When a bigamist disappears, her two husbands and the Police are left to hunt for her. The only person who doesn't seem too concerned if her best friend. Does she know something? And how is an old man in a seaside town part of it? A great read

Such a great twisty thriller from Louise Candlish. I loved her previous book Our House and will continue to read everything she writes! The Only Suspect was twisty and suspenseful and I was truly shocked by the ending. Highly recommend and I would absolutely watch a show/movie made from this book!

Love and deception and a page turning read that you can never guess all the twists and turns, so unbelievably good. I could never see the twists coming and they certainly knocked me off my feet. The characters are not to be trusted and the mystery is a hard one to unravel. The plot is well written.

I've a few books by Louise Candlish & I have enjoyed them all. I really enjoyed this book. It kept me guessing all the way through! A great read!

The Only Suspect is the sixteenth novel by British author, Louise Candlish. When his wife’s activist group succeeds in their campaign to get a local walking trail reopened, Alex Parker gets nervous. Even though he and Beth have only lived in Silver Vale for ten years, he knows a lot more than he’s letting on about the murder that happened twenty-five years earlier, and he’s worried what might be unearthed if someone starts digging. Avoiding having his photo appear in the media is also a priority.

Adding to his disquiet, Beth has taken pity on an acquaintance, recently dumped by the man who got her pregnant, driven out of her job, and homeless, and invited her to stay. Alex is not at all convinced that Zara Lloyd’s predicament is genuine, and wonders what her true agenda might be. Or is that just his paranoia talking?

Back in 1995, Rick Ward was working in London as an auditor when he met Marina and fell head over heels. But Marina wasn’t entirely truthful about her situation, at first. Eventually, she revealed that she was married to a controlling man, Drew Stanley, and their luxury home in Silver Vale was virtually her prison.

When he spots her bruises, Rick is determined to save Marina from her brute of a husband, and he cooks up a plan to which she eventually agrees. But things don’t go quite as he had hoped: instead of hiding out with his beloved, he’s trying to stay under the radar, wanted by the police.

Once again, Candlish gives the reader a tightly-plotted tale with plenty of red herrings and distractions that keep the reader guessing right up to the final, fantastic twist and reveal. Her setting and era are perfectly rendered, and her characters recall people we all meet in everyday life, even if many of them are not at all what they first seem to be. This is excellent slow-burn British crime fiction.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia.

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. Anything written by this author is an autobuy/read for me. This thriller was another hit for me. Told in dual timelines, being the present and back in 1995 we are introduced to Rick living the bachelor life in London until he meets Marina, then his life changes - not always for the better and mayhem is unleashed.
The storyline was cleverly interwoven and complex with Louise's signature twists that you can never quite anticipate. It was an atmospheric dark read that had me catching myself holding my breath in the best of ways. It leaves you wondering just how well you know your partner and their past and just what they may be hiding.
Alex and his wife Beth live in Silver Vale, a nice peaceful secluded area, and although Alex prefers to keep himself to himself, and Beth is the opposite, and likes to get involved in community projects, they’re both happy enough. However, when Beth tells Alex about the development of a nature trail right behind their home, Alex becomes very anxious, because he has a very dark secret and the landscapers may inadvertently be about to reveal it. #theonlysuspect #louisecandlish #simonandschuster #netgalley #tea_sipping_bookworm #goodreads #thestorygraph #litsy #thriller #bookqueen #bookstagram

EXCERPT: Alex - May, present
Black skies would have made a more fitting backdrop, some monstrous winter storm that tore the house from its foundations, but as it transpired the moment he'd been dreading for twenty-five years came on a still, gentle morning in May.

ABOUT 'THE ONLY SUSPECT': Wrong time. Wrong place. Wrong man.

Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife Beth in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so he’s not the most sociable guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but he’s a good husband and an easy-going neighbour.

That’s until Beth announces the creation of a nature trail on a local site that’s been disused for decades and suddenly Alex is a changed man. Now he’s always watching. Questioning. Struggling to hide his dread . . .

As the landscapers get to work, a secret threatens to surface from years ago, back in Alex’s twenties when he got entangled with a seductive young woman called Marina, who threw both their lives into turmoil.

And who sparked a police hunt for a murder suspect that was never quite what it seemed. It still isn’t.

No one else could have done it. Could they?

MY THOUGHTS: I loved that opening paragraph; it's so full of promise. Unfortunately it's a promise that isn't delivered.

