The Girl Next Door by Phoebe Morgan – Guest Post

Today it is my pleasure to feature a guest post from Phoebe Morgan where she is talking about her favourite characters. I am reading her new novel The Girl Next Door via the pigeonhole app, where you read the novel as a series. I am enjoying the book a lot, and if it allowed me to read quicker I would do. I will tell you about the book first.

About The Book

One little lie just became deadly…

Perfect mother. Perfect wife. Jane Goodwin has spent years building her picture-perfect life in the quiet town of Ashdon.

So when the girl next door, sixteen-year-old Clare Edwards, is found murdered, Jane knows she must first protect her family.

Every marriage has a few white lies and hers is no exception. Jane’s worked hard to cover up her dark secret from all those years ago – and she’ll do anything to keep it hidden…

Guest Post

My Top 5 Characters in Psych Thrillers

I work as an editor in my day job so I have read a LOT of psychological thrillers – I’m lucky to read for a living! This is a tough question as there are so many great characters but my top five would have to be…

1. Paul in Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant – I absolutely LOVED this book, it’s a wonderfully sinister, creepy read and the main character, Paul, really got under my skin. I think Sabine Durrant is one of the most talented writers around, and highly recommend this one in particular. A lot of the books I read feature female protagonists so it was refreshing to have a male voice in this one.

• Cordelia Russell in Skin Deep by Liz Nugent – Liz Nugent is another fantastic writer and someone I’ll drop everything for. I don’t pre-order that many books (though you should, it really helps authors!) but I do pre-order all of Liz Nugent’s. Cordelia is an amazingly dislikeable character, but she is mesmerising at the same time – and the entire book is based around the message that beauty only goes skin deep. It’s a fascinating portrayal of a very disturbed mind.

• This is a bit unfair because I helped edit this book, but Wendy in The Fear by C.L. Taylor is a brilliant character. I can’t give too much away but there was a moment when reading Cally’s book when she really gave me the creeps, and it’s stuck in my mind ever since. Cally is the master of creating great female characters.

• Kate, the barrister in Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan, is another very three dimensional character and there’s a very good twist in the novel that makes you realise nothing is quite what it seems in Kate’s life. The author has clearly done her research as the world of criminal law and the depictions of London are wonderful, and Kate herself carries the narrative flawlessly.

• Bram Lawson in Our House by Louise Candlish – gosh, this really is a clever book! After reading it I went back and read all of Louise’s backlist whilst on holiday in France, but start with this one as it truly is magnificent. Bram is a man who has made a terrible mistake and got himself into a dangerous mess, but his characters is so deceptive that it’s quite hard to feel sorry for him. His voice really pulls you in and the final few pages made me gasp! Well worth reading.