Keep You Close by Lucie Whitehouse
Release Date: 10th March 2016
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Buy: Hardback | Kindle
Rating:
They said it was a tragic accident.
She knows better…
The brilliant young painter Marianne Glass is found dead in her snow-covered garden.
Rowan Winter, once her closest friend, knows it wasn’t an accident.
Marianne had vertigo, paralysing vertigo.
She never would have gone that close to the edge…
When Marianne Glass falls to her death in what appears to be a tragic accident, one of her former closest friends can’t help but think there is more to her untimely death than would first appear. For starters Marianne suffered from vertigo; so there is no way that she would have been near the edge of a high roof-top in the first place. Although the two haven’t been in touch for some years, Rowan won’t rest until she finds out what really happened to her friend, especially when she receives a message from Marianne which was written just a few days before she died. However it quickly transpires that the more Rowan discovers, the darker the whole mystery becomes. What really happened to lead Marianne to plunge to her death? What exactly caused Marianne and Rowan’s close friendship to come to an abrupt ending all those years ago? And are some secrets best left undiscovered? Mystery, intrigue and drama quickly follow in this unputdownable thriller…
I have been desperate for more from Lucie Whitehouse the minute I turned the last page of Before We Met. As soon as I read the amazing synopsis for Lucie’s latest offering I just KNEW that this was going to be a good ‘un…And BOY OH BOY it was!
The story kicks off with a hugely intriguing prologue. We’re on a roof-top and the characters present are referred to only as ‘she’ and ‘he’. I was immediately filled with all the what/why/how/who questions; Who are they? What exactly is going on? etc and I had a sneaky suspicion that I wasn’t going to be putting this book down any time soon…
When the story then begins were are introduced to Rowan just as she is learning about her former friend’s death. The main thing I wanted to know was why Rowan and Marianne hadn’t been in contact for some years. We are given a detailed backstory of the relationship between the two friends, so where did it all go wrong?
The way in which the novel is set out mixes events from the past with those of the current day which works really well. Via various flashbacks, I love how we are given an in depth history to the characters and I feel as though I really got to know them (or at least I thought I did…!) They certainly are a fascinating bunch too; flawed, full of depth and frighteningly realistic. I was genuinely interested in the characters in this story, particularly in the case of Rowan. Whilst Rowan is a narrator of sorts, it’s more a case of the story being told from her thoughts, yet it’s written in the third person. Rowan starts off as an ordinary enough character, but the more you learn the more intrigued you will become, especially as she tries to reacquaint herself with the people she used to know so well in her bid to discover what really happened to Marianne.
I loved the many themes that were running through this novel, too. The art side of things was fascinating and so well executed, along with examining the complexities of relationships, friendships & secrets.
Lucie is such a clever writer and the way that this story is crafted is top notch. I am really conscious of giving too much away in my review but I will say that they way in which the story played out and worked up towards THAT ENDING was phenomenal.
Keep You Close is one of those all-consuming novels that will integrate itself into your life in every way possible. I found myself thinking about this novel when I should have been a)Working b)Sleeping c)Functioning like a normal human being. In other words it is completely consuming.
If twisty, turny, psychological, sleep-depriving thrillers are your thing then this is a must-read.
A huge thank you to Ellen at Bloomsbury for the opportunity to review Keep You Close. ♥
Lucie Whitehouse was born in the Cotswolds in 1975 and grew up in Warwickshire. She studied Classics at Oxford University and then began a career in publishing while spending evenings, weekends and holidays working on the book that would eventually become THE HOUSE AT MIDNIGHT.
Having married in 2011, she now divides her time between the UK and Brooklyn, where she lives with her husband. She writes full time and has contributed features to the Times, the Sunday Times, the Independent, Elle and Red Magazine.
♥ Lucie Whitehouse ♥ | Website | Twitter | Goodreads |
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