This is an unusual psychological thriller centred around a police interview with a teenage girl. Jenny was found covered in blood with no other apparent injuries and refusing to speak. She is taken to a secure psychiatric ward where Detective Laura Shaw and Niamh Darmody, two specialist victim interviewers working for the Irish Garda, attempt to find out what has happened to her and her family. As they slowly untangle the truth the case brings back unpleasant memories for Laura. It has a well written plot with great characters that draw you in. At times harrowing the novel gains momentum and reaches its shocking finale. Would definitely recommend.

I was totally grabbed by the description of this book however I just could not get into it at all. None of the characters we likeable and the Irish in the dialogue was confusing.

I found this a hard subject to read. It is compelling, gripping and at times uncomfortable.
Laura and Niamh work for the Guardi in the special unit working with victims of abuse.
Jenny is fourteen years old and is in a special unit. She tells her story through fairy tales although she also has spells of talking to herself in her head.Laura and Naimh are tasked with finding out what happened to the family and where her step dad is.
Laura herself has a lot of demons to work through and she can be quite reckless.
I loved that this was told from each characters point if view as it gives you the insight as to what's going on in their heads.
I'm not sure how Laura's husband Matt put up with her quite honestly, she was all over the place.
I also thought it was a little slow in places, the story didn't seem to be moving on very quickly even though there was some urgency.
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This is a really intense read. Jenny is found covered in blood and nobody knowing what happen to her family. Laura having been through her own trauma in life has the challenge of interviewing Jenny. At times I found the dialog tough, especially when Jenny spoke in riddles and fairytales but it did fit perfectly into the plot. The author has done a fantastic job of capturing really sensitive subjects and making this book a engaging read.

A brilliant tense and great read teak. Lobed this and never e read anything by this author before. Brilliant xx

Jenny is found covered in blood. Now Laura must interview her to find out what has happened to her and her family. The stepfather is still missing.
A book full of trauma, both physical and psychological. Can a 14 year old be responsible for her actions after so much abuse and can she even remember the truth? Well written, enjoy.

TW: rape, domestic violence, animal death

Set in Ireland this rather sad tale tells the story of Jenny Cullen, a traumatised 14 year old girl who has endured more than any child should. When she was about 8 years old (I think) her father died and Stuart Cullen wasted no time in moving in on her mother Miriam. Stuart is such a great guy, his work mates love him, he’s always smiling and joking. And then he goes home and beats up his family. It is not long before he has plans for Jenny.

Jenny was found slumped on some steps one morning, hypothermic and covered in blood which was not her own. She was taken to hospital where she was cleaned up and checked over. She was covered in bruises, had quite a few healed fractures and needed stitches for vaginal tearing. As she was non- responsive she was sent to the psychiatric unit and garda officers Laura Shaw and Niamh Darmody, specially trained to question traumatised children, are sent to interview her. Her parents’ vehicle been found, awash with blood, and while her mother and young brother Karl are badly injured they are in a stable condition. But there is no sign of Stuart. The garda need to know where Stuart is.

Yet Jenny won’t talk, and when she does talk it’s all in riddles and full of references to fairy tales. Laura herself has had trauma in her past and is rapidly unravelling.

I think the author did an excellent and sensitive job of getting inside the head of a PTSD sufferer. It was clear the girl was terrified of what she may or may not have done. She wants go home to her mammy but at other times she is certain her mammy and little brother are dead. My favourite character was Niamh - she was funny, steadfast, loyal and covered for Laura as much as she could. Laura herself though was a bit annoying. Her trauma induced OCD was getting out of control just when Jenny needed a steady hand.

While I thought the book was really well done, Both Jenny and Laura’s internal monologues got quite tiresome and repetitive. I understand it is all part of the condition but a bit less about of the internal rambling would have made for a more lively reader experience.

An emotional and unsettling read. Interviewing a witness or maybe the instigator of a murder. Found walking in the middle of the night and taken to hospital covered in blood. What is the truth? The face shown to the world and the one behind the closed door of the home are two different sides of the man.
Hiding behind half truths to let her mind cope at the age of 14.
A very powerful book.

I struggled with this one. The storyline was ok but didn't connect with any of the characters and found it all a bit confusing. I did finish the book, but am unsure to whether I liked it or not. I am certain that there will be other readers who will really enjoy it, it just wasn’t for me.

The Interview is a very clever novel, there are three main characters, Laura, a Detective, specifically trained as a Victim Interviewer, along with her partner Niamh, and Jenny, a 14 year old assault victim.

No one really knows what's happened to Jenny, she was found covered in blood at the side of the road and hasn’t spoken except in rhymes and fairytales. It is up to Laura and Niamh to get Jenny to open up to them so they can find out what has been happening to her, along with the location of her missing step father.

Laura however, seems to be heavily affected by Jenny's story and it sees her in a downward spiral of her own, Niamh needs to help her before the whole case turns into a disaster and Laura, who has always been the golden girl of victim support, ruins her career.

I found it a bit tricky to get into all the fairytale language at the start, and how Jenny spoke, but I soon got into it and could totally empathise with the difficulties people trying to help in these situations face. The text goes from the narrative with Jenny, to both Laura and Niamh’s point of view, alternating between them. This was easy to follow, and it was enjoyable picking up the storyline, and seeing it come together bit by bit,

It worked really well and the topic covered, and conclusion of the story, was very well done. The way the detectives worked with Jenny and tried to get through to her was so well written. A great book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin General UK - Fig Tree for an advance copy of the book in return for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Thrilling and a real page turner. I could not put it down.
i loved that we were getting the story from Jenny, Niamh and Laura's point view. It gave real insight into each character and their actions/reactions. A real emotional thriller that I would recommend to everyone.

