The Only Suspect: A 'twisting, seductive, ingenious' thriller from the bestselling author of The Other Passenger

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Hello and welcome! I am the bestselling author of 16 novels - a fact I can't quite believe myself - and my books are published all over the world. My brand-new thriller THE ONLY SUSPECT is out now and described by the Daily Mail as 'a perfect mix of nostalgia and menace'.

Wow, what a read! The Only Suspect was a twisty thriller and I did not guess the ending! Even after finishing the book, I kept thinking about all the clues I missed while reading Alex’s stories across the years. Kelly, QLD, 5 Stars Surprising, intoxicating, elliptical and vexing, The Only Suspect is a five star read from Louise Candlish. PS: I never give trigger warnings, but you may get a laugh out of this one: I think I have a phobia of house guests that overstay their welcome, because there was a part in the book where I felt myself becoming very anxious, with sweating palms and a racing heart, and perhaps discovering some slightly murderous tendencies within my own heart towards one particular character. If you share that sentiment, have a stiff drink ready before you delve in! Alex isn’t particularly likeable and I suspect Candlish does this on purpose. He implies he kinda ‘fell into’ his relationship and marriage to Beth. This phrase stayed with me, “… he caught himself wondering how he had come to have this wife and not the one he’d once fantasized about.” #charming Just when you think you’ve got this twisty thriller sussed, the rug gets pulled yet again -- Crime MonthlyNo surprise who the bad boy was and even in the end, he didn't get his just desserts. And neither really did she. (Whatever her name was-she had that many.)

Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife Beth in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so he’s not the most sociable guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but he’s a good husband and an easy-going neighbour. WOW. As always Louise Candlish has written a taut, unsettling, compulsive and ingenious novel with gasp-out-loud twists and fatally flawed characters forced into tragedy by circumstances. I LOVED it!’ Isabelle Broom The characters are very believable - not all likable, but each with his or her own strengths and weaknesses, skilfully portrayed throughout the story. Things are not always what they seem. This book will keep you guessing till the very end. Liz, VIC, 5 Stars The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish will be published in Australia in early March 2023 by Simon & Schuster, but available elsewhere already.I haven’t read much of Louise Candlish’s work so far but am keen to read more since I read her book, Our House and watched the TV adaptation. I'm blown away by how good it is. A gripping tale of love, secrets and deception - it's the best psychological thriller I've read in a long time.' As good as I hoped it would be. Messy relationships, deception and some big surprises. Loved it!' Jane Fallon THE AUTHOR: Before writing fiction, I studied English at University College London and worked as an illustrated book editor and advertising copywriter. It’s been a couple of years since Candlish released a book, and she’s used that time well to craft a deliciously dark puzzle with several loose stiches you’ll pull at, only to remain baffled, until the final twist at the end. Candlish has done it again, on steroids.

Tweede leven' is niet echt een superspannende thriller en ik zou ook dit verhaal eerder psychologisch noemen. Het leest supervlot en de afwisseling tussen het heden en het verleden vond ik echt goed in elkaar steken (vooral het verleden vond ik heel erg interessant). Uiteindelijk valt alles op zijn plek. The plot is clever, the characters are unpleasantly credible and the revelations give the tiniest sense of reassurance -- Literary Review The characterisation is very good, there’s a good range, from one who is gullible, one who seems guileless, one to fear, one or two to clench your fists in irritation and one master duper. The author certainly keeps you on your toes with this bunch! Alex is our narrator in the present we know he’s keeping secrets and fearful of his past rearing its ugly head but we’re not quite sure what form it will take. And who sparked a police hunt for a murder suspect that was never quite what it seemed. It still isn’t.Candlish has a distinctive take on the contemporary psychological thriller. She skilfully mixes a droll portrayal of middle-class London suburban life with some extremely cunning plots -- Mail on Sunday

I was excited by the developments around the 60% mark, but only briefly, and even the twist towards the end failed to rekindle my interest. This dual-timeline, domestic-noir tale is a tense, read-in-one-sitting thriller -- The Sun on Sunday Fabulous Magazine This book is phenomenal. The twists and turns it takes had me gasping and wondering how it will all end because there are so many things and scenes that i haven't predicted. Candlish once told Better Reading, “How I usually construct a novel is by taking three or four themes and styles that I want to explore and find a way to entwine them, leaving just enough loose stitches for the reader to start pulling and guessing. Readers are very intelligent and thrillers should be puzzles that might actually be solved.”The Only Suspect is a satisfying thriller that moves at such a pace to keep the reader engaged the whole way through. There are just enough hints throughout that you can’t trust any of the characters, which adds to the sense of dread and the need to know what’s really going on. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and devoured it in a couple of days. Vanessa, QLD, 5 Stars Alex is living his best suburban lief with Beth until the creation of a nature trail is announced, threatening to expose decades-old secrets.