The Girl Before You

Written by Nicola Rayner

Narrated by Lucy Rayner

‘The new GIRL ON THE TRAIN’ Observer

What did he do to … The Girl Before You

ASK HIM NO QUESTIONS,

HE'LL TELL YOU NO LIES…

Alice has always been haunted by the women from her husband’s past. As a politician 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 who went missing before they finished university: Ruth.

When Alice thinks she see Ruth on a train, she can’t shake the feeling there’s more to the disappearance than George has told her.

But does she really want to know what her husband has been up to behind her back all these years?

Because the truth might be worse than she could ever have imagined…

Praise for The Girl Before You:

‘A tantalising and suspenseful mystery. Absolutely brilliant! I didn’t want it to end’ Lauren North, bestselling author of The Perfect Betrayal

‘I adored this wonderfully assured debut. An engrossing and emotionally honest thriller’ Emma Curtis, bestselling author of The Night You Left

‘A haunting mystery with beautifully written characters I’m still left thinking about’ Jenny Quintana, bestselling author of The Missing Girl

‘A great page-turner for holiday reading’ That’s Life

‘A beautifully observed and superbly written psychological drama … A writer to watch with the greatest of excitement’ The Chap

‘Wonderfully twisty … Nicola Rayner is one to watch’ Short Book & Scribes

‘A stellar debut from a fantastic new voice in domestic thrillers’ Bookish Jottings

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Sep 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9780008349011

Nicola Rayner

Nicola Rayner was born in Abergavenny, south Wales, and works as a freelance journalist. The Girl Before You, her first psychological thriller, was picked by the Observer as a debut to look out for in 2019. It has been translated into multiple languages and has also been optioned for television. She lives in London with her husband and Jack Russell.

Reviews for The Girl Before You

[Eedge Eeva · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately I struggled to connect with the story, with the characters and I was constantly drifting away. I did enjoy the timeline from the past. It was hard and heartbreaking but interesting.

[Miranda · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Wtf?! To end it like that?! Story was okay, but the ending was abrupt. What happened?!

[lorikboyd · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Girl Before You is the debut novel of Nicola Rayner. Told in 3 voices (Alice, Kat and Naomi) the story takes place in fictional St. Anthony’s College in Scotland and centers around missing student Ruth. Events lead up to the ‘incident’ and then fast forward to 17 years later. There is a lot of back and forth, which leads to the suspense, but can be confusing at times.

The story moved very slowly for me, it seems it took forever for the story to pick up. The characters never really developed, and were more annoying than anything. Even though the time was 17 years...it felt like the characters never grew up. It took me forever to get thru this book, at times forcing myself to sit and read. They story just never got into a rhythm for me. Many situations in this book were never answered fully.

I loved the idea of the story line and would probably give the author another chance. Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

[nicx27 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Right, first things first. I just need to say that this book is absolutely brilliant. It was a struggle to put it down and I only did so when I had to, like when I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.There's so much more to the story than what is on the back of the book. Alice plays a big part but she shares the telling of the story with Naomi and Kat. Alice is married to George Bell, a former MP and now a television presenter. He's one of those supremely confident men who think that they can get away with anything (and often do). On a train one day, Alice thinks she sees Ruth, a woman who went missing when they were all at university, one George had a dalliance with. Naomi is Ruth's sister. Quite understandably, it's been hard to move on with her life when her sister is missing. Is she alive? Is she dead? Will she just turn up one day? Or did she see her for the last time all those years ago? Kat's story is mostly from those university days and we see much of what happened then through her eyes.Alice's sighting on the train moves her to look a bit closer at George and to ask herself if she really knows her husband. More digging ensues and that, combined with the story from the past, mean that secrets are starting to come to light. As it says on the front cover, there is something that is revealed at the end that is totally unexpected. I'm not sure I gasped but it was quite a revelatory moment and I had to take a moment to process it.The Girl Before You is just such a fantastic read. It's very human, it's full of real life issues. There are characters who have such a sense of entitlement I know I would have hated them if I'd come across them in real life. There are also some that I know I would like.I'm trying to think what I liked best about this book but I think it's the whole combination: there's the wonderfully twisty and complex plot, which all comes together so cleverly; there's those characters to love or to hate; and then there's the writing which totally drew me in and completely absorbed me. This is the kind of book I love. It's about relationships and friendships, with a mystery to solve. Nicola Rayner is one to watch.