This was a very interesting book with a novel story line, but to be honest if it wasn't for the author, who is a favourite of mine, I might have given up quite early on. I'm so glad I didn'tas the tempo increased chapter by chapter and what we saw as a despicable act by Nina soon starts to make sense from both her and, her mother's point of view. The planning of this book must have been intense as we were given insights into events from the past on a regular basis mixed in with present day. I can only assume that John wrote down what exactly happened at every juncture in time leading up to the present day. I was saddened by the ending, it seemed a little abrupt and not at all what I was expecting, particularly with regards to Bobby. . Nevertheless this was an excellent read despite feeling somewhat upset at the end.

I went into this book blind and wow. It blew me away. I didn't have expectations but all of the sudden I'm invested in this story. The most interesting thriller I've read so far for 2020.

Loved this book, about relationships that go wrong. Leaves you with the feeling of not really knowing who was right or wrong, did justice play it’s part. Would really recommend this to anyone who wants a great book that makes you think. Thank you for my review copy.

I flew through this book! We get POVs from both Nina and Maggie, set in the present along with flashbacks to the past. The chapters are short and the writing is riveting. I found the reveals into the past done particularly well. There is a lot of information that Nina and Maggie withheld from each other which made me frustrated but at the same time kept me going. The dynamic between them is appalling yet there’s also an undercurrent of twisted love.

I saw parts of the plot coming but there’s still some curveballs along the way. If there’s one thing I’d pick on is the lack of believability in terms of how certain events unfold. But this book isn’t a procedural; it’s a dark psychological look at motherhood and mental health, and how far these characters would go to maintain the illusion. Intense and gut-wrenching, highly recommended!

Some women who terrify me:
1. Annie Wilkes
2. Rosemary West
3. Pretty much any woman who claws her way from John Marrs’ imagination onto a page.

Seriously, if I ever get a message to you that I’m in the same room as a woman I met in a John Marrs’ book, please call emergency services for me. Immediately!

“Once upon a time we were the best of friends. But that was before he destroyed everything. Now the two of us are little more than the debris he left behind.”

In this edition of ‘Which Woman Needs the Most Therapy?’, we meet Maggie and Nina. Former best friends, they’ve lived together for a long time. They have dinner together every second evening. When they’ve finished their meal, Nina escorts Maggie back upstairs to her converted attic bedroom. There she removes the chain around Maggie’s ankle and replaces it with the shorter one.

“I have many stories inside me and just as many secrets.”

When I say these women have a complicated history, that is understating the facts. Facts, which must be separated from lies, which need to be carefully teased from perceptions. Maggie and Nina are both given the opportunity to explain their current circumstances, along with pivotal decisions and behaviours that have contributed to them.

I went into this novel questioning which woman would emerge as the victim and which the perpetrator. I should have known better. The characters in John Marrs’ novels are too complex to pigeonhole that easily. With a narrative that stretches across decades, black and white quickly smudge to form various shades of grey.

“I can never explain why I’ve done what I‘ve done.”

I would love to spend my time here analysing the intricacies of the reasons Maggie and Nina’s relationship has devolved. I also want to brag about the reveals that I suspected from early on and ask you if you also missed the ones that failed to show up on my radar. However, everything specific I want to say about these women is shaped like a spoiler so I’m borrowing the chain that’s not currently being used to restrain myself.

When I read ‘The Good Samaritan’ I was compelled to read past my bedtime. Laura continues to haunt me over two years since I finished reading her story. I expect Maggie and Nina will do the same. Once again, I’m writing this review bleary eyed. I need to read every book this author ever writes!

I have a couple of outstanding questions and would usually provide content warnings but, because they’d contain spoilers that could ruin the book for you, I will not be providing them here.

“Sharing a house with a twisted spirit is better than being alone.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the opportunity to read this book.

I really liked this book kept my interest all the way through to the end loved all the twists and turns..

Well, John Marrs now has a place on my favourite authors list! I can't get over this one! This was such a captivating, gripping, jaw-dropping read that had me flying through it. There were no lulls or boring moments in this one. I had an inkling towards two of the bigger twists in the book, which turned out to be correct, but there were so many other things I didn't see coming that really kept me on my toes. My emotions were all over the place and I really wasn't sure how it was going to end, but I never could have predicted that ending!

