Review: Trust in Me by Sophie McKenzie

How well can you really know another person? How well do you really know your best friend? Your spouse? Can you trust them? That is the premise of Trust in Me, a new novel by British thriller writer, Sophie McKenzie.

Livy has enjoyed a comfortable life as a wife and mother of two and has a great friendship with Julia. Her happy life has only been tainted just a little with two events--the brutal of her sister, Kara, eighteen years ago and when her husband had a brief fling with one of his work colleagues. Julia has been the friend that Livy has depended on during these hard times. Through Livy's eyes we see Julia as a strong and capable woman. So when Julia dies in an apparent suicide, Livy is certain that Julia's death was not self inflicted. She starts to investigate ... and discovers just how little she knew her supposed best friend and some of the other people around her.

Trust in Me is a novel that is unpredictable and sometimes impossible to put down. The author carefully plots a setting that contrasts family and relationship drama with, questions of trust, and a cat and mouse game between a killer and his ultimate prey. But who is this violent psychopath? What does he want from Livy? And how far is he prepared to take his games? And what will become of the safe life that Livy has always known? Wanting to find out the answers kept me reading well into the evening. The strongest parts of the novel, I felt, were those written from the perspective of the killer, though Livy makes for an interesting heroine--an ordinary woman, who by her knowledge of right and wrong, and by her belief in others, is thrown into an extraordinary situation. Some of the family drama weighed the novel down a little, though the family problems that Livy experienced--such as trust issues and her fears about motherhood--felt very believable.

An enjoyable novel. Recommended for those looking for a thriller with a likeable and unlikely heroine.

Finally, a bit shout out to Simon and Schuster Australia for my free review copy. Thank you. 

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