Undercurrent

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The Synopsis:

An unmissable new psychological thriller

Phoebe and her disabled husband, Martyn, move into a new house in a village on the edge of County Durham. They plan to lead a quiet existence, a set up that suits them both.

Then Anna, who lives over the road and is bored of spending her days alone, seeks friendship with Phoebe and events take a dark turn.

Phoebe has secrets and is haunted by her past and Anna’s arrival in her life may prove to be the catalyst for her undoing.

What is Phoebe hiding and why are she and her husband so reclusive?

When Anna gets caught in a storm and is rescued by Phoebe the truth becomes apparent and Anna is thrown into danger.

Is there a difference between madness and evil?

Some friendships can be murder.

My thoughts:

I sat down with this book with a sense of expectation. I'd heard some great things about it so the bar was set pretty high. Well, it passed that bar in leaps and bounds and gave me a prologue that is probably one of the best i've ever read. Not only did my sense of expectation increase, but also my sense of trepidation and caution.

The story itself picks up 3 months prior to the prologue and tells us how we got to that from the chain of events that preceded it.

Phoebe is a lonely figure.She doesn't have friends or family close by (there is one son, Tom, in America) and is socially awkward. An extremely cold character who is focussed on just getting through the trials of everyday life.

Anna is a wife & a mother of 2 who lives opposite Phoebe. Anna is alone day in, day out and feels she is lacking female friendship, that company, someone to talk too. she decides that welcoming the new neighbour too the street gives her the perfect opportunity to find this. The old saying, be careful what you wish for springs to mind.

What the author has done here is provide us with a book that is just, sheer brilliance. A fascinating storyline, that is both genius and well executed. I carried an air of solemnity with me throughout this book, a feeling of nervous tension that put me on edge. This book provides the reader with everything you could want and need from a gripping, twisting tale. It is fascinating, with a small cast of characters, making it easy to follow. When a book only has a few characters in it the author needs to ensure that they have depth and believability, which Judith Baker has pulled off here with aplomb. I struggle to believe that this is actually a debut novelist, the story is written with such assurity and fluidity that it has the feel of a more seasoned writer.

This has definitely pushed itself straight into my top 5 reads of the year so far. I loved it and found myself completely engrossed once i'd started on it. A serious player in the can't put it down line up. And i cannot wait to see what this author has in store for us next.