The Understudy - Sophie Hannah; Clare Mackintosh; B A Paris; Holly Brown

Description

Written By Sophie Hannah, BA Paris, Clare Mackintosh, and Holly Brown, this psychological thriller is perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Louise Candlish

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO PROTECT YOUR DAUGHTER?

Carolyn, Bronnie, Elise, and Kendall are bound together by one thing - their four daughters are best friends at the highly competitive Orla Flynn Academy for the Performing Arts.

Imogen Curwood is a new girl at the Academy and her behaviour is odd from the start. On the day she arrives, bad things start to happen. As one threatening incident follows another, the four mothers begin to ask themselves: are their girls in danger?

When an attempted murder rocks the school, Imogen is pleased to report that she has an alibi. If she isn't the guilty party, someone else must be.

Carolyn, Bronnie, Elise and Kendall are determined to uncover the truth and protect their daughters. But are they prepared to risk their own secrets being exposed?

THE UNDERSTUDY IS THE OUTSTANDING NEW NOVEL FROM FOUR MASTERS OF SUSPENSE

Review

I was intrigued by the multiple authorship of this book. I have read books by B A Paris and that really drew me in and the knowledge that the other authors are also well regarded.

Four mothers and their daughters - eight characters first off to keep track on and I couldn't. Which daughter was with which Mother I kept trying to recall as I read on. I would have thought that the different authors would have each had a voice but they for me just didn't.

The four girls are all budding stars, friends whilst also frenemies at times, the same can be said for their Mothers too. A new girl arrives and upsets the dynamics of the group - she has no Mother with her so she was slightly easier to keep track of.

I didn't warm to any of the main characters and once the "mystery" was just about solved I actually groaned out loud. I really began to lose interest in the book. I did though make it to the end - just.

Disappointed in this book. A minor point, it's set in England and yet throughout American spellings are used which just kept annoying me. I'm giving it three out of five stars. My thanks to Netgalley for a ARC to review. The book is out on 3 October.

Comments

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