Book Review: Duplicity (Sibel Hodge) @sibelhodge @amazonpub

Max and Alissa are newlyweds, madly in love and the envy of all their friends; their world is shattered when Max is brutally stabbed to death in their home and Alissa manages to escape through a window.   The police investigation begins with many questions. Why had Alissa escaped? What were the killer’s motives? As Alissa tries to pick up the pieces of her life and mourns the loss of her husband, the lead investigator, DI Carter, begins to wonder if she is telling the truth. After all, there are three sides to every story. His. Hers. And the truth…

Duplicity, by Sibel Hodge, is a novel full of suspense and psychological thrills. After reading some killer reviews of this book, I knew I had to read it, and to the top of my TBR pile it went! Every review was correct: this novel was utterly addicting and I was hooked from the initial moments.

The novel opens hours after Alissa Burbank has successfully evaded a killer in her home; her husband has been pronounced dead and she is resting in police custody. Detective Carter enters the scene, a honourable man with a tragic past, to take her statement and work the case.   As he begins to unravel the scene, he begins to question everyone’s involvement in the murder and soon, he realizes, nothing is what it seems.

The novel is alternatively narrated by “The Detective”, who is DI Carter, as he tries to work the case and find out who is responsible for the murder of Max. I loved this character and found myself attached to him; Hodge gives him quite the back story. The other half of the book is narrated by “The Other One”; this character speaks of their atrocious upbringing and personal demons; it is obvious that this narrator is the perpetrator responsible for Max’s demise but it is not clear who this person is until much later in the book. This narrative style had me on edge; between the niceties of Detective Carter and the twisted, vile thinking of “The Other One”, I was violently flipping pages to come to the resolution of the plot! By the second half of the book, I couldn’t put this one down.

I do not want to give much more away about the plot, but let me tell you, the twists and turns in this one are awesome. The big one at the end, that one was completely unexpected! Well played!

Overall, this read was just plain fun; I’d highly recommend it to any lover of psychological thrillers (or someone who just wants to read a really, well-written thriller!).   This was my first experience with this author’s work and it will not be my last! I cannot wait to see what else Sibel Hodge has up her sleeve! I gave this one a 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

Thanks to the publisher (Thomas and Mercer), the author (Sibel Hodge) and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this novel; it was my pleasure to provide an honest review.