This was a really good book. It keep me on the edge of my seat and didn't want to put it down! I will look for more books by this author! I would definitely recommend this book!

I have to be honest and say that when I first picked this book up, I only got a couple chapters in and quit. Be it life at the time or whatever, it wasn’t my time to read it. I did come back to it though, and this time I sailed through it. This story was very engaging and you just had to keep turning the pages to find out more. It’s a duel timeline, domestic psychological thriller. There are several twists throughout the book, and that ending and epilogue… so good! I really can’t say much without giving something away, but I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

1997 - After a day spent exploring Edinburgh with his best friend, 16 year old Nick comes home to an empty house. His father, stepmother and baby sister have disappeared without a trace.

2019 - Lulu has the perfect life - a successful psychotherapist and recently married to Nick, the most beautiful and perfect man. But Nick has a troubled past and as Lulu offers to help him face his childhood trauma, she uncovers a disturbing and frightening side to the man she loves.

Fast paced, entertaining thriller with a somewhat predictable story line. I was slightly disappointed that the ending did not live up to the 'shocking twist' as promised on the cover. Nonetheless, an entertaining read, perfect for a beachy or one sitting read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for providing a digital coy in return for an honest, unbiased review.

Good thriller to keep you occupied poolside. Although Lulu had to be the most frustrating character, especially for someone in her line of business.

I liked the premise of the book but the pace was either slow or on fast forward. I enjoyed it enough to rate it 3 stars.

Great plot to get yourself lost in. This book has everything. A real fast paced thriller. Will get your heart racing on more than one occasion. Very well written. Highly recommend this book

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* uhhhh can someone say yikes? wouldn't mind buying this, would recommend

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Stepson by Jane Renshaw is a domestic thriller that you won't be able to put down! The story revolves around Lulu, a psychotherapist with a loving husband named Nick. A traumatic experience happened when Nick was 16. His whole family disappeared. He believes his evil stepmother was the one who killed his father and baby sister. To get him to confront his fear, Lulu persuades him to move back to the town where everything happened. Will Nick get over his fears, or will long-buried secrets be revealed?

Here is a creepy excerpt from the Prologue:

"There was nothing necessarily sinister about the lack of lights.
'Maybe they had to pop out,' she suggested as she pressed her foot to the accelerator.
...
Maggie never bothered to turn off the lights when she left a room, so there were usually bright windows all over the place, as if poor Duncan were made of money - which from Maggie's point of view, of course, he was.
But tonight, nothing.
No lights at all."

Overall, The Stepson is a domestic thriller that was better than I expected! I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I thought it would be a typical run-of-the-mill domestic thriller. However, I was wrong. There was a lot of tension-building, and I found the book very interesting. I also found the different perspectives to be easy to read and to differentiate, which is a complaint I often have about other books. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book, which is available now!

Wow, this domestic thriller with an unreliable narrator from Jane Renshaw will have you on the edge of your seat second guessing what you think you know the entire way through. This fast paced thriller is told from the POV of the characters in the past and present and does an excellent job of developing the characters back stories through this method. I listened to this in a matter of hours because it gripped me from the very beginning. It did take a bit to get a grasp over what exactly the dynamics were in the beginning but once I did I couldn't get enough of this. I really wasn't sure who to trust up until the very end and love that in a thriller. This was my first from Jane Renshaw and I'm really excited to see what she comes up with in the future. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting storyline that keeps you guessing. I enjoyed this one.
Told from two perspectives, Maggie the step-mum, and Lulu the new wife.
At times I found Lulu to be very frustrating to be honest and I found it hard to gel with her character.
Overall I did enjoy the book, but not enough to give it more than 3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy. I was not compensated for this review. All opinions are my own and are mainly written from the standpoint of a school librarian.

What a fast-paced mystery! Started it last night before bed and finished it today outside in the hammock. Many twists and turns throughout kept it interesting!!

I enjoy dual timelines/narrators. I feel this style can add to the suspense when done well. The author used it perfectly to help (and purposefully hinder) the reader’s journey!!!

Slow. This book did not hold my interest. The premise sounded great, but, for whatever reason, I could not stick with it.

Nick, the prominent character in The Stepson, is a psychopath who wreaks such incredible horror on people he claims to love. WOW... What A Ride!... blew me away… The narrative grabs the reader by the throat and doesn't let you breathe until the end… I read this book in one sitting.

Quite a ride from the very beginning and right to the very end. At first it was very frustrating to see how a trained psychologist missed all the textbook 'red flags' for the sake of love despite all the glaring evidence. However, I guess the author was going for more of a 'he's just that good, even the professionals were fooled' approach. One things for sure, Nick was never a match for Maggie and she got the last proverbial word. Great psychological thriller and would definitely recommend.

When reading a psychological thriller I am always looking for a book that grabs my attention and does not let go until I have finished the book. The Stepson did that for me. I started this book thinking it might be like others about a psychopath and yet this book was so much more. I would recommend this book to those looking for a spectacular read with the book leaving you guessing until the end.

This book was a relatively fast paced psychological thriller, including many twists and turns. It follows a darkness, a danger, and disappearances. The main character Nick and his wife Lulu face the uncertainty of their marriage as Lulu is notified of Nick's not so perfect past and dark and scary truths. Nick, overprotective and with Lulu returns to his home town where he must face all his demons. Stepmother, Maggie, and Nick seem to have different versions of the truth, different versions of certain deaths and certain disappearances.

"He lost one family. Now he is ready for another."

The story is written in 2 different points of views. We have the past, Maggie, who is afraid of her teenaged stepson Nick in 1997, and the present Lulu, who is now married to Nick in 2019.

The novel is written in such a way that going back in time then coming to the present leaves you hanging on to the edge of your seat for the entirety of the novel.

The main character, Nick himself was is portrayed perfectly for the person he is, where his actions often gave me the chills and that really drives this novel. Overall the characters complimented each other and added their own voice and perspective to the unfoldings of this novel.

A gripping novel that will have you guessing and second guessing as you read through the pages. Thank you to the publisher for the eARC of this novel.

This book had me on the edge of my seat! It goes back and forth from 1997 when Nick was a teenager and his dad was newly married to his stepmom, Maggie, to present day when Nick is an adult and newly married to his wife Lulu. When Nick was 16, his dad, stepmother and baby sister disappeared into thin air. People think Nick killed them due to his anger issues. You will not want to put this down! What a page turner! I must say, the last page literally made my jaw drop!! This is a must read if you love jaw dropping suspense!! What a GREAT read! My mind is still reeling from it!

Wow, this was a totally unputdownable read. I devoured it in 7 hours! It’s only early January 2022, but I think I have found one of the best reads of the year and I have definitely found a brilliant new author. So great, so well plotted and so damn scary.

I was given the chance to read an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.

I have to say that I did not expect to love this book as much as I did. It was so full of twists and turns and you didn't know what exactly to believe, and even when something was revealed about the character you weren't sure if you should trust it or not. There were some twists that I saw coming but still enjoyed reading how the characters got to where they are. And the alternating POV's really helped sell the story, they were unreliable narrators and you didn't know what to believe. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and fully intend to read more by this author.

The Stepson, by Jane Renshaw, is a must read for anyone who is a fan of psychological thrillers. It was fast paced with twists that I didn’t see coming. The story line was interesting and it was neat to see two points of views explored throughout the book. I thought that Lulu was naïve and Nick was definitely a wonderfully developed character who had me guessing. The timelines between when Nick was a teenager and current time was so relevant to the story and was so interesting to read. The book kept me guessing with an ending that I didn’t see coming. I highly recommend this book and will look for other books by this author. Thank you to the NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.