I was caught up in this book from the beginning. Pregnant Helen finds herself alone at a prenatal class and befriends Rachel, who is also alone. As Helen's friends and family all seem to be busy with other endeavors, Helen finds herself more and more caught up with Rachel until Rachel becomes more of a burden than a friend. There is definitely something that isn't right here and Faulkner spreads around a fair share of red herrings as well as clues as to what is really going on. Helen just needs to get through this high-risk pregnancy and figure out who is friend and who is foe. A good quick read with a few twists at the end.

Helen and her husband, Daniel, are expecting a baby. Helen meets Rachel at a birthing class, the two become fast friends, and the drama takes off. This is a really good domestic thriller, and the author’s first novel. Recommended!

Greenwich Park starts off a bit slow but does picks up. I honestly found myself pushing to get through some of the parts and a bit overwhelmed by how much was going on. However, the ending is so good!
Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the eARC for an honest review.

I can't believe Greenwich Park, is Katherine Faulkner's debut! The book is layered and immersive, a slow-burning domestic thriller that had a great pay-off for all the heart-racing stress as I devoured the book. Highly recommend!!

Story is told from the POV of three women ~ Helen, Serena and Katie.
Time period is mostly the weeks of Helen’s pregnancy however, does go back 10 years now and then.

Helen is naïve, from a wealthy family married to Daniel. Story also includes her brothers Rory and Charlie. Rory is married to Serena who is a childhood friend of Helen’s.
Helen/Daniel and Rory /Serena have been friend since Cambridge and both families are expecting their first child (however Helen has had several miscarriages.
Additional characters, Helen’s younger brother Charlie and his girlfriend Kate who is a Journalist and also one of the narrators.

As mentioned Helen is pregnant ~ Daniel as well as Rory and Serena are supposed to all attend prenatal classes together; however, they do not show up the night of the first meeting. Serena finds another program that she believes is much better!

Helen is saving seats for them so when Rachel arrives late and sees the empty chairs asks if okay if she sits there. Rachel is pregnant but totally looks out of place among the others. She is eccentric, single, and seems to be clueless as to what motherhood involves. Helen is an introvert and it is difficult for her to fit in with the other expecting moms but Rachel comes to Helen’s rescue and befriends her.

When the story changes to Kate’s POV we get a peek into a courtroom rape case. Kate as a journalist is there as a reporter. We don’t know much about it but have a feeling this is the start of something.

This indeed was a surprise read for me. I wasn’t completely in the dark ~ I expected something just wasn’t right but didn’t yet have all the details.

Awww Yes!!! Twists and turns!!

Congratulations Katherine Faulkner on your debut novel ~ I am looking forward to your next story!

Want to thank NetGalley and Gallery Books for this uncorrected eGalley.
This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for September 7., 2021

I loved this novel by Katherine Faulkner. About halfway through it feels like you have reached the climax of the book, but it just keeps getting more twisty and shocking!

A good thriller for fans of a domestic thriller. Although I have discovered this didn’t work for me as I don’t really like domestic thrillers.. ideal for readers who like multiple points of view.

A twisty, slow burner! I just had this sense of dread the whole time I was reading, knowing it wasn’t going to end well. A great debut!

A little too much going on, and I feel like I've seen this storyline about repeated miscarriage before, but I enjoyed this well-paced debut from Faulkner. Well-developed characters, with tons of twists and foreboding hints that keep the reader guessing all the way through. And the ending surprised me, which doesn't happen very often with thrillers! Worth your time.

A terrific debut novel. Helen meets Rachel at a prenatal class. Despite their clear differences, they become quick friends. As Rachel becomes more and more erratic, and eventually moves in with Helen and her husband, the book kicks into high gear. Greenwich Park is an excellent thriller. I was hooked from page one and finished in two sittings. It's twisty and unsettling. Bonus points for a beautiful book cover.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First off, the cover is a beauty! This one was a page turner and I read it in one sitting! Highly recommend.

Let me start by saying I was really excited to read this book, now I had a hard time getting started reading this for some reason but after a couple chapters it just clicked and wham I could not put it down . I was reading into the wee hours of the morning. I feel it was a really well wrote book the characters were fantastic. And I loved it…. It was fantastic job well done.

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner—A deliciously suspenseful psychological thriller perfect for poolside reading or anywhere else.

London-based author Katherine Faulkner, an award-winning journalist and former joint Head of News at The Times (London), debuts with an absorbing psychological thriller about unreliable friendships, the high cost of keeping secrets, and vengeance.

The novel unfolds with an enigmatic desperate letter penned by someone incarcerated in prison, written to Helen, who we meet in the opening chapter. Helen, pregnant again after four previous miscarriages, attends her first prenatal class. When her husband, Daniel, brother Rory, and wife Serena fail to show as promised, Helen must go alone, feeling abandoned and uncomfortable. Then she meets Rachel, another mother-to-be, who smokes and drinks. Although Rachel appears the least maternal inclined woman in the class, the two forge an improbable friendship. Yet as the friendship grows and the two women spend more and more time together, Rachel’s intense personality and often unseemly behavior make Helen feel increasingly uneasy. Even Helen’s friends and family find the woman unnerving. Then disturbing secrets come to light.

While the bulk of the story develops from Helen’s first-person point of view, the author frequently uses first-person perspectives from other primary characters. The author also deftly dips into the past—via memories and cryptic testimonies of unidentified narrators. Almost from the moment Faulkner introduces Rachel, a shady character, the suspense and a sense of dread start to build as the reader senses there is something horrific in the offing even though we can’t predict what it might be.

