A thought provoking thriller indeed! The author covers such a tough topic and it was a hard read.

Full review to follow on my bookstagram @thewee_bookshelf.

Thanks netgalley for the advanced copy!

Thank you to the publishers for an advanced e-copy of this debut book. The revenge of Rita Marsh has an unhinged narrator in Rita. Part of a justice group - Raven Justice who snares paedophiles , she along with Spider and Spike are involved in a sting that leads to the predator committing suicide and police warning her that she is causing problems. Rita runs a care home left to her from her parents and is mixed British and Indian heritage, herself proclaiming she is too white to be Indian and too Indian to be fully white. She is frustrated by the lack of convictions despite loads of arrests and evidence they hand over and wants to give up. Her friend Javid invites her to a school reunion where she bumps in to her old friend Leila . Things start to tumble out of control when rumours of an old school teacher and ex pupil surface and she finds herself in a sticky situation whilst trying to dish out her own form of revenge whilst trying to justify he own bad behaviour. Interesting characters and plotline. I enjoyed this book, different to others I have read and will be recommending.

This is a thought-provoking, gripping thriller, but not an easy read because of its challenging subject matter. I found myself having to pause and think while I read, which was/is a good thing I think.

This is a new writer to me, but I was mostly swayed by the book's blurb as I like a good vigilante who exposes and deals with bad people, for the general benefit of most of the people. The writing was excellent when describing how the lead character, Rita, had kept the two sides of her life split for a long time. Certainly, the majority of humans would agree that removing paedophiles from their awful predatory tasks could only be good for humanity. I also have a sneaking suspicion that we all find Rita’s level of justice to be fair and just. How she combines this with running a care home that was left to her by her parents proves to show good writing by this novelist. Some individuals will find the subject disturbing with perhaps too much information and characterization about the difficulties of the victims. This is well worth persisting to the end to find out whether Rita was as successful as you'd like her to be.

‘The Revenge Of Rita Marsh’ by Nilesha Chauvet tells the story of a woman who runs the care home left to her by her late parents by day, but acts as a vigilante ensnaring pedophiles by night. Just when the consequences of her actions catch up with her and she begins to reflect on how far outside the law she is comfortable working, a case far too close to home comes to her attention and she is torn between inaction and revenge…

I liked the initial characterisation of Rita and the uncomfortable but illuminating scene at her school reunion. I also found the interactions with the police very interesting, and the novel posed some difficult questions. The dark subject matter was generally dealt with very sensitively.

However, I found the tone and pace of the book distractingly variable and thought some of the decisions made by characters were extremely questionable. I suppose the novel reflected real life by depicting the messiness and tragedy of crime but elements were not very satisfying.

Overall this gets three stars from me… the premise was very intriguing but the story didn’t quite grip me as much as I’d hoped.

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Faber & Faber via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A difficult subject to tackle in your debut novel and a good stab at it. A quick read for me and I thank the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. I should have taken more notice of the plot - online grooming and sexual abuse of young girls. I tried but could get into the book so I gave up before the end. I'm sure many younger than me will enjoy and appreciate the story.

This book was a 2.5 stars for me, rounded up. I really wanted to like this book more, but the writing and characters were lukewarm to me and had potential for more. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance digital copy.

I did enjoy this. I don't think that it particularly well written, it was a little too dramatic in places and the characters hadn't been fleshed out enough. It was a little unrealistic and also a little predictable in places. Having said that, it did keep me interested right to the very end and I enjoyed the story.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It's not an easy subject to tackle, but the author does it well, a great achievement for a debut novel. Recommended.

The Prologue tells us immediately that Rita Marsh has killed a man - not intentionally and not premeditated but nevertheless she has killed a man!
So this is not technically a mystery, but an explanation of why such an obviously 'good' and kind person has committed this crime.
Rita's character is so well portrayed in this story. I felt nothing but sympathy for her and her predicament. Her methods to do good are criticised by the police on the one hand but they want to use her for their own purposes on the other.
Leila is a damaged character, but also a very selfish one.
Javid is her only true and loyal friend, the only one who supports her regardless of what she has done in life.
Not the easiest read, many issues addressed.
A good debut and I look forward to reading more by this author.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Nilesha Chauvet/Faber & Faber for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Rita Marsh runs a Care home by day but, by night she is a vigilante. She is part of a group of people that pretend to be young girls to snare paedophiles online. She takes it kind of personal after what happened in her own childhood and to her friend Leila who was groomed by one of their teachers whilst at school.
This is a dark and complex read and maybe deter some readers for its difficult subject. I found it to be intense, compelling read. I am not sure about the characters though. Especially Rita, I found her quite delusional thinking that she was doing the right thing. But I would be interested to see a continuation of this story after the ending. 4 stars from me

I wonder if you would want Rita as your friend?!

