Trust-no-one thriller a brilliant, breathless page turner

What could be worse than arriving home in the middle of a workday afternoon and catching your partner having an affair?

Nadeeka Prasanna once believed nothing could be worse. As she raced through red lights and sped home in attempt to confirm her suspicion that Jamie Golding — a man she was madly in love with and had recently moved into her house — was cheating, she never imagined a worse scenario.

Until she saw the police tape, and Jamie — lying in a pool of blood. Dead.

As the murder investigation unfolds, Nadeeka is confronted with unimaginable horror about the secret life he had been leading. Except certain things don’t add up. She resists believing evidence that says her partner was also a radicalized white supremacist. Instead, she follows her own instincts in search of the truth behind the events that led to his murder.

Internationally bestselling author Clare Mackintosh has penned another mind-bending novel with unpredictable plot twists. It’s Not What You Think is a breathless, clever and original thriller unlike anything you may have read from the British author before.

Told in multiple points of view, each perspective builds on the last, propelling the story forward and making you question everything you’ve been told about Jamie’s murder.

When detective chief inspector Lauren Caldwell takes over the investigation, she’s quick to believe Jamie had been inducted into the New Dawn, a homegrown terrorist group intent on ridding their U.K. community of immigrants. Proof arrives early, and fingerprints don’t deceive. After news breaks that Jamie’s prints have been identified on a can of fuel near an immigrant-owned corner shop that fell victim to an arson attack, even Nadeeka can’t help but question how she could have been so blind.

“Had Jamie been a great guy? She doesn’t know any more. In fact, Nadeeka’s starting to think she didn’t know Jamie at all,” Mackintosh writes.

Yet after a visit with Jamie’s parents, Nadeeka discovers new information about her deceased partner. Questions abound, yet one thing she feels certain about is that nothing is as it appears. Perhaps Jamie’s love for her was real. Maybe there could even be an explanation for his inexplicable actions.

“She wonders why she even cares, given what happened next, but she needs to know that her relationship with Jamie was everything she’d believed it was. She needs to tether her grief in something real and true.”

As the investigation leads deeper into the far-right white supremist movement, Mackintosh hits on current themes with deadly precision. The danger is never far-flung nor far from home, a haunting echo of today’s climate.

As a former police officer, Mackintosh weaves a narrative that is propulsive, intriguing and frighteningly believable.

For readers who love a “trust no one” thriller that keeps them guessing until the very end, It’s Not What You Think will keep you up all night racing toward the final page.

A sharp-eyed reader with a passion for mind-bending thrillers, Rochelle Squires is always chasing the next twist she never saw coming.