I enjoyed this book but wouldn't read it again. The pace picked up a bit toward the end & although I should have expected the ending, I didn't see it coming. After her daughter's death; through grief, the main character begins to disassociate from everything she knew in her life. When things get tough for her, she believes she has more support from her brother in law, who is more sympathetic than his brother, her husband. As the truth unfolds & she begins to piece together the reason for her daughter being in the wrong place at the wrong time and being an innocent victim of a terrorist attack, the story still manages to keep you hooked until you have the entire back story but, there's still a bit more to come.

I really disliked this book for several reasons, One, the characters, particularly the main narrator, were awful, and few had any redeeming qualities. Furthermore, it felt like sexual assault was used crassly as twists for multiple characters. The short chapters did keep me engaged enough to finish, but this book was not for me.

When Caroline's daughter, Jessica is killed in a terrorist attack in Stratford her world falls apart but raises questions as Jessica was not supposed to be in Stratford.

Caroline struggles to find somebody to blame until she finds the strength to view Jessica's text messages, she realises her daughter was supposed to have been meeting a mysterious boy called Michael but he failed to turn up. Blaming Michael fully for her daughters death she sets out on a pathway for revenge to make him pay for what he caused.

Michael is a young lad who has his own struggles in life with a drug/alcoholic mother and when he meets Caroline, he hopes his life is about to change for the better - little realising who she is.

Things don't turn out the way either of them hoped for.

A great storyline that shows the lengths a grieving mother will go to revenge the death of her only child but you need to put aside that Caroline always seems to be one step ahead of the police and going off on her own "investigations". It can be a little slow in places but otherwise a good read

This is an angst ridden tale of a woman who lost her only child Jessica in a terrorist attack, and is obsessed with finding out who is responsible. She also wants to understand why her daughter was at Stratford station anyway, as she was supposed to be with a friend in Somerset.

Without giving away too much, she finds her daughter's phone and discovers she was meeting a boy, Michael, so Caroline decides he is responsible and must be tracked down. The result is a very unlikely set of events - chasing to the seaside, having accidents, abuse at every corner. It all got too much for me to believe - one woman surely can't have that much bad luck, even of her own making.

I didn't invest in the characters and didn't really enjoy reading the story, although I did sympathise with their situations, especially Michael and Evan. It was all just too far fetched. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really good read with a good storyline based on the death of a young woman during a terrorist attack. When her mother begins to question why her daughter was even there she realises she had lied about her plans. What she then discovers sends her on a path of desperately seeking revenge for her daughters murder at whatever cost. Although at times the various back stories are somewhat unbelievable to have happened to just one family it was a quite gripping read

3 Stars from me

Having read and enjoyed The Dinner Guest, I was excited to pick up The Woman on the Pier. Intriguing cover too!

I found the central characters - particularly Caroline and her husband - to be utterly unlikeable. Deeply and utterly. 

The book is deep immersive dive into the grief of this couple over the death of their daughter, so not liking them was difficult.

The storyline and overall premise was interesting and the story itself well constructed. 

Certainly not a feel good book and one I would find it hard to recommend because I would know that it despite it being a good story it would inevitably bring the reader down.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author.
I really tried to enjoy this book and there's no doubt that it keeps things moving, but the main character was just so fundamentally unlikeable and the whole premise so fantastical that it made it very difficult. Just a bit too hard to suspend disbelief. Not for me.

I loved The Dinner Guest so I was excited to be approved to read this on NetGalley. Unfortunately I found this to be a very harrowing read with nearly all characters leading such unhappy lives.

Although I found the storyline interesting and wanted to find out how the situation resolved the story seemed to involve one disturbing situation after another making it a very uncomfortable read. There are lots of trigger warnings in this book (self harm, child abuse, death of a child, drug abuse, adultery.)

The book and characters were well written and very believable (although I didn't find any of them likeable!) Although obviously grief stricken by the death of her daughter and unstable I found it hard to emphasise with the main character Caroline and her actions, particularly in the second half of the book. She seemed to have very little compassion for the other people in the story and was very unpredictable.

There was a slight building up of tension towards the end and the story lines come together to resolve the story. Overall though I struggled to finish and found this book quite exhausting to read with all the traumatic circumstances! If you like dark, disturbing, slow burning character driven thrillers this might be a good choice. For me, this didn't come close to this authors previous books which I loved though.

"All my life, I’ve tried to sweep things under the carpet. Pretend they haven’t happened. The horrible situation I left behind me in Australia. The truth about my father’s death. And more recently, the behaviour of my husband. Things I’ve done. Secrets, lies, regret – all of it. I’ve had a cerebral clear-desk policy. Never allow it to stay on the surface, always bury it underneath the fabric of everyday life. It hasn’t worked. It’s never really worked. So this is my chance. My chance to confront a problem, follow the mystery through to the end and do something about it . And that something has to involve finding that boy. He needs to know, without a shadow of a doubt, what he has done. To recognise it. To face up to it. And, in some way, to pay for it."