The Only Suspect is a slow burn - a very slow burn, well, more of a simmer, really - that doesn't really get interesting until over half way through. By that time I was well and truly into 'yeah, nah' mode and wondering if I was reading the same book as everyone else.

I was excited by the developments around the 60% mark, but only briefly, and even the twist towards the end failed to rekindle my interest.

A decidedly average book from one of my favourite authors.

⭐⭐.7

#TheOnlySuspectLouiseCandlish #NetGalley

I: #theonlysuspectlouisecandlish @simonandschuster

T: @louise_candlish @simonschuster

#contemporaryfiction #crime #murdermystery #mystery #psychologicaldrama

THE AUTHOR: Before writing fiction, I studied English at University College London and worked as an illustrated book editor and advertising copywriter.

I live in a South London neighbourhood not unlike the one in my novels with my husband, teenage daughter, and our fox-red Labrador Bertie.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Simon & Schuster Australia for providing a digital ARC of The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Louise Candlish is back and boy The Only Suspect is a winner! Lousie had left nothing in the tank with this standalone thriller, pulling out all the stops to keep you flipping pages at warp speed.
Set over two time lines we are taken on a journey that has one with the lot, murder, betrayal, affairs, and much, much more.
With plenty of red herrings and drip feeding of information this one will have you reading long into the night. A big 4 stars from me.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Australia and NetGallery for this early reading copy.

Another brilliant book from Louise Candlish! This author is a huge favourite of mine and she has yet to disappoint. The Only Suspect is an intricately woven suspense thriller that had me guessing until the very end. Just when I thought I had the plot figured out, bam! I was wrong. Time and time again.
This book is so full of twists and turns it will make your head spin. I absolutely loved it!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The Only Suspect is out now.

Louise Candlish has done it again! Just when I thought I knew what was going on Louise chucks me a few curve balls!

The Only Suspect is written in two different time lines. We follow the story of Rick and Alex. Present day we have Alex who lives a quiet life with his wife Beth until they decide to open up the nearby nature strip. This will open up a massive can of worms for his future. We get introduced to Rick in 1995. He meets Marina and they hit if off but things are definitely not as they seem with her - especially when we find our she is married. We are left piecing the puzzle together. How are they connected?

I found I could not put my kindle down and wanted more of the storyline. I wanted to know how the Rick and Alex are connected and also to the murder of a woman in 1995. The story is full of lies, deceit, murder and romance. It has everything you need for a psychological thriller.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for a copy of this book for my honest review.

The Only Suspect is a standalone psychological thriller/mystery by bestselling author, Louise Candlish. I’ve read Louise Candlish before and can confirm this one is her best yet. Perfect for fans of Claire Douglas, Mark Billingham, Claire Mackintosh and Paula Hawkins.
The story is told in multiple POV and timelines which sets up a complex and layered mystery that is sure to suck you in quickly and not let go. I read this one mostly across one sitting, I couldn’t put it down.
I’ll admit the twists in this one threw me and I did not see coming. The story was engaging and kept my interested and the characters were interesting and easy to relate to. Overall, this was a fun, easy to read suspenseful story that I would highly recommend.
Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an opportunity to read and review this novel.

I read a lot of thrillers and crime novels, and I’m not bad at picking twists and solutions in advance. However, “The Only Suspect” took me entirely off guard. It’s thoroughly surprising, thoroughly absorbing, and thoroughly good.

Alan Parker lives in an outer suburb of London with his wife Beth. It quickly becomes clear that he’s not all that happy, but has deeply mixed feelings about leaving – specifically, about leaving the overgrown land that runs behind the houses in his street. He needs to know if anyone ever starts digging, or otherwise disturbs that land. And if that doesn’t tell you that something bad happened there, well, this must be the first thriller you’ve ever read.

The story is told in dual timelines, and we also accompany Rick through 1995 as he falls in love, and then slowly discovers that his storybook romance comes with a storybook villain. We suspect from Alan’s timeline that something bad is going to happen to someone, and that infuses Rick’s story with both menace and tension.

And I’m not going to say much more for fear of accidental spoilers. The twists at the end surprised me no end: the big one came out of nowhere, and yet also felt as though I should have known all along. In other words, the perfect twist. Compelling, surprising, and feeling absolutely true to the story.

