This topic has been seen a lot recently, and I love it! You can easily see how office tension can escalate, especially between an older woman who is established her career, and a younger woman who is eager to forge her path and climb that corporate ladder.

The Assistant by Cathryn Grant is the latest in the office suspense genre. The characters are somewhat unlikeable, but I don’t mind. The story moves quickly and you keep reading to find out what is going to happen next!

Take a look at the plot:

Laura has sacrificed a lot for her high-powered career – her marriage, the chance to have kids. Now, finally, she’s in line for a big jump up the corporate ladder – all the way to the boardroom.

But there’s a fly in the ointment in the shape of beautiful Vanessa, a lowly assistant who seems to have it in for Laura. Vanessa is PA to Hank, the most powerful executive in the company, a man whose support Laura desperately needs if she is to secure the job of her dreams. Repelled by Laura’s naked ambition, fiercely possessive of her boss, Vanessa deliberately sabotages Laura’s every attempt to make a good impression on Hank.

Laura threatens and cajoles but Vanessa just won’t play fair. Soon their mutual dislike escalates to an all-out war. But career-obsessed Laura has always been willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead. And if Vanessa stands in her way… she’s going to pay the ultimate price.

This was a solid read, though not a page turning, nail biting suspense about toxic women in the workplace! If you enjoyed Precious You by Helen Monks Takhar, you will want to read The Assistant!

Free if you have Kindle Unlimited, arriving on Sept. 27th!

The cover of the book was eye catching and the main reason I decided to take a look at this book. The description was intriguing, so I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately I found the story to be disappointing. I love psychological thrillers, but I found this one to be lacking in the thriller category. The two main characters are hard to relate to or even like. The support characters came off as two dimensional and hard to believe. The book felt like a slog to get through. This one definitely missed the mark for me.

This was a DNF for me as I didnt feel the blurb lived up to the book,I did try twice but unfortunately the book was just not for me,apologies

An incredible thriller depicting a true cat fight between an ambitious career woman and a personal assistant to her boss, where all bets are off. Their mutual distaste quickly escalates into something much more sinister...

I received a complimentary copy of The Assistant from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Great book! Kind of a psychological thriller... Well written, with great characters, motivations and suspense! I had actually expected a completely different plot and was pleasantly surprised.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

The Assistant is my second book by Ms Grant, the first one was The Good Neighbor which I liked. The blurb made me request this book, but I could not find much of a connection between the blurb and the story. All Vanessa does is not scheduling an appointment for Laura with her boss which Laura takes to heart.The scenes are repetitive and the characters seem to be infatuated throughout and suddenly have a change of heart in the end. The homeless character is left off without a background of his connection to Laura. I could not find any psychological aspect to the characters except the shoplifting. I'm sorry but neither the story nor the players could get to me. This one is not for me.

It was an interesting read, I like the characters, even though Laura was a bit creepy. Climbing the corporate ladder is not easy. Thank you Netgalley for this book!

This book had an interesting premise, but unfortunately it missed the mark for me. I didn't like the characters, they seemed a bit one dimensional. I found it all to be quite slow and there didn't really seem to be much pay off.

That being said, it was well written in general.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

This book just missed the mark for me. The premise is great and the book is a fast, easy read but...... There's not a likable character in the bunch. I really need to be able yo root for somebody and that didn't happen with this book.

Cathryn's Grant's The Assistant is a psychological thriller that will put a lump in the throat of anyone who's experienced the power dynamics of a white-collar office.

Laura is a type-A ladder-climber in the extreme — she's sacrificed everything in her personal life to get ahead in the boardroom—who needs to impress her immediate superior, Hank, in order to finally land the promotion for which she's been salivating. Hank sometimes seems oblivious to Laura's rather significant contributions, but she believes she can win him over in the end.

Unfortunately, another woman stands in her way. Vanessa is Hank's PA, and while her status is lower than Laura in the company, she holds undeniable power as a kind of gatekeeper in charge of Hank's schedule and priorities, and as someone who enjoys a very close relationship with him. Irked by Laura’s ambition and presumptuous behavior, not to mention the catty remarks she's overheard her make, Vanessa is not above sabotaging her rival's attempts to impress Hank.

