Member Reviews
I'm a little behind schedule, but holy guacamole! @alicewriterland took me for one heck of a roller coaster ride.
His & Hers was a triple POVs- Anna, Jack, and the killer. I kept thinking I had it figured out, and every time I thought I did, Alice said "not on my watch."
This book had so many twists and was darker than I expected. Everyone had a motive. It was crazy! Do yourself a favor and go pick this book up (or the audiobook- that was great too)!
Whoa, this was a shocker. So good, couldn't put it down. I figured out who the killer was right away, but waffled back and forth between 2 other characters as the author wrote different scenes to throw the reader off. Fast paced and laced with lies from everyone. Anna a news anchor is sent to her hometown to cover the story of a woman murdered there. Jack a detective on the case turns out to be Anna's ex-husband and his life is anything but squeaky clean and very messy. Women end up getting murdered and clues are left in their mouth which leads back to early childhood friends of Anna. While covering the story, Anna realizes that her mom who still lives in the town has dementia that everyone in the small town are talking about as she wanders around town in her nightgown. Why hasn't Anna returned to visit her mom, is soon revealed and what broke up Anna and Jack, but who is killing Anna's friends when clues point to both of them. Received an ARC from Scene of the Crime Facebook Group, Flatiron Books and NetGalley for review.
There are 2 sides to the story hers & his and somewhere in the middle is the teuth but who’s lying.? When a woman is murdered in Blackdown newsreader Anna Andrews is reluctant to cover the case. Detective Jack Harper is suspicious of her involvement in the case until he becomes a suspect in a murder investigation. Someone isn’t being truthful and some secrets are worth killing for.
Newsreader Anna Andrews is sent to cover the case of a murdered woman in Blackdown. She isn't really happy about the assignment but she knows she must or she might end up out of a job. Even the lead detective wonders about her involvement but he is soon sidetracked when he himself ends up a suspect. With so many stories being told not to mention all the lies it's hard to figure out just who is telling the truth. Read along and figure out just how these two are connected and what secrets they both hold. This was a thrilling and mysterious read that kept me guessing the whole way through, I was truly shocked in the end!
“There are at least two sides to every story: Yours and mine. Ours and theirs. His and hers. Which means someone is always lying.”
When a book has a quote like this in the beginning, you know it’s going to be good.
I'll say it, some books are just better on audio. This book got taken from 4.5 stars to beyond 5 stars with the narration. I love when books are written in multiple POVs.
I listened and read along with an e-copy from Netgalley and wow. Chills.
The story is told from the POV of a divorced couple, Anna and Jack. The story bounces between them in this small town and you never really know who to trust. Every freaking person is suspicious.
I love thrillers and crime podcasts but this book just kept throwing twists. I stayed up way too late finishing this one, you will too.
Having unreliable narration in a story is a risk but when it’s done right, it changes the game. Alice Feeny, slow clap for you.
A dark and twisted cat and mouse game! Brilliant suspense and excellent characters AND an ending that will blow you mind! What more do you need from a psychological thriller? Just exactly perfect.
I stumbled across Alice Feeney's first novel, Sometimes I Lie, in a bookstore while on vacation. I was happily surprised to find that I really enjoyed the book since I had not heard of it before. When I saw His & Hers listed on NetGalley, I knew I had to request an ARC.
The novel begins, “There are two sides to every story: yours and mine, ours and theirs, His & Hers. Which means someone is always lying.” The story follows news reporter Anna Andrews and Detective Jack Harper and is told in alternating points of view. Anna returns to her hometown to report on a murder and finds her ex-husband Jack is the lead detective on the case. The characters in the novel are well-developed, relatable, and likeable. The novel is a page-turner that leaves you guessing right to the end. Alice Feeney's twisted psychological thriller, His & Hers, did not disappoint.
Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the advanced copy of the book. In return, I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads page and Amazon.
#his&hers #netgalley @flatiron_books @alicewriterland
This was my first book by Alice Feeney and she is a thriller writer indeed. We have two main narrators, Jack and Anna, and as a reader, I can say that neither one is reliable. I don't trust either and I have reasons to be suspicious of both of them. Because Feeney sets the stage that way, you don't know what is true and what isn't, which makes for a great thriller to kick back and play detective with.
