A fabulous debut from upcoming author Katherine Faulkner! This thriller was enjoyable and I look forward to more work from Katherine. My first draw to this story was the cover. The cover is beautiful!
Each chapter is narrated by one of the main characters, each character is connected in some way. The start was a slow pace, but as I continued to learn the characters, I did not want to stop reading. The ending was predictable, but Katherine did throw a few twists in there. Read if you enjoy a character-driven thriller with twists!

Love love LOVED Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner. This book is taking bookstagram by a storm and for good reason!

<blockquote><b><i>Trying to work out where it all began, where it all started going wrong. And I suppose the real answer is it started years before you could have ever imagined it did.</blockquote></b></i>

Helen lives in her dream home, an old Victorian beauty where she grew up, with her architect husband, who has masterminded plans to change the house and make it even more grand.

Her brother and sister-in-law live nearby, and when Helen becomes pregnant with a long-desired baby and her brother's wife announces she's pregnant as well, Helen feels sure that her life couldn't be any more full and happy.

But when she meets Rachel, a single mother-to-be in her prenatal class, Helen begins to feel unsettled. The unpredictable Rachel is spontaneous and fun, but her behavior is also sometimes erratic, and she has an edge.

Rachel seems to know things about Helen's life and family that she shouldn't. When she alludes to mysterious connections between the women--and a long-ago crime--her persistent presence threatens to unravel the rest of the group's perfect lives forever.

Meanwhile the reader begins to suspect that Helen's loyalties and earnest, nervous desire for friendship and connection has been taken advantage of by those she has always trusted.

An unreliable narrator setup can be hit or miss for me, but in this case, I felt Faulkner deftly crafted Helen as naive, overwhelmed, lonely, and, at times, medicated. Therefore the omissions and confusion on her part--which allow the tricky situations at the heart of the book to be revealed slowly--aren't too convenient, and they add layers to the mystery of who exactly the nefarious force in the story may be.

Something sinister consistently bubbles beneath the too-perfect surface of Helen's life. Faulkner twists and turns through multiple potential suspects and snapshots of behind-the-scenes details, so that almost everyone seems potentially culpable. She keeps the tension rising with the stalkeresque aspect of the story, in which Rachel more and more deeply insinuates herself into Helen and Daniel's life--as well as through the creepy letters interspersed throughout, written by a dark, omniscient player in all of this after everything has come to light.

I received a prepublication digital copy of this recently published book courtesy of NetGalley and Gallery Books.

'Greenwich Park' is a great murder mystery novel. Honestly, it had a slow and frustrating start for me. At about 25% of the way through I was ready to DNF it because I found the main character, Helen, so annoying. However, that is because she is written well! She is weak and whiney and I just wanted her to have just a smidge more of a spine. But, I hung in there and the pay off was good; the pace picked up, the story began to be teased out in a way that you just need to turn "one more page" - until there were no pages left!

The story does have a few different view points that are denoted by chapter titles, but the characters were well written and it was quite easy to tell them apart. There are also a few time hops but not enough to be a dual timeline story.

The big reveal at the end held back a few secrets and was a great pay off! If you are like me, you will want to push through the beginning, because overall it was a great read.


Thank you @Netgalley and @gallerybooks for early access to this ARC in return for an unbiased and voluntary review.

3.5 stars! Rounded up! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Nice debut!

Helen, along with sister-in-law Serena are both pregnant. When they decide to attend prenatal classes together, Helen always ends up going alone. Her husband is a workaholic and Serena always has an excuse.

When Helen meets Rachel in class, she befriends her mainly because she feels alone. She tries to overlook the fact that pregnant Rachel is loud, smokes, drinks and also displays very bizarre behavior - but at least she has a friend.

What’s Rachel story? Why does she keep hanging around?

Multiple POVs, a slow burn, dramatic story line full of secrets and mystery certainly kept me entertained! I took a star away due to the length - the story would’ve been just as good with 100 less pages.

I enjoyed this one enough to recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books and Katherine Faulkner for my advanced copy.

