He Said/She Said
A Novel
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
"A tour de force – a gripping, twisting, furiously clever read that asks all the right questions, and keeps you guessing until the very end. I loved it." — Ruth Ware
"Haunting. Mesmerizing. Unforgettable." — Gillian Flynn
In the summer of 1999, Kit and Laura travel to a festival in Cornwall to see a total eclipse of the sun. Kit is an eclipse chaser; Laura has never seen one before. Young and in love, they are certain this will be the first of many they’ll share.
But in the hushed moments after the shadow passes, Laura interrupts a man and a woman. She knows that she saw something terrible. The man denies it. It is her word against his.
The victim seems grateful. Months later, she turns up on their doorstep like a lonely stray. But as her gratitude takes a twisted turn, Laura begins to wonder—did she trust the wrong person?
15 years later, Kit and Laura married are living under new names and completely off the digital grid: no Facebook, only rudimentary cell phones, not in any directories. But as the truth catches up to them, they realize they can no longer keep the past in the past.
From Erin Kelly, queen of the killer twist, He Said/She Said is a gripping tale of the lies we tell to save ourselves, the truths we cannot admit, and how far we will go to make others believe our side of the story.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
You heard it here first: Erin Kelly's He Said/She Said is awfully close to perfect. Already a bestseller in the UK, this deliciously creepy, flawlessly executed mystery dives deep into a marriage that’s tested by reverberations of a long-ago crime. Kelly's deftly drawn characters and corkscrew plot kept us riveted from the first page to the very last.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This riveting psychological thriller from British author Kelly (Broadchurch) explores the extremes to which people will go to conceal a lie. While celebrating the 1999 solar eclipse at a festival in Cornwall, eclipse-chaser Christopher "Kit" McCall and his girlfriend, Laura Langrishe, interrupt the apparent rape of Beth Taylor. They call the police, and their testimony leads to the capture and conviction of a man named Jamie Balcombe. Beth showers Kit and Laura with gratitude, but then her behavior takes a strange turn and they decide to distance themselves. Come 2015, Kit and Laura have changed their names and are living as ghosts, only risking travel to see the moon cover the sun. The couple share the narration, which moves back and forth in time to fill the 15-year gap. Kelly's pacing is deliberate, but patient readers will be rewarded with airtight plotting, mounting tension, and shocking twists. Attempts to match the beats of the story with the phases of an eclipse feel somewhat contrived, but overall, this is an affecting tale of infatuation, desperation, and betrayal.
Customer Reviews
A really good read
Although I felt like the story drug along in the beginning I’m glad I stuck with it because the story ended up being great. The later twists and surprises kept me interested and wanting to know more. If you give it a try you won’t be sorry.
He said/she said
Original story with compelling characters and plot development that keeps peeling back layers until the final truth is revealed in the last sentence. Excellent on so many levels!
Loved it!
It took me a while to really get into this book, but once I did I was hooked. That last paragraph owned me, bravo!