The One Before: A totally gripping suspense thriller with a shocking twist

Miranda Smith

Nov 2020 · Bookouture

About this ebook

“Had me up until all hours, furiously flicking the pages to see how it was all going to play out… Takes you on one heck of a suspenseful and twisty ride!” Once Upon A Time Book Blog, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

She loves him. She trusts him. She’s wrong…

I watch her, Cooper Douglas’s new fiancée, as she walks around town, looking like she can’t believe her luck. She’s so young. So happy. So in love.

She doesn’t know about the secrets he’s hiding from her. She sees the same thing that everyone else does: a charming man with a brilliant career and a loving family.

She must think all her dreams have come true.

She doesn’t realise yet that it’s really a nightmare.

I have to tell her the truth. I have to tell her about what happened to my daughter.

About what he did to the woman before her…

A dark, gripping suspense novel with a brilliant twist, The One Before is perfect for fans of Lisa Jewel, Gillian Flynn and The Girl Before.

See what everyone is saying about The One Before:

“Smith knows how to deliver what us thrill lovers are seeking! Thrills like an amusement park, chills you to the bone… Shocks that will make you gasp! Highly, highly recommend!… You do not want to start unless you have no plans and definitely not before bed!… Absolutely without a doubt UNPUTDOWNABLE!” Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“An excellent thriller!… Kept me guessing until the very end. Highly recommended!” Julia Shkolnik, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“One of my favourite authors… Compelling… Kept me guessing. I read this in one sitting, I just couldn't put it down and I had to know the truth.” Book Candles Cats, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Fast paced… grabs you in immediately and continues to twist around!… will reel you in! I definitely thought I had the ending figured out, but NOPE! The twists keep on coming!” Goodreads Reviewer

“Eeeekkk this one was so amazing! I knew I was going to love it and I definitely did. A great thriller, go read it!” NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“A very thrilling, suspense-filled novel that is worth the read!… You might think you have the whole story figured out, but then a new chapter makes you completely second-guess what you thought was happening!… The mysteries literally keep unraveling until the very last page of the book!” Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“So good!… I was hooked from the beginning!” Goodreads Reviewer

“An up-all-night psychological thriller… awesome” NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I thought I had this one figured out, but I was wrong… at one point I just sat there stunned for a minute. It’s a quick, entertaining read. I really enjoyed it!” Blonde Thriller Book Lover

“Engrossing… Amazing... five stars.’ Washington Life, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Fast, gripping, nail-biter, exciting, devouring at one bite and finishing at one sitting kind of reading!” Nilufer Ozmekik

“Compelling… intriguing in all ways a thriller should be.” Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Such an intriguing read!… a twist on the classical thriller. Recommend it and love it!” Camilla tra le Righe

“Full of drama with a good few twists… Highly recommended” NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ratings and reviews

The One Before slowly but surely draws you in as Madison and Cooper newly engaged move back to his hometown to get married Small towns are full of secrets and these secrets are always whispered about it. Can Madison trust Cooper, can she trust any of his family? She has no friends here nowhere to turn. I was getting complacent in my mind how the book would end and then the twist of all twist hits. Never would have predicted the twist and huge turn the book took. Great read , kept me on my toes.

Madison and her fiancee, Cooper, make a move to his hometown. She's more than happy .. his family has welcomed her, and Cooper has a future in running the family newspaper. Not all is as perfect as she expected. Madison runs into