Crime Fiction Books,  Edelweiss

Book Recommendation – Greenwich Park – Katherine Faulkner

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner

Genre: Mystery & Thriller

Published: 2019 in UK & ROW, 2022 in US

Swathi’s Rating: 4.5/5


My Thoughts:

What a blasting debut!! Utterly captivating and unpredictable, I can’t believe how I paced through the book till I got to the very last page. Man what a ride. 
Greenwich Park is the residence of Helen and Daniel where they live in the sprawling bunglow of Helen’s parents. The story revolves around Helen and her brothers Rory and Charlie and their spouses Serena and Charlie’s reporter girlfriend Katie. These three ladies are our narrators, two of whom are pregnant and expecting their first born. Meanwhile, Katie is following a hot shot rape case which also happens to have similarities to a rape that happened ten years ago, exactly when Helen and her brothers graduated. 

In enters Rachel, who joins Helen’s prenatal class, slowly befriending her through several so-called coincidental meetings in the neighborhood. Rachel is weird, rude and extremely erratic and she’s very keen on digging into everyone’s businesses, especially Rory, Daniel and Serena. What’s she upto? And why is Rachel here at the middle of the night, at Helen’s place refusing to go anywhere and taking up anything and everything from them? 


I love reading debuts. The story is always raw and the writing fresh, especially when it’s a thriller. Greenwich Park is atmospheric and dark and it’s so free flowing that you won’t know what to expect and you’d be completely thrown away in to the dark when the twists hit you. Katherine Faulkner is the newest talent amongst several brilliant British authors that I follow and she’s so good at manipulating her readers to sympathise and believe a character while making us hate another one so much. 


This is one such books where the blurb offers very little of the actual story and there are so many layers to it. It took me a while to get into the book but honestly I enjoyed the creeping unease that’s right there from chapter one. Plus, the writing was so GOOD and that’s exactly what I look for in a psychological thriller. 


Just when I thought I’d guessed it all about one person whom I had suspicions right from the beginning, I was appalled by all the things that were finally revealed later that they might have done. And then, the last chapter made me a very happy, satisfied reader because I did a little victory dance with my fist up in the air as though it was me who won it!! Loved Greenwich Park. 


About the Book:

Helen has it all…

Daniel is the perfect husband.
Rory is the perfect brother.
Serena is the perfect sister-in-law.

And Rachel? Rachel is the perfect nightmare.

When Helen, finally pregnant after years of tragedy, attends her first antenatal class, she is expecting her loving architect husband to arrive soon after, along with her confident, charming brother Rory and his pregnant wife, the effortlessly beautiful Serena. What she is not expecting is Rachel.

Extroverted, brash, unsettling single mother-to-be Rachel, who just wants to be Helen’s friend. Who just wants to get know Helen and her friends and her family. Who just wants to know everything about them. Every little secret…

Masterfully plotted and utterly addictive, Greenwich Park is a dark, compelling look at motherhood, friendships, privilege and the secrets we keep to protect ourselves.

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