Member Reviews
This was 3.5 stars for me. I really enjoyed this book and found it very readable. So easy to pick up and keep reading, a great book to lose yourself in.
A criticism would be that I found the relationship between Jenny and her mother in Law switched a bit too quick between caustic and caring. The language was slightly simplistic at times.
I really enjoyed this book, I didn't see that twist coming and would definitely recommend!
A difficult book to review. I read most of the book with bated breath waiting for the massive twist which I was sure was just right the corner. Author J. A. Andrews managed to capture my senses, in curiosity and anticipation.
Michael was mowed down and run over. Gary was the last witness. Wife Jenny and his parents were traumatized. Secrets were posted which shocked Jenny.
My second book by this author, I liked the beginning. It got my juices of imagination flowing. With the title and blurb, I was quite excited about the heady hit of a thriller. Steady paced, the book showed me Jenny’s life as she looked after her son and managed to wrap her head around the secrets. The mother-in-law too managed to add lines of suspense.
Then came my niggles. More of suspense, less of internal monologue, added twists would have made this rocking. But I still managed to read it lickety-split.
Overall, a fun breakfast read.
The chapters of this enthralling page turner were narrated by Jenny, Michael, Donna and Gary. We follow Jenny as she struggles with her grief and to cope with being a single parent after her beloved husband's death. The man that she relied on but also felt was neglecting her and their young son Daniel. The man who she also discovered had been keeping secrets from her. Jenny was already vulnerable before Michael's death due to lack of sleep and what she felt was her mother in law Donna's constant interference into how she was raising Daniel. Grief effects people in different ways and if you add that emotion on top of other vulnerabilities it wasn't difficult to understand how easy it was for Gary to manipulate his way into her life. Donna did come across as a bit of a snob at times but she genuinely loved Daniel and her concerns for his wellbeing were completely understandable. Michael was one of life's why me and nothing is my fault kind of guys and I honestly didn't like him very much. As for Gary, well it's obvious that he had his reasons for inserting himself into Jenny's life but what were they? And how far was he prepared to go to execute his plans?
This is a captivating tale of relationships, grief, families, manipulation and deception that builds in intensity as the story unfolded. A chilling sense of foreboding permeates the pages as the relevant players were manouvered into position and the shocking truth was finally revealed. This is the second thriller by this talented author that I have read recently and I look forward to reading more of this author's books in the future.
Jenny and Michael are together for almost 5 years married for 3 of those. While things started off well between them, growing expenses and Jenny only working part time to look after their son Daniel, things are a bit strained.
Michael is always busy at work and is keeping longer hours. And Michael is hiding something from Jenny. One evening Michael leaves for a meeting with a client and just before he leaves home, Jenny and he have an argument.
Sometime later, Jenny is visited by the cops who tell her that Michael is a victim of a hit and run.
The plot unfolds with some secrets of Michael coming to the fore. While her world as she knew it comes crashing around Jenny, she meets Gary, the person who was at the accident site when Michael breathed his last, hoping to find some clues about the incident.
The story is well told but no surprises for me. Could guess what was coming. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.
Jenny is married to a great guy, Michael, and they have a young son, Daniel. Things have been a little strained and the reader learns through Michael's voice that he has secrets ... and he never wants Jenny to find out.
Jenny's last words to Michael one night ..if you leave, don 't come back. He did leave ..and he didn't come back. He was killed by a hit and run driver.
Jenny is overcome with guilt and depression sets in as she grieves ... she strikes up a friendship with Gary ... the man who witnessed the accident and stayed with Michael until he died.
But Gary has his own secrets .......
This well-written psychological thriller is told in varied voices... Jenny's, Michael's, Gary's and Donna ... her mother in law. Secrets swirl around these characters as the reader tries to figure out who's lying .... and why. The characters are deftly drawn, warts and all. Twists and turns kept me riveted to the pages ... and led to an unexpected, terrifying conclusion.
Many thanks to the author / Hera Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
I greatly enjoyed this book, thank you for giving me a preview copy. The plot was interesting and fast paced and I sympathised with the characters. This is the first novel I have read by this author but I hope it will not be the last!
Told from multiple perspectives which works really well, this is a story of a marriage built and destroyed by lies. When will people learn that material things do not make for a perfect life!!! Especially if you are running up debts to have it all.
Right from the start you are intrigued by the secrets that Michael is keeping from Jenny and wondering what the hell he has got himself in to and this has an absolute killer of a prologue.
The characters while not very likeable are totally believable. Especially Jenny who as a mother to a small child has left the finances all to her husband so has no idea of the financial trouble they are in. Some may think this is naive but when you are a busy mum this is often the case in some marriages. It’s called trust, and unfortunately it’s often misplaced.
Now let me tell you what I loved the most, this may shock those who have read it, I LOVED the mother in law. She was everything I absolutely hate and was an utter cringe fest every time she appeared. A complete snob and it seemed she was almost competing with Jenny in the grief stakes. Like it was some kind of X factor talent show which I will now call the grief factor.
I won’t go too much in to the plot as it would be easy to spoil. The pace is high at the start but slows down a little in the middle as it goes into more detail but I didn’t mind this as it made the end seem more climatic. I only have one real niggle but I am keeping quiet on that one as it would be a huge spoiler but the ending more than made up for that anyway.
Just like I like them. Twisty, dark and creepy. I have discovered a new to me author who writes a heck of a good thriller. The tension just keeps ramping up until its explosive conclusion. Pick up this amazing thrill. Happy reading!
The blurb of this book sounded great but I sadly struggled through it. I didn’t like the characters and just couldn’t get Into the story.
In a split second, your whole world can change and what you thought you knew, is far from the truth.
Jenny fell in love with Michael - they married, had a baby, bought a new home. Everything seemed perfect. But it was not. In a brutal twist of fate, Michael is killed by a hit and run driver. Everything changed - secrets started coming out leaving Jenny devistated in mulitiple ways. Then a stranger comes into her life to be a friend with his own secrets.
You Let Him In is a twisty-winding book that keeps you guessing until the end. I cannot wait to read more by this author!
Jenny Clifton thought she would have the perfect life once she married Michael. But once their son Daniel was born and the money started getting tight. the marriage started getting rocky. Michael started to be gone all the time for work, leaving her alone at home with Daniel. Then one night, after a huge blow-up, he leaves to go to an appointment and is killed by a hit-and-run driver. The person who found him and stayed with him until the ambulance arrived, contacts Jenny and they form a friendship. But as she tries to piece together his last hours, she discovers that the man she married was hiding a lot of secrets.
I thought the premise of this book sounded really good, but this book was a huge disappointment. I didn't feel like there were any particularly likable characters. I disliked the way it just hinted about Michael's secret through the entire book, rather than going ahead and telling what it was. The way the author had built it up, it made you think it must be something really huge, so when you finally got to the very end and I found out what it was, it was a letdown. This had the potential to be a really good book, but unfortunately it just didn't do it for me.
I had high hopes for this book based on the premise but I just felt it was quite poorly written unfortunately. I wasn't interested or interested in any of the characters and felt they were a bit trope-y.
I'm sure it's just me being fussy though and hopefully lots of other people loved it.
There is a lot of inner dialogue in this book. I don't usually mind that BUT it was really repetitive and the characters were so whiny. A reader can only take so much of that. Jenny was a weak, gullible wife who knew nothing about her family's finances. I have a hard time believing a 21st century wife would behave that way, not just being submissive but with on- line accounts how can she know nothing of her family's credit cards, mortgage and bank accounts!? Donna was the usual bitchy, overbearing mother-in-law, Michael was a lying prick and Gary was a complete psychopath.
The plot was pretty predictable and I figured out the big reveal about a third of the way through the book. Even that is ok when the book has other attributes to carry it along. This one doesn't. The writing is pedestrian and I hated every single character. I had no one to cheer for or sympathize with. The book's blurb makes this seem like a good idea, and it is, but the execution failed in a wretchedly, pitiable manner.
This was an intriguing and suspenseful thriller! I could not stop reading it once I started. It kept me on the edge of my seat and had many twists.
Firstly a big thank you to the publishers for my copy to review on netgalley. This is a new author to me.
A complex tale of love,loss,grief and revenge. A fast paced thriller with a unexpected storyline. Written in alternate narratives enables the reader to get to know all sides of the story .
What happens when lies are exposed from the grave? Was Jennys husband really who she thought she was .
I’ll definitely be reading more by this authir as really enjoyed his writing
Published 19th August
Thank you to Netgalley and Hera Books for the arc of You Let Him in by JA Andrews.
this line had me hooked "The only thing she was guilty of was trusting him" like wow I knew i had to read this when i saw this line that had be sunken and hooked into it!
This follows Jenny whom thought she was in a great marriage... as her husbnad has been neglecting spending time with her and her son lately due to him working late so Jenny really feels the strain in their marriage.... this is nothing until her husband gets killed by a hit and run.... so she is left picking up and piecing together the pieces then to find out her husband isnt whom he makes out to be........
4 star read had me on edge of my seat and gripped from the start i loved this so much!
Wow, wow, wow!!
This book was fantastic! It had you wondering if things were like it was leading you to believe or if something more sinister was going on! I loved it!!
Fabulous read!
Loved this book, totally had me gripped from the start. I can never tire of a good psychological thriller, would highly recommend
Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review. You Let Him In is a solid but somewhat predictable domestic thriller. Jenny Clifton is devastated to learn that her husband Michael has been killed in a hit and run accident. Searching for answers, Jenny learns that a mysterious stranger, Gary, was with her husband in his final moments. After realizing that her husband has not only left her with a young son to raise on her own but a mountain of unpaid debts, Jenny's life spirals. Caught between her overbearing but well intentioned in-laws, and her new friend Gary, Jenny learns that nothing is quite what it seems.
I found this book to be well written but not particularly suspenseful. The main character Jenny was somewhat annoying as she seemed to be a bystander in her own life up until the final chapter.
While there is nothing particularly groundbreaking about the novel, I liked the author's overall writing style and I would read another work by this author.
A solid 3 stars.
This is a bit of a slow burner but once it got going I really enjoyed it.
Jenny is devastated by her husband’s death and left with her son Daniel, she’s struggling to cope.
Jenny thought Michael was a good husband but the truth comes out after his death and Jenny realises he’s saddled her with a lot of debt.
His parents knew something wasn’t right but not the true extent so try and help Jenny.
There was a witness to the hit and run and Jenny gets in touch with him as she wanted to know exactly what he saw. Gary is a strange one and I didn’t trust him from the beginning.
It all comes to a terrifying conclusion and more than one life is in danger.
This is a great read.
Thanks to Hera Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.