This was a dark and twisty read that, at times, took my breath away. This isn't my first venture into John Marrs' books and this definitely won't be my last. He has a way of writing that keeps you wanting to flip pages. He leaves little breadcrumbs at the end of every chapter that make you go WHAT?! and have to read through the next chapter and the next thing you know, you've finished the book.

I found myself actually, physically hurting while reading this at the thought of the pain that the character's when through. I wanted to reach in and both help and slap the both of them. It's scary to think of how those kinds of people exist in the real world; although normally not to that crazy of an extent.

There are just so many twists while reading. You learn one thing and then it's turned to ash and then another and you never know what to trust. Nothing plays out in the way that you expect! Marrs is an expert storyteller and I am blown away by him.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy for review.

This is the latest thriller by this successful British author. 'This new book is a dark and disturbing look at a mother daughter relationship. The story is told from the points of view of Maggie (the mom) and Nina (the daughter) and is told in two time periods. In the present Maggie is being kept shackled in an attic room by her daughter. The events that resulted in this disturbing situation are revealed in the back story, which gradually reveals the secrets that Maggie has been keeping from her daughter and will continue to keep no matter what. This is a riveting story from a writer that knows how to get your attention and will appeal to fans of the genre. If you are looking to be distracted from our new world conditions, I highly recommend this book.

This book was absolutely full of twists and turns. It was so hard to keep guessing what Maggie had done that made her daughter hate her so much. It pulled at your heart strings hoping Maggie could escape and get the medical care she needed. The ending was sad because I kept rooting for the chance of freedom!!

DNF at 37%. I have read and enjoyed other books by John Marrs - so went into this without knowing anything about the plot. At the start - I was very intrigued to see where it would go. We know that Nina and Maggie are sharing a house but not much else about them. I really enjoyed learning a little more about how they are connected and why they are there.

However then it began to lose me. They are both extremely unlikable characters and everything about the story is so over the top. I think I came in expecting a psychological thriller but it feels more like an overly dramatic Lifetime movie. I would have loved some more subtlety and think this could have been a more compelling story.

Thank you to the publisher and Brilliance Audio for the advance reading and listening copies.

Oh.my.GOD. I finished this book 2 days ago and I had to take some time to fully digest what I read. I think I may have just found my new favorite author AND psychological thriller ... EVER. Simply put, I have NEVER read something like this before and it was so unique that I may never read something like this again. That is the telltale sign of an absolute blockbuster in my mind. John Marrs - you are INCREDIBLE. I am going to order every damn book of yours now!!

This book was SO DARK, twisty, messed up and deliciously addictive. I couldn't stop because every chapter was brilliantly written, and my heart was in my throat the entire time. I am not someone who reads a lot of detail in books because it can be too much at times and sometimes doesn't add much value to the story. With this book? I didn't skim ONCE ... there are simply too many important details that you can't miss. The characters are flawed beyond repair. If not written properly, they may have seemed too unrelatable, but Marrs nailed it. I have never been more grateful to have the relationship that I have with my mother after reading this book!

There is so much pain, hurt, sadness and anxiety woven into these chapters and characters. One page, I felt bad for Nina, the next page, I felt bad for Maggie. I can't imagine what was going on inside of Marrs' head as he wrote this novel, but he executed a troubling mother/daughter relationship (times 1000) flawlessly. My best advice is go in blindly. Do not read ANY spoilers or the description. Grab your popcorn and a glass of wine because you'll need it to dull your anxiety and get ready for ONE HELL OF A ROLLERCOASTER!

Put simply, this is the best book I've read this year...and potentially one of the best constructed psychological thrillers I've ever read! John Marrs hits the nail on the head by gradually increasing the tension and intrigue throughout...and then there are the twists...not just one, but a series of revelations that make you feel like you've gone 10 rounds with Tyson, Ali, Fury one after the other!
I enjoyed 'Passengers' but thought this was a level above that and I'll definitely be looking at his other works...a great read!

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for this ARC!

This book was filled with twists at every turn!

This book follows Nina and her mother Maggie and it’s told in their perspectives. There is so much hurt between the two of them and they absolutely despise one another for different reasons. There is enough hatred in Nina’s heart for her mother that she keeps her chained up in the family attic! You go through this book trying to discover everything that has happened between the two of them that has brought them to this point and why it’s impossible for them to make amends.