Frankly, I found I was not fond of Helen all that much, though clearly, she is the main character in the novel. She sure fits the bill as a flawed protagonist seeming weak, indecisive, and suffering from an acute martyr complex. She spends a great deal of time feeling put upon by friends and family and her pregnancy. The more she allows Rachel to manipulate her, the less sympathy I feel for her. I was quickly tired of how much time Helen spent feeling sorry for herself. It’s almost as though she can’t work out whether a potential successful pregnancy after years of trying is something to celebrate or only an awful burden she carries alone. Curiously, not liking Helen doesn’t take anything away from the story since she certainly provokes an emotional response, just not a sympathetic one.

Rachel is my favorite character, mostly because she is so clearly dodgy from the beginning that it makes her hugely interesting. You can’t wait to see what she does next. The remaining characters were all well developed, and the reader has no difficulty seeing them as real people. Some are likable. Others aren’t for various reasons, which adds to the realism.

On balance, I found Greenwich Park a hugely entertaining and gripping read. Faulkner does a consummate job crafting a believable, tight plot and breathing life into her characters. The story grips quickly, and the suspense builds and builds. Admittedly, I worked out the whodunit a few chapters before reaching the end, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the novel. I’m interested in seeing where Faulkner’s writing takes her next as her debut novel will certainly raise the expectations of critics and readers alike. Greenwich Park compares quite favorably with other first-class thrillers like The Girl on the Train. I rate it a must-read for any psychological thriller fan who craves a story with many unexpected twists. It’s a deliciously suspenseful psychological thriller perfect for poolside reading or anywhere else.

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner, due for publication by Simon & Schuster (Gallery Books) on January 4, 2022, is available now for pre-orders.
 
I received an advance review copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley used for this review, representing my own unbiased opinion.

This novel centers around Helen, a pregnant woman who befriends Rebecca at a prenatal class. While initially pleased to make a friend (it doesn’t appear that she has very many), soon Helen becomes both wary and drawn to her in equal measure. Rebecca seems to show up often and randomly. Her erratic behavior implies that their meeting may not have been random after all. The story is told in different points of view but primarily through Helen. While Helen is gullible, needy, and potentially unreliable as a narrator, she is likeable and I found myself rooting for her.

This thriller will draw you in and won’t let you go. The novel keeps you guessing about who is telling the truth and who is deceiving. The story unfolds in conjunction with Helen’s weeks of pregnancy. Spliced in with the story are flashbacks ten years prior and a few enigmatic conversations. The plot builds continuously and becomes very twisty in the second half. The story is so compelling it made me impatient to find out exactly what was happening. It is a true page-turner and you won’t want to put it down!

I loved everything about this well-written debut thriller. Katherine Faulkner is one to watch!

Absolutely recommend this for anyone who likes a domestic thriller with a cast of potentially unreliable and suspicious characters. This one has plenty of twists and I was genuinely caught up in trying to figure out what the real situation was. This one also has some darkness and crimes, which add to the atmosphere and tension.

Greenwich Park was so captivating and so suspenseful! I tried to guess what was going to happen next and I really couldn’t. Rachel was such an unreliable character that I truly could not read her or figure out her intentions.

Instagram- @thebookpup

Oh boy, where to even start. I was SO excited when I got approved for this a couple months ago, jumped in right away and then couldn't get past 10% for awhile. I had to set it aside and come back. Picked it up again and finished it in a day but I don't know what to think. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it.
None of these characters are likeable besides maybe Katie, but I feel like I still knew nothing real about her. Sometimes I love books where nobody is likeable.. like with characters you love to hate, if that makes sense. But that didn't happen for me with this one. I was cringing while reading this, it honestly kind of made me anxious for a bit! Rachel's erratic behavior and Helen just dealing with it... I wanted to shake some sense into Helen. Also, what was up with her always talking about her 'mummy' like she was still a child? I don't know why, but that really irritated me for some reason. I am also so tired of stories where these wives never ask their husbands more questions. Like when Helen went to the vet and her card was declined - it wasn't even mentioned again. Same with the person calling her about her house being refinanced and she just believes her husband that it's a scam call. Maybe get a little more info?
So, I have mixed feelings. I really wanted to love it, but I didn't.

Thank you NetGalley and Katherine Faulkner for this E-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback and review.

Helen is a nervous pregnant woman due to her unfortunate pregnancies in the past. She joins a birthing group with her sister in law Serena, who is also pregnant. But when her husband and sister in law miss the first meeting she meets Rachel. Rachel seems like a wild crazy pregnant woman who doesn't seem to have a partner or any friends. Rachel starts showing up everywhere to Helen. Something just doesn't seem right.

This is a twisty, fun, exciting thriller. For a debut novel I am impressed. I did get frustrated at the main character for some of her unbelievable ignorance. She did seem to not see what was in front of her eyes. However, this is a novel worth reading!!

I absolutely loved the foreboding and dark tone of this book. There's just a sense the entire time that something is very, very wrong, but it's not clear what's going on. It's slow moving, but I felt like there was enough going on that it's worth sticking around for the ending. Overall, I enjoyed it!

If you’re a fan of family drama & psychological thrillers, you will love Greenwich Park! What I loved most about this book is the way it’s told by different point of views. All 3 were fascinating. So much was compacted in to this book, but the author pulled it off!