Great thriller of a book that was easy to read. Loved the main character and the way it unfolded for the reader.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of He Said He Would Be Late by Justine Sullivan from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This starts out with a bang and will keep you engrossed in it until the very last page. Loved the premise of this book and the suspense.

I hate to say it, but I found this book insufferable. The whole plot could have been solved with one very obvious question, the MC is a stereotype (well, all the characters were), the references to Boston were weirdly inaccurate, and the ending was abrupt — expected yet totally unfulfilling.

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

Thriller following a modern mother who has lost sight of herself in her new maternal role and feels her husband may be cheating. For the longest time I kept waiting for the other shoe to finally drop. I wish I had paid better attention.

⏰️⌚️Book Review:
Title: He Said He Would Be Late
Author: Justine Sullivan
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4 stars

Whew, it's tough dealing with postpartum depression! I experienced it myself but not to this extreme thank goodness! But really, please do not send my significant other a text with "kissy" emojis because we're gonna have problems, postpartum or not. Have some respect, Viv!

It all starts with a text message on her husband's phone. Those "kissy" face emojis from his co-worker. Liz Bennett is now questioning everything. She's married to Arno, handsome, wealthy, charismatic. It's no wonder she's on edge, right? How many times has he said he'd be home late? Has he been spending time with his sexy, beautiful co-worker, Viv, outside of working hours? Liz is on a mission to find out the truth but not in the most healthy of ways. My heart felt for her. This wasn't a thriller like I thought it would be, but it was a great read!

Published: March 14th, 2023

Thank you, @netgalley, and @henryholtbooks for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This entire novel could be summed up in one sentence: A woman sees a suspicious text from a beautiful woman on her husband’s phone, then spends about 300 pages trying to catch him cheating.

I spent so much of this book waiting for something to happen and it never did.

Despite this being such a one-track book, I still enjoyed it. The writing was good, and I eventually got sucked in and was waiting to see what would happen in the end. I pretty much figured out the ending by the first 1/3 of the book, but it was nice to see it play out. Overall I’m giving this 2.5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an e-ARC of this novel.

I started, put down, and picked this one back up many times during the course of my relationship with this book. The beginning was a little slow and crawling but once I got about halfway through, this was too compulsive to put down. Sullivan has a way of getting inside your brain and making you feel as anxious as the FMC. Even as a happily married woman, I found myself taking on the suspicion of the narrator! (just kidding... kind of).

Though I often felt like this book wasn't going anywhere, I loved the development of the characters. The roller coaster of emotions experienced by the FMC was all too relatable - the rise and fall of trust and suspicion. Though I felt like the plot didn't necessarily develop well, reading the entire book was made worth it by the jaw dropping conclusion of the last line of this book. A unique and creative domestic psychological thriller that I will recommend to many of my friends!

If a domestic thriller and a psychological thriller had a love child, this would be it! The lead character has anxiety issues, so reading from her pov made the story more tense and suspenseful! I loved that the story didn’t get repetitive like most domestic thrillers. Some parts around the middle moves story, but this is an interesting read overall.

Oh, you got to love a good domestic drama and Sullivan doesn't disappoint. This story hits all the marriage drama, sometimes when the marriage looks to perfect and then the other shoe drops that will make you question everything, including your sanity. The author does a great job of character building that you can't help but take in all the questions that leads to you the end.

Every husband say they are going to be late but when see something that has you questioning everything you thought to be true.

Liz's life could not be more perfect, adoring husband Arno and beautiful baby girl. But when she reads a text on Arno's phone, she starts to question everything. She becomes consumed in finding what her husband is really up to. Is it nothing or is she truly losing her mind?

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co for copy of this book for my honest review.

*Received for free from netgalley for honest review* Overall great book, didn't see that ending coming tbh so that was wild but really enjoyed it! Would recommend and even buy. 4.5 bumped up to 5.

Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me. I was never invested in the story and it just seemed to repeat itself the whole time. Is he cheating? All the ways she tries to catch him. Just a little too slow paced and boring for me.

This book could be summed up in one sentence: A woman sees a suspicious text from a beautiful woman on her husband’s phone, then spends about 300 pages trying to catch him cheating. For being a debut novel, it was good. But it wasn't great. It needed something else added in there to make it much more memorable. I wanted to love this book and rave about it, but I'm just stuck liking it.

This wasn't a thriller to me. It was more of a book about a woman wondering if her husband was cheating. This got tiresome for me, and just made me not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The author has a great writing style, nonetheless. I would try to read another by her in the future.

I finished this book in five hours into wee hours of morning. I enjoyed it. I can see a lot of wives/mothers relating to this young character explaining her upside and downside of being a young wife/new mother. She makes it very relatable.
Anyways, for people who likes suspense, this is for you. It is witty, heartfelt, open, sincere, blunt, and extremely relatable to many of you. It can be heartbreaking at times. Not bad for this author’s debut. I can see myself reading her future novels. This book is available at all retailers on March 14th. If you’re in mood for this, pick this one up. Thank you so much for this lovely #ARC. The cover is especially gorgeous. @henryholtbooks #hesaidhewouldbelate #advancereaderscopy #arc #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bibliophile #booknerd #loverofbooks #newbook #bookofinstagram #marriage #suspense #newmotherhood #skepticism #unfaithful #latenights #worklate. Three and a half stars.