This is also definitely not a light-hearted read and one that if you are squeamish, you may should skip.
Overall, a nice roller coaster ride that kept me guessing until the very end.
I did receive this ARC from Flatiron Books and NetGalley, but this review is my own thoughts and I think them very much for this copy. :)
Omg, WHAT A TWISTED F#*!ING RIDE!!! I absolutely LOVED the audio version- the voice of the killer is freaking TERRIFYING- I simultaneously loved/hated how it was all creepy and distorted and had me laying in bed at night wide awake and heart pounding!
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I read lots of thrillers, and usually find them pretty predictable, but this one kept me guessing until the very end, and I. WAS. SHOCKED.
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Wish there had been some trigger warnings about the animal cruelty & sexual assault . I think the story could have done without these, and these parts were very disturbing. But aside from this, the book was fantastic!
Alice Feeney's best work yet. A true page turner, I was flipping through the pages quickly trying to figure out who the killer was, the why and the how. You will think you have this one figured out and a new twist will change the direction completely. With Psychological Thrillers inundating the market, many of the titles start to have similar plots; His & Hers was completely different with an ending I didn't see coming.
His & Hers features two life-weary protagonists: Londoner Anna Andrews, a suddenly unemployed television newsreader, demoted to covering breaking stories, and Jack Harper, a detective. The overarching theme is captured by Shakespeare’s, “What’s past is prologue,” (The Tempest). Andrews and Harper, from their vantage points of media and police, are investigating the case of a murdered woman who is found in her car in the sleepy English town of Blackdown. Rachel Hopkins was a classmate of Anna’s at St. Hilary’s, the local high school. Jack knows Rachel too. In the following scene, Jack and his associate Priya Patel examine the body:
“You all right, sir?”
Priya is staring at me, and I wonder if I’ve been talking to myself again. Even worse, she appears to be looking at the scratch on my face, where Rachel left her mark. I’ve never understood why women do that during sex, scratching with their fingernails like feral cats. Hers were always the same: long and pink with fake-looking white tips. I didn’t mind marks on my back that nobody could see, but she caught me on the face last night. I stare down at Rachel’s fingers again now, the nails roughly cut to the quick, and the two words painted on them: TWO FACED. Then I look back at Priya. Seeing my colleague staring at the faint pink scar on my cheek makes me want to run, but I turn away instead.
“I’m fine,” I mumble.
It seems Jack knew Rachel on a Biblical level although it was only “sex without strings.” We learn that Anna and Jack are divorced: when their little girl Charlotte died unexpectedly, their marriage disintegrated. Years later, their lives are bleak—Jack goes through the motions at work while Anna is a day drinker. Anna’s mother, who still lives in Blackdown, is not the capable, vibrant woman she once was: “Dementia stole time from my mother, and stole my mother from me.”
The connections between Anna, Jack, and Rachel are made subtly. Readers swing back and forth between Anna and Jack’s alternating chapters. They both act suspiciously. While they ponder the latest occurrences, the coincidences come fast and furious. Agatha Christie said it best: “Any coincidence is worth noticing. You can throw it away later if it is only a coincidence.”
Is it a coincidence that a second murder victim was also part of Anna’s high school clique? Helen Wang was the cleverest of the group and served as the editor of the school paper: “she went from being head girl as a teenager to being headmistress before she was thirty.” Someone has cut her throat. Another murder scene for Jack and Priya.
Even from the doorway, I can see the foreign object inside her mouth. Just like with Rachel, there is a red-and-white friendship bracelet tied around the victim’s mouth.
Similar to the mutilation of Rachel’s fingers, someone has left a message on Helen’s body: “… the word LIAR has been written across her chest, just above her bra. The letters appear to have been made using a staple gun.” Jack is definitely out of his depth, but he realizes that there’s no one available who could navigate the deaths any better.
