I thoroughly enjoyed this. It opens with a prologue that immediately grabbed my attention. Fast forward and Helen Appleby is now an adult but the behaviours of her childhood have coloured her life choices. It was a one sitting read for me as I had to know what happens to Helen, short chapters and quite a quick and easy read.

Briefly, recently released from prison after serving two years of a four year sentence for manslaughter Helen has decided to use the money her mother left her to open a second hand bookshop. She finds a property and soon the bookshop is up and running but from the start someone seems to be out to scupper her plans.

There are some difficult issues dealt with in the book - particularly sadomasochism and coercive control - which are dealt with sympathetically. Helen is a difficult character, I initially didn’t like her a lot. She is quick tempered, suspicious and unforgiving but as the book progressed a softer side is evident and she was right to be suspicious. There are a number of characters who raised my suspicions, but that was a moveable feast! Some really good twists and turns and an ending I definitely didn’t see coming. An excellent psychological family drama. Very enjoyable.

Title: The Bookseller
Author: Valerie Keogh
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: March 3, 2025
My Rating: 3.6 Stars
Pages: 287

Helen Appleby was recently released from prison for murdering her partner, she wants to rebuild her life and move on. She decides to open a bookshop of used/previously owned and loved books. She certain this is the perfect - she can hide from the real world and begin again. The world of books is the perfect place to find happiness – Right?
However, Helen seems to attract negative people- the guys running the pizza place, her parole officer, the grandson of a grandma who donates a lot of books, Then there are the seemly nice college girls who fill bring into the bookshop as they are excited with the old books only it turns Jill is a thief.
This attraction to negative people and the need for love started when she was a child. The Prologue tells us about the parents. A mother who doesn’t disciplined the children for her many rules, but writes down their bad behavior foe when the father comes home. The children would line up to take their punishment. Afterwards he would hold young Helen in his arms to comfort her. Thus Helen learned to accept that affection and pain go together

This is my tenth author, Valerie Keogh novel.
This story was a bit different than her typical thriller. I know Ms. Keogh usually has a signature ending ~ She loves to leave readers thinking!!
In the case, the ending was satisfying.

Want to thank NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this this great early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for March 3, 2025.

An interesting psychological drama. Main character is flawed but sympathetic. Who is out to get her. Or is anyone? Keeps you guessing

Great read from Valerie Keogh, the Bookseller is an immersive read and features one of my favorite subjects, bookstores! I enjoyed this book, flawed and interesting characters, a ton of mystery and intriguing. A good read and kept my attention. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher.

Thank you to Valerie Keogh, Boldwood Books, and netgalley for the arc copy of the bookseller! This was a quick read with short chapters and grabbed your attention from the beginning! There was a lot of character development and twists in this novel! Looking forward to reading more from this author! It publishes on 3/3/25, add it to your tbr!!

I really enjoyed the new psychological thriller by author Valerie Keogh. Full of suspense and intrigue that kept me gripped from start to finish so much so I read it in one sitting.
Helen Appleby is trying to rebuild her life after been released from prison for the manslaughter of her partner. She decides to open a small book shop determined to start a fresh and leave behind her troubled past. Despite her positive mindset she struggles to free herself from the past due to some strange happenings. It appears that someone is set on making her life as unsettled as possible and intent on destroying her plans.

The novel is full of suspense and the tension builds throughout. There are several intriguing characters that all have possible reasons for wanting to cause Helen trouble. Because of this I was constantly suspecting characters before changing my mind and moving on to the next one. Well written and the suspense keeps you guessing with a constant undercurrent of danger and tension.

Helen is a very interesting character with a dark past and although she is trying to make a fresh start there is a feeling that circumstances could result in her returning to to prison. Every person she comes into contact with feels like they may be the saboteur. Each character is suspicious in there own way and this just helps the story build. It is almost impossible for Helen to know who to trust.
“The Bookseller” is a very good psychological thriller that makes it an exciting read and will keep you hooked until the very end.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Boldwood Books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

#thankyounetgalley #crime

Thank you to #netgalley for the arc for an honest review
A new author for me am so glad I gave her ago as it was brilliant I read it in three sittings I couldn’t put it down any thing with crime and books in a story is good he he I look forward to more books from this author thank you


A woman with a dark past...

