narrating. A number of the subplots could have been eliminated (Naomi, Dan) that would have tidied up the story. A bit of sorting of some of the scenes and a tidy up on timelines would be a help.

Overall, this read is a maybe.

Many thanks to AVON Books, UK and NetGalley for the chance to read this story.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and of course the author for this digital ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
This book is a twisted psychological thriller that the blurb initially drew me in and I thought was going to be fantasic.

In reality I found this book very slow going and I got a confused with the constant switching between the different characters points of view and the past and present I think this is because sections felt dragged out. I thought the ending was poor and not the explosive pay off I wanted by that point.


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Alice is used to get husband being the center of attention; in his career as a politician and newscaster, he's frequently recognized by strangers and still commands second looks whenever they're out together, the way he did even when they were both at university. By the time they met, he'd been briefly involved with a lively redhead named Ruth, who disappeared one night - when her clothes and shoes were discovered near the place she frequently swam, it was assumed she'd drowned, because if she hadn't, why had her body never turned up, and if she'd simply walked - or swum - away of her own volition, why hadn't she ever contacted the friends and family who still mourned her ?
When Alice sees a woman who looks remarkably like Ruth on a train years later, she can't let go of the feeling that she's missing something important - and that George knows something about the night Ruth disappeared that he's keeping from everyone, including the sister who still can't believe Ruth abandoned her.
A spooky mystery reminiscent of a Ruth Ware novel, this one isn't quite as deftly written but it's still compelling enough to draw the reader in and keep him or her hooked until the last page.

The premise sounded promising but with 3 different povs and timeline jumps it's got quite confusing. The school flashbacks also dragged. Really wanted to enjoy as it sounded like a promising thriller. Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy.

The Girl Before You by Nicola Rayner is a psychological thriller that, unfortunately, just did not hit the spot for me. Told from three different points of view, and shifting between timelines, the novel was difficult to follow, to the point of being detrimental to the reader.

The premise of the story is well-contrived. Alice has always had suspicions about her husband George's past, specifically with his involvement in the disappearance of his college girlfriend, Ruth, fifteen years earlier. When Alice becomes convinced that she has seen Ruth on a train, various events cause her to become even more distrustful of her husband. Alice connects with Naomi, Ruth's sister, and Kat,, her friend from college, and the three women provide alternating accounts of events from college through present day, as they try to find definitive answers to the nature of Ruth's disappearance. Sadly, I found each of these women to be unrelatable, and not particularly appealing nor memorable. I am disappointed to say that the entire novel left me feeling quite flat, and fell short of higher expectations. I would, however, be open to reading more from this author in future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC.

I got about halfway through this but had to give up. The alternating chapters, timelines, and rather boring college scenarios all added up to a rather predictable book. You pretty much know who is responsible right away. A let down for a book I had high hopes for. Thanks Netgalley for the advance copy.

I am hooked, I can't put it down. It's tense and intriguing, a real page turner. The cover says the new girl on the train and I think it might be right! Love it so far.

It’s a psychological thriller that’s so gripping – a wife becomes obsessed by one of her husband’s exes from college, as this girl died and she has always felt uneasy about it. She begins investigating the incident and when she sees someone who looks just like this dead girl, she can’t shake the feeling that her husband knows more than he’s letting on about what happened. If you like gripping thrillers that play mind games, this is definitely one to look out for when it’s released in May.

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