It’s Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh
Nadeeka is certain Jamie is having an affair. She knows the tell-tale signs. She’s been here before. When Jamie claims to be at work late, she knows he’s lying. He’s with another woman, and she’s determined to catch him in the act.
But when Nadeeka arrives home to confront him, Jamie can’t explain himself. The house has become a crime scene… Jamie is dead.
GUIDE
THEMES
A woman suspects hr partner is having an affair.
SETTING
Set in England
SERIES
Not part of a series.
Review
It’s Not What You Think is the latest psychological thriller from Clare Mackintosh and it is another fantastic read. There are two massive twists in this novel and they are jaw-dropping so it’s going to make this book hard to review as I don’t want to spoil anything.
At the novels opens, Nadeeka Prasanna has left work in the middle of the day as she is sure her partner, Jamie, is cheating on her as the train noise in the background indicates he is at home rather than in his office as he claims. Nadeeka has been through this all before as her ex-husband cheated on her numerous times and she finds it hard to trust even a good man like Jamie. She knows she is being paranoid but she just has to check for her own peace of mind. However, Nadeeka arrives home to find her house has been turned into a crime scene and Jamie is lying dead on the living room floor.
As Nadeeka watches Jamie’s body being taken from the house and transported to the morgue, she begins to lose control and wonders how she is ever going to get over this loss. However, when Nadeeka contemplates Jamie’s odd behaviour over the past few weeks, she realises that he may have been cheating on her after all and she is determined to find out the truth. Nadeeka makes some unwise decisions but her attempts at investigating on her own just leads to nothing but more questions. Did she ever know Jamie?
There are other narrators throughout the novel but revealing them would certainly unravel the twists so suffice to say there is so much going on, you do not know who or what to believe so it’s better to bear the title in mind and question everything. There are some very topical themes in this novel, some that will send a chill down your spine, but as Mackintosh states in her afterword you just have to believe that the good will outweigh the bad in the end.