As the acrimony between the two characters comes to a head in compelling and unexpected ways, Grant's talent for character and plotting — more so than her prose, which is merely serviceable — really comes to the fore. The motivations of both characters are elucidated so well that the reader continues to identify with them even as things turn violent.

In the end, we're haunted by the ways in which this (admittedly extreme) scenario resonates with our own experiences. The author seems to understand that in a world in which a good work/life balance is a pipe dream for many, success and fulfillment at the office—which Laura and Vanessa define differently, but pursue with equal zeal — has become the only path to self-worth. When that path narrows, in this book as in life, things can get quite nasty.

The Assistant is based around 'Vanessa - PA to Hank and Laura who strives to climb the corporate ladder.
The book is almost split into two - detailing Vanessa's relationship, her hidden secret and the dynamic between herself and Laura. It also discusses Laura's past and her part in a catastrophic incident which culminates in a really good twist towards the end of the story.

It's an easy read and the stories interlink well.

I found this to be a well written, good paced thriller which kept me involved in the story line. Not an edge of seater for me personally but a thoroughly good read which I can recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and Inkubator Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

The Assistant was a very good fast paced read.
The two female roles were both great characters who are both on a downward spiral.
The author slowly lets us inside the minds of these two ladies and its very creepy.

I really enjoyed this book. The suspense it had was great.
Wished there was a little more thrill to it.
But overall fantastic book.

Thank You NetGalley publisher and author for the chance to read this book!

This was entertaining to read but it just didn't pack a thriller punch to me. None of the characters were even remotely likable and it left me wondering who I was supposed to be rooting for. It left me waiting for and wanting more but didn't really deliver.

Vanessa is a P.A. to an executive in a high ranking company. Laura is also working her way up the corporate ladder. She will do anything to get the job she desires and knows she excels at.
Every day she perches on Vanessa's desk trying to garner information from her. She knows that Vanessa knows all the executive secrets that go into management of a corporation. She feels she has the cleverness and knowledge that will have Vanessa spilling all the secrets. Right now an opportunity has become available and Laura wants that position.
Both women are all about power and control. Both women are trying for something that may not be available to them.
Only one woman knows how to gain control of her idiosyncrasies.
This was a great read. The characters are interesting and entertaining.

It's unsettling to watch someone's mental state fundamentally unravel without them even noticing. Vanessa and Laura are having completely different experiences of the same events and it's driving them down paths that could shatter their lives. From the very beginning you know that one of them is going to go over the edge but it's not clear who it will be. As the story progresses they each keep pushing closer to disaster, oblivious to the danger they're causing themselves. This was an enjoyable, fast-paced read. As hard as it was to watch them come close to disaster, I didn't want to stop reading.

This was an entertaining read although it did stretch my limits of credibility. The characters are not likeable although very interesting and the fast paced plot make it an enjoyable read.

Laura is in line for a top job but her ambition has ruined her marriage and any chance of having children. Finally she looks to make that big career advancement but could everything be ruined by the beautiful assistant Vanessa who appears to dislike her. Vanessa is PA to Hank who is the top executive in the company and any promotions would require his support. Vanessa dislikes Laura's fierce ambition and is very possessive of her boss, so deliberately sabotages Laura’s every attempt to make a good impression on Hank. It is not long before Vanessa and Laura are at war to win the attentions of Hank. Vanessa does not fight fair but Laura is willing to take it to any level required to get her way.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Inkubator Books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I enjoyed this book which kept me on the seat of my pants from beginning to end.

This has the makings of a good thriller, but just missed the mark for me. Neither of the main characters was likable, and it was never clear who I was supposed to be rooting for. In fact, none of the characters were sufficiently fleshed-out. In contrast to that, there was a lot of attention paid to small details (i.e. how the fish was cooked), so much so that I found it a bit distracting. I do thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review.

A very fast and easy read - both the female protagonists turned out to be pretty unpleasant characters although I quite liked how that author only let us in to these secrets slowly. The male characters were pretty bland I thought but that didn't really spoil the enjoyment of the story which was well plotted and realised.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.