A hallmark of the suspense genre is the jaw-dropping twist. A surprise you didn't see coming that completely changes everything that you just read. If you love having the rug pulled out from underneath you, allow me to introduce you to Elizabeth Day's new novel Magpie, about an expectant couple who take on a lodger to help make ends meet as they await the arrival of their new baby.

Marisa, a children's author and illustrator, is expecting her first child with partner Jake. As Magpie opens, she shares details with us about her life prior to meeting her perfect lover, including her childhood with a mother who abandoned her, and the boarding school that raised her. We get to know Marisa and Jake as a couple, and how their love and relationship has grown and bloomed over time. And we also get to know Kate, the woman Marisa and Jake take in as a lodger to help cushion the cost of bringing a baby into this world. Right from the start, Marisa doesn't like Kate, who she feels borders on stalker-ish, but why won't Jake believe her when she says that Kate gives her the heebie jeebies?

Magpie starts out as a quiet, unassuming novel that moves at a languid pace, following Marisa through her peaceful days as she prepares to become a mother. However, don't get too comfortable as you settle into this book because the twists will soon sneak up on you as this once contemplative novel takes on a more ominous and sinister tone. Magpie is a book about which it is easy to say too much, so I won't give away its secrets; however, I can verifiably say that I never knew where I stood as I read this novel, not knowing where to look or who I could trust.

SPOILERS AHEAD ... With that being said, I was incredibly disappointed by this novel's ending! What happened to this otherwise gripping story? I totally was not expecting this book to wrap up so neatly. As I neared the end of Magpie, I saw several equally delicious ways this story could go, and I kept waiting for one last twist that unfortunately never came. Such a letdown after a highly entertaining read.

#Magpie is a wonderful mystery. By author #Elizabeth Day, for fans of Gone Girl and The Perfect Nanny. About the danger's of getting what you ask for. She has quite the twist.....
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley and # Simon & Schuster 💜🐾🐾

I could not get into this book. Normally I find something positive about every book, but I actually ended up not finishing this one.

This book was so good! I want to see more from this author in the future!! I couldn't put this book down. What a page turner!!!

Overall I really enjoyed this novel.. There were enough twists to keep me intrigued to keep reading. 4/5 stars.

4.5 STARS

To read anything too in depth about ‘Magpie’ will give away the brilliant plot twist that occurs just about midway thought the book!

What began as a wonderful domestic thriller beautifully segues into themes of infertility and a woman’s role in society. Marisa is a 28 year old children’s book illustrator who has met her wonderful boyfriend named Jake, about 10 years older and keen to start a family. When Marisa becomes pregnant, they are both overjoyed. She had a difficult childhood and realizes how precious and beautiful her new family unit is.

”Marisa felt, with unexpected acuteness, the fragility of everything, the ease with which it could all be taken away from her.”


Jake and Marisa live together in his beautiful home, and she seems to have finally found the stability she has craved. Yes, Jake has an overbearing mother, but doesn’t everyone have some kind of family issue to deal with? Marisa is very happy with Jake and their stable life together. Things become a little more complicated when they decide to take in a lodger named Kate to help deal with some of the household expenses.

Kate is the opposite of Marisa: dark haired, glamorous and very confident. Marisa feels stirring emotions of insecurity but Jake is such a wonderful and stable partner that she overlooks certain incidents. Is she just being paranoid?

The amazing British actress Tanya Reynolds narrates the audiobook with intelligence and thoughtfulness.
She delivered the simple plot twist with perfection! Everything I assumed about this book was turned upside down.

The gripping narrative moves back and forth between the past and present, building towards a very surprising conclusion that I thought was handled with sensitivity and care. This was my first book by Elizabeth Day and I absolutely loved it!

Thank you so much to Simon & Shuster for my gifted ebook copy.

A couple, Jake and Marisa are expecting their first baby and have just moved into a lovely new home when they suddenly decide to take in a boarder to bring extra money that will help defray the extra costs of and expanded family. The boarder (Kate) seems to overstep her boundaries right from the beginning and she also begins to get a little too cozy to Jake which starts bringing excess chaos and jealousy to the surface. Marisa's moods are getting darker as time goes on and she begins following Kate not really knowing what she expects to find out but soon Marisa's actions will lead to the most explosive and unexpected confrontation where life will unravel for all three people involved but not in the way any of them could have anticipated.

"Magpie" was a book that was very different than my expectations. I thought I knew where the storyline was headed but at the halfway point the book started taking a completely different path. The book was well-written and will have great appeal to many readers although I was let down because it wasn't the genre I was looking forward to. I was expecting an exciting psychological thriller and when the story unfolded into a twisted climax at the halfway point, I said to myself "Here we go!" But, No! The exciting and mysterious thriller turned into a women's book that was more of a drama about the deep and hearfelt pain and emotions of a a woman who struggles with infertility. I'm sorry to say the book just didn't work for me but I would still recommend the book to other readers so they can base their own opinions on the subjects of pregnancy, infertility and surrogates and the Biggie "Mental Illness".

I want to thank the publisher " Simon & Shuster " and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this novel and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given this book a rating of 3 UNHAPPY 🌟🌟🌟 STARS!!

