Goodness that was a bit of a trip. Reading a book about a world-wide pandemic ..... in the middle of a world-wide pandemic! We are heading into week 4 of lockdown where I live so I'm not sure if this added to my overall reading experience or not.

Ciara and Oliver meet 56 days ago prior (than today being the anchor date in the story) during the pandemic. They have a couple of dates but due to the pandemic and both living alone, they quickly move in together, not knowing how things will work out. Neither have significant connections in the city (Dublin) and both seem to like each other, both thinking it's "only for two weeks".

The narratives in 56 Days are across different snippets of time such as 73 days, today, 23 days etc and are from Ciara's, Oliver's and another perspective - that of the police. The police because a body has been found in an apartment (today) ..... time to figure out who and why.

56 Days is a tricky book to review because as it progressed it sounded quite familiar, akin to the killing of a very young child many years ago in the UK by two ten year old boys. Whilst the ages are different, the premise is the same, and even though approximately 30 years have passed, people of a certain age such as myself have strong recollections of the media interest around the case, and the views of the general public in relation to the then 10 year olds, and the men they may have become. Today, mere mention of the case in Australia results in supposition and assumptions, particularly since one of the "boys" was rumoured to have immigrated to Australia.

The narratives of Ciara and Oliver were interesting, however gong backwards and forwards and having the same dialogue repeated but from the other person's perspective made things a little tedious and repetitive. It also was confusing in the ARC as the chapters run together . The strength for me was in the police narrative tying some of it together but I found this ended up being quite short when all was said and done and the police as characters were not really significant in the story. This is a story that I felt had the potential to be a real page-turner and it just did not hit the right places for me in the way it was drawn together.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for giving me access to 56 Days to read and review. I'd love to read something else by this author in the future.

I really enjoy the writing style of Catherine Ryan Howard and this was no exception. Her stories are typically told from multiple POVs and different timelines and this fit into that template. I was a little hesitant about reading a story involving COVID-19. It feels too soon and too real. The story could have almost existed without that detail except that that provided a reason for the main characters to be locked down together. I predicted a lot of the directions the story went, but the biggest twists at the end still surprised me a bit. All in all, I enjoyed this book but I like some of her other books more. I'd still recommend this one if you're not hypersensitive about COVID-19 and generally enjoy Catherine Ryan Howard's books.

I loved this thriller set at the beginning of COVID times. This is the first book I've read that addresses went through in the spring of 2020 in a major way. Parts of it were confusing as it is told from three different POV and jumps around timewise. But it all came together after a bit. There were lots of surprises which kept me eagerly devouring the pages to find out what happened. You will think you have figured it out, and then there's a new twist!

Thank you, NetGalley for the advance reader's copy. Overall, I enjoyed the novel. I enjoyed it because of the setting mostly. I have visited Dublin and found the descriptions made me feel like I was there again. The novel's setting is a few months before the pandemic started, and two people are at the start of a new relationship and instead of spending the lockdown separated they decide it is worth a shot to live together for a few weeks to see how it goes. Someone is hiding something, and someone ends up dead. It flashes back and forth from when they met and in the present time of the investigation. It was worth the read, but I didn't like that it felt repetitive because there were two different perspectives about interactions. I felt that it didn't add anything to the story.

5/5⭐

I really loved this! The plot of this book was really fascinating to me. Reading about a pandemic, even COVID, doesn't bother me. In fact, I find it interesting to compare the similarities to my own experiences. I live in America, and because this book is set in Ireland, it was fascinating to see how they handled things. Even if you are hesitant about reading a story that takes place during COVID, I believe the author handled the subject very well.

These characters were so fascinating. I loved getting the alternating chapters of the current day (finding the body) and the past (how Ciara and Oliver met). I love that we know right away that one of them ends up dead because the whole time you are reading about the beginning of the relationship you question how they could end up in such a terrible place.

We also alternated between points of view, so we followed both Oliver and Ciara. I loved that aspect of the book because we get to see how they are both feeling and what leads up to the death. I really enjoyed the writing style and definitely want to read more from this author. The writing made the story so addictive and I could not put it down. The mystery of the death and why it occurred also had me trying to guess everything. I was so anxious to get to all the reveals and I think they author did a great job of revealing them at the perfect time!

Overall, I really loved this book and highly recommend it!

I’ve heard mixed reviews about this book but I’m happy to say that I enjoyed it. I loved the twists and turns, the many POVS and the different timelines. The fact that we lived through the same experience as the characters (the quarantine not the murder part) added an extra touch to the story.

