I really enjoyed the book and how every character seemed to feel unreliable. You just weren’t sure who to believe and what was true. I kind of started to figure out from early on that something had to be going on between Daniel and Serena but I just didn’t know quite how serious it was. I loved how everyone seemed to get some kind of justice brought to them at the end. I did feel a lot of sympathy for Rachel but I just knew something was up with her and there had to be a reason I wasn’t loving her character. I just felt bad for her in the end and felt like she really deserved some justice, even though it probably wouldn’t have changed anything overall. The one thing I didn’t love about the book was how a lot of the serious situations seemed to be fade to black. I wanted to see the arguments or conversations or drama but I feel like we were just told about what happened after rather than actually experiencing it in the book.

Katherine Faulkner shows great promise as an author of thrillers, her debut novel Greenwich Park nonetheless missed the mark for me. I found the characters annoying, the storyline boring, and somewhat predictable. The novel is based on three POVs which I did enjoy. The characters are well developed; however, some details are a bit far-fetched, and a few loose ends should have been to be tied up.


Thank you #netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Helen meets Rachel at a pre-natal class, the two women strike an immediate friendship. Except the friendship seems much stronger on Rachel's end, and even when Helen tries to set stricter boundaries, Rachel somehow always seems to be where Helen is. Before Helen realizes it, Rachel's staying over at her house, and finagling invitations to various family events, and Helen's beginning to suspect that there's more to Rachel's interest in her than she realizes.

Greenwich Park has an interesting hook, and a big reveal with a villain and a motive I admit I didn't see coming. But overall, I found it more slow-moving and less thrilling than I anticipated. It also required major suspensions of disbelief -- like, why on earth would an adult woman like Helen let Rachel take over her life so easily? Or, even if I could accept that Helen was really that spineless, why on earth didn't she ask her sister-in-law Serena, or her other brother's girlfriend Katie (the two other narrators in this novel) for help in setting boundaries? As good as Rachel was at manipulating Helen's emotions, she was in many respects an unpleasant, stalkerish kind of person, and it's hard to believe a woman with such a solid support network would be so unable to keep her away.

There's also a subplot about someone constantly calling Helen about a mortgage she'd never actually applied for. Upon her husband's advice, Helen mostly just dismissed it as telemarketing, at least until something happens super late in the book that leads her to call her financial adviser for, well, advice. That all ties into her inability to set boundaries, but I don't understand why she wouldn't have blocked the person's number in the first place. Or tracked down the company and reported them for unsavoury business practices. Or, heck, even called her financial adviser earlier on, since it was causing her so much stress. And on the flip side, if the call was legit, why wouldn't the company have conducted an investigation as to why the person who'd supposedly filed for the mortgage was now denying all knowledge of it?


The novel also had a bunch of plot threads -- some red herrings, and some actual clues -- that often felt semi-half-baked for most of the story. For example, Helen finds a note in her brother's bathroom that makes her suspect Rory is cheating on Serena. We get chapters from Serena's point of view, but little actual insight into her marriage to Rory, so that plot thread just kinda lies there without really going anywhere. It does end up having some significance at the end, but overall, it just felt under-utilized as either red herring or clue.

Similarly, there was a big deal about how Katie and Helen's brother Charlie rekindling their relationship, and some hint at tension between Katie and Helen. But most of Katie's chapters were about a rape trial she covered as a reporter, and about her eventual investigation into the mystery surrounding Rachel. So again, while Katie does play a large part in the mystery itself, she seems underdeveloped as a character. And apart from a minuscule reference to her being jealous about one of Charlie's exes, I don't think the story would have changed at all if she and Charlie weren't romantically involved, either in the past or in the story's present.

The story does pick up near the end, and as I said, the big reveal was an interesting surprise. I just wish the build-up had been more deeply developed.

+

Thank you to Simon Schuster Canada for an egalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

+

This review will be posted on my blog on Jan 6, 2022, at 8 am ET.

This book had a good plot, a pregnant woman, Helen, makes a new but somewhat strange friend at prenatal classes. This new friend quickly imposes herself into Helen’s life, even moving in. Strange things start happening and Helen is left trying to figure things out. I quickly figured out the entire plot which made this long book even longer. The story was so slow building and the characters were really hard to like, none of them were likeable. The write up sounded like this would be a wonderful book but it left me wondering why I stuck with it to the end.

A fast paced suspenseful thriller. Easy to get caught up in all the drama of pregnancy and family dynamics. Although many of the characters were hard to like, either being naive or flip, it was a page turner. I did not figure out the true villain until the final pages. People can really be that cruel.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

💫 Greenwich Park 💫
By Katherine Faulkner
Publisher: Gallery Books (Jan 25.2022)

Debut author gave me a Christmas suspenseful thriller that Reminded me of “the hand that rocks the cradle”. There were So many lies and directions this book went in that at one point I struggled trying to figure out which secondary character we were talking about. And I have to admit the main character annoyed me. Having been through 10 miscarriages and 4 babies in my arms, I know that I wouldn’t be so flippant at the end of my pregnancy doing what Helen did… but perhaps that was intentional.

