What Lies Between Us (buy here!) is a shocking psychological thriller. It had me on the edge of my seat, frantically turning pages as I rushed to learn what was going on.
It tells the story of a twisted mother-daughter relationship, describing the extreme possible consequences of lies and abuse.
Synopsis:
Nina lives alone with Maggie. Maggie stays indoors, and Nina works at a library.
Every other night, Nina takes Maggie downstairs, and they eat dinner together.
After they’ve eaten, Nina takes Maggie back to her room, and chains her to the bed.
Maggie kept secrets from Nina, and Nina will never forgive her for that. But Nina hasn’t discovered everything, and Maggie will take the rest of her secrets to the grave.
My thoughts:
Okay I wrote that synopsis myself, and I hope that it gave you chills, because this. Story. Will. Give. You. Chills.
I was trying to write in a kind of creepy way to convey the feeling of the novel, but I have no clue if I managed to accomplish that! Basically, the whole book has you on the edge of your seat. The characters are unpredictable and volatile, it’s impossible to know what they’re going to do next. Marrs takes you on a crazy journey, there are all kinds of plots twists.
I was actually really impressed by this aspect of the novel, I found the plot twists really creative, and I wasn’t able to anticipate them. Sometimes, you might think that it’s disappointing when you can’t anticipate a plot twist, but this novel’s strength lies in the surprises it offers the reader. I found that I was impressed and refreshed by Marrs’ writing because it was so unique, and didn’t seem to just copy other novels.
It was actually insanely unrealistic in this way, however. Certain things happened throughout the novel that just kind of made me go… really? Really? You think that’s plausible? I didn’t really mind this though, because obviously I was aware that it was fiction, and I was able to just kind of enjoy the wild ride.
I hated both Maggie and Nina, and I actually enjoyed that process of hating. There were moments in the novel when I thought I liked one of them, but then Marrs would undo that, putting me right back at square one. Neither of them were particularly likeable, due to their personal choices and their mentality, but it wasn’t the kind of novel where you wanted a character that you liked, it was actually really fun to just sit alone, learning about them, but not having to identify with them, or relate to them.
What Lies Between Us is actually a really dark novel, in case that wasn’t clear. But in a really good way. It’s a psychological thriller and has some really hard themes: abuse of all kinds for example. I would be careful about recommending this to someone who had sensitivities to topics like sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse, because the novel does frequently describe and focus on those topics.
Favourite or forgettable?
Okay, this wasn’t really a favourite, but I did enjoy reading it. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who doesn’t like psychological thrillers, I think it suits a very niche reader. Personally I enjoy a thriller, but I like to read them in daylight, and follow them up with a nice rom-com!
If you loved this, read this:
- When I was You by Minka Kent (buy here!)
- The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine (buy here!)
- What You Did by Claire McGowan (buy here!)
- A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight (buy here!)
If you read this, and need a pick-me-up novel, read this:
- The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary (buy here!)
- Dumped, Actually by Nick Spalding (buy here!)
- #No Filter by Maxine Morrey (buy here!)
Please let me know if you have any other book recommendations, or if you’d like me to a review a book for you!
Note the amazon purchase links in this post are affiliate links. This means that, should you purchase the books through my link, I earn a very small commission! You don’t pay any extra!