I was a big fan of the Dinner Guest by this author and was excited to read their new book. Unfortunately I found this one disappointing.

We follow Caroline, a woman in an unhappy marriage who suffers a major tragedy when her daughter is killed in a terrorist attack. She is confused because her daughter wasn't even supposed to be in that area, and she discovers she was there to meet a boy. In her grief she decides that she needs to confront this boy, Michael, who she feels is the one that killed her daughter.

Even the premise is kind of weak but the story is disjointed. There's also some plot elements I just didn't enjoy much. It is part parents grieving over the dealt of their daughter, part strange revenge story, part deep family trauma, and more and I wish the author had just picked one idea to stick with.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK One More Chapter for giving me an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Woman on the Pier is billed as a thriller, but in actuality, it is the story of a Woman traumatized by the death of her teen daughter.. Her daughter was killed in a terrorist attack, but her mother wants to know why her daughter was there in the first place. Her mental health unravels impacting what is left of her marriage.. Other twists happen, but it feels a bit contrived, making the whole situation less relatable.. After enjoying B P Walker's previous work, The Dinner Guest, this effort leaves me flat. But we all have slumps, so I will still look forward to the release of Walker's next work. My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley,BP Walker and the publisher for allowing me to read this book.
The Woman on The Pier was a book written like no other I have ever encountered. With each page, each twist, each sub-plot, I found myself asking , "what??!". The way the author wove all the pieces of this story together so perfectly was masterful. Just when you think a sub-plot is tied up and put aside, it reappears with yet another twist to it.
Each character 's pain (especially Caroline) was truly felt on every page, to the point that many times, I could hear my own sobs.
A story of the darkest grief, yet, within it, there were glimmers of surviving somehow, through the most unthinkable situations.
You will not be sorry opening up this unique read - quite different from what I expected from the lovely cover!

Caroline Byrne is a successful TV script writer and a grieving mother. Her sixteen year old daughter, Jessica, was killed in a shocking terrorist attack at Stratford Station in London. Why was she even there, she was supposed to be in Somerset with a friend. Caroline's marriage is also on the rocks. Things were tense before Jessica's death, but they are worse now. Three months later, and Caroline still doesn’t understand why Jessica had lied to them and why she was in London on that fateful day. She decides to go through her daughter’s phone, and see if there are any clues. What she finds surprises her. Jessica was supposed to meet a boy that day, one she had been talking to online, but he never showed up. Caroline has a mission, this Michael is the reason that Jessica is dead and she is going to make him pay.

There were highs and lows in this story. The first half of the book tells us the story of the Byrne family. We learn about their relationships and their problems. Jessica pits her parents against one another to get what she wants, but this causes a rift between them. Jessica is also the glue that holds the family together. Jessica's death shatters Caroline and she becomes a bit unhinged. She is having an extremely difficult time dealing with her grief and Alec is no help at all. She needs someone to blame and "the boy" aka Michael is her target. Once Caroline finds out who Michael is, the story takes an even darker turn. We hear his story and it was heartbreaking. The story is told from both Caroline's and the boy's POV, which fleshes out the story using realistic events that were occurring at the time the story is set. I'm not sure if I would describe this book as a thriller, in fact I don't know what genre this would fit. It is populated with unlikable characters and people who's persona and reactions are the result of things that happen to them, but I couldn't help but feel empathy towards them. There are lies and secrets that will change lives. It was a well written and well paced story. I will leave it with this description, a story of a family disintegrating, grief, senseless deaths, lies and secrets, revenge and abuse.

The story revolves around the Byrne family, mother Caroline, father Alec and daughter Jessica. Unfortunately Jessica is killed in a terrorist attack in London, but why was she there instead of in Somerset where she said she was going. I enjoyed this book and it was the second book i have read and liked by this author.

3 for neutral. I think I’m quite moody lately, so will update if able to finish later, but was unable to finish on the occasions I tried.

I enjoyed The Dinner Guest but this novel is less appealing. There is little suspense, and the main character is thoroughly unlikable.
#netgalley

⭐️⭐️

The Woman on the Pier by B P Walter

Thank you, @netgalley and @harpercollinsuk for this ARC that published on 11/11.

Caroline Byrne’s 16 year one daughter, Jessica is killed in a terrorist attack in Stratford, England. Caroline and her husband, Alec are grief stricken and confused. Prior to the attack, Jessica had told them she was going to visit a friend in Somerset. Why was she even in Stratford in the first place? Caroline becomes obsessed with the mystery and uncovers the name of a boy Jessica had been messaging prior to her death- Michael Kelly. The perspective shifts to the Kelly family and the disturbed history that Michael and his brother experienced. In the end, a main character ends up dead and the killer flees across the world.

This was a really disturbing book. I had a hard time getting through significant chunks. Huge trigger warnings for child abuse, sexual assault, and self-harming behavior. The self-harming descriptions were quite graphic and very unnecessary to the plot. I suppose it was used to build up the character development, but I don’t think it served the story productively. This book left me feeling a bit unnerved. That being said, if that was the purpose, the author completed that successfully! If you’re up for a slightly disturbing story about unhinged reactions to grief and trauma, this is the book for you. The social worker in me screamed for the Kelly brothers to seek help ASAP!

*Thank you to Harper Collins One more Chapter, BP Walter, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Previously published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/the-woman-on-the-pier/

“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” – Thomas Campbell, Poet

From the author of The Dinner Guest, The Woman on the Pier, is the fourth novel by author, B.P. Walter. Caroline Byrne is living what appears to be a charmed life with a brilliant career as a screenwriter, a seemingly happy marriage, money in the bank, a beautiful home and a teenage daughter, Jessica, who is smart and well behaved. As with most suspense books, nothing at all is what it seems. Caroline is burnt out. Her husband Alec has had multiple affairs and Jessica is corresponding over the internet with a boy she hasn’t met. When Jessica travels to the seaside for a weekend with her friend, Caroline becomes concerned when calls to her daughter go unanswered, Caroline becomes a little concerned. Two police officers show up in the middle of the night to tell her that Jessica has been killed in a terrorist attack in East London.

This suspenseful novel is told from three points of view and timelines that jump back and forth throughout the book. The points of view are Caroline, Evan Kelley and Michael Kelley, the boy Jessica was supposedly corresponding with. Caroline learns Jessica was meeting Michael in a tube station in London, where she was killed. Made even worse, he never showed up. Now she is determined to prove that Michael is responsible for the death of her daughter, and not the terrorists who actually killed her. She heads to Southend to track him down and confront him.

One of the more interesting parts of The Woman on the Pier is that every character is as unappealing as the next. And most of them cannot redeem themselves within the novel. There is Michael Kelley, a teenage conman, his brother, Evan, consumed with his own guilt that results in him cutting himself. Their mother is an addict, Alec, Caroline’s husband, is cheating on her and Caroline, who ignores the wreckage around her, is determined to place blame on a blameless teenage boy, who may or may not have been the boy her daughter went to meet. I can describe the plot as theatrical, trying to pull too many genres into one neat package. Every time the reader thinks the story is resolving, there is another twist to the plot, which can be exhausting. The web becomes a little too tangled.

There are many trigger warnings in this suspenseful but disbelieving novel, including: pedophiles, cutting, terrorist attacks, drug abuse, cheating, amnesia, and dead bodies. The author has put a lot of trauma into one book and not one character is free from bad luck. I will say that the ending is surprising and feels too neat for this book.

The Woman On The Pier is a book I enjoyed but could have been warned about the sensitive subjects covered in this book.
Caroline Byrne is a script writer, mainly for tv so has quite a lavish lifestyle, she is growing apart from her husband and he seems to be ticking the women off his list in the local area. Jessica is their daughter and has been killed in a terrorist attack at a train station. Caroline can’t get over this and sinks into a deeper depression the more time goes on. Caroline finds Jessica’s phone and after some time finds messages between her and a boy, it is this that killed her daughter, the boy left her at the station and bear met her. We follow Caroline on her quest to hunt down this boy and what she finds when she does.
I quite enjoyed this book, I feel the title could have been better as we were only on the pier for a couple of pages. There was a lot of sensitive subjects to take in. I didn’t like the ending, maybe it’s me but I like a closure with the majority of questions answered and this did neither but it was still a good read.
I would like to thank Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

After her daughter is killed in one of a series of terrorist attacks, a woman loses all sense of perspective and blames the boy her daughter was supposed to be meeting on the day she died.

I couldn't get on with this book at all. The main character is so thoroughly unlikeable that I couldn't even feel sorry for her that she had lost her daughter. Her husband isn't any better. I read about 40% before I decided I wasn't interested in her crusade for retribution and gave up.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The Woman on the Pier by B.P.Walter
The mother on the pier at Southend is Caroline Byrne, a successful TV script writer who is utterly devastated by grief following the death of her sixteen year old daughter Jessica, murdered in a terrorist attack at Stratford Station in London. Why was Jessica at the station? Was she meeting someone? Her parents had thought she was in Somerset, so why did she lie? Caroline’s marriage to her husband, Alec, is completely broken and Jessica’s death drives then further apart.
The other person on the pier is a teenage boy called Michael Kelley. This boy tells the other side of the story? But how does is he linked to Caroline or Jessica? Why are they on the pier together?
I must admit to living in Southend and found it hard to imagine whereabouts part of this were set. I was confused about the entire section featuring Caroline’s purchase of a large screen TV from Curry’s, it was bizarre. I cannot say that I would recommend this novel. The whole section on the pier only takes up about 2 pages of the entire book and you could really read the blurb on the back and feel you had a very good idea about the novel. There are disturbing themes throughout :- acts of terrorism, child abuse, neglect, paedophilia, drug addiction and adultery.
Thanks for Net Galley and the publishers for a copy to review in return for an honest review.