Helen Appleby just wants a quiet life. Recently released from prison for the manslaughter of her partner, she's trying to forget her past mistakes – all of them - to rebuild her life and move on.

When she decides to open a bookshop, she’s certain this is the perfect new start. Here, amongst the quiet shelves of her shop and between the covers of her books, she can hide away from the real world and begin again. The world of books is the perfect place to find happiness - even if it is all lies.

But the past can never stay hidden…

As she settles into life as an apparently timid bookseller, it seems that someone is determined to sabotage Helen's new life and ruin everything she's built.

But Helen has killed once before. And to protect her future, she could be willing to kill again...

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my copy of The Bookseller by Valerie Keogh.
Another winner from this author. This story starts off with a bang and doesn't let up.
So many twists you'll go dizzy.
A great read.

This excellent story is bound to be a hit for the author. The plot is well conceived and the character development takes it up to another level. The former convict just wants a nice quiet life, but someone doesn’t want that to happen. Just when you thought you solved the mystery, another twist takes you in another direction..

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

I very much enjoyed this book. The writing was great and the characters were well developed. I hope to read more from this author in the future.

Helen Appleby is released from prison where she served 2 years for the manslaughter of her husband who was abusing her. She had always had a dream to own her own bookshop as she loved books and reading. So once released with a little inheritance and help from her sister Sarah, she find a run down shop which she buys and renovates in the town where she is from. She makes new friends with the pizza owners next door, her parole office is always around and of course her sister. After a couple of days, she is broken into both at home and her shop. She hears weird banging and is convinced someone is out to get her. A good psychological novel from Valerie Keogh. The characters are likable the ending of this book will surprise you.

In The Bookseller, Helen has just been released from prison on licence for the manslaughter of her partner. She dreams of opening a secondhand bookstore and lucky for her she receives an inheritance! Things start going sour where strange happenings occur... too many to be a coincidence. Is someone from her past trying to teach her a lesson??

I was immediately drawn to this book simply because it seems different from everything I read before. Our heroine in question killed her partner, so there's that. I didn't relate to her at all (I don't think I even liked her) but the book blurb is very clear about what she did, so I was more than happy to exercise suspension of disbelief for this one.

There's more than a few characters in this book that add up to Helen's paranoia: her probation officer, neighbours, even her own siblings... anyone could be out to get her, but why? Helen's charatcer is complex, and throughout the book I kept telling myself to cut her some slack as she was the survivor of domestic violence with complex trauma. Still, there was something about her that just didn't feel right... Things come togeher during the twist... and what a twist it is, To say that I wasn't expecting "that" would be an understatement. Personally I found it nauseating, but I'm a total wuss. Technically speaking, it explained everything and tied loose ends.

The book itself is rather short (about 235 pages) and the chapters are easy to read and to the point. I'd say it's a total page-turner!

I have read most of the author’s other books, the Dublin murder ones being my favourite, , this one was all about second chances and while the main one was Helen getting her life back, it was also building relationships with her sister and learning who to trust, the twins next door added a comical side to the story however brief their part was. The ending felt a bit rushed and felt flat so this is a 4.5 rating for me.

After serving her prison sentence for manslaughter, Helen wants to start a new life and leave her old one behind. She hopes that by opening her dream bookstore she can finally find solitude. Can she ever close the chapters that haunt her and turn to the new one she has dreamed of? It seems someone is trying to sabotage everything she has planned or is that just her paranoia?
This book is phenomenal! Definitely a 5/5. The author does a great job weaving an intricate portrait of the characters. This book will leave you feeling emotionally invested. It is a good reminder that our past is a part of us, but does not have to define us. Good twist at the end. Highly recommend this book!!

The Bookseller by Valerie Keogh

Helen Appleby is new released from prison and decided to open a bookstore with the money from an inheritance , and live a quiet life .
However , things don't quite go to plan when someone decided to make it hard for her.
Will she be forced to kill again ?
Really enjoyed it and was blown away from the twists and the ending.

Helen Appleby wants a quiet life after her release from prison. She has a dream of opening a second hand book shop and after her release she wants to fulfil this dream. When she opens the shop she discovers there was a break in one morning, not just at the shop but at her house. Who is targeting her and why? Will she be able to outrun her past.
A great read I read it in one sitting found it hard to put down once I started.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this arc.