“Greenwich Park” by Katherine Faulkner opens with Helen and her husband living an idyllic life. The perfect home, the perfect friends, and a baby on the way is everything Helen has ever wanted. Then she meets Rachel. Rachel is pregnant, too, so when they meet at prenatal classes it’s no surprise. However, Rachel is suddenly popping up everywhere and Helen can’t help but worry. As Rachel’s erratic behavior becomes worse and worse, Helen begins to realize Rachel may be more connected to her than Helen realized. And what Rachel knows might just tear her perfect world apart.

This book was so good. The way Rachel kept me guessing really helped the plot. Is she crazy? Is she just lonely? What does she know? In the end, I could kind of guess how Rachel was important, but there were also some twists and surprises that made this book a great read.

In the end, I couldn’t put it down. It was a solid 5 stars from me. If you’re looking for some thrill, this is a great option without being too spooky or anything.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

TW: rape, multiple miscarriages

Helen is finally pregnant and it looks like this baby may stick. but her husband, Daniel, is too busy to attend the prenatal classes with her, so when when single mother-to-be Rachel strikes up a friendship with her at her birthing classes Helen is relieved to have a partner for the class. Helen initially welcomes her new new friendship, even if Rachel is not the traditional expectant mother. Rachel drinks and smokes and doesn't seem to own any maternity clothes. But when Rachel turns up at Helen's house, with marks on her neck that look like abuse, Helen can't help but take her in, even when Daniel is clearly uncomfortable. The longer Rachel stays at Helen's house, the less Helen trusts her and suspects that Rachel may in fact be stealing from them and even possibly engaging in an affair with Helen's brother Rory. The closer Helen gets to her due date, the more she feels she can't trust her own perceptions. Is Rachel friend or foe? GREENWICH PARK is a suspenseful, engrossing read. I thought it was marvelous.

This mystery takes us on a journey with 4 main characters. They are school friends and have a past secret. Now they are married and living in beautiful homes and both women are pregnant. Then Helen meets another lady at her prenatal class. Rachel is a very laid back mother-to-be and almost forces her friendship onto Helen. Eventually Rachel manages to stay with Helen and Daniel and secrets start to surface. Daniel wants Rachel out of his house, but Helen feels sorry for her and that leads to more problems than she could have imagined.
I found this book to be rather difficult to follow. It is written mostly by the 2 female women in the story, but does seem to get a bit confusing at times. I would call it a mystery, rather than a thriller.
Thanks go to the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Greenwich Park was on my 2022 Must Read list. A few bloggers I follow have been recommending it, even going on to say that this will be the new Gone Girl or Girl On the Train thriller. And while that is big praise, I agree for the most part! If half reviews were a thing, I would give it 4.5 stars. The author does great giving the reader a feeling that something auspicious is happening, leading us to suspect all of the wrong characters and then giving us the full reveal. Its the best part of reading a good thriller- I'd definitely place this in that category!

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner is a debut novel about Helen who has had a bumpy road on her way to becoming a mother. While attending a prenatal class she meets another mother, Rachel, who couldn’t be more opposite. Rachel begins showing up and inserting herself into the Helen’s life and it involves a major secret from college. I’ll be recommending this book to others and looking forward to chatting about this one with a buddy read book club. *Thank you NetGalley, Gallery Books and Katherine Faulkner for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.*

Reading Between the Wines book review #12/135 for 2022:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 🎧: Greenwich Park
Author: Katherine Faulkner
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Available now!

Sipping thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. Once Helen meets Rachel, a new friend from prenatal class, her life turns upside down. Follow Helen on the journey of trying to figure out why Rachel is around and whether her intentions are nefarious are helpful. There are so many secrets that are revealed along this journey and I loved the reveal and ending.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @GalleryBooks for an advanced copy of @GreenwichPark

#GreenwichPark #KatherineFaulkner #GalleryBooks #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers

WOW!

Helen, Katie, and Serena have all grown up together. Helen and Serena are preparing to welcome their newborn infants, Helen meets Rachel at her prenatal class. Serena is supposed to be taking the class with Helen and decides not to show at the last min. Rachel is not like the other moms-to-be though. She is loud, constantly drinking, and smoking. But Helen is lonely so a friend is better than no friend, right? But then Racheal is always showing up. Butting into her life why? what's going on why is she always around now?