Positives: easy to read and brings you in right away. I really like multiple POV in thrillers. Quick chapters that allow for smooth reading.
Negative: too many side characters and way too long epilogue. I also didn’t like the MC because I wanted to shake her 🙈🙈

That said it still kept my attention and was a decent read. I have a soft spot for debut authors and think that the author has something there.

Will note the Triggers:pregnancy loss, rape, murder

Thanks to the publishers for a gifted copy in return for an honest review. Love when it’s a quick read like this. 3.5-4 ⭐️

A riveting domestic thriller by first-time novelist Katherine Faulkner about three siblings and their partners living in an affluent neighbourhood in the Greenwich borough of London. Helen and her husband, Daniel, are expecting their first child after a series of miscarriages when she meets an erratic young woman named Rachel at her prenatal class. As Helen advances through her last few weeks of pregnancy, Rachel infiltrates their lives and their home and it gradually becomes apparent that she is manipulative, perhaps hiding her true identity and may have an ulterior motive for befriending Helen. The narrative alternates points-of-view between Helen, her sister-in-law Serena who is also pregnant, and her younger brother Charlie's girlfriend, Katie, who is a journalist reporting on the rape of a young woman in Cambridge. Greenwich Park is a gripping, thrilling read that I found impossible to put down because of the constant sense that I had that something bad was about to happen! I anticipated most of the plot twists but was taken completely by surprise by aspects of the ending. This was an impressive debut - can't wait for Faulkner's next novel!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC.

Helen is on early maternity leave, preparing to bring home her first baby. She is supposed to be taking it easy and nesting but is left unsettled when she finds hidden notes and photos while other items seem to go missing. With her husband busy running the family architect firm, Helen becomes fast friends with another mom-to-be in her prenatal classes.

This book is full of messy intertwined relationships that always make for an interesting read. It is fast paced and I found it hard to put down! So many times twists had me on the edge of my seat, with an ending that had me like “what?! What what!!”

I highly recommend this book!! So soo good!!!

Thank you to Net Galley & Simon and Schuster Canada for the free review copy!!

Greenwich Park by @katherinefaulkner

⭐️⭐️⭐️

* Thank you to @netgalley and @simonandschuster for providing a digital copy of Greenwich Park in exchange of a honest review.

Hear me out, psychological thriller are my favorite. I could read them all year long, and this one didn't disapointed me. It doesn't read like a debut novel to me, even if I knew where it was going, I still enjoyed it until the end which is a good thing!
The only thing that bother me a little is; why do we need to know that Helen is so ginormous in every single chapter? We get it, she is expecting a child. On top of that, why is she always talking about her parent using "mummy" and "daddy"... I mean she is in her 30s...

Still, an enjoyable read that kept me hooked! 🌳

I really liked this psychological thriller! It was well-paced with lots of twists and turns and even though I suspected who the villian was, the ending was still very good. The story dealt with pregnancy, friendships, and long-buried secrets, and while these themes are not new to the thriller genre, in this debut author’s hands, it was fresh and entertaining. This debut novel is on par, to me, with many other thrillers that I have read this year. Very impressed!

Thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada and Netgalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Although it was a bit slow at the start, it turned into quite a page turner once things started falling into place. Definitely kept me guessing til the very end. Great debut novel, and hopefully there will be more from this author.

What a wild ride! The only weakness in this new British thriller was that it started out a little slow for me -- I somehow missed that the chapters were being told in different voices, this wasn't super clear but that may just be a formatting issue with the ARC, so I was not immediately sure who was who. But once everything clicked into place, I stayed up until 3am, two nights in a row to get to the end. Some unexpected twists and turns kept me turning the pages! A solid cast of characters and an atmospheric setting. This one will no doubt be a movie -- some of it felt designed for film, it was very visual -- and I can't wait to see it. Really solid debut.

Wow, what a terrific read. This book is a first novel for journalist Katherine Faulkner but hopefully it will be followed by many more.. Greenwich Park is the green space that gives its name to the neighbourhood where Helen lives with her successful, professional husband in an historic family home, inherited on the death of her parents. After suffering several miscarriages, she is nearly term with a son. Her life seems idyllic but all is not as it seems. The peace of her home is being destroyed by major renovations, her husband is reluctant to engage in prenatal classes and her brother and sister in law, also expecting a first child, are less than supportive, her friend from childhood is busy with her own life and her other brother remains distant. When Helen attends the first session on her own, she is befriended by Rachel, a brash young woman who is also on her own. Slowly, Rachel begins to infiltrate every aspect of Helen’s life, appearing on her doorstep following an assault and ending up residing in Rachel’s home and casting an ominous shadow over Helen.
Katherine Faulkner knows how to build suspense and this is a novel where the reader will be guessing the final outcome virtually to the end. It is a superbly constructed puzzle and I recommend it highly for any whodunnit fan.. Thank you to Netgalley/ Raven Books/ Gallery Books for the ARC.

