Meet Laura and Conor. They are the happy new parents to a newborn baby they called Shay. They are on their way home from the hospital. When home, Laura is opening congratulations cards and one of them has a message for her that says that her husband, Conor, is a murderer. Who would say such a thing? Her husband is loving and kind. Surely he cannot be responsible for the murder of someone?

I enjoyed the fast pace of the novel and wanting to know exactly who is responsible for the murder in this town and if it could in fact be Conor? I found myself guessing and second guessing as I was reading and I love that in a novel.

*5 Stars*

Copy kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read and I enjoyed the book. It had a surprise ending.

Laura receives a card in the mail congratulating her on the birth of her new baby but one card tells her that her husband is a murderer? Surely hes not she thinks to her self but then again everyone has secrets...even Laura.
I was attracted to this book because of it’s cover but once i started reading about it i didnt feel a great connection with the characters and felt like i had read this story before, the narration also didnt work for me it seemed flat and boring.
It was however a quick read.

This is a cracking read. A fast moving expose of a relationship between two people who have moved very fast in that they are married and have become parents within a year. And how well do they know each other? Recommended.

I received an ARC copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. Laura is married to Conner and has just given birth to their son, Shay. Conner owns the brewery in the small town where they live and is a very rich man. Laura and Conner have only known each other a few months when she becomes pregnant and he does the honorable thing and married Laura. On the day that they arrive home from the hospital with the new baby, Laura receives a card telling her that Conner is a murderer. The story goes on from there and with some suspicious things popping up, Laura cannot begin to fathom that her husband could actually kill someone. I did enjoy this book and it was fast paced, recommend.

Great thriller with a big twist I didn't see coming. Imagine hearing "Your husband is a murderer" just days after giving birth to your first child. Sure you've only known him for a year but you've had a baby with this man and you would like to think you know that he couldn't do something this ... or could he? Laura finds out secrets about her husband and his family .. as well as secrets about her own.

Sadly this just didnt do it for me which was a huge disappointment after such rave reviews, definitely a case of 'it's me not the book'

It was an ok read and it did keep me turning the pages BUT I felt the character development wasn't there in full force and the ending was really rushed.

It was a slow read that was frustrating at times and I just couldn't engage with it.

Sorry!

Thanks to netgalley and Hera for the ARC.

When you start off a book with an accusation of murder towards one of the main characters of the book, you know there will be a whirlwind of lies, mystery and cover-ups before the end of the book! That’s what happened in Five Little Words, when Laura opens a envelope that accuses her husband of the murder of one of the town’s favorite young women. As Laura is already attempting to fit into the upscale lifestyle of her husband, she now finds herself trying to find out the truth about Vicky’s murder. New to the community, she has no friends to rely on, but her sister Amanda has always been her confidante and will drop everything to come to her rescue. As we become acquainted with the other characters of the book, suspicions abound on “who done it”. Behind it all though...secrets held by Connor, Laura, Amanda, and a few other characters give the story the twists needed to keep the reader guessing......all the way through the final surprise of their story. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Hera Books in return for an honest review, which this has been. #NetGalley #FiveLittleWords

Jackie Walsh puts an even more twisted and sinister twist on the poison pen trope with her latest psychological crime thriller, Five Little Words. A forensic exploration of trust, loyalty and vengeance, lock your doors, switch your phone off and get ready for a marathon binge reading session as you won’t be able to put Five Little Words down.

Laura Caldwell feels like she’s on top of the world. She has an adoring husband Conor and her happiness is now complete with the arrival of gorgeous baby Shay. All of Laura’s hopes and dreams seem to have finally come true and the future seems bright and cosy for her little family. When a card pops through the door, Laura thinks that it’s another heartfelt and congratulatory message. However, when she opens the card she gets the shock of her life as the message send shivers of terror and apprehension racing down your spine: Your Husband is a Murderer.

Initially, Laura thinks that this is someone’s sick idea of a practical joke. Conor is kind, generous, charismatic and has the ability to charm everyone who crosses his path. At first, Laura dismisses the message. Yet, she cannot get those five little words out of her mind. What had possessed somebody to send such a cruel message? What had driven them to do this? Did they just want to get back at Conor and her? Did they want to put a dampener on their happiness? Surely these five little words are all lies. But could there be a grain of truth there?

Laura thought that she knew Conor better than she knew herself. But as she wonders whether there is some twisted connection between her husband and the death of local barmaid Vicky, Laura becomes determined to uncover the truth and discover once and for all whether the man she married is a murderer…or whether he is being accused of something he didn’t do. As Laura begins to realise that she didn’t know her husband as well as she thought, her own dark secrets come rushing to the fore. Conor is not the only one in this marriage who has been keeping things from his significant other. Will the truth set Conor and Laura free? Or will it end up tearing them asunder for good?

