HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO BE SOMEONE ELSE?

Vanessa has always found it easy to pretend to be somebody different, somebody better. When things get tough in her real life, all she has to do is throw on some nicer clothes, adopt a new accent and she can escape.

That’s how it started: looking round houses she couldn’t possibly afford. Harmless fun really. Until it wasn’t.

Because a man who lived in one of those houses is dead.

And everyone thinks Vanessa killed him…

Confusing & Compelling!

I really wasn’t sure what was going on to begin with – but then I read on!

Vanessa hasn’t always found life easy; when the going gets tough she likes pretend she is someone else by adopting different identities and viewing houses. She not doing any harm, is she? Until the body of a man is found in one of the houses she visits and everyone thinks Vanessa murdered him. And Vanessa? Well she agrees with them . . .

Nuala Ellwood never fails to play with my mind. This is another cleverly plotted novel which reveals it’s secrets little by little, meantime completely confusing me. As the story is told ‘now’ and ‘then’, I really had to keep my wits about me but, even so, I didn’t see where it was heading. With twists and turns galore, the ending was a real surprise. Excellent writing, as always, this is a book for those who like their brain to have a good work-out every now and again. I did particularly enjoy that there was a final chapter tidying everything up – 4.5*.

My thanks to the author for my copy via NetGalley; this is – as always – my honest, original and unbiased review.

Tags: psychological thriller

• Format: ebook, paperback, audiobook
• Size: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication Date: 22 July 2021
• Book Links:
• https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53820731
• https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Nuala_Ellwood_The_Perfect_Life?id=NB_mDwAAQBAJ
• https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-perfect-life-the-new-gripping-thriller-you-won-t-be-able-to-put-down-from-the-bestselling-author-of-day-of-the-accident/9780241989098
• https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/fiction-poetry/the-perfect-life-the-new-gripping-thril,nuala-ellwood-9780241989098
• https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-perfect-life-12
• https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/the-perfect-life-the-new-gripping-thriller-you-wont-be-able-to-put-down-from-the-bestselling-author-/nuala-ellwood/paperback/9780241989098.html
• https://wordery.com/the-perfect-life-nuala-ellwood-9780241989098
• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Life-gripping-thriller-bestselling-ebook/dp/B08925N3FW

Author Details

Nuala Ellwood is the author of two bestselling novels: My Sister’s Bones, for which she was selected as one of the Observer’s ‘New Faces of Fiction 2017’, and Day of the Accident. Nuala lives in York with her young son. The Perfect Life is her latest novel.

• Twitter: @NualaWrites
• Facebook: @NualaEllwoodAuthor