After Jack tells her that Rachel and Helen were both found with friendship bracelets wrapped around their tongues, Anna runs off, distraught. She knows those bracelets; memories from high school flood her consciousness. Jack finds her in a wooded retreat not far from the school, where girls used to sneak off during class. Anna is shocked that he found her.
“How did you know where I was?” she asks.
“I remember you telling me about this place.”
“Did I?”
No.
“How else would I know?” I say.
She looks so confused. Her face wears what looks like a secondhand expression inherited from her mother. I almost feel bad not confessing that it was Rachel who told me that they used to come here together, not Anna.
Anna’s high school friendship circle is at the crux of the mounting murders in her hometown. It’s almost too much, necessitating poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “willing suspension of disbelief.” Rachel, the ringleader of the St. Hilary’s clique is dead, headmistress Helen is dead, and no one, alive or dead, is quite how they seem. Are Jack and Anna being framed and if so, by whom and why? His & Hers is madly complicated, there are so many red/dead herrings, but readers who enjoy mysteries that are influenced by past events will enjoy every twist and turn.
WOW His & Hers was a wild ride. I have to go back and read Alice Feeney's other novels if this is any indication of her writing. Anna Andrews is a news anchor who is asked to return to her old position as a correspondent in the field when the former anchor returns from maternity leave. She goes out to report a murder in her hometown - and her life is never the same.
Alice's writing was incredibly clever, and I always thought one thing, or thought I had the entire ending figured out, only to realize that I was totally wrong. At each turn, I found myself wondering who I could trust. This had so many great elements of a thriller - murder, characters you couldn't fully trust, a reason to feel sympathetic for them, intertwined pasts and more.
Fabulous summer read!
Did I just stay up until 1am to finish this book? You bet I did.
Fast paced. Gripping. Shocking??? I have so many words but also none?
This is seriously one of the best thrillers I have ever read/probably ever will read. I cannot get over how amazingly this was written. There was so much going on with this plot. I loved how it was told from three different perspectives and that one was the killer’s.
The whole last quarter of the book is an absolute insane ride where you think you have the killer figured out several different times and then the ending comes in and shocks you.
This book was literally JAW DROPPING. Brb going go read every other Alice Feeny book out there.
I have seen a lot of positive reviews for His & Hers, but I had a hard time getting into this thriller. I didn’t find the first half or so engaging at ALL, but I stuck with it (I feel like I have to see books through to the end and rarely leave any unfinished!) and then things actually started to happen much further into the book.
Ultimately, I found the reveal pretty satisfying even if I did guess the killer! 😉 If you’re a fan of thrillers, check it out.
“Besides, lies told often enough can start to sound true,” said His
“There are so many things I never tell people about myself. Too many. I have my reasons”, said Her.
I wonder, sometimes, lies can be so protective, deceptive, and addictive? When people lie, there are two sides- either to show or to conceal.
This story unravels on two main dialogues and the subtle monologue coming from the voice of the murderer. There are His, Her and the Killer. The killer’s narration was the confusion in the whole story which Feeney cleverly instilled. A well-known stereotype that piques the interest and frowns upon when overuse. The story begins with someone lies, or all of them were only telling a specific part.
His-Jack is a criminal investigator who is not a fit role model for society despite his honorable job. Years of divorce, the tragic death of his child, and the daily violence from his career have exhausted his confidence. He lived with his sister and a niece. The sibling relationship wasn’t a pleasant one either but amicable to live along.
Her- Anna Andrews is living in the spotlight as a news correspondent in London. She appeared a confident and sharp-minded woman, but beneath, she continually struggles with her pain, her dark past, and trauma. Liquor is what she relied on like a painkiller.
The story was a masterpiece of a maze. I had so many guessing as the story slowly unfolds. I thought I had it figured out, aha, this person must be the murderer, only to find at the end, I was wrong. Feeney skillfully showed bits of a clue for the readers, leaving baits for the catch, concealing a portion to keep the readers’ sidetrack and second guess those they trust. It’s fantastic writing that has wrought the suspense. Ostentatiously grotesque illustration of the murder scene can be a little off-putting. Flashbacks from Anna’s younger past, which leaves haunting feelings, can linger long in one’s mind.
