Review: HIS & HERS by Alice Feeney

ABOUT THE BOOK

There are two sides to every story: yours and mine, ours and theirs, His & Hers. Which means someone is always lying.

Anna Andrews finally has what she wants. Almost. She’s worked hard to become the main TV presenter of the BBC’s lunchtime news, putting work before friends, family, and her now ex-husband. So, when someone threatens to take her dream job away, she’ll do almost anything to keep it.

When asked to cover a murder in Blackdown—the sleepy countryside village where she grew up—Anna is reluctant to go. But when the victim turns out to be one of her childhood friends, she can’t leave. It soon becomes clear that Anna isn’t just covering the story, she’s at the heart of it.

DCI Jack Harper left London for a reason, but never thought he’d end up working in a place like Blackdown. When the body of a young woman is discovered, Jack decides not to tell anyone that he knew the victim, until he begins to realise he is a suspect in his own murder investigation.

One of them knows more than they are letting on. Someone isn’t telling the truth. Alternating between Anna's and Jack's points of view, His & Hers is a fast-paced, complex, and dark puzzle that will keep listeners guessing until the very end. 

MY THOUGHTS

Alice Feeney delivers another satisfying read with HIS & HERS. This story is told using three points of view: His (DCI Jack harper), hers (Anna Andrews) and an anonymous person whose identity in only revealed in the book’s latter stages. This often dark story comes with plenty of twist and it certainly kept me guessing to the end.

Let me caution you: This book is filled with unsympathetic characters – and not just our narrators. They lie, they cheat, they manipulate, they do whatever is needed to advance their cause. If you need a saviour to save the day, this book won’t deliver. If, however, you’re happy with murky, grey areas and contradictory characters, then this book might be just the thing.  

I did enjoy this book but I didn’t love it. In her efforts to create a complex plot, I often felt Feeney pushes the story far beyond credibility. I can suspend some belief but the ever-present luck, cosmic alignment and good juju needed for some events to play out as they did was not always plausible in my mind.

I listened to the audio version narrated by Richard Armitage and Stephanie Racine. Overall, the pacing was a little slower than I would like – hey, it’s a thriller . . . I want to be on tenterhooks – but I thought both narrators portrayed their characters and their emotions well. 

Review version of audiobook courtesy of Macmillan Audio and Netgalley

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alice Feeney is a writer and journalist. She spent fifteen years at the BBC, where she worked as a reporter, news editor, arts and entertainment producer and One O’clock News producer.

Her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, was a New York Times and international bestseller. It has been translated into over twenty languages, and is being made into a TV series by Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros. starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Alice has lived in London and Sydney and has now settled in the Surrey countryside. She writes in her shed with her dog; a giant black Labrador who is scared of feathers. 

https://www.alicefeeney.com/