This is a psychological thriller that resonates. Whilst, it has all the expected qualities of the genre, it contains so much more. A domestic thriller and a family drama, with secrets and tragedy. Mental Health issues and homelessness are major themes woven into the hard-hitting emotional story. The unreliable protagonist Ellie is a grandmother, which affords her a certain uniqueness in this genre, but her life is riddled with neglect, trauma and self-loathing. She is someone you empathise with, as each terrible injustice and secret are revealed. The ending seems just, but there is a twist that leaves you wondering. The plot is complex and pacy, it keeps you guessing, whilst you are reeling from the horror and injustice of the women’s lives that are explored. It confuses, it’s meant to. The story is addictive, coherent, and full of relevant examples of mental health issues, and the largely overlooked plight of homelessness. It makes you think, and worry about the society we live in. The thriller aspect is clever and calculating, the emotion is genuine and heartbreaking, the moral issues raised are thought-provoking and worrying. You will carry this story with you, and not many books in this genre can say that. I received a copy of this book from Penguin UK Books via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Well, I expected a good book (with the author being Jane Corry, how could it be anything else) but what I got far exceeded any and all of my preconceptions. The story is told, by Ellie and Jo in alternating chapters. These characters couldn’t be much different if they tried. The author has successfully given each one their own individual personality and (again), has successfully made them unique. There’s clearly been an awful lot of research here on the part of the author, as she has managed to negotiate her way through the subject of mental health issues with accuracy and with the sensitivity that it both needs and deserves. This is a book of substance. The storyline is both gripping & heartbreaking. Many a time did I have a lump in my throat and a heavy heart whilst reading this. It’s an extremely emotional read. I was invested wholeheartedly in this book and would recommend this to anyone. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for my arc. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own. #Ilookedaway #Netgalley

I Looked Away is a wonderfully crafted and absorbing psychological thriller from the very talented Jane Corry. The novel is cleverly plotted where you know there’s a major twist coming and it teases in the background as you become totally captivated by the personal accounts of the two main characters, Ellie and Jo. The narrative is developed from each of their points of view, plus a little snippet of another relationship that hangs around the plot as a looming shadow. This is a fascinating thriller that illustrates how precariously people can live on the edge of constant uncertainty, endured and discharged. We witness personalities being unveiled and their mental angsts being shrewdly exposed. The full array of characters is diverse and the many relationships are unique with such an impressive range of fully formed interactions. The opening scene is a heart-breaking family tragedy, and four months later Ellie is in prison, reflecting back on her childhood. Since Ellie was 5 years old and witnessing her mother’s death she has felt everything good in her life gets taken away. She had to grow up with her father remarrying a neighbour, the addition of a brother, Michael, and her stepmother, Sheila Greenway, who openly detests Ellie and demonstrates clear choices between the two children. We know that an incident is coming that will result in Ellie committing an offence and spending 4 years in Highbridge prison. Jo has just been released from prison and is living homeless, travelling from Bristol to Devon and Cornwall, and encountering various characters during her travels. We very subtly learn a little bit about Jo but she keeps her past hidden. The sense of authenticity for the lives of the homeless must have been passionately researched. Both Ellie and Jo have major traits in common, the psychological turmoil, the sense of undeserved happiness, the caution and vulnerability when a new person is kind but history tells you that people bring disappointment and danger. Better to part now that things are good, rather than wait for the customary dashed promise and suffering. The two women are outwardly soft and pleasant but the whispering suspicion of risk and danger is wonderfully threaded through the narrative. The book is almost 500 pages and it literally (haha) flew by as I was so obsessed by the characters and the plot. The emotional energy plied by Jane and consumed by the reader is intense. I would highly recommend reading this book and I’d like to thank Jane Corry and Penguin UK for providing me with an ARC copy in return for an honest review.

looked away is a compulsive and twisty domestic noir that has been impossible to put down. With a past and present timeline, the dual first-person narrative explores the lives of Ellie - a middle-class grandmother, and Jo - a homeless woman. We see the two characters meet at the beginning of the story but just how they are connected and to what degree this seemingly inconsequential liaison has on the storyline is not revealed until we reach the story’s climax. I did have an idea as to what this might be, and as somebody who devours psychological thrillers like no tomorrow, I was right. But this did not in any way spoil things; in fact it made it all the more satisfying! Ellie’s timeline is mostly in the past, where we see a very different lifestyle to the middle-class woman she is today. Ellie starts off as a woman who you immediately root for. She has a lot going for her from a materialistic perspective but the one thing she can’t buy is her husband’s fidelity. We don’t see much of Roger in the present, but they have a long history together and there are a few shocks and twists as details of their relationship emerge. You just know he is a complete dick and you will be willing Ellie to pack her bags and find a better life without him. But this is a psychological thriller, so things don’t work out quite so simple as that! But it was the characterisation of Jo that totally drew me in. Firstly, we see her arrive in Bristol. As a Bristolian, it was like I was wandering the streets with her, and it really makes you think ‘What would I do? Where would I go?’ if placed in Jo’s shoes. The character is so real, when I was in town a week after reading the book, I saw a woman who looked just like the character in my head and I thought ‘Oh look there’s Jo!’ As the two time-lines gradually converge, all the seemingly inconsequential events scattered throughout the narrative are brought to light. At the beginning of this year I decided to only review those books that excite and inspire me as a new writer. Jane Corry does this in abundance. Everything from the way the novel is structured, to the twisty and compelling plotline, to characterisation, to the writer’s colloquial and compelling voice. My list is endless. I absolutely loved this book and can’t recommend it enough.

I looked away is a gripping physiological thriller told through Ellie a middle aged Grandma and Jo who lives on the streets .Ellie is in prison and we don't know why.This is a story about homelessness,mental issues and childhood trauma.It is quite a sad story brilliantly and sensitively told.It has made me think of homelessness in a different way and the many different reasons for ending up on the streets.This is one of those books that is very hard to put down.I thoroughly enjoyed it ! Many thanks to the Publisher the Author and NetGalley for my preview copy in return for an honest review.