DNF at 60%. I was intrigued by the premise of Magpie and wanted to see where it would go. This may be a case of reading too many thrillers but I had a sense very early on. I continued thinking there could still be more surprises ahead but ultimately decided this one wasn’t for me. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

Very hard to give a full review without spoiling the book. I'll just say that even though a major plot twist came in early, it did not affect the story line too much. I enjoyed this book very much.

3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4 on Goodreads.
This is psychological/domestic suspense novel about a seemingly perfect couple and their “prefect” roommate. That is until she threatens to destroy everything they created.
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I’m here for a good domestic suspense. I found this story captivating and was engaged throughout. There is a twist I simply did not see coming. I love when a book can really throw me for a loop.
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I felt like this book has a little bit of everything. An unreliable narrator and lots of unlikeable characters. To me this always makes the story more interesting because you never know who to trust or who to root for. We have issues within a marriage, Themes of motherhood etc. I felt the author handled this book in a very dark way which fit the theme.
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Where my rating took a turn was the ending starting to wrap up everything in a pretty bow. I’m not a fan of when books do this. Especially when they start out so dark. All in all this was a good read. I look forward to seeing how others view it. Thank you to Simon and Schuester and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had a sense of unease (in a good way) the whole time I read this book . What was real? What was imagined? Who were these people? What relationships were real? The author does a good job of keeping up the suspense right up to the end - - where we find out who is the real evil one!

Psychological thrillers are some of my fave thrillers. I also love the content of this sub genre.
Very twisty, had me guessing until the end.

I loved this book. Psychological thriller, escalated!! This book had me hooked from page one! My favorite part of reading this genre is when there are unexpected twists and turns, and the author of this novel delivered. Beautifully written, well-thought-out characters, and a developed setting. Excited to read more from this author!

I do not have anything great to say about this book. While it had an interesting premise, I found the execution dull. I was not a fan of this at all. ⭐

Wow! There is a lot going on in this book! Magpie has plenty of twists that keep the readers full attention to the very end of book. The storyline is a bit different from other books I’ve read which peaked my interest. I highly recommend Magpie.

This cover is amazing. The book itself was pretty good. Thought that the characters could be a bit more fleshed out but overall the plot was good. Good, basic thriller.

Magpie
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 5/3/22
Author: Elizabeth Day
Publisher: Simon Schuster
Pages: 336
Goodreads Rating: 3.75

TW ⚠️: Infertility, infertility treatments, trauma, and mental health issues

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Schuster for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Marisa and Jake are a perfect couple, and Kate, their new lodger, is the perfect roommate. Jake and Marisa’s perfect relationship is put to the test through months of fertility treatments and false starts. To make matters worse, Kate’s boundary-pushing turns into an all-out obsession--with Jake, with Marisa, and with their future child. Who is this woman? Why does she seem to know everything about Marisa and Jake?

My Thoughts: The story is narrated by Marisa and then switches to another narrator, Kate’s, that completely opens up the story to wow! The evil troupe is kind of over the top and only because it has been done a lot lately in thrillers. I think the author could have approached the evil troupe another way that was not typical. Don’t get me wrong, there are still intense moments, moments of uneasiness, and the creepiness factor going on. The whole story line is messy but the ending is perfect, I would liked to have seen the ending to match the overall storyline better. I believe the whole spectrum of emotions was covered in the storyline from anger, sadness, jealousness, happiness, joy, and everything in between. The characters were developed well with creativity and some depth. Overall, the author’s writing was messy, creative, and a bit unrealistic, which is perfect for a work of fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of Magpie. Magpie got off to a questionable start for me such that I wasn’t certain I’d finish it. But then the story took an unanticipated turn that propelled me to read on. The story is driven by multiple characters, male and female, all of whom are desperate to have a baby. Their desperation leads to some very poor decisions and choices. As the story develops, the layers of the characters are revealed and, throughout, there are unsettling questions as to what’s really going on behind the scenes. What’s true, what is not? What do you really know about the people you want to trust? What lengths will you go to to have a family and to protect them? And is there such a thing as perfection? Magpie examines all of these issues and yields a satisfying enough read. The conclusion could have been stronger.

When Marisa and Jake are expecting their first child, and things are nearly perfect. To lessen their financial burdens, they take on a lodger named Kate who, in Marisa's opinion, fails to understand boundaries. She shows up at Marisa's pre-natal yoga class and seems just a little too comfortable around Jake. When Marisa becomes suspicious of the man she loves and the woman they're sharing their home with, she has everything to lose.

Despite a great mid-book twist and a lot of potential, Magpie fell incredibly flat for me. It was far too long and slowly paced, with every scene having pages upon pages unnecessarily extracted from it. Every single one of the characters lacks the dimension that would encourage the reader to care. By the end, I didn't care whose baby was whose, who was married to who, and what Jake's parents opinions were... I just wanted it to be over.

All in all, Magpie missed the mark and I won't be recommending it to friends.

Really enjoyed this book! It has a twist that you do not see coming and blew my mind! I highly recommend. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.