This book had layers and how is everyone connected which you find out the more you read the more connected some people past might be and this shows you that friendly people cant always be trusted and sometimes its the people you think you know the most are the ones you don't know.

This was a solid debut novel. This thriller had a nice closed ending so all of the questions that I had were perfectly wrapped up. There was also some decent character development.

*Thanks, NetGalley, for arc in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.

The cover & synopsis drew me in, but the writing made me want to get out. The story was a slow build and one that I’ve read before. I really hoped this debut would be great, but unfortunately I was disappointed.

An excellent addition to the psychological thriller genre, this has all the elements to keep readers entertained through the entirety. Multiple narrators add to the suspense and kept me guessing throughout. All is revealed in a shocking and very satisfying ending.

Greenwich Park is a multi-narrator thriller that takes place in London. When Helen meets Rachel at her prenatal class, Rachel immediately comes on strong and pursues a friendship. Pregnant and no longer with the baby’s father, Helen alternates between pitying Rachel and being annoyed by her constant surprise appearances in Helen’s life. In addition to Helen’s point of view, we also hear from Serena, Helen’s sister-in-law who is married to Helen’s older brother, and Katie, the girlfriend of Helen’s younger brother and a family friend since childhood. I found the plot to have a lot going on and it took away from the suspense. I also felt that the ending, while not completely expected, was rushed at the end after what felt like a lengthy lead up. I did want to know what what happened but I just felt a lot of it was complicated and a bit confusing as to how it all related to each other.

The writing is fast and we know from the get-go that something bad happened in the past that connects all characters. The ending seemed not too surprising and Helen struck me as too gullible, but all in all a quick read.

Thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for an ARC of Greenwich Park in exchange for my honest opinion.
I started reading this book and got stuck at about 25% - I knew it was a mystery and I felt like I could already see how it was going to play out.
Fast forward two weeks and the morning before a discussion of this book and I force myself to sit down and read it during my wonderfully unexpected snow day. For the most part, I was correct in my predictions of how this would end, but there were some distractors that surprised me. This wasn't a difficult read, but I kept getting distracted. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the house in Greenwich Park where the main character lived. But overall, I felt like it was lacking in the excitement that I expect in a mystery/thriller.
I love that I discussed this with other early readers because I did not pick up on all chapters being written from the female characters' POV. Perhaps this shows the author's view on males, or at least the male characters in this novel?
I am interested in reading other books by the author in the future, but I felt like this one didn't live up to my expectations.

Every time I see a cover like this it's like manna from heaven! I actually broke my own routine and didn’t automatically request Greenwich Park, though. Apparently it popped up on NetGallely during one of my occasional guilty conscience moments regarding my abysmal review ratio so I took a gander at the blurb first.

So the story here contains three narratives – Helen, her sister-in-law Serena and her brother’s girlfriend Katie. They have been intertwined since childhood/college (and through birth for Helen and her brothers, obvs). Then comes Rachel. She definitely doesn’t fit into the group’s usual dynamic, but Helen befriends her so there she is. And obviously everything is not as it seems.

When I saw this was about a bunch of pregnant gals I have to admit I wasn't super keen on the idea. I’m all about fatal friendships, but I also have a couple of kids of my own so I knew there was going to have to be some suspension of disbelief simply that this supposed high-risk preggo was going to be some gadabout town while shenanigans commenced. And I was not wrong. Not to mention that with regards to Rachel???? Yeah, my suspicions regarding her backstory were 100% spot-on. That being said, this kept my interest and the ending was enough that it is worthy of a 3.5 as a Lifetime Stabbies sort of selection. Thanks to my pal Shelley for her review that put this one on my TBR : )

One word to the publicists out there STAHP IT WITH THE "GIRL ON THE TRAIN" COMPARISONS. It’s not only been seven effing years since that one came out, but good lord talk about apples and oranges!

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

This book was good. I enjoyed listening to the narrator who had a good voice for this novel. The novel was awesome! The narrator fit good with the story and the characters!

2.5 stars rounded up. I was really captured by this book’s opening. I loved that this sense of claustrophobia the beginning created and the scene setting. I had so many questions in all the best ways. But then this just got to be too much. Too many thriller tropes, too many sloppy lies and double crossing to work the story out of a corner. Great reading for a snow day, but left me feeling disappointed.