Liz is a good-looking, wealthy, young wife and mother who is happily married of four years until she finds a kissy-face emoji text on her husband's phone from a co-worker who he has never mentioned to her. Her husband (Arno) works very hard to provide the lifestyle that they live including many, very late night hours and occasional business trips which Liz never thought twice about until this one particular text. Liz quickly becomes obsessed with Arno's actions including backtracking her memories to see if there's been signs of him cheating that she's overlooked in the past because he is a very handsome and charming man who could have his pick of any woman he wanted. So the cycle continues, Liz starts drinking everyday and can't sleep at night although the precious little one sleeps 1o-12 hours a night.

Liz begins stalking the co-worker while trying to be the perfect wife and although she never finds any definitive signs of Arno being unfaithful she can't let the matter drop until she finds out for certain that she's wrong. Why is she doing this to herself? Is it her female intuition telling her the truth will come out or is she suffering from some unaddressed postpartum depression? One thing is certain, Liz is unraveling fast and if she doesn't stop the crazies she will find herself and her life in shambles.

This was a fast-paced story more of a character study and psychological drama instead of a thriller. The writing was good and I loved the humorous moments continuously thrown in about how silly Liz would make herself in so many situations. Liz appeared to be a narcissistic personality even as far as her baby was concerned. She wasn't very likeable as a mother to me and I found that inexcusable unless she was suffering from post-partum depression although the book never really lets you know, so maybe the author intended the reader to make their own decision about that diagnosis. Liz was judgemental about everyone and was selfish in all her relationships except with her husband. So, although unlikable I still felt sorry for her and felt she needed more help with her mental health issues and also marital problems because Arno was not the perfect husband. Even if he was not unfaithful (not too sure about that) he was guilty about holding back important information that was critical to having a solid and healthy relationship so that had me not trusting him very much. There definitely was something very wrong with their marriage. I really liked the way the story came to an abrupt ending. The author "Justine Sullivan" seemed to want the reader to come to their own conclusion that Arno really was cheating but wanted to keep his family too or that Liz would always find reasons to distrust her husband whether she was right or wrong. I found this to be a very entertaining book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good domestic drama.

I want to thank the publisher "Henry Holt & Company" for the opportunity to read this story and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given a rating if 3 1/2 SUSPICIOUS AND ENTERTAINING 🌟🌟🌟🌠 STARS!!

This is Justine Sullivan’s debut novel. A psychological thriller that explores the intricacies of marriage and the fragile emotional state of a new mother dealing with more than she can handle.

This story will appeal to anyone who has been in Liz’s situation. If you haven’t suffered from depression or suspected your spouse of cheating, you may find it hard to sympathize with Liz’s feelings and what seems like annoyingly over-the-top behavior. This book probably isn’t for you.

I’m a sucker for a beautiful cover so I couldn’t pass this one up! Justine Sullivan’s writing is very good. I alternated between reading the book and listening to the audiobook, narrated by Kelli Tager. The narration is excellent. The characters are fully developed. Liz’s story is plausible. However, the story is slow-paced and fairly predictable. I feel like a shorter version would improve the read. It picks up speed at the very end, but by that point, I figured out the final twist.

The writing of the author’s debut is impressive and I’m excited to see what she comes out with next!

Sincere thanks to Henry Holt Books and the author for this gifted book. This review is my honest opinion.

#HeSaidHeWouldBeLate #JustineSullivan #debutthriller #HenryHoltBooks #honestreview #giftedARC #honestreview #psychologicalthriller #thrillerfriendsunite #mysteryandthrills #readwithme #bookaddict #thrilleraddict #thrillersofinstagram #bookstagrammer #lovebooks #bookreviewersofinstagram #lovetoreadbooks #cantstopreading #fortheloveofbooks #audiobookreview #libbyapp #newmother #emotionallyfragile

This is literally just a woman wondering if her husband is cheating on her for 271 pages. There is no other plot and it was almost a parody of a thriller in my opinion.

Sadly, I did not like this book as much as I'd hoped. I found it very slow and not really a psychological at all. More a meditation on new motherhood. The writing itself was not bad and I believe this book will find an audience with people who enjoy suburban fiction. I'm just not that audience. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for an early copy of this.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

REVIEW TO FOLLOW.

Have you ever had a friend that just drains the energy out of you? This is how I felt about the main character Liz while reading this book. The plot has a single focus on Is her husband cheating on her? Her obsession, paranoia, and anxiety made her so irrational that she catastrophized everything, with a constant spiraling and self sabotage that I found exhausting. Filled with too many long, drawn out details about home decor, clothing brands, and beauty treatments. Chapters are too long, which I don't care for. This is being billed as a fast-paced, twisty, psychological debut. Psychological, yes. The rest...um, no. The last 15% was more enjoyable and kept it from being given a 1 star rating.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company for this eARC.