Book Review: The Girl Before by JP Delaney

Synopsis First….Review After

In the tradition of The Girl on the Train, The Silent Wife, and Gone Girl comes an enthralling psychological thriller that spins one woman’s seemingly good fortune, and another woman’s mysterious fate, through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death, and deception.

Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life.

The request seems odd, even intrusive—and for the two women who answer, the consequences are devastating.

Emma
Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The house is an architectural masterpiece: a minimalist design of pale stone, plate glass, and soaring ceilings. But there are rules. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control: no books, no throw pillows, no photos or clutter or personal effects of any kind. The space is intended to transform its occupant—and it does.

Jane
After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street she is instantly drawn to the space—and to its aloof but seductive creator. Moving in, Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home’s previous tenant, a woman similar to Jane in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror, as the girl before.

Here’s what I thought…

Twisted, intriguing, and architecturally sound! You probably haven’t heard architecture terms in many book reviews, but let me tell you that this description fits this novel perfectly. The plot revolves around a strange property with an even stranger owner, Edward Monkford. Edward is an architect whose wife and son were killed years ago in a tragic accident. Since then, Edward has built extremely modern and sophisticated properties that are only occupied by very special tenants. Tenants who seem to always have eerie similarities to his late wife and who seem to always wind up in bed with him. Two women, Emma in the past and Jane in the present both applied and were accepted as tenants at One Folgate Street after answering a long list of odd questions. The first question being, “Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life.” Emma answers by leaving the answer blank. “As blank and empty and perfect as the interior of One Folgate Street” she says. Jane answers the same question with a different answer but considers this opportunity a rebirth. Both women have recently faced challenging life situations. Emma had been a victim of burglary and possibly more, and Jane had just lost a full term baby. Emma and her boyfriend Simon move into the house and shortly thereafter Emma breaks his heart and ends their relationship. Through flashbacks, we learn more about the time Emma and Simon lived at One Folgate and how the current tenant Jane is beginning to unravel the mystery of what happened to Emma when she met an untimely and suspicious death. Did Emma kill herself and what drove her to do so? Or was is someone else? Is Jane safe in the house? Who is this mysterious, damaged and very handsome architect Edward Monkford? I highly recommend this book. It was quite the page turner! I did not see that end coming and was pleasantly surprised when the mystery was revealed. I give it 4.5 Stars and look forward to hearing what my fellow readers and blog subscribers think! This book will be released January 2017.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author and publisher for this opportunity.