This book started off really slow for me but it picked up by the end. The two couples in the book were not really friends in my opinion. Helen had this sick fascination with her brother's wife, Serena. Helen was clueless and a people pleaser. Helen and Serena were both pregnant. This was critical to the story.

Serena flaked out on Helena for the prenatal classes. What a shocker. While at the classes Helen meets the very strange Rachel. This young girl works her way into Helen's life and house. From there the twists and turns ensue.

Helen never got a clue after all was revealed. It's worth pushing through to get to the ending. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Helen and Daniel were to meet up for their first prenatal class, but he was delayed by an urgent meeting. There, Helen met Rachel, a young, single, pregnant woman. Rachel is laid back, loud, smokes, and drinks. They end up coaching one another and become friends of sorts.

Helen’s brother, Rory, owns their father’s architectural firm. Daniel, another architect, is part of the firm but ends up doing a lot of the work as Rory appears to always be busy elsewhere. Rory’s wife, Serena is also expecting within a couple weeks of Helen. The three of them have been friends for many years.

When their parents died, Rory inherited the firm, Helen inherited the large family home, and their young brother, Charlie, inherited a large amount of cash. He is content to be a DJ in a bar and they don’t see him much.

Now that she is on maternity leave with weeks to go before the birth of her baby, Helen is rather bored and along with wanting to escape some changes Daniel is having done to the house, she enjoys getting out. It’s strange how many times she seems to run into Rachel.

Katie, another friend of Helen’s is a reporter and is covering the trial of two young, wealthy men who are accused of raping a young woman. People are outraged as one defendant is the son of an earl and they other the son of an MP.

When Rachel shows up at Helen’s asking to stay a night or two, she is hesitant because the girl is so strange but she finally agrees. That’s when things get really tense.

This is a very long and complicated story with several plots going on at the same time which made me lose interest at times. Sometimes, less is more. However, I finally got to the end that left me with a chuckle. Karma always wins. I did not like Helen because she is a pushover and lacks common sense. The other characters were shallow and I couldn’t find any pity for Rachel.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

My Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐/ 5 stars

This is a multi POV thriller about a pregnant woman named Helen who befriends another expecting mom, Rachel, in a prenatal class. Though she is odd and a bit out of place in their neighborhood, Helen can’t say no to her new friend because of her newfound loneliness while on maternity leave. Pretty soon, Rachel becomes more and more disruptive by inviting herself to Helen’s life and friends - and it seems she has secrets that would potentially destroy their way of life.

This debut novel by Katherine Faulker kept me on my toes - I could not stand Rachel’s character. She was sus from the beginning, but Helen is the naive, innocent one and she unfortunately made all the wrong decisions (usually how horror movies go.) There are many different twists which have you constantly thinking you have it all figured out, but it surprises you all the way to the end.

Thank you to Gallery Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Greenwich Park is a story that, in a blurb could sound like a fairly common suspense story. It is anything but common. Faulkner is a gifted writer and a master plotter. It take place in upscale Greenwich England. Helen, pregnant for the fifth time after four miscarriages, is ending her job and starting prenatal classes. Serena, Helen, Daniel and Rory have been connected as friends for over ten years. They went to Cambridge together and the couples are still friends.. Daniel, Helen's husband, has to miss their first prenatal class because of a work emergency. This is not a total surprise. Daniel is partners with Helen's brother Rory in an architectural firm founded by her father. Rory is not carrying his weight so Daniel is working nonstop. Rory's wife, Serena, also pregnant, texts Helen to say she's chosen a different class to attend that's more her style. Helen, shy and worried about her health and the viability of this pregnancy is on her own. All the other attendees are couples, until Rachel comes in. Rachel defies all the rules of pregnancy, drinking wine at the class. She promptly attaches herself to Helen. Suddenly, everywhere Helen goes, there is Rachel. Daniel has designed a below ground addition to Helen's childhood historic home since the interior walls in the existing structure can't be changed. They are living there during the remodeling. So there is dust, noise, fear the pregnancy will fail, too much time alone, and the rather "off" Rachel in the picture for Helen. Helen and Rory's younger brother Charlie skipped University and is a DJ. He is reunited in a relationship with Katie, a good friend of Helen's.

