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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 September 2014
This top notch psychological thriller is an outstanding read. The Magpies is a stunning and frightening novel of how everyday suburban life can go horribly wrong. Mark Edwards has the knack of getting into the human psyche and scaring us all with the brilliant characters in his books. Especially the neighbours in this book. Scary indeed.
Jamie and Kirsty are a happy young couple, both have good jobs, both madly in love and so excited to have bought their first dream home together, a flat in a suburb of London they picked up for a brilliant price. Everything about it seems idyllic, they FEEL it's the right place for them and move in ready to embrace and embark on a new life together.
One by one we are introduced to the neighbours that also live in the building, everyone is friendly and welcoming. Soon Jamie and Kirsty are getting to know the young couple, Chris and Lucy that live in the downstairs garden flat from them, hoping for a mutual friendship with the couple. At first it's all friendly and pleasant, but oh how things can turn so quickly.
Really weird things start happening to Jamie and Kirsty, hoax pizza deliveries, dead rats left outside their front door. Things escalate with letters and more and more bizarre events. It just gets worse and worse until Kirsty and Jamie are feeling very unstable and unsure, even questioning their own judgement and reality. But these things are just the icing on the cake. Because there is so much more.
My spidey senses were tingling. (You will get that one later)
It's a chilling book that grabs on and does not let go, I was fascinated watching the events unfold on the page, hoping there would be some logical explanation as do Jamie and Kirsty. But when you live in the same building as psychopaths it's never going to end well now is it?
Nobody takes them seriously, not even the police, they are on their own in this madness that is meant to be a safe and cosy home for them, their whole life gets chucked into chaos and fear. As the book continues the events get more and more bizarre, the fear creeps up a notch, I had chills reading this book. I was yelling at the pages "run, get out, move for goodness sake!" but human nature is such that you want to defend your own piece of turf, stand your ground, not give in. But at what cost? What cost indeed.
It's taut and tense all the way through from early pages and it just gets better and better, yet again Mark Edwards threw me off when I was looking for certain things in this book that I was SURE was going to happen then they didn't. I had the same experience recently reading another fantastic book of his, the newly released Because She Loves Me.
Touche Mr Edwards!, you beat me again and I am a clever book detective (normally).
It's like watching a car crash with Jamie and Kirsty as their lives are impacted by the neighbours from hell, you want to look away but you can't, it's fascinating, it's a true insight into the sick mind of the psychopaths who live downstairs. Even better, I love the way we get to see what it's doing to the minds of Jamie and Kirsty too, the undoing of their own sanity to a huge degree.
The plot is excellent, the characters are memorable (I particularly loved Mary who lives upstairs), the twists are worthy, the pace is non stop from the first word to the last. I read this over a couple of hours, I even kept reading as I ate my dinner. I could not miss a thing!
There is one moment in this book that really impacted me, I can't tell you but I had to briefly stop reading to absorb what I had read. Really good writing, very good indeed.
It's a fantastic psychological thriller in a nutshell, can't share too much more or I will spoil the journey for you dear reader. The events leading up to the grand finale are tense and taut, I was on the edge the whole time, it felt like I was there, in the book, feeling it all. The ending was exceptionally well done. Then just when you think it can't get better, it still hits you with more surprises until the very last word.
You just never know who you are living near or next to in this day and age, you just want to hope YOUR neighbours are nothing like the ones in this book. If they are, move and don't dilly dally along the way.
Five easy stars from me. I am a huge fan of Mark Edwards and think we will see many more exceptional books from him in the future. Grab this one and hold on for the ride. If you like a book that will stay with you and is a grab on read from the start, you will love The Magpies.
Jamie and Kirsty are a happy young couple, both have good jobs, both madly in love and so excited to have bought their first dream home together, a flat in a suburb of London they picked up for a brilliant price. Everything about it seems idyllic, they FEEL it's the right place for them and move in ready to embrace and embark on a new life together.
One by one we are introduced to the neighbours that also live in the building, everyone is friendly and welcoming. Soon Jamie and Kirsty are getting to know the young couple, Chris and Lucy that live in the downstairs garden flat from them, hoping for a mutual friendship with the couple. At first it's all friendly and pleasant, but oh how things can turn so quickly.
Really weird things start happening to Jamie and Kirsty, hoax pizza deliveries, dead rats left outside their front door. Things escalate with letters and more and more bizarre events. It just gets worse and worse until Kirsty and Jamie are feeling very unstable and unsure, even questioning their own judgement and reality. But these things are just the icing on the cake. Because there is so much more.
My spidey senses were tingling. (You will get that one later)
It's a chilling book that grabs on and does not let go, I was fascinated watching the events unfold on the page, hoping there would be some logical explanation as do Jamie and Kirsty. But when you live in the same building as psychopaths it's never going to end well now is it?
Nobody takes them seriously, not even the police, they are on their own in this madness that is meant to be a safe and cosy home for them, their whole life gets chucked into chaos and fear. As the book continues the events get more and more bizarre, the fear creeps up a notch, I had chills reading this book. I was yelling at the pages "run, get out, move for goodness sake!" but human nature is such that you want to defend your own piece of turf, stand your ground, not give in. But at what cost? What cost indeed.
It's taut and tense all the way through from early pages and it just gets better and better, yet again Mark Edwards threw me off when I was looking for certain things in this book that I was SURE was going to happen then they didn't. I had the same experience recently reading another fantastic book of his, the newly released Because She Loves Me.
Touche Mr Edwards!, you beat me again and I am a clever book detective (normally).
It's like watching a car crash with Jamie and Kirsty as their lives are impacted by the neighbours from hell, you want to look away but you can't, it's fascinating, it's a true insight into the sick mind of the psychopaths who live downstairs. Even better, I love the way we get to see what it's doing to the minds of Jamie and Kirsty too, the undoing of their own sanity to a huge degree.
The plot is excellent, the characters are memorable (I particularly loved Mary who lives upstairs), the twists are worthy, the pace is non stop from the first word to the last. I read this over a couple of hours, I even kept reading as I ate my dinner. I could not miss a thing!
There is one moment in this book that really impacted me, I can't tell you but I had to briefly stop reading to absorb what I had read. Really good writing, very good indeed.
It's a fantastic psychological thriller in a nutshell, can't share too much more or I will spoil the journey for you dear reader. The events leading up to the grand finale are tense and taut, I was on the edge the whole time, it felt like I was there, in the book, feeling it all. The ending was exceptionally well done. Then just when you think it can't get better, it still hits you with more surprises until the very last word.
You just never know who you are living near or next to in this day and age, you just want to hope YOUR neighbours are nothing like the ones in this book. If they are, move and don't dilly dally along the way.
Five easy stars from me. I am a huge fan of Mark Edwards and think we will see many more exceptional books from him in the future. Grab this one and hold on for the ride. If you like a book that will stay with you and is a grab on read from the start, you will love The Magpies.