I found both timelines equally interesting and compelling, in part because they’re so different. Yes, they’re ultimately going to touch. But one is a story of an older, jaded and disappointed man who’s riven with fear. The other is the story of a younger man, full of hope, and certain he can overcome all obstacles. Each is a strong story in itself, even before you add the tension of wondering how and when they’ll connect.

Often when I’m reading a review book I find that at the back of my mind, even as I’m reading, I’m thinking about my opinions. I didn’t with this one. It absorbed me so thoroughly that I forgot I was going to need a considered opinion.

Characterisation is strong. Although not written in the first person, each timeline is written from the men’s perspective. We get a strong sense of both the older and younger man, as well as of other characters, albeit filtered through their perspectives.

Candlish evokes a good sense of time and place also. In 1995, mobile phones are not ubiquitous, or even common, but people are starting to use the internet for reference. The music Rick listens to reflects the period. The attitudes and behaviours of Rick’s friends also smack of an era rather different to today.

I recommend this so, so highly. It’s an extraordinarily absorbing story. Both timelines are equally compelling; the final scenes and twists will catch most readers off guard; and you’ll likely be left re-evaluating every character and action. This is a great thriller.

When a nature trail is being built on an area that has been disused for year's Alex starts to worry. He is afraid a secret that he has kept will be discovered and his comfortable suburban life with his wife Beth will be destroyed.

Told over 2 timelines with 2 different POV’s the present follows Alex and the 1990’s where we are introduced to Rick. What is the connection between the 2?

The story as it unfolds is a slow burn that felt a little bit too drawn out to get to the final twist for me. I wish it was a little bit more fast-paced. If you like more slow drawn out thrillers that are very character driven definitely check this one out.

Louise Candlish sure knows how to write a good twisty thriller! This one has dual timelines with two narrators both living in London, one is a young man called Rick recalling the events of 1995 when he fell in love with a woman working in his building and wanted to help her start a new life and the second man, Alex, is living in the current time with his wife and an unwanted house guest. It’s apparent early in the novel that Alex has links to the events in the 1990s but it’s not until much later that we find out what they are.

It's hard to say much the plot without giving too much away, except to say it’s a tale of obsession, love, jealousy and lies and deception. All the ingredients that make for a good suspense thriller! This one is cleverly done, a slow burn building up to a jaw dropping ending with some surprises I definitely didn’t see coming. So good!

I enjoyed Louise Candlish's The Other Passenger, published in 2020. It proved popular, as did Our House, published in 2018 and since made into a four-part miniseries. I missed her 2021/22 book The Heights but happily dove into her latest release, The Only Suspect. Like The Other Passenger, here Candlish offers up a twisty tale with a narrator (well, two in fact) we're not sure we can trust.

This book unfolds in the present via Alex (over several months as the walking trail starts being cleared) and in 1995, again over several months via Rick, in his mid 20s who falls for Marina, a mysterious young woman he sees in a cafe. The move from Alex in the present to Rick in the past makes it seem obvious that Rick becomes Alex. Indeed, we learn the latter changed his name at some point in the intervening twenty years. (Though of course we should know all is not always as it seems!)

Rick and Marina's romance is sweet. Endearing, though it's obvious she's keeping secrets... leading him on perhaps? The Rick we initially meet is likeable and it's hard to see how or why he'd have a college friend (now roommate) as arrogant and narcissistic as Rollo. They're complete opposites so it's Rollo who becomes suspicious of Marina who seems too good to be true and puts a lot of boundaries around her relationship with Rick.

Marina's secrets are (of course) revealed and I very much liked the way Candlish handles Rick's reaction. The Rick we thought we knew changes and becomes more obsessive. And we learn he's acted similarly in the past. We're in Rick's head so we know he has the best of intentions but finds himself getting deeper and deeper in trouble nonetheless.

I found myself less interested in Alex whose story intersects two decades later with Rick's. Though it wasn't Rick, but Marina who lived near the nature trail... where (we learn) a woman was killed in 1995.

Alex isn't particularly likeable and I suspect Candlish does this on purpose. He implies he kinda 'fell into' his relationship and marriage to Beth. This phrase stayed with me, "... he caught himself wondering how he had come to have this wife and not the one he'd once fantasized about." #charming

Interestingly he's surrounded by equally unlikeable characters, including a single pregnant woman Beth brings into their house. Perhaps this is another reason I didn't engage with this part of the story.

Alex is our narrator in the present we know he's keeping secrets and fearful of his past rearing its ugly head but we're not quite sure what form it will take.