This is a highly anticipated release for me. Even since I saw Ashley Audrain talk about this book on an IG chat - I’ve been dying to get my hands on it.

Things I loved:
-couldn’t put it down, the pacing kept me intrigued
-I truly had no clue where the book was going, I had so many suspicions
-Katie’s POV was my favourite, but I did love to roll my eyes at Helen
-that ending was 👌

Things that weren’t my fave:
-there are so many unanswered questions, I feel like a few things were left unresolved
-a few things don’t add up or weren’t well explained, maybe they were just in there as red herrings, but I am still confused about a couple
of plot points

Overall, a gripping, unique read!

I really enjoyed this book, and it kept my interest till the last page. The storyline is ambiguous, and I really had no idea how all of the characters connected. The pacing was good, and although it's a bit of a slow burn, the ending makes up for it. Really enjoyed this one and will recommend it on my page.

Mother of an Elf!!! 😳🤯

Well that was an interesting thriller! It started a bit slow and mundane in a way when a pregnant woman, Helen, meets another pregnant woman Rachel at a pre-natal class. But soon weird things start to happen. Her brother and his wife are acting strangely, her husband is distant, and what about her friend Katie writing about a rape case? And how do all these people link up, hmm? Gosh it was crazy! It really started to pick up half way through and boy was it delectable! I mean I thought I knew, I thought I had it worked out but oh flippin' no! Holy geez what a book!!

Thank you to @NetGalley for allowing me this ARC.
Release date: January 24, 2022

I give this 4 / 5 snowflakes! ❄️

Review of Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner


“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…” Sir Walter Scott

Greenwich Park is a story about secrets. Who is keeping the secrets and why?

Helen and Daniel are married. She’s pregnant and on early maternity leave. Daniel is an architect in partnership with his brother-in-law, Rory, Helen’s brother. Rory is married to Serena the four were besties at college and did everything together.

Helen is being very careful nurturing this pregnancy because after many losses this one is looking like it will be full term. Serena is also expecting so he two couples decide to go to pregnancy classes together.

It is at the first class that Helen’s life begins to change. First, none of the others show up to meet her there as they had agreed. Helen is determined to deliver a healthy baby and stays. She is befriended by another woman (girl actually) who is also there alone. The girl, Rachel, seems a bit off, breaks all the rules of having a healthy baby. She smokes, drinks alcohol and doesn’t take care of herself.

What happens after is how mysterious Rachel seems to appear out of the blue everywhere Helen is, at the mall, at a coffee shop where she’s meeting her friend, Katie. Rachel even shows up at Helen’s home in Greenwich Park. At one point she arrives at Helen’s and pleads with her to stay the night after being beaten up. Daniel wants nothing to do with anything that has to do with Rachel or her problems. Why this sudden but strange friendship?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this mystery and mystery it is. From Rachel to the questionable cryptic messages that appear to the end. You’ll want to stay up all night until you know the answer. Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read and review this novel.

Absolutely loved this book! Not super predictable and really enjoyed the twist(s) at the end! Amazing debut by Katherine Faulkner.

After years of struggling to have a child, Helen Thorpe is finally expecting a baby boy. But her life is upended when she meets Rachel, an offbeat woman in her prenatal class. Rachel doesn’t act pregnant. She smokes, drinks and acts almost too laidback towards her pregnancy. She also lacks boundaries and keeps popping up in Helen’s neighbourhood. Why exactly is Rachel so interested in Helen?

I liked how this book built emotional suspense from the first page that started with a letter written by an unidentified person to the last page when the writer was revealed. I also thought the author did a great job of setting scenes. I felt transported to Greenwich Park and Cambridge. There was also a good amount of characters and the ending satisfied me.

I do think the author could have revealed the details over a few chapters instead of one. It felt like an info dump. I also thought the main character was a bit too dim, to the point when she became hard to root for.

Overall this was a solid debut, and I think it will satisfy readers looking for a suspenseful novel.

This was a decent thriller. This was a tangled web of secrets that a family kept over the years that came back to bite them. Rachel wasn’t a character that it was easy to feel sympathetic towards, although neither was Ellen. I had it figured out pretty early in advanced. The ending was decent, but I think it was a little bit unrealistic. It seems strange to be that is escalated to what it did.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.