I was really excited to read 56 Days! It intrigued me because it's the first one I've come across that takes place during the Cov*d pandemic (ballsy, Catherine Ryan Howard!) and is a quarantine thriller. The premise is enticing: an Irish couple starts dating at the start of the lockdown and decides to move in together and see if their relationship can blossom during isolation. They're both hiding secrets and the more they get to know each other, the more dangerous the situation becomes.

This was a really quick read and was a great concept! But I found myself skimming a lot because the book is told from three perspectives and keeps going over the same timeline from each person's point of view. It got a little repetitive. The last 75% of the book was really good and the twist at the end was awesome! I recommend it to anyone who is in the mood to try a different kind of thriller. 🔪 ⭐⭐⭐💫

Many thanks to @netgalley and @blackstonepublishing for the arc! It's out now!

I first want to thank the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book! I was very pleasantly surprised with this one. The past couple of months practically every book I have read have all been duds and if I’m being totally honest my expectations weren’t super high going in to this one. BUT I really enjoyed it! It wasn’t my all-time favorite read, and I’ll have some critiques below, but I’ll start off with everything about it that I enjoyed.

I was very happy with the pace of this book! The book I read before this one was under 300 pages and took me almost a month to push through. I was able to finish this one in just a few days! I love when books are fast paced, and this one kept me hooked almost the entire time. I’ll admit I was wary of reading a book based on Covid-19/ quarantine/ the pandemic because we see enough of that on the news already. BUT the author did a good job using it as a backdrop for a very uniquely created plot.

Additionally, I am a sucker for a good plot twist. I love them! That being said, I can almost always predict endings and twists in books, which is fine, but a book gets bonus points for me if it throws in a twist that I didn’t see coming. This book included not one, not two, but three twists, and I only saw one of them coming- so I loved that aspect of it.

Now for my critiques- I am not a huge fan of the timeline style that was used. It was manageable to read, but not my favorite. Going back and forth between past and present is usually fine with me, but this book went from like, 54 days ago to 23 days ago and then back to 58 days ago and it was a little chaotic.

Similarly, I don’t mind multiple point of views. I actually kind of prefer them. But something that grinds my gears is when I read the same text more than once in the same book, from each point of view. I personally just don’t think there is any reason to re-type the exact same words just because you are in someone else’s point of view. Might be just me, but that seems like kind of a waste of pages.

I also thought the book could have been about 50 pages shorter. Once you get to that last twist I thought it could have been wrapped up nicely there but just seemed to drag on just a bit.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised with this read!

One of first books I’ve read in 2021 to reference Covid as an important and integral part of the plot… an opportunity for a character to harbor secrets about his past.

When Oliver and Ciara met days before lockdown on the supermarket check-out line, it seemed like fate…like two people looking for a chance to experience a meaningful relationship who were destined to be on that same grocery line.

But as the story line unfolds, readers will begin wondering if their meeting was truly by chance. As Catherine Ryan Howard weaves together a thrilling storyline over various time frames, she had me on the edge of my seat while I turned pages to learn how Ciara and Ollie are truly connected by their past.

This was a fabulous thriller and one of the first to demonstrate the importance of how current events like a global pandemic can play a role in imagining the next psychological thriller to land on the shelves of fanatic readers like me!

Lastly, I am absolutely a fan at how this story ended! If you are a fan psychological thrillers and you’re like me… you’ll especially love that this story doesn’t end like a neatly wrapped present but rather like your hairdo after getting of a crazy rollercoaster ride!

Well this book certainly shook up lockdown in Covid for me. What starts out as a love story turns into Hell. Every chapter is shocking. I couldn't put it down. Makes me feel safer that I haven't been able to socialise in a while. Will make you think about friends in a whole new way.

I can't say a lot about this book without giving spoilers but what I will say is that this is a GREAT thriller!! This story is so current and would feel like sci-fi if we hadn't been living through Covid for the past 18 months. The strangeness of it all - the lockdown, the rules - - all ring true to what we've all been experiencing.

The characters of Ciara and Oliver are very believable and sympathetic - - even when perhaps they shouldn't be. The characters of police detectives Lee and Karl make me hope for future books featuring them.

The flashbacks in time back and forth worked very well in unraveling slowly the facts we were only guessing before. Some things seemed obvious but some - - definitely not.

I should have felt glad at the ending - and I did in a way - but I also just felt very sad for everyone involved.

Different time periods within 56 days as well as the present day are presented in alternating chapters.

Quite a bit of back and forth, a tangled web emerges, until the big reveal emerged as I turned the last page. And I will be honest, I am not sure I love how much COVID is brought into the book. LOL its too soon, at least for me it is.