Jackie Walsh is on terrific form with her latest nail-biting thriller Five Little Words. A master at cranking up the tension and suspense, in Five Little Words, Jackie Walsh has penned a superb page-turner that will keep readers guessing and on the edge of their seats throughout.

Brilliantly crafted and superbly plotted, Jackie Walsh’s Five Little Words is a fantastic thriller fans will not want to miss.

I absolutely loved Five Little Words by Jackie Walsh.

Set in a small village in Ireland it tells the story of new mother Laura, who receives a card which she thinks will be a congratulations on the birth of her baby but actually reads "Your Husband Is A Murderer" After this she starts to question everything she knows about her husband and the other people around her.
There were so many twists in this book that just when I thought I knew where it was going it went in a different direction that kept me on the edge of my seat and kept me up reading it till the early hours to finish it - I did not want to put it down!
I will definitely be reading more by Jackie Walsh in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hera Books for my ARC.

I have read a couple of Jackie’s books and I really enjoyed them. I read the synopsis for ‘Five Little Words’ and it certainly sounded like an interesting read. So without further ado, I grabbed my Kindle, grabbed a cup of tea and then settled down for an afternoon’s reading. Overall I did enjoy reading ‘Five Little Words’ but more about that in a bit.
I can honestly say that I didn’t warm to any of the characters in this book. I might be paranoid but I believed nobody and suspected everybody. I got the impression that every character was keeping a secret that they were desperate to ensure remained hidden or they weren’t quite telling the whole truth. Laura Caldwell is the female lead character, who we meet just as she is taking her first child home with her husband, Conor. It’s evident from fairly early on that something happened in her past which affected her greatly but you don’t find out all at once. Little clues are given as to what happened as the story continues. Laura does seem incredibly anxious and I began to wonder if she was seeing things that just weren’t there or whether or not she was being a bit too sensitive. She sets about trying to fathom out who sent her the card saying that Conor is a murderer and why. What happens? Well for the answers to that question and so much more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
It took me a little while to get into ‘Five Little Words’, which has more to do with the fact that I was tired when I started to read the book than anything else. I had to get my head round who was who and what relationship they shared with Laura or Conor. Certain of the characters irritated me like Conor’s mother for instance. Rather than read this book in one long reading binge, I binge read the book over the course of a few days, which helped my enjoyment of the story as it meant that I could read a bit of the story, put the book down and then think about what I had read before picking the book up again. In that respect reading this book felt like the equivalent of a television drama consisting of several episodes. I soon got to the end of the book. I can honestly say that I was not expecting the story to end as it did.
‘Five Little Words’ is well written. The author has one of those writing styles that is easy to get used and easy to get along with. She grabs your attention from the start and then draws you into the story. She has crafted a tight plot, which kept me guessing and unsettled me in the sense that I wasn’t sure who or what to believe. There were more twists and turns to this story than you would find on a ‘Snakes & Ladders’ board. I would think that I had worked out what was going to happen only for Jackie to send me a massive curveball sending me down another path entirely. ‘Five Little Words’ is a very tense and dramatic psychologically thriller which will certainly keep the reader on their toes.
In short, I really enjoyed reading ‘Five Little Words’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Jackie’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

Thank you Hera Books and NetGalley for an early release of Five Little Words. I liked this book, it was a good read. I didn't love Laura, thought she was a bit naive. The ending was a surprise. Give this book a chance, you won't be disappointed.

I wanted to love this one more than I did. I loved the premise and the book was an easy enough read but I didn't click with any of the characters and while I understand the crazy hormonal first weeks of being home with a newborn I felt like her reaction was a little intense. I would not have left my baby as much as she did and that just felt off to me. Overall the writing was good, the pacing was nice and the twist was well done but it still fell flat for me.

3.5 stars

Five little words by Jackie Walsh is available now, and it's a great mystery story. 

Moving in an unfamiliar place, new small town and having a baby, it’s staggering for anyone, especially when you don’t know anybody around but your husband and his family. 

She started to receive mysterious cards in the mail along with the usual congratulations for the newborn baby and those are a bit intriguing because they incriminate her new husband, the one she thinks she knows so well but, like most of the people, there are so many secrets and untold stories that sometimes people keep to themselves. 

Battling between what ifs and a intruding mother-in-law, our heroine has a few secrets of her own as well and the only person that she’s close with it’s her sister but she’s not of much help actually and I find a bit unnecessary her adding because it’s not adding much to the story in my opinion as the heroine goes in blind and with her intuition about to solve the mysteries. 

