As domestic thrillers go, I don’t feel this book had anything new to say or contribute to the discourse surrounding abusive marriages.

Overall, I think this book was perfectly average. The characters were interesting enough and even though this was incredibly predictable, it was worth reading to find out how the story wrapped up.

Caron portrays herself as a victim of horrendous domestic abuse with the scars to prove it. Her story is compelling and heart wrenching. The audiobook is superbly narrated adding a layer of intrigue and suspense. Who is telling the truth in this twisted tale of jealousy, murder and revenge.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my audiobook.

Her husband is dead. Was it an accident?

After years of a clear case of domestic abuse - her husband is dead by her own hand. The murder scene screams self-defense. But the evidence points to a real victim of the Rivers family.

From the very first pages, I was on to the notorious Caron Rivers. Great idea of the plot, however while reading the novel I didn't feel the note of intrigue. From the first chapter, we clearly see the villain of the novel and learn more about her background throughout the book. Hence no shocking twists were revealed by the end of the novel. The story lucked mystery and thrill, although I saw great potential. I've read many reviews that praised the author's previous books and said that - I would absolutely give it another shot and read more of Gillian Jackson's novels. Thank you Netgalley and Bloodhound Books publisher for this free and advanced copy of the novel.

Is Caron Rivers a victim or villain? Caron portrays herself as a victim of horrendous domestic abuse with the scars to prove it. Her story is compelling and heart wrenching. Did she murder her husband in self defense, or is something more sinister at play? The tension rises as secrets are revealed. The audiobook is superbly narrated adding a layer of intrigue and suspense. Who is telling the truth in this twisted tale of jealousy, murder and revenge. Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my audiobook.

This was a really good book! At first it starts off with Caron and we learn all about the abuse she is going through in her marriage to older man Bill Rivers. Cuts on her, cigarette burns on her arm, a few counseling sessions and a dairy which recorded the abuse in it. Then the police get a call and Bill has been murdered in his kitchen by Caron with a knife screaming she was protecting herself from him. Caron gives the police everything they want, the diary, her counseling sessions with Dr. Fiona, and seems like the sweet little wife who was badly abused and even the police start to feel bad for her. But as the Investigation goes on and Jack and Della, the two main Police on the case start asking questions to her old friends and family and catch her in a few lies they see a different Caron than how she has been portraying herself with them. And they start to wonder who was the real Victim in this case. Caron or Bill? This book gave me real Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Vibes, expect in this story the Husband is dead and can't tell his side of the story to everyone. The police in this story where so sweet and likeable and I ended up really enjoying their parts of the story and was really routing for them by the end of it. This was a fast pace thriller, and I really enjoyed and listened to the audiobook in 2 days. The narrator did a great job telling this story! Thank you, Net Galley, and Dreamscape Media for a copy of this audio book for review!

The Victim immediately begins with Caron Rivers stabbing her husband Bill. There is no doubt about it, she killed him. Caron and Bill shared a picture perfect life so it is unimaginable to everyone why Caron would do such a thing.

Once the detective Jack Priestly arrives at her home Caron is very candid about the details that took place. She explains she has been a victim of domestic violence for years. Bill was controlling and abusive and Caron decided to stand up for herself. Jack knows this isn’t such an open and shut case. He begins to dig deeper and discovers no one and nothing is what everyone thinks.

Caron was a hard character for me to relate to. She was lukewarm to say the least. The plot is very predictable. Overall the writing was well done but overly drawn out. It is a quick read if you are looking for a short “thriller.”

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC. The opinions are my own.

This is the first book I have ever read by this author and I did enjoy it. Who is the victim? We are not really sure until the very last chapter. This sort of domestic thriller has been done so many times in the past several years and often times it is not very compelling. This one was very interesting however, especially the chapters which followed the detectives as they investigated the crime. I listened to the audio version and the British narrator did a very nice job. I will certainly look for more books by this author.

A woman who suffers repeated physical and emotional abuse from her husband finally snaps and kills him. Turning herself in, this seems to be an open and shut classic case of self-defense but the more the detectives investigate, the more questions they wind up with than answers. I am almost done listening to this one and while it reminds me a lot of Gone Girl, one of my all time favs, I have enjoyed the listen and it has kept me guessing on who is telling the truth.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to listen to this book early. Unfortunately, it was just okay for me. I've read a version of this book 1000 times. This is about an abused wife who stabs her husband, but was it in self defense or is she a killer? The ending is what you'd guess from page 1 and the amount of time the police spent trying to change this from a manslaughter case to a murder case felt ridiculous. I really don't have a lot to say about this book because it was just that uninteresting. Our main character was dull, the storyline was overdone, there was a requirement for suspension of disbelief and the ending was meh. If you're new to domestic thrillers you may like this one, but if you've read more than 5, I wouldn't waste your time.

SPOILERS AHEAD:
She killed her husband and her dad as a means of getting rid of bad guys who were abusive.

I felt like this book is extremely relevant right now during the Heard/Depp trial.

This was an emotional, psychological thriller that grips you from the start.