The structure of Greenwich Park is quite original and it works. It starts with an afterward, then proceeds consistently through Helen's pregnancy starting with the 24th week and marking each subsequent week. It changes narrators and therefore perspectives among Helen, Serena and Katie but also includes present day interludes in the voice of one or more unknown narrators. Where needed, there are flashbacks to events from ten years earlier. We know right away that someone has written to Helen from jail. So, something bad enough to put someone in jail will happen in this book and Helen did not do it ... maybe. Meanwhile, the characters develop through the perspectives of the multiple narrators from somewhat fixed descriptions to more complex people, each likable in some ways and flawed in some ways. And then there is Rachel, who does not fit into the picture, yet is in the picture. I have read thousands of mysteries. I have never read one that so deftly makes every character a suspect before we even know what happens to put someone in jail. It's like a choose your own adventure story, where you find yourself guessing what bad thing is going to happen and who wrote the afterward from jail and there are tons of plausible endings. I may well reread this just to enjoy the way it is put together a second time. Very, very, very worth your while!!

The very descriptive writing of this debut novel felt a little long at times. The author writes beautifully but a little less detail, please. Rachel was so annoying that it was hard to see Helen entangled in a friendship with her. No major surprises but will keep reader's attention.

I thoroughly enjoyed Greenwich Park. It was terribly slow at first and on several occasions I thought about DNF'ing it but I'm so glad I continued.

This was a mystery and thriller mix that had several twists I did not see coming. The narrator was
marvelous which made the book even better.
Greenwich Park was very good and I highly
recommend it to anyone over the age of 17.

What a ride! For the first 40% of the book, I was clueless on what was really happening - which is all intentional by the author. The book is super fast paced and before you know it, there is a dead character and everyone is a suspect.. well, except for Helen. Poor Helen. You want her to come out okay from the start but you know shes in for a wild ride. This story is full of secrets, twists (right up to the last page), revenge and deceit. I could not put this down!!!! What an easy, quick read. Great for any fan of suspense such as Ruth Ware, Lisa Jewell, Alice Feeny. A solid 4 star read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the advanced copy.

I really enjoyed this debut thriller. Told from multiple points of view, set to the timeline of the main characters pregnancy, the story is presented in a unique way. It’s a slow burn with great character development. I love unreliable characters and there are plenty here. In a rich people behaving badly plotline, a decision from their past comes back to haunt them in a very big way and I loved watching it unfold.

Wow what a debut novel for Katherine Faulkner! I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Nice storyline told in different times and POVs. Great reveals of a complex story. So many crazy twists and turns. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I loved Greenwich Park. It is a psychological thriller about three siblings after one of them, a pregnant woman, feeling isolated and anxious, is befriended in a birthing class by a woman and all sorts of wild and creepy things start unfolding for the siblings. Everyone is unreliable, there a million secrets and things are creepy and erratic. It is a juicy and addictive mess that I could not stop reading. What a debut!!

Things are not what they seem, for pregnant Helen and her husband Daniel, or their friends, Rory and Serena, Katie and Charlie. Stories and secrets unfold in beautiful Greenwich Park, through multiple points of view and flashback sequences. Helen's strange friendship with Laura, who she meets in her prenatal class, will be the spark to set off fireworks.

This story was engaging, with twists and turns I could not completely untangle until the bang of its conclusion.

Recommended for fans of slow burning mysteries.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for granting me access to this Advance Reader Copy.

A slow burn but overall a solid thriller. The middle dragged a little and I didn't quite know where it was going at times, but the ending proved worth it. 3.5 stars rounded up

A great new thriller that kept getting better and better with an explosive ending..
The characters are all unreliable but the plot was so twisted and the ending was perfect !

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Helen seems to have it all - loving and successful husband, a success career, a house she inherited from her parents that she loves, and a baby on the way. The baby has been a long time coming after several miscarriages. At her prenatal class she meets Rachel. Rachel seems to be the complete opposite of Helen - drinks caffeine and alcohol, eats whatever she wants, and does not seem to have a job. Helen and Rachel keep bumping into each other after class and have a sort-of friendship. Rachel entertains Helen who is bored out of her mind being put on maternity leave early due to high-risk pregnancy.

As Helen introduces Rachel to her husband and group of friends, everyone is noticing that Rachel is a little "off." However, as the story unravels and the secrets are revealed, you will not be surprised to find out why.

This debut novel really got my attention and I needed to see how the characters all connected.

Helen, Daniel, Rory and Serena were friends at Cambridge, and married each other later on. Helen and Daniel are renovating their mansion at Greenwich Park, while her brother Rory and Serena are happily married. Both Helen and Serena are expecting a baby.

Into this relatively peaceful scene, comes Rachel, a waiflike young woman, who throws their lives into disarray.

An unusual plot, unexpected twists and turns in the story, and sympathetic and unsympathetic characters work together to make this an excellent thriller.

