St Jude’s, Cornwall, and a young woman stands next to a burning bonfire, waiting for the next chapter of her life to start. She has bought a house in the isolated fishing village and is waiting for the estate agent with the keys. She, Clementine, doesn’t want to talk much about her previous life, but it doesn’t stop her being welcomed into the village. Especially by some of the men.

As attraction becomes love and love starts to become obsession, people from Clementine’s past arrive in the village. It seems even the little that she has divulged isn’t the whole truth, and that truth is going to lead to violence…

I’m sure there is a subgenre that this thriller belongs to. Psychological thriller? Gothic Romance? Well-written soap opera? Not really sure, but I sometimes like to branch out on the blog to the areas of the crime genre that aren’t in my usual wheelhouse and after reading far too much rubbish recently, I thought it was time to try something different.

The problem with reviewing things outside of your area of expertise is that perhaps as a reader, I was missing the point in places. I’ve always been a plot-first person – regular readers of the blog know that – and this is far more about the people, the themes, the sort of thing that you could set English Literature questions on.

One of the reasons I thought I’d try this one is that it is advertised on Amazon as “Can you guess the twist?” And my general response to that on finishing the book would be “What twist?” Or, I suppose to be accurate, “Which twist?” although I’d probably refer to any twist as more of a turn in the plot, rather than something that makes you realise “everything you knew is wrong”.

It’s a very well-written book that draws you in with its cast of distinct characters, characters that really bring St Jude’s to life. The narrator’s plummet into obsession regarding Clementine is believable and his actions, and the actions of those around him, do make sense in the situation.

My problems really are twofold. Personally, I could have done with a little more clarity on Clementine’s actions and decisions – how much was genuine and how much was manipulation – and I thought the final reveal, which had been hinted in part at earlier, seemed somewhat jarring.

I’m probably not the best person to review this – as a mystery/twisty-thriller, I found it lacking, but it’s worth noting that after a couple of books where I’ve barely got past the first third recently, this kept me gripped to the end. Fans of this sub-genre, whatever the sub-genre is called, should find a lot to like here.

Who She Was is out in hardback and ebook on 17th August from Penguin. Many thanks to the publisher for the review e-copy from NetGalley.