What Lies Between Us, a review by Joanna

posted in: 5 star read, Joanna, Thriller | 0

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What Lies Between Us
John Marrs

363 pages
Published May 2020
Thomas & Mercer

Bookshop.org

Gosh am I glad to be the mother of cats, even if it means not being brought breakfast in bed once a year… This was a brilliantly bonkers book about the most dysfunctionally toxic relationship between a fictional mother and daughter that I’ve ever come across. Be ultra careful to avoid spoilers for this one if you want the full impact.

38 year old librarian Nina lives a quiet, ordinary life – apart from the fact that she keeps her mother, Maggie, chained up in the attic as punishment for something terrible she did years ago. Nina and Maggie tell their stories, and plot against one another, while cordially eating dinner and listening to ABBA together, loving and hating in equal measure. Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, Who is the craziest of them all?!

I’ve only read one previous book by this author, and had been slightly disappointed after all the hype, but will definitely be checking out his others now – this was so clever. I make no secret of hating first person present narration but will grudgingly admit that it’s essential for the structure of this plot, as past events a revealed by both brilliantly unreliable narrators in flashbacks. The twists just keep coming! My sympathy shifted between Nina and Maggie, as it was meant to, and by the end I was glued to my kindle to find out how they could ever get out of their situation.

I’ve cut back on psychological thrillers in recent years, after getting fed up with the same old tropes over and over, but this takes those same elements and manages to blend them into an disturbingly original plot – sure, you need to suspend disbelief for a lot of it but it was totally worth it.

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