Caron Rivers appears to have it all. Her husband Bill is older, but he's a provider, she doesn't work, has a beautiful home. What else could she want for? But as we know, what goes on behind closed doors can be a very different story.

Caron kills her husband. Calls 911. But now can she convince police that she was actually a victim?
Why did Caron stab Bill? Was this an accident? Self defense?

Jack Priestly arrives at her home and Caron provides him with the events that led up to the stabbing. She's taking in for questinoing and tells her story.

According to Caron, she was a victim of domestic violence. He beat her, but she always made excuses for him. She had seen her doctor and her therapist and told them, but refused to leave or get help. He didn't allow her to leave the house, he chose her clothes, she had cut off ties with her family because of him.

One problem though - do the police believe her? Details start to come out. They talk to her family. Her therapist. Her doctor. And learn Caron had some secrets of her own!

Not everything is as it seems and you will need to read the story to find out what happens to Caron.

This was a fast read and it was intense and definitely held my attention!

Many thanks to Dreamsape Media and Netgalley for my advance audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a well crafted police procedural. It’s so interesting to see how things are done so different in regards to the justice system in other countries compared to the mess we have in the United States. While the story was not “new” in any way, I still enjoyed it and was interested in seeing how the various deceptions played out. The narrator was fantastic and differentiated voices very well.

Enjoyed the mystery and look forward to picking up Jackson again.

This is a did she or didn't she murder her husband mystery. Did he abuse her or she him? In either scenario I found the story to be smart. I liked that the police and doctors were written respectfully. Both professions questioned and followed their educations and experiences when solving the mystery. There is a courtroom outburst that wrapped up the storyline perfectly. Every character played a part and was deserving of their pages.

Narrator Hannah Curtis did a good job.

I'm going with 3.5 stars and will round up.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for accepting my request to read and review The Victim.

#NetGalley
#TheVictim
#DreamscapeMedia
#HannahCurtis
#GillianJackson

This is the first book that I’ve listened to by Gillian Jackson. The cover and description grabbed my attention. I really liked the narrator Hannah Curtis. She is British. I really liked the tone of her voice and the emotions she brought to the characters.

The beginning of the book was slow for me. I also found the stories of abuse to be repetitive. I did like all of the different character perspectives. I really liked Jack’s character. The diary entries gave me “Gone Girl” vibes. I guessed a couple of the plot points, but there were definitely other parts that surprised me. I needed to know how the book ended.

This wasn’t my favorite mystery/thriller, but I’d read more books by Jackson. Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and Gillian Jackson for the advanced audiobook.

#NetGalley #TheVictim #GillianJackson #DreamscapeMedia

If you think you may have read this book before, then you probably have. More than once. Often done more convincingly. Caron is meant to be a mystery. The ending was fairly easy to guess very early on. Neither of the two-Caron or Bill-is much fleshed out. We don’t really get to know them so the book is missing an important psychological complexity. I didn’t hate the book. It just didn’t stand out. Others may find it more compelling than I did.

I didn’t finish this book. I quit around 50% because it was so horrible. I knew from the beginning what was going on and continuing on and hearing nothing but lies was just infuriating. I kept hoping it would get better which is why I made it to 50% of the way through, but I have been better off quitting at the beginning.

The Victim was a truly enjoyable thriller to listen to. I have not read a thriller with this plot before so it was refreshing to read something new. I will say that I was easily able to predict the ending, as with most thrillers that I read, however, the details provided in the story, specifically those related to the procedural aspect of the investigation, kept my interest through the very end. And there was quite a shocking twist at the end that I did not see coming. I really appreciate that the story was completely wrapped up at the end instead of leaving the reader guessing what will happen or forcing us to make up our own conclusion. I felt the story was truly finished by the end, and I also appreciated the epilogue giving even more details to tie up loose ends and answer questions that I asked myself throughout. Overall, I genuinely enjoyed The Victim and would recommend it to others!

The narrator, Hannah Curtis, was great! The emotions she put into her narration made the story come alive!!

Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Gillian Jackson for this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I found this book to be overall very enjoyable. This might be because I’ve read many thrillers but I felt like the plot wasn’t anything new. I think for someone who doesn’t read as many thrillers or specifically domestic thrillers this would be much more exciting. I did predict the ending which doesn’t usually effect how much I like a thriller but with this one I was hoping for more of a twist.

This starts so slow and I thought about DNF-ing it but by chapter 15 or so it picks up and I read it in a day. I called it from the beginning but this book is a good read. If you can grab it and give it a listen or read. Thank you, NetGalley for the audiobook to read.

I really enjoyed this book. I did not see then twist coming at all.
I look forward to reading other books by this this author.
I also really enjoyed the narrator. She kept men zoned into the story.

The Victim by Gillian Jackson is complex. Victim or Villain? Abused or Abuser? You need to listen to decide. The book starts with a confession...I loved how the author handled the topic of domestic abuse with panache. Her insights were great! I loved the police procedures, the forensic evidence, and the multiple perspectives. Hannah Curtis was great performing the book. I could envision so many details. Thank you #NetGalley and #Dreamscape Media for allowing me to listen to this pre-release audiobook.