Book Review: The Girl Before by JP Delaney

The Girl Before

by 

JP Delaney

I received an early copy in paperback of The Girl Before by Quercus Books to read and review. A massive thanks goes to Quercus for this copy.... The Girl Before is a psychological thriller and this is JP Delaney's debut novel. I had heard great things about this book on social media and could not wait to get started. The Girl Before was published in paperback on January 25th 2018.

"A twisty & creepy thriller that has you addicted from the start"

Precis (taken from the cover):

Enter the world of One Folgate Street and discover perfection . . . but can you pay the price?

Jane stumbles on the rental opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to live in a beautiful ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect, on condition she abides by a long list of exacting rules. After moving in, she discovers that a previous tenant, Emma, met a mysterious death there - and starts to wonder if her own story will be a re-run of the girl before. As twist after twist catches the reader off guard, Emma's past and Jane's present become inexorably entwined in this tense, page-turning portrayal of psychological obsession.

Review:

If you have read my blog before, you will know psychological thrillers are one of my favourite genre's when reading. I just love the guessing game as each chapter teases you just that little bit more. The Girl Before did not disappoint me at all. All you needed to know was on the cover of the book which meant that the story went straight in. You had Emma (the girl before) and Jane (present day). Each chapter flicked between the two main characters, both taking it in turns to narrate the story. The one thing they both had in common was number One Folgate Street, where Emma lived (and died) and where Jane now lives. This property was no ordinary property and came with a huge set of rules to live by. I found both Emma & Jane great characters to read and follow through the book. Both had horrible things that had happened to them and as you get further into the story you find that not only do they also have secrets they want to keep quiet but also they love the same man.

There was something great about the writing in this book. Each chapter you read ran parallel with each other but in different years and each chapter did tease you to read on. The words just leapt off the page and the amount of times I said to myself "just one more chapter" even though I was tired and needed to get to sleep. I read this book in 9 days, which for me is great and shows what a fun and enjoyable book it was to read. The author built the story up and up and you were so desperate to know what had really happened/going to happen. I was guessing all the way through and thought I had it, but nope... Wrong again. I did not see the ending at all. 

The other characters in the book were fun to follow as well. You had Edward the Architect and Steve (Emma's boyfriend) as the supporting cast you could say. Edward who for me was very dark and creepy and you felt all the way through that he was a bad egg and not to be trusted. There were only a couple of other bit-part  characters in the story. I liked this as it meant you could concentrate on the main people and really get stuck into their lives.

Was there anything I did not like about the book? For me there was nothing really. I loved it, I really did. A great book overall, from start to finish.

I have read that this will be turned into a film by director Ron Howard. Will I watch it?? probably not. I don't tend to watch films of books I like after The Silver Linings Playbook ruined one of my all time favourite books. However I do like Ron Howard films so I am sure he will do well with it.

I have scored this book a 5 out of 5. A great book and if you, like me love psychological thrillers, then I fully recommend you give this book a go and I hope you like it as much as I did.

Have you read this book? what did you think? do you agree with me or not? I would love to know.

Speak soon,

CBailey31