This was a super decent mystery novel. It takes place during the initial phases of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, however, I wouldn't stay that's the main focus of the story. It was more about the...opportunities lockdown conditions provided for certain characters' objectives.

I've heard good things about this book, but I was a bit leery to read it due to the Covid-19 angle. Thankfully, that wasn't as overwhelming in the storyline as I feared. The story is well written and the transitions smooth between the multiple POVs. The mystery pacing is a bit different than I'm used to, but it was okay. (I found it more mystery than thriller, as it's advertised.) I enjoyed the Irish setting. Some parts were a bit repetitive, but this was an okay read overall.

My first full quarantine novel, and I really liked it! What an interesting turn this book took as you get to know the characters (or think you do). I like the weaving of stories over time, and the timeline jump wasn't confusing at all- the back and forth between what's happened, and the events that came before it. I found this novel fascinating. I was worried I'd feel a little too put on about the quarantine part, seeing as we're not out of the Covid woods, so-to-speak, but that was merely a fact in the book and didn't feel consuming. I really liked this a lot!

EXCERPT: He made his way to the checkouts where he saw that she was just about to join the line - perfect timing, but whose? - and he'd hung back so she'd have to do it in front of him, and that's when she'd stopped and looked up and their eyes had met.

A flash of something - surprise? Recognition? - crosses her face just as he thinks to himself, I've seen her somewhere before.

Somewhere else, in different circumstances.

But where?

'It's okay,' she mumbles, waving the bottle of water she's holding in her right hand. 'I've just realised I've got the wrong one.'

She turns on her heel and hurries off in the opposite direction.

And now he thinks, Gotcha.

He knew coming back to Ireland would be a risk, but he had presumed that enough time had passed for him to be yesterday's news. Besides, anyone interested in exposing him would have to find him first. He goes by his mother's maiden name now. He's severed all contact with anyone he knew or had known on the day he left London, save for two people: his brother, who can be trusted, and Dan, who is professionally obligated to be. Oliver has a better cover story now and is more practised at sticking to it. He doesn't take risks. He won't take them.

There can't be a repeat of what happened in London.

But now he's seen this vaguely familiar woman swinging her little space shuttle bag in the supermarket across from his office every day for five days in a row, at a slightly different time each day, and it's got him paranoid.

Who is she, really?

What is she?

ABOUT '56 DAYS': No one knew they'd moved in together. Now one of them is dead. Could this be the perfect murder?

56 DAYS AGO
Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin the same week Covid-19 reaches Irish shores.

35 DAYS AGO
When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests that Ciara move in with him. She sees a unique opportunity for a new relationship to flourish without the pressure of scrutiny of family and friends. He sees it as an opportunity to hide who - and what - he really is.

TODAY
Detectives arrive at Oliver's apartment to discover a decomposing body inside.

Will they be able to determine what really happened, or has lockdown provided someone with the opportunity to commit the perfect crime?

MY THOUGHTS: Oh, what a tangled web Catherine Ryan-Hyde has woven! Intriguing and at times perplexing, 56 Days is set in the earliest days of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the author has used this event very cleverly and to great effect. But it is only one of many layers in this story where it seems everyone is hiding something.

I was immediately immersed in the storyline and didn't come up for air until past halfway through. Ryan-Hyde has taken us back to a time of great change, of fear, of uncertainty, of almost alien landscapes, deserted streets, and suspicion, and dropped into the midst of this two equally suspicious characters who are, while attracted, also circling one another warily.

The suspense is palpable and I was twisted in knots as I tried to figure out where the author was taking me. The plot is set over several timelines and the story told from the points of view of Ciara, Oliver, and the DI investigating the case. It starts at 56 days before the body is discovered, and we follow Ciara's and Oliver's story moving forward, with occasional forays into their past. At the same time we follow the investigation into the death, of whom I'm not saying. Now, usually I am fine with multiple timelines, but just occasionally I was thrown and had to frantically page back to check when I was reading about. This was probably more inattention on my part than any fault of the author. Also, we are occasionally shown the same event from multiple viewpoints, which does lead to a certain amount of repetition, not all of which was warranted.

But as far as predicting what was going to happen, the author stumped me. There were a few things I almost got right, but not entirely.