Whew, what a ride! This novel explores the heartbreaking decisions that some make in order to keep others safe and happy. Weaving between now and then, we learn how a tragic and dramatic past has impacted the relationship between a mother and daughter. I found myself loving and hating each at different times. While the two women go to extremes in the name of love, I couldn’t decide which one was more evil. Full of twists and turns, it is absolutely brilliant. A heartbreakingly thrilling rollercoaster of emotions, I couldn’t put this one down.

Actors I envision in these roles:
Nina: Jennifer Lawrence
Maggie: Meryl Streep

I am officially hooked on John Marrs books! I first read The Passengers about a year or so ago and then What Lies Between Us came up and I grabbed it.
This was another page-turner that did not disappoint. Interestingly though, it is a very different thriller than his previous books. There is nothing futuristic or Science Fiction feeling in this one. It is a pure domestic thriller, but different from others in this group, because the tension is between mother and daughter.
For reference, I did not read (and have not read) the blurb about this book so I went into it without a frame of reference. This added to the suspense, in my opinion. This begins as a mother/daughter pair who live in the family home together in England. The daughter works at the library and appears to be caring for an ailing mother at their home. The story quickly becomes twisted as you realize that Mummy Dearest is not just a recluse (I was initially thinking The Woman In the Window), but actually something more sinister. As you turn the pages, the story is told in both dual POV and dual timelines. This backstory alters your impression of these characters as well as your understanding of events.
The chapters are short and page-turning. The story moves with twists and turns and is well worth the ride.Another terrific story from this author.
Highly recommend.
#Netgalley #WhatLiesBetweenUs #AmazonPublishingUK

3.5

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for early access to this much anticipated arc. John Marrs is one of my fav authors, I’ve only read 2 of his books before this one but rated them both 5 stars so I was anticipating much of the same from this book but it was very different to his other book’s.

The story follows Maggie and Nina who are mother and daughter and live together. It’s told in multiple past and present timelines and is a bit confusing to follow at first. For the first 40% I spent hating one character and sympathises with the other and then did a full 180 and started hating the other character and feeling sorry for the other one. (Sorry if that’s confusing but I don’t like spoiling thrillers)

This book was a rollercoaster! I hated it at first and then I became obsessed. This book was so messed up that it gave me restless sleep and bad dreams!

So much happens and it’s such an intricate storyline and really well done but it just wasn’t what I was expecting from this author. I enjoyed it as I do many mystery thrillers but this was too much in parts, the brutality and the cruelty made it hard to read. That scene at the birthday party took me 40 mins to read as I was so tense!

All in all a really good read

What Lies Between Us is the first book that I have read by John Marrs. But I expect that I will read more of his work after this, as this book was quite the page turner!

The story begins with a great, albeit dark, premise: an adult woman is keeping her mother chained as a prisoner in her attic. But why? What has happened in these women's lives that could lead them to such a terrible situation? I was compelled to read the pages of this book as fast as humanly possible to find the answer to this question.

The story jumps around from the current situation with Nina keeping her mother Maggie locked up in her own home and then back in time to when their troubles started twenty five years earlier. It's a bit of a wild ride because these characters are CRAZY! But it was also unputdownable. I just had to know what happened.

Obviously, this is not a light and happy read. It's dark and devious and extremely twisted. But sometimes I just love a good crazy story, and this one was definitely that! A solid four star thriller!

John Marrs is getting better and better. He never fails and I am always surprised that he can write male's and female's POVs. Honestly you can't make out the difference.
This story is about the life of two women, a mother and her daughter, living in the same house. Their relationship can be described as... well... unique and so freaked!!!
And what about the twist? There is one indeed. And what a twist this is! Half way through I was not sure how this story could ever end but finally all worked out ;)

thank you #Netgalley and #Amazon Publishing UK for this ARC

Yet another great book by John Marrs. Compelling, loved it couldnt put the book down, needed to read what happened next, learn why , there were lots of twists, it was moving, for days after i couldnt stop thinking about Maggie and Nina.

Absolutely bloody brilliant. No idea how, but Mr Marrs does it again.

A must read for intelligent book worms. Lockdown or not this will have you in your comfy chair for a couple of hours.

