Publisher's Weekly Review
At the start of this engrossing psychological thriller set in rural England from Kent (The Crooked House), Fran Hall awakes early one winter morning to discover that her husband, Nathan, is missing from their bed. A search of their dilapidated farmhouse reveals nothing but the Halls' two young children. The door is unlocked and the mat is muddy, so Fran heads outside, where she finds Nathan's bloody corpse in a drainage ditch. As the murder investigation progresses, the police become increasingly suspicious of Fran. She starts to do some digging of her own, and it's not long before Fran realizes that she was married to a stranger. Skillfully integrated flashbacks permit both Fran and the reader to conduct a marital postmortem, and the harsh weather and isolated locale help amplify the tale's inherent tension. The plot features some clever twists, and though Kent doesn't fully earn her ending, she's crafted an emotionally charged mystery that will keep readers guessing until the final chapter. Agent: Victoria Hobbs, A.M. Heath (U.K.). (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Hoping to create a simple, nature-filled childhood for their children, Nathan and Fran Hall leave London for Nathan's hometown, Cold Fen. But when Fran discovers Nathan's body in a ditch on their remote farm, the natural beauty shifts into a frightening new landscape. In shock, Fran realizes how isolated Nathan has kept her when she can't answer detectives' questions about Nathan's job, his past, or his local acquaintances. Smug, cunning lead detective DS Gerard targets Fran as Nathan's murderer, and her only ally is Family Liaison Officer Ali Compton, whom Gerard has sidelined from the start. As frightened as she is of the farmhouse's creaking emptiness, Fran knows that staying put and unveiling Nathan's past is the only way to tempt his killer into making a mistake. Kent (The Crooked House, 2016) intensifies Fran's alienation with a steadily darkening atmosphere and foreboding sense of place that cleverly disguises red herrings. A creepy, addictive read for fans of S. J. Watson's Before I Go to Sleep (2011) and Clare Mackintosh's I Let You Go (2016).--Tran, Christine Copyright 2016 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Fran heard her husband, Nathan, come to bed that night, but when she woke up in the morning, he was nowhere to be found. Moving past her infant son and four-year-old daughter, Fran is compelled to look outside, where she finds Nathan's body in a ditch on their farmhouse property. She has no idea what happened and no concrete knowledge of the events that precipitated Nathan's death. Now alone and still living in Nathan's small hometown, Fran feels out of place and uncomfortable. She's learning unsettling things about her late husband and struggling with what she "thinks" she remembers about the night of his death. Shifting between the past and present, Kent's narrative flows well, although the section transitions could have been smoother. Still, that won't deter readers' interest in discovering the truth about Fran and Nathan. Verdict Kent's (The Crooked House) psychological thriller is reminiscent of B.A. Paris's Behind Closed Doors, which is a more exciting example of stories in this subgenre (a wife realizes she doesn't actually know the man she married). Readers who enjoy Fiona Barton and Shari Lapena may want to try this title.-Nicole A. Cooke, GSLIS, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.