Specialist victim investigators laura and niamh have been asked to interview 14 year old jenny. She was found covered in bloid, unable to explain what has happened and for her own protection is currently being held in a secure psychiatric ward. Her mum and brother are both in intensive care and her step father is missing.

Laura begins her questioning but is unable to extract vital information as Jenny seems only to tell the story via using narrative from fairy tales.

Slowly it is learnt that jenny and her family suffered abuse from her step father. As events unfold there becomes a strong suspicion that jenny knows a lot of his disappearance than she is divulging.

Laura struggles to cope with work, alongside that of being a wife and protective mother. She hides a secret that she is unable to share although she recognises similarities between herself and Jenny. Rash decisions in a bid for her to find the truth lead to an exciting climax with an unpredicted end.

Well worth a read.

The topic of this book, which isn’t particularly well highlighted in the blurb, is a really uncomfortable one and I struggled to want to immerse myself in it. It mentioned a lot of really difficult topics which include rape and child abuse, and while handled sensitively I think could be a massive trigger to some and should be therefore more explicitly noted on the cover. Sadly I couldn’t bring myself to keep reading this one.

Specialist Victim Interviewers Laura Shaw and Niamh Darmody of the Irish Gardai have come to the psychiatric ward at Abbot's Hill Hospital to interview Jenny, a fourteen year old girl. Jenny was found lying at the side of the road, covered in blood, not far from where her mother and little brother were found seriously injured in a car crash. Her stepfather Stuart is missing and the Gardai want to know if Jenny knows where he is but she is refusing to speak. Despite all the blood Jenny had no obvious new injuries, although evidence of plenty of old ones.

At first Jenny, refuses to talk to Laura and Niamh, but gradually she starts to tell them a fairytale. The narrative is told from the point of view of the three of them and we get to see what is in their thoughts as the interview progresses. As the interview progresses Niamh becomes concerned that Laura, who is taking the lead in the questioning, seems to be off her game. Normally confident and competent, she can usually gently draw out the most resistant interviewee, but now she seems anxious and her questions too blunt and hurried to be effective.

This novel touches on subjects such as abuse and trauma that are not easy to read about and it won't be for everyone. It's an assured debut novel, with the suspense building slowly to a tense finish as the truth about Jenny's family and Laura's past come spilling out. Niamh is a breath of fresh air as she tries to temper Laura's behaviour and find out what is causing her anxiety.

It says it 'on the tin' - an interview which basically forms the whole book Certainly different and a good attempt by a debit author.

Jenny is a 14 year old victim of an assault, her stepfather goes missing and the Garda detective Laura Shaw has to unravel the mystery talking and coaxing information from Jenny. The difficult subjects of child abuse, rape and domestic violence are well set out, but the characters lacked any sort of depth. I also remain bored with books that contain a father figure being either drunk, lazy and/or violent towards a wife or partner. Too frequent and easy to write about, in my opinion.

On the whole I did not enjoy it. It was repetitive and, as I said, I could not relate to the characters.

Thanks to Net Galley and Penguin General UK for the chance to read and review.

I have reviewed two books with the same title during the last two months. If you see both and are confused, trust me they couldn’t be more different and both are excellent in their own way. However, this review is only concerning debut author Gill Purdue’s heart wrenching story. Jenny is found bloodied and confused on a Dublin street. What has happened to this young teenager? Her mother and brother lie terribly injured in intensive care and her stepfather has disappeared. Jenny is obviously traumatised and won’t speak to anyone. Her story needs to be coaxed from her which is where Laura and Niamh come in. Trained to deal with severely disturbed victims they set about discovering the truth. Is Jenny deliberately avoiding speaking the truth or is she really suffering from amnesia caused by whatever happened to the family? I found this book difficult to get into at first as I struggled to understand Jenny’s thought process but very soon I was willing Laura and Niamh to get through to her and unburden her. However, Laura too was struggling with her own demons. Would this case make or break her? A well told story that was unbearably sad and traumatic and will stay with me for some time. An excellent debut novel.

I really wish that anything about the blurb of this book had included a domestic violence against children warning. Whilst it was perfectly readable, that's a topic I tend to steer clear of, and it will have influenced my view of the book. The entire premise centres around child abuse, rape and domestic violence, and I just did not enjoy it as a result, and won't be recommending it to people.

A woman and her son are found in a wrecked car, her husband is missing and her teenage daughter is found in a confused state and covered in blood. Laura and her partner Neamh work for the Sexual Assault team, and are sent to interview the teenager in hospital when initial examination finds that she has been brutally raped. It is clear the girl has much to tell but in a state of psychotic fugue she isn't saying anything that adds up. It will take all of Laura's interviewing skill to get to the truth and this case is getting to her, uncovering her own historic disturbances. Absolutely gripping.

I’m afraid I really couldn’t get into this book . It was extremely slow and not a great deal was happening. I couldn’t get into the characters at all and didn’t like the writing style . Thanks for the opportunity to read this though net galley

It took me a while to get into this book and it did pick up pace at the end but it was not for me. I didn't like the chapters that were Jenny's POV and the way it was written and I know it was because she is only 14 but I couldn't get on with it. Just not for me I'm afraid.