It’s twisted and many turns are predictable, but it also has some great interesting moments that many lovers of the genre will enjoy.

So you've found your perfect life - handsome husband, beautiful baby, gigantic gorgeous house.....and then the bombshell hits with five little words....

Laura has moved from the city to a small village where everyone knows everyone and most are beholden to her husband Conor for their livelihood. So is his friend in the police department covering for him, or coming for him? What's going on with the creepy guy who lives in the little house on their property? And speaking of creepy, what happened between Noel and Olive? But most of all - could Conor have killed Vicki?

Walsh developed her characters so well that you could almost see their facial expressions. The pacing was even and consistent with Laura pursuing so many leads to find out who sent her the threatening card, that I worried she was going to tip the scales in the wrong direction and wind up throwing suspicion on herself. Even though Laura and Conor's secrets were stretched out over the course of the book, you got nuggets of information along the way, which kept the suspense level high. I sort of loved Laura's mother-in-law Maggie, a wonderfully meddlesome woman, who always showed up at the wrong time,

This was a great suspenseful read, with lots of interesting characters, and a surprise ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hera Books for an advanced reader's copy for review.

A quick read that's engrossing but a bit too rushed at the end. 4 stars!

This was the perfect thriller read to get me out of my slump! I read it in a day which is insanely fast for me and I'm thrilled about it. It was engrossing albeit a little forgettable.

What I didn't like is that the first 90% was quite drawn out, but when it came to the actual explanations, everything was explained in a few paragraphs. I really wish the author had taken more time and detail to explain everything.

I enjoyed the theme of this book and it was overall a great read!

Would I recommend this? Yes, it was engrossing, enjoyable and a very quick read, perfect to get me out of my reading slump. I'm also looking forward to reading more by this author, I have a couple other books by her on my Kindle.

Five little words can ruin a life, take a life, cast aspersions into the wrong person.

Five little words is all it takes to tilt a town on its ear for one newcomer resident. It’s bad enough a nice young woman was murdered but then to imply something else, just shameful.

This is a great story to point out that if you don’t know something, ask before spreading lies about something you know nothing about.

I liked this book and thought it was fast-paced with a decent twist, though there were a couple things I didn't love. It centers on Laura, who just had a baby with her new-ish husband, Conor- a man who was the most eligible bachelor in the small town in which he lives. Laura moves from Dublin to be with him and knows she is judged by the townsfolk, but she is happy in her marriage. The story starts with the murder of a local bartender that happened right before Laura has her baby- she comes home from the hospital to a card telling her that Conor is the murderer. The rest of the book follows Laura through trying to figure out what happened, and how well she really knows her husband, while also trying to hold on to a secret of her own.

The book moves at a fast clip, with the action starting almost immediately. There are a couple twists throughout, and while I had an inkling of one of them, I hadn't figured out the context yet so was still surprised when it was unveiled. The author did a good job of tying up the loose ends and making the storylines fit together.

There were a couple things that bothered me with the book- one was Laura herself, who seemed a little superficial, always assuming that everyone was thinking about how she was from the "big city", and also had a tendency to jump to conclusions and overreact about every piece of information she was given. The other thing that bothered me was the fact that the new baby was treated almost like an accessory throughout the book- even the times when she mentions crying or lack of sleep, it didn't come with the authenticity of what the experience with a newborn baby is really like. I suspect the author has not spent much time around newborns.

Overall, I'd recommend the book, though- once I got past my couple small nits, I enjoyed the story and thought it was a good read for those who like the mystery and domestic suspense genres.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A young woman receives a stack of congratulations cards upon the birth of her child. One card includes five little words...your husband is a murderer. The card comes days after a popular young woman has been murdered in the small Irish town that never sees violent crime.

This was a good, not great, book for me. While I did find the ending a surprise, the young woman's emotional swings from supporting to suspecting her husband were too frequent to keep me from wondering what was really going on. The back story of the main characters, when revealed, explained the majority of the questionable behavior, but it just seemed to be built up too slowly for my tastes. The author did an excellent job of bringing everything together in the end, but I felt it took too long to build to that point. The book was good enough for me to look for another title by Jackie Walsh to see if this was a one off for her.

This is my first book by this author and I have to say, I’m very impressed with her writing style. I was drawn into this story from page one and it kept me guessing the entire time. I really liked all the characters in the book and loved how the author planted little seeds of doubt about each one so we never knew who the main character could trust. There were quite a few twists and turns that were alluded to throughout the book but I never quite figured them out, which is always good for a thriller!! I’m very excited to try more books by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!