This book was so exciting and engaging! I couldn’t wait to keep reading and I needed to find out what was happening. Marrs captivates you in his writing and his short chapters really help to keep you engaged and interested in the story. At the end of each chapter there’s a cliffhanger of some kind that just makes you dying to read more!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS THRILLER

*Trigger warnings: miscarriage, abuse (mental, physical, and sexual), drug abuse, alcohol use, child alcohol consumption, sexual activity with a minor, suicide

Like a v dark Mildred Pierce

Trigger / Content Warnings: death, murder, abuse, captivity, miscarriage, drugging, mental health issues

This is the story of an enabling mother/daughter relationship. Nina keeps her mother, Maggie, locked up in the attic because of terrible things Maggie has done to her in the past. Maggie has secrets about the things she's done to Nina that Nina doesn't know about. Basically a cycle of lies and enablement and I found that extremely annoying. Had the initial incident that'd cause the domino effect of crazy shit that followed been dealt with, a lot of pain and detriment could have been avoided. Maggie basically dug her own grave and it was hard to feel sorry for her because she enabled her daughter's behaviour out of "pRoTeCtIoN". Granted I'm not a mother, but I feel very strongly that I (and probably the majority of people) would've handled things differently. I just kept asking myself "WHY is this happening?!?!"; however, I also kept wanting to find out what happened next (the reasoning for my 2.5 stars being rounded up to 3).

This is the second book I've read by John Marrs and I'm kinda disappointed as I'd absolutely loved The One. I still have other books by him on my tbr, which I still intend to read, but I'm hoping this was just a fluke and this book just wasn't for me and the others are as enjoyable for me as The One.

2.5/5

***SPOILER***

Another reason for my low rating stems from the fact that Nina had mental health issues that went unresolved. I didn't agree with the way her mother handled them when she was a child and I didn't like the way the she never really got to deal with them in the book. I wish there'd been an epiphany where she's able to recollect everything that happened and realised the her mother was, indeed, trying to protect her from her memories. I know that's not always realistic for people with similar dissociative-type mental health disorders, but it's a story and I think the reader (or at least, I) would'v been left with more satisfaction.

Happy Mother’s Day? 🙀 Gosh am I glad to be the Mother of Cats even if it means not being brought breakfast in bed once a year... This was a brilliantly bonkers book about the most dysfunctionally toxic relationship between a fictional mother and daughter that I’ve ever come across. Be ultra careful to avoid spoilers for this one if you want the full impact.

38 year old librarian Nina lives a quiet, ordinary life - apart from the fact that she keeps her mother, Maggie, chained up in the attic as punishment for something terrible she did years ago. Nina and Maggie tell their stories, and plot against one another, while cordially eating dinner and listening to ABBA together, loving and hating in equal measure. Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, Who is the craziest of them all?!

I’ve only read one previous book by this author, and had been slightly disappointed after all the hype, but will definitely be checking out his others now - this was so clever. I make no secret of hating first person present narration but will grudgingly admit that it’s essential for the structure of this plot, as past events a revealed by both brilliantly unreliable narrators in flashbacks. The twists just keep coming! My sympathy shifted between Nina and Maggie, as it was meant to, and by the end I was glued to my kindle to find out how they could ever get out of their situation.

I’ve cut back on psychological thrillers recently, after getting fed up with the same old tropes over and over, but this takes those same elements and manages to blend them into an disturbingly original plot - sure, you need to suspend disbelief for a lot of it but it was totally worth it.
One warning - the author couldn’t have predicted that this would be coming out while most people are still in lockdown, so if reading about an older woman trapped in her home desperate for outside connection is too close to reality just now, you may want to keep this until it’s over!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC which allowed me to give an honest review. What Lies Between Us is published on May 15th.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. It was utterly brilliant and I read it in one day because I couldn’t put it down. It had lots of twists and I thought I had it all worked out but nothing could prepare me for the ending, I will be recommending it to everyone I know.

This is one dark, twisty story and certainly nothing like what I was expecting!
Told from two points of view (Maggie and Nina) and moving between timelines, the story unfolds exposing a tale covering several difficult themes from neglect to miscarriage and almost everything inbetween! As expected with a John Marrs book though, this is all done very well and is really easy to follow.
A unique story that will most definitely keep you guessing!

Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the ARC.

This book was insane. What did I just read? I've seen so many people loving this author lately so when I received the arc I had to jump into it and HOLY MOLY SAINT JESUS H. THIS WAS A WILD RIDE!

This was absolutely gripping, captivating and dark. I had to take a few breaks to actually process all the things that happened in this book. All the twists. And trust me, there are A LOT.

It was disturbing. It was so difficult to understand who to believe or not, and honestly, I still don't know. I am always fascinated by unreliable narrators but this was over everything I've ever imagined. John Marrs is a genius writer, not only with his writing but also with his twists and decisions.
Honestly this might be my favorite thriller and I can't wait to see the movie. It will be fantastic seeing it live. Or maybe extremely terrifying and I will not sleep for an entire week and regret my entire life choices.