Greenwich Park follows the story of Helen, her friends Susan, Rachel, and Katie, along with her husband Dan and brothers Rory and Charles. Helen is pregnant with a high risk pregnancy, so she is stuck at home and lonely. When everyone bailed on a birthing class, Helen met Rachel who became swiftly involved with Helen’s life.

As Helen becomes increasingly wary of Rachel, tensions in her marriage begin to rise. Dan is becoming more and more distant, Susan and Rory are almost never heard from anymore, and Rachel is swiftly becoming overbearing.

When Rachel suddenly goes missing, this complex web of friends, siblings, and spouses shows that everything is not quite as it seems.

2 stars

Why is it that every time I get enticed into returning to the thriller genre, I inevitably end up being disappointed?

Greenwich Park showed a lot of potential in its premise and there were moments where I could see Faulkner's understanding of the genre, but I just could not get into this book. For one thing, there is remarkably little tension throughout the book. From the beginning, all of our characters, including our main character Helen, know that something is off about the mysterious Rachel. Over and over again, Helen talks about how weird she is and how uncomfortable she feels while still continuing to interact with her. As a reader, you clearly know something is wrong with Rachel and you are just waiting impatiently for the reveal to happen instead of getting to unravel it as you go along.

Secondly, our main character Helen is characterized so blandly that it was frankly infuriating. It felt like events were just happening around her that she just went along with no matter how blatantly weird they were, especially with Rachel. If it had been made more clear that Helen felt a deep connection with her from the beginning and was ignoring the slowly accumulating red flags, her actions would have at least made more sense. No, instead, we just get a main character making stupid decisions without a clear motivation for the sake of furthering the plot. Why should I care about what is going on when the main character has no stakes in the game? The other two perspectives that we get are far more interesting and demonstrate that Faulkner can write interesting female characters who have a personality, but their chapters are unfortunately

On top of that, all of the twists (except for one small one) felt like they were coming a mile away. In most cases, it was simple deduction based on what I thought were fairly obvious clues. However, there is one big twist that Faulkner practically just tells you through some thinly veiled poetic language. Honestly, by the time we got to what I thought was the only legitimately thrilling part of the book, I was just ready to move on.

I have hope that as Faulkner continues writing after this debut, she will start to strengthen her instincts and begin to create some sharper stories. The grains of gold are there amongst the sand, but it took a lot of sifting for me to get to them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

3.5

The story follows three couples linked by family and by friendship. Helen is the main protagonist and she is finally pregnant after a series of miscarriages when she meets Rachel at her first prenatal class and secrets start coming to light.

I found this to be compulsively readable. The book starts with an Afterword - the start of a letter written to Helen by someone in prison trying to justify their actions and then jumps back to the 24th week of Helen's pregnancy where she first meets Rachel. What follows is a multi perspective unravelling of Helen's life as she navigates her pregnancy and this new "friend" who she keeps running into unexpectedly. From the start, it is clear something is off about Rachel and it is apparent that each of the main characters is going to be messy leading the reader to kind of question everyone.

I liked the way Katherine Faulkner wove together the various threads of the story. Not only are there POVs from Helen, Serena (Helen's friend and sister in law), and Katie (childhood neighbor and on and off again girlfriend of Helen's other brother), but there are snippets of unnamed people simply labeled Greenwich Park as well as flashbacks to 10 years previous. While I sometimes struggled differentiating the voice between the three women, I liked that we got to see all of these different aspects of the story.

I also loved that the book was structured as segments of Helen's pregnancy because as we moved toward the 40 week mark, the tension grew almost as if it were a countdown, and really appreciated the commentary on rapists going free when they're well to do white men.

Where I struggled most was the believability. I had a hard time understanding why Helen was so quick to integrate Rachel into her life and then later when Rachel went missing, I had a hard time believing that Helen didn't know anything about her.

That being said, I liked Faulkner's writing style and pacing and overall thought this was a really strong debut and will definitely be on the lookout for whatever she writes next.

I really enjoyed this one, I found it similar to Ruth Ware or Lisa Jewell. In particular I found the shorter chapters made the book fairly easy to read quickly. I also loved the twists, they definitely kept me hooked. Looking forward to whatever this author writes next!

Katherine Faulkner grabbed my interest from the first few pages, and her writing and the characters compelled me to read on! I love love loved this book; it’s a real page-turner. If you haven’t yet got it on your TBR pile, then you really need to rectify that ASAP. I can’t wait to see what Katherine Faulkner comes up with next. I can't believe this was her debut!