Molly, the quiet, anxious and introverted twin of outgoing and confident Katie receives the devastating news that her twin sister has died whilst their parents are in New York visiting her. Molly has to overcome her fear of flying to be with her parents asap. On arrival, having found out that Katie was murdered, Molly starts looking into Katie’s life to try to uncover what happened. This book literally transports you to New York, fabulous descriptions, great characterisation and after a gentle start it becomes a gripping, fabulously twisty thriller which will keep you turning those pages - enjoy, I certainly did! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thanks to Hodder & Staughton & Netgalley for ARC. First - I love Mr Dean's writing, and The Last Thing to Burn was probably my favourite book of last year. Second - I love the high concept of this novel - twins Molly and Katie, growing apart as they get older, living incredibly different lives apparently in keeping with their incredibly different personalities. Sudden death of one twin leaves the survivor and her parents bereft, looking for answers. Things are murkier than they appear on the surface. Third - New York is an irresistible setting for this kind of novel, feeling familiar to all from books and films, even if we haven't been there. It's a slow burning start, with the first and biggest twist not till around half way through, that will have you sitting up in bed going 'What the - ?' and unable to stop reading on just one more chapter. After that, things get more convoluted, and frankly for me, it got just a little silly as the denouement approached. Still, admirable to keep it all going, and such a change in pace from his other work.

Well, that was an interesting and head-bashing read and I don't even know where to start! You are either going to love it or not like it so much! If I'm honest, for most of the book, I was in the "not like it so much" camp but as the story unfolded, it grew on me more and more and by the end, I was totally invested. I'm not going to go into any of the plot but will say that you need to be prepared to put aside reality at times, accept that the main character of Molly is not a particularly likeable character (for me anyway) and she does ramble on a bit, which became annoying at times, but if you can do that, you will enjoy this rollercoaster of a read. Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

FIRST BORN by Will Dean Publish Date - 14 April 2022 The blog/summary for FIRST BORN sounded an intriguing read. On the first few pages my feeling was that this book was not for me but I continued reading. I struggled and was confused with the plot. I give a 2 star rating. I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST REVIEW