This was really different from the thrillers im used to. Helen was in prison for manslaughter, after two years she gets out and tries to start fresh by opening a bookshop but someone is out to get her. She becomes suspicious of this and thinks that she will have to kill someone again. It’s very intense.

Helen has recently been released from prison, working to start over from her dark part. Helen opens a bookshop which proves to have challenge after challenge. Believing that everyone is after her and could have a reason to want her to fail, she proves that she would be willing to kill again to protect her dreams. Helen’s past catches up with her and she learns to trust those around her.

Thankful to receive an ARC for this book from Boldwood Books and NetGalley. This is my first read from Valerie, and the book had some unexpected twists and turns. I loved the ending and was happy to see how things ended with Helen. She was a difficult main character to love, but ended up redeeming herself in the end.

Valerie Keogh is always on the top of my list of go to authors. In this book Helen has always loved books and growing up, there was a large age difference between her other siblings who as teenagers quite often do not want their little sister tagging along, so she found refuge in books. Her relationships with her parents were fine but it was her father that she absolutely loved, even though he could be a cruel man.

Helen has recently been released on license from prison after killing her partner, Toby. They had a complicated relationship and now Helen has paid her dues but still has restrictions on her life for another two years and if she does not obey the rules, she may find herself locked up again. She has always dreamt of owning her own bookstore and after leaving prison behind and receiving a large inheritance, she makes her dream come true. Her sister thinks she is completely bonkers when she purchases an old run done building, but she is determined to follow through and develop the book shop. But someone out there is trying to destroy this dream and even though she is feeling intimidated she is not going to allow anyone to destroy what she cherishes most.

I have to say this was not my favourite book by this author. Usually when I read her books there are many more oh my gosh moments that have me riveted to the pages, but I felt this book lacked depth and even though I liked Helen I also felt she and the characters were quite one dimensional. Also Helen's paranoia also started to grate on me. They all played their role, but the plot in this book just didn’t grab me the way her books normally do and those intoxicating moments where you keep thinking about it after you have put the book down were just not there. 3.5 stars rounded to 4



Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions expressed are my own.

4.5 stars, actually.

LEAVE THIS OFF OF AMAZON/B&N REVIEWS) For openers, while it's not the most pressing issue in the world, I wish someone would decide whether "bookseller" is one word or two (as a mostly retired journalist, I'm opting for the former). It would make locating this book on listings much, much easier.

That aside, only one thing took away a little enjoyment from this book: the star of the show, Helen Appleby, is overly paranoid; a little of that goes a really, really long way with me. But on the other hand, some of it is totally understandable; after all, she's just been released early from prison after a manslaughter conviction - and most of the folks around her are aware of that. So even an askance glance, I guess, could be enough to arouse her suspicions. Still...

Now that she's been sprung, she's determined to put her past behind her and start a new life. She's got a much-older brother and sister with whom she was never close, although the sister, Sarah Drew, is back in her life and for the most part trying to be helpful. Sarah is less than enthusiastic, though, when Helen buys a delapidated old building to refurbish as a used bookstore. She's an avid reader and doesn't need a ton of money to have a happy and productive life, so it's a chance she's willing to take.

Almost from the git-go, though, things go wrong; the building is closer to a money pit than a solid structure. Next door, she's got a pizza shop - handy for lunches and such, but something about the twin owners gives Helen the creeps. As she starts the refurbishing and stocking process, other oddities crop up - like sounds that go bump in the night and outright break-ins that cost her double the prep work. As while she's happy to meet local people - hoping they're avid readers, of course - she always finds something that prevents her from trusting them fully. Amid all that, her start-up efforts are hindered a bit by an overly aggressive parole officer, Moira Manson, who fluctuates from threatening to send her back to prison to wanting to be her best friend.

For the most part, readers see everything through Helen's eyes, so it isn't till the end when the good guys and gals are separated from the bad and all's as right with the world as it can be. It's an enjoyable journey, though, with a couple of unexpected twists along the way. I'm happy I took the tour, and thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the chance to read a pre-release copy.