I thought my family was “crazy” but this story right here makes mine look like the family from Leave it to Beaver!
This book is intense, dark and quite disturbing. There is a creepy vibe that is off the charts and I could not put it down. It’s told from 2 POV’s - Maggie (mom) and Nina (daughter) going back and forth between 25 years and Marrs does a great job of weaving it all together to where it’s not confusing. It loses a star because it has parts that I just couldn’t get past on the realistic scale. Usually I can put those thoughts away but I couldn’t with this one. That being said, overall it was still a great book and I highly recommend it!

A gripping, twisty & twisted thriller that was absolutely unputdownable!

Thanks so much to John Marrs, Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this fabulous book!

Oh my gosh! There isn’t a John Marrs book I haven’t loved! He’s so good at making genuine characters! And I love the multiple points of views and how they all come together. He writes short chapters that leave you hanging’

This story follows the two main characters, Nina and Maggie. In the past, Maggie betrayed Nina so severely, that she is locked away in the attic where Nina can keep an eye on her at all times. But, Nina doesn’t know the real truth of why Maggie did what she did, and she’s determined to keep it a secret. Because sometimes, the truth is far more dangerous than the lie is.

The pros:
-I honestly wasn’t expecting this book to be as good as it was. I read the Passengers last year, and I did enjoy it, but this book feels so much more different that what he’s written before.
-This book reminds me so much of the book, “Behind Closed Doors,” which happens to be a favorite of mine.
-The connection that I felt from both of the characters.
-The twists got me even very early on. The first one I was so shocked by, I went back and reread a few of the chapters. My advice: try to go into this one as blind as possible!

Cons:
-it’s a little more of a slow burn type of thriller than I anticipated. The beginning had so much potential, but the middle of it feel a little flat for me. Though I do feel that it’s because it’s focusing so much on the storytelling for the characters’ pasts, which is entirely necessary for this story. Don’t give up though, it speeds up again!

I recommend this one to fans of domestic type thrillers and to fans of John Marrs as well!

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Review
Genre: Suspense⠀
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Wow! This is one dark and twisty relationship between a mother and daughter corrupted with years and years of deceit, hurt, lies, betrayal, pain, secrets and self-sabotage.

Pros:

🏡 It's John Marrs. He can do no wrong in my eyes.

🏡 This plot is one freaking onion with layers upon layers of plot that just keeps thickening. Just when I think I have it figured out, another layer is revealed and my anxiety spikes for the two characters.

🏡The continuous jump between past and present definitely contributes to the suspense of the story as the complexity of the relationship between mother and daughter takes on new levels with each chapter.

🏡The writing is superb. John has a way of ensuring each word written is a word of importance and significance to the story.

I just kept turning the pages to see what would happen next, it's that addictive. Slow clap! ⠀⠀
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Go into this blind as that is the best way to enjoy this compelling read. ⠀
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Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an arc to reveiw.

I put off reading this book for a little while when lockdown kicked in. Reading a tale of isolation, toxic relationships and someone confined to an attic room seemed like it might be a little close to home while locked down in my own home. But, it turns out it was a pretty perfect tonic – you know how sometimes reading or watching people who have it worse off than you can make things seem a little better? Yeah, that. Because the two protagonists in this story have some serious problems.

Maggie and Nina’s relationship is complicated. As the book opens, we meet Maggie who is kept under lock and key in chains in a small attic space. The person keeping her there is her daughter, Nina. Their relationship simmers with resentment, bitterness and just a touch of insanity. Marrs weaves between past and present, taking us back 25 years to reveal how a relationship which should be filled with love became so twisted. The entire story is narrated by Maggie and Nina in alternating chapters, two unreliable narrators whose many wrongs are gradually unveiled.

The atmosphere throughout is tense, almost claustrophobic as we cycle between Maggie’s time in isolation and what came before. Whilst the two live as silent enemies, it’s clear that neither of them have little in their lives aside from each other which just adds to the warped feeling their relationship has taken.

This book was gripping, entertaining and hard to put down, but it was also dark and a little disturbing. There’s plenty of trigger warnings here, including child abuse, mental health, miscarriages and more. Sometimes it was a little too dark for me – you might want something light and fluffy on hand to read after to balance it out – but I just had to keep reading to know where this twisty-turny tale would end up. And the ending was just as crazy as the rest of it.