The two stories eventually merge of course and not in the way I expected. I know others will certainly enjoy this twisty read. I did also but I think ultimately I didn't really care as much as I would have liked about some of the players, from the past and present, so was ultimately unaffected by events that played out.

3.5 stars

The Only Suspect is the first book I have read by Louise Candlish. It's a successful thriller complete with a couple of big twists. It tells the story of the courtship of Rick Ward and Marina Stanley from his perspective, with his flatmate and friend, Rollo, and her husband Drew Stanley, as secondary characters. It bounces between that 1995 romance and the present day, where the narrator is Alex Parker. It's not stated how present day Alex relates to the earlier story, but he knows it intimately and he's changed his name, so you naturally assume Rick and Alex are one and the same. You're also aware that Alex has a secret, and is constantly plotting and scheming to avoid discovery: "Such was England now, a savage place, no one would believe an old person over a middle-aged one. Her memory would be dismissed as faulty."

The secret is complicated by living at the site where the unnamed bad thing happened, which is currently a construction site, meaning discovery of whatever remains there could be imminent. The book is explores what it's like to live with a terrible secret, how it affects your relationships and your behaviour at home and at work: "He'd thought, until recently, he'd coped okay, passed as pretty normal. A bit on the sardonic side, sure, but normal enough."

Alex's secret is clearly damaging his marriage. His home life is further complicated by his barren wife moving a pregnant girlfriend into their home who he doesn't get along with because she thinks he's hiding something. It's pretty much a recipe for disaster, though perhaps not the one the reader is set up to think is coming...

An excellent thriller that had me wondering what was going on and who was deceiving who. I guessed at least one twist but not how it had happened so there were plenty of twists and turns. The writing was enjoyable, and the pacing is good. It’s told in dual timeline, alternatively 1995 and the present. In the first timeline the focus is on Rick, a man in his twenties who starts a relationship with a woman called Marina who works in the same building as him. Another character in 1995 is Rick’s flatmate Rollo, upper class but always short of cash and a party boy. In the current timeline Alex is married to Beth and they live near an old nature walk where a murder took place in 1995. It becomes clear quite quickly that Alex is somehow involved in the murder. A satisfying read.

The Only Suspect is a brilliant balanced book of twists and suspense. Louise Candlish is a talented writer who instils an undercurrent of suspicion, tension and compulsion right from the beginning. The past life of Rick and the present-day Alex is woven cleverly, hitting the mark on a detailed plot and well-timed twists and turns that had me gasping. Each period is captured beautifully, inculcating a sense of nostalgia and relevance. The characters are fleshed out, and their traits, motivations and characteristics are unveiled on every page. This psychological thriller captures the 'grey' aspect of the protagonist and the supporting characters. Paranoia, suspicion, obsession and secrets guide this read. The ending was suspenseful, and I couldn't believe it! I was reeling from it for days, and this book was responsible for a 3-day book hangover. If you're a fan of the 90s, suspense and psychological thrillers, I recommend this read.

Thank you, NetGalley & Simon & Schuster (Australia), for giving me an ARC. This honest review is left voluntarily.

Okay. Wow! I loved this book. It was a book that reeled me in and took me for a ride, one I just couldn't get off.

The story revolves around Alex and his past life, back when he was young and in his twenties. His life and this time was crazy but he had moved on. But now his past has come back to haunt him!

This is a great dual timeline that brings together the two sides and two eras of Alex's life. It slowly builds and once you get past the slowish start it is unputdownable! This is a book the builds with mystery, tension, intrigue and fear. The characters are interesting and telling of this tale is excellent. It kept me reading and I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend for those who love a good thriller.

What a twisty story! Nothing is what it seems in this new book by Louise Candlish, as character after character is revealed as not what they seem.

Alex lives with his wife Beth in the suburb of Silver Vale. He prefers to live a quiet life and keep his life private but, when Beth tells him a nature trail is being developed on a local area that’s been disused for decades, his whole life changes. He’s not helped by Beth’s enthusiasm for the trail and their ‘temporary’ lodger, a friend of Beth’s.
Soon a secret from Alex’s younger life threatens to surface and he struggles to contain his worry. Will his past relationship with a woman called Marina be revealed? And how would this alter his current life?

The best part of this story is that just when you think you know where it is headed and who’s done what, a new fact is revealed. This is what kept me reading and wondering what the resolution would be. It’s a clever plot and the author is in total control. Loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review. The Only Suspect will be published in March 2023.