Rita is out to get men who do wrong by children,

Things take a very wrong turn after a school reunion, when memories, both good and bad, are stirred.

Trapped in a downward spiral, Rita is making decisions that will change lives forever.

The pace in this read picks up at a great pace and you will want to find out how things turn out for our titular character.

Wow what a wild ride. I can’t believe this is a debut novel!

This tells the story of Rita who is trying to take down pedophiles by posing as children online. But Rita is such a complex character, and things begin to unravel, and things and get dark and weird.

This is not much of a mystery to this book, but it sure was thrilling. I couldn’t put it down. And being inside the mind of Rita really made the book all the more scary and thrilling.

Hard to say much more without spoiling it but if you like dark and twisty characters with a thrilling plot, read this.

So well written and well paced, I will definitely be reading more of this authors work. Thanks to netgalley and publisher for the arc.

This is a book with very complex characters and very dark subjects which may well need trigger warnings for some people.
The writing is very emotional, deep, about people and the characters we become and how, despite the best of intentions, things do not always work out as we imagine.
My only criticisms of the book is that I felt it sometimes dragged on a little, however this may have been intentional by the author as it builds tension and gives the reader the opportunity to process the situation. I also feel that the cover comes over as a cosy crime type of book which it definitely isn't. This is a complex, thought provoking psychological thriller.
For a debut novel the author has done a brilliant job with her style of writing, the progression of the characters and building of tension within the story, and her direct way of dealing with quite controversial subjects. I look forward to seeing what comes next for her.

Covering some really complex and difficult subject matter this thriller has lots of atmosphere and edge, with other parts a bit slow or harder to follow
I enjoyed the ending

This was such a great read. I really enjoyed hre unravelling of Rita in both the sense of getting to know her and her actual undoing. As the story progresses we learn a lot about what people will do in their fight for justice and their own morals.

I should've known what to expect from this book from the blurb, however, it went much deeper and darker than I originally anticipated.
The first third or so of the book, I found it hard to put down. I loved getting to know Rita and her story of why she does what she does. I love a story about women taking revenge on men, however, I found this one quite different from others. The seriousness of the topic wasn't shied away from at any point, which I utterly appreciated. Some areas of the book were highly triggering and felt like Rita was talking to me directly. Had I not been in therapy for the issue at hand, I may have found this too hard to read, but instead I found it highly impactful at times. Other times, it felt like the issue could've been handled a little better, especially with what felt like the author was pushing the reader to feel empathy for the abuser.
The story dwindled for a short while around the halfway mark, but came back punching shortly after.
Definitely worth a read for any woman.

I was struggling to get into this story. The formatting inconsistencies - sometimes in separated paragraph blocks and sometimes in huge chunks of un-indented text - made it hard to read. In addition, I didn't find the main character at all sympathetic.
Once I got past that, I found a cleverly plotted, well-written story that dealt deftly with an uncomfortable subject.

Thanks to NetGalley and Faber & Faber for this ARC.

Rita Marsh is a good person. By day, she runs a care home, by night she’s a vigilante posing as young girls to ensnare men who are preying on them. But an old classmate who she’s stayed in touch with invites her to a reunion and it sets off a tidal wave of events that change Rita forever, forcing her to choose between justice and revenge.

The book is well written and Rita’s character is strong, relevant and engaging. It isn’t a comfortable, easy read however, it boldly challenges ethics and moral thinking. I didn’t particularly like the character of Leila although I understand her need to be so prominent in the book. This book will definitely stick with me but I wouldn’t say it was an enjoyable read due to the subject matter.

TW for the book: child sexual contact, grooming, violence