I devoured this in less than two days and I'm sure a lot of people will too. I definitely plan to read his backlist titles very soon and I'm officially in his stan list now. Wow.
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This is my first book from John Marrs and all I can say is this is Perfectly Insane. This is what you called a Perfecr Thriller, with a Perfect Characters and Perfect Plot. It is unpredictable and scary. I wasn't able to put it down. I love how John Marrs navigate the book to end up in a shocking twist and ending. I need this kind of book in my life.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Thomas and Mercer/Amazon Publishing, and John Marrs for the opportunity to read and review his latest psychological thriller - wow, 5 stars for a crazy ride that I couldn't look away from! And I finished reading this wild tale of a mother/daughter relationship on Mother's Day, no less!

The old saying - we never know what goes on behind closed doors - is very telling in this story. Nina works at a library and lives at home with her mother, Maggie. They have a set routine - dinner together every other night - and then Nina takes Maggie back up to the top level of their home and chains her up again. Nina is making Maggie pay for the decisions she made over 20 years ago. But Maggie is keeping secrets of her own.

Told from both Maggie and Nina's perspectives both in the present and past so we really get insight to both sides. There are too many twisty turns in this book and I don't want to give anything away. Suffice it to say that this is a disturbing but entertaining creepy thriller!

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review*

This was a 5 star thriller for me! It took me on a roller coaster, with all of its twists. I kept thinking I had it figured out, and throughout the book, I thought I understood different characters' motives, but then the author would peel back more layers and my loyalties to certain characters would change. I read a lot of domestic and psychological thrillers, many that seem predictable, but this one was different in so many ways. The storyline was disturbing and unexpected and I was left wondering what the heck I just read. I have read other books by John Marrs, and he never disappoints! I highly recommend this book if you enjoy the psychological thriller genre.

Wow, wow, wow what a read. This novel really messes with your head, with only two principle characters I flipped between the two trying to decide where my sympathies should lie.

The twists and turns from the beginning to the end added to the enjoyment. and with only two characters you couldn't forget who was who.

This was another brilliant read by John Marrs. and I shall certainly be recommending it to friends.

Wow. Now I can see why Renee Zellweger bought the movie rights to this book. I'm a big fan of John Marrs's writing, as I love the unpredictability of his writing. The relationship between the characters is so dark and festering, you cannot help but turn 'just another page' as you follow their story over the years. I'm not giving too much away as I don't want to spoil the story, suffice to say that this will be one of the biggest books of 2020. It's a fast-paced, dark and twisty story. Hitchcock would be proud. You won't want to miss this one.

There was definitely a bit of suspension of reality with some of the character's actions in this book. But the story itself is definitely engaging, and it was interesting getting both character POVs in both the present and the past as the story unfolded. Some of the twists seemed to be projected by the narrative, but what I liked was the depth/reasoning was never exactly what I expected. I also really liked that he wasn't afraid to let the story get seriously dark...

Firstly I have to declare that I absolutely love John Marrs’ books and think he is one of the most talented authors of our time but (and sadly it pains me to say but) this book just didn’t do it for me. I admire the way he manages to never be pigeon holed in a genre but the departure into domestic psychological drama isn’t a great success for me. Needless to say I’m sure 99% of readers will love and enjoy What Lies Between Us but sadly this wasn’t my cup of tea - not just the subject matter but also I guessed the denouement so far in advance that it was almost disappointing to be proved right. I’m still giving this book 4 stars because it is well researched, extremely well written with pace and some empathy but it just wasn’t for me. Having said that I’m looking forward to John’s next one with as much anticipation as I always do for his new books. PS. I will be buying the paperback for my family as they love him as much as I do, and after all, it’s only my opinion - they’ll probably give it 5 stars

Maggie and Nina live together but calling it ‘living together’ would be kind of a stretch because Maggie is actually Nina’s captive. There are many secrets between the two of them and that’s caused an estranged relationship, which has led to this and I really can’t say more because SPOILERS! And there could possibly be SO MANY SPOILERS because there are so many plot twists.

I read this book in a day because it just had me hooked. Sure, I guessed some of the plot twists (but that’s only because I’m super smart. Sorry, I meant cynical) but there were some that really had me shooketh - especially the ones in the end.

This book took the term ‘unreliable narrator’ and put that on crack because as the narrator kept changing with each chapter between Maggie and Nina, you just didn’t know who was at fault or who was more crazy. Were they both just nuts? Probably, I thought.

John Marrs writing definitely did help. It was simple, nothing flowery, no allegories but it kept me hooked. The chapters were short and it felt like with every 20 or 30 pages, there was something that would happen that would just make you want to read more.

This book is definitely a wild ride and I would recommend it to anyone. It releases 15th May and I thank NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for sharing this ARC for me in exchange for my honest review.