It’s been an adventurous read with lots of suspicions. Enthralling, gross at some point, and the off-the-wall ending leaves you agape. Go ahead! Read the book and feel it for yourself.
Excellent thriller, highly recommend the audio book with the wonderful Richard Armitage! My favorite Alice Feeney book to date.
“Sometimes the right thing to do is wrong, but that’s just life.”
This clever and twisty thriller is told from both "his" perspective, which is Jack Harper, a detective in the town of Blackdown where a murder has just occurred, as well as "hers", his former wife Anna Andrews. Anna is BBC news reader who is slowly revealed to have many complicated ties to the victim. She has just been demoted back to reporter and is sent to cover the story. Not only does her elderly mother still live in Blackdown, but Jack also happens to be her former husband.
Anna's mother seems to be exhibiting signs of dementia but it has been Jack who has been caring for her in Anna's absence. Jack and Anna have a tortured and complicated history, and when more of Anna's old acquaintances turn up dead, she must face her past demons. Will she be next? Is Jack somehow complicit in the murders? There seem to be lots of potential suspects.
The author cleverly switches the characters' versions of the truth, and surprised me until the very end. Both Anna and Jack have their secrets and I constantly changed my opinion of who the culprit might be. I was very wrong! Anna does not trust Jack, yet he has been caring for her mother. Jack thinks Anna abandoned her mother for her glamorous BBC job, but she has her own reasons for not rerunning home. All of this plus lots of twists and turns made it so I did not know who to believe! Everyone seemed to have a dark side, even when they were trying to do the right thing in the present.
There are many very colorful characters in this book and I think the audio book with the multiple narrators is a fabulous way to listen to this fast-paced thriller. The ending was a complete and total surprise! This book has lots of very dark themes, so be warned if you do not like dark psychological thrillers. All in all, this was Alice Feeney's best book so far and perfect for fans of twisted suspense stories.
“Stars cannot shine without darkness.”
I’m giving this 4.25 stars. There is no doubt that Alice Feeney can write a suspenseful, gripping page turner! From the very first chapter, I was into the book and curious to see where it would go. Throughout, I was trying to guess what was going on and who was involved and could never come to a good conclusion (which I loved). I found the flashbacks to be a bit disturbing and graphic so that turned me off to this book a bit. Overall, great book but beware of trigger warnings.
5 stars
Fast-paced, dark and twisted! I enjoyed this book so much. It’s exactly what I was looking for in a thriller! Read it! You won’t regret it!!
"People rarely see themselves the way others do; we all carry broken mirrors."
This is a mystery thriller told in alternating points of view. The plot revolves around a series of murders in Blackdown where Anna Andrews grew up and where Jack Harper works and lives. Anna, a BBC correspondent and former TV anchor, has been assigned to cover the investigation and DCI Jack Harper is put in charge of it. Both of them know the victims and are quite well-acquainted with each other. Who can be believed when there are so many secrets and lies? NO SPOILERS.
You may enjoy this more if you're able to suspend disbelief and just assume that everything you read is only one version of the truth. I didn't find these characters very likable and they just seemed to do some fairly dumb things in response to events. I didn't care about any of them and rooted for no one. I had the hardest time staying focused and found it easy to get distracted by other things which prevented me from finishing this quicker. Some of the dark stuff brought up within the narrative involves sexual abuse, potential animal mutilation, alcoholism, rape, bullying -- lots of manipulative behavior and just nasty people. Although some might be surprised by the ending, I found it anticlimactic. I think the writing is actually good and this style can be a useful tool, it's just too bad that the whole premise and conclusion didn't work that well for my taste.
Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this e-book ARC to read and review.
Well, well, well. If you want a ride that goes down some very curvy roads, this is the read for you. I didn't know if I was coming or going. You begin to think that maybe things are off with his points. Then you think things are off with her points. Then you think they are both up to something. And then the end hits. Boom!
It is definitely another great outing by Alice Feeney.
Thanks to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for a copy of this book.