The Girl Before You

By: Nicola Rayner

Narrated by: Lucy Rayner

She was his.

She was perfect.

And then, she was gone.

An addictive and twisting psychological suspense, perfect for summer. If you liked My Lovely Wife, you’ll love this.

Alice has always been haunted by the women from her husband’s past. As an MP and now a TV personality, George Bell’s reputation as a ladies’ man precedes him. But when Alice falls pregnant, her unease becomes an obsession.

And there’s one ex in particular she can’t get out of her head: a beautiful student George dated in his first year, who went missing before they finished university. Ruth.

When Alice sees a woman who looks just like Ruth, she can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to her disappearance than George has been telling her. But does she really want to know what her husband has been getting up to behind her back all these years?

©2019 Nicola Rayner (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"In The Girl Before You, Nicola Rayner has written the new The Girl on the Train, although her novel also features note-perfect prose and an ending that will leave you gasping. So addictive, it should come with a health warning." (Observer)

"A tantalising and suspenseful mystery. Absolutely brilliant! I didn’t want it to end." (Lauren North, best-selling author of The Perfect Betrayal)

"I adored this wonderfully assured debut. Nicola Rayner writes like a dream. An engrossing and emotionally honest thriller. Can't wait for her next book!" (Emma Curtis, best-selling author of One Little Mistake)

enjoyable, despite unsatisfactory ending

loved the prose, characters, & general storyline. even when the story wasn’t necessarily “going” anywhere, it was still enjoyable to listen to.

a bit difficult to keep track of who’s who sometimes. also hard to understand one particular character’s motives for making the decisions they’re implied to have made.

i wish the ending had been a more complete resolution, although i know that’s a selfish personal preference. *POTENTIAL SPOILERS* ———I wish we could’ve seen certain characters be punished after their disgusting criminal actions were finally exposed. I wish we could hear from **** at the very end, at least get an explanation from their perspective. I wish we could’ve seen *** at the very end. And I wish we could’ve seen the divorce & watched ***** come out on top. but i’m content with just imagining these things.

this is the second book of nicola rayner’s that i’ve purchased, and i like her style. can’t wait for her to give us more.

Genuinely interesting

Story is told in a way that brings the reader along and makes you want to hear what is next. While the story technically wrapped up fairly well, I didn’t feel fulfilled at the end and felt like there were still many lose ends in multiple characters stories. Though I suppose it is a sign of great writing that I want to know all the other stories. If they had been closed out, I likely would’ve recommended this book very highly because it was very enjoyable throughout.
Performance was good, but often difficult to tell which character was supposed to be speaking and there were some long pauses that made it seem like characters may have changed, only to find they had not.