I really enjoyed 56 Days, the second book I have read by this author, and I look forward to reading more from her.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.4

#56Days #NetGalley

I: @catherineryanhyde @blackstonepublishing

T: @cryanhyde @BlackstonePub1

#contemporaryfiction #crime #irishfiction #mystery #suspense

THE AUTHOR: Catherine Ryan Howard is an internationally bestselling crime writer from Cork, Ireland. Prior to writing full-time, Catherine worked as a campsite courier in France and a front desk agent in Walt Disney World, Florida. She still wants to be an astronaut when she grows up.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Blackstone Publishing via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of 56 Days by Catherine Ryan-Hyde for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Wow, I absolutely loved this one! A thriller set during the covid lock down in Ireland. No, I did not feel it was too soon to read about the lock down, It has been over a year since we were locked down and already some of the feelings and points that were written here brings me back to how strange it all was/is. I appreciate this book for taking that time and immortalizing it into an amazing thriller.

That being said, the story follows three point of views: each view of a newly formed couple with secrets and the detective on the case. The timeline flips around a bit, but about halfway through I got the rhythm down and appreciated how deftly it all comes together. A few great twists added tension to the story. The author's skills in describing the smells of the apartment they were investigating had me gagging at home.

Overall, a great thriller with historical relevance for today.

I wasn't too sure going into a thriller set during the pandemic, might have felt too real, but this was a great read! There are so many twists and turns and unexpected revelations. I really enjoyed this book the entire way through.

Thank you @netgalley and @blackstonepublishing for this Advanced Readers Copy that published August 17! This book hooked me so fast! It was a bit too real, as the story begins March of 2020 at the start of COVID 19, and follows the initial two week lockdown. It brought back a lot of those very early quarantine feelings and emotions.

Ciara and Oliver meet in a super market in Dublin and after casually dating for a few weeks, they decide to move in together for what they both think will be a two week lockdown. They are both new to the city and know almost no one. Do they even know each other? 56 days later… one of them is dead.

The book shifts perspectives between the two main characters and the present day police investigation. The perspective shifts were really well done and kept me in the dark to the truth until the very end. This was a slow burn that felt eerie and off from the first few pages. There was so much more to the story than meets the eye and I won’t give much away! Check this book out if you want a mystery that could not be more of the times.

I absolutely loved the concept of this novel. Set during Ireland’s first lockdown, Oliver and Ciara who have just started dating must decide whether to essentially, as the author describes, “break up or shack up”. They go for the latter but they soon discover that this may have been a rash decision as there is a lot they don’t know about each other.

The book opens with local police discovering a dead body in their apartment, so we know from the outset it’s unlikely to be a case of happy ever after.

Set over the 56 days from their first meeting, the timeline moves back and forth across this period to keep us guessing as to who the body belongs to and how they ended up there. I did find the jumps in timeline to be a bit disconcerting at first but I soon got track of it.

I also initially wondered if a pandemic related novel would be too much too soon but the focus is on the lockdown rather than the virus itself so I didn’t find it to be off putting at all.

The story is very fast paced and it kept me engaged throughout, I didn’t want to put it down. I found the main characters to both be well developed and interesting. A really great thriller and I can’t wait now to read more from this author!

56 Days is the first book I've read set during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's weird to think that this virus has been around long enough for someone to think up, write, and publish a novel, and I was very interested to see how COVID would be integrated into the plot/setting. I was really surprised to see how... normal the COVID restrictions depicted in this book were. Even though the characters were in Ireland, their day-to-day experience didn't seem all that different from mine, today, in California. I'm curious to see if the setting ages well as we (hopefully) move on from the pandemic in the next few years.

However, other than the pandemic premise, there wasn't really much that made the book unique. It was a pretty standard thriller, with short chapters told from multiple perspectives flipping back and forth over time. Two POVs follow Oliver and Ciara, while a third follows Lee, a detective investigating the murder after the fact. However, because of the way the book was set up, it made it quite easy to guess what was going to happen. I think this book could have been an excellent whydunnit, but it barely scratches the surface of the characters' psyches. It explains the killer's motivation, but not in an especially captivating way. I just didn't connect with Oliver and Ciara and failed to see the big "romance" between them that's supposed to be there, so I wasn't very invested in either of their motivations for doing what they did. While there was a twist at the end that I didn't guess, I got the overall gist of what was going to happen early on (from the back cover, in fact), and so didn't find myself wanting to read this book to find out what happened.

Additionally, I didn't grow attached to any of the characters involved in the police investigation and failed to see why that perspective was included. I didn't feel like I took anything away from that POV since the mystery unravels mainly through the perspectives of Oliver and Ciara.

However, if you're an avid thriller reader, are curious to read one of the first books set during the COVID-19 pandemic, or are looking for a quick and twisty novel, this might be for you.