Today I’m joining the blog tour for The Woman Who Wasn’t There. My review is written with thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me on the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

Bestselling crime author Marian Lane is surrounded by adoring readers when she learns that her husband Dane is dead.

Marian returns home in shock to discover a stranger on her doorstep. A woman who not only claims she’s Marian’s biggest fan but says that she comforted Dane in his final moments.

At first, this woman, Mary, is a source of comfort. Until she admits Dane confessed a secret. One she can’t quite remember; one Marian is desperate to learn.

But Mary is a storyteller too. And though Marian knows every twist in the genre, she won’t see this one coming . . .

Review:

I’ve read a few of William Hussey’s books before and enjoyed them, so I was excited to read his latest work. At the beginning, I thought The Woman Who Wasn’t There might be more cosy than what I have read previously, but as the novel progresses, it becomes quite dark, creepy and tense and it was very much up my street. 

The protagonist of The Woman Who Wasn’t There is Marian Lane and she’s a brilliant first person narrator. I loved getting to know her, particularly through the flashback scenes which show the reader her working class background, which differed so much from that of her peers. I sympathised with her and I wanted her to find the answers she needed. Mary Ann Katherine Hannigan is also a pivotal character, and her diary fascinated me – I wanted to know more about her and how she would fit into Marian’s story. 

William Hussey is a brilliant plotter. I loved the way he planted crumbs throughout the novel, but I never guessed a single one and every new revelation took me completely by surprise. I was hooked the whole way through, but especially during the last third of the novel I could not put my Kindle down as everything came together and was explained. 

I will be thinking about Marian Lane and her friends and family for a long time to come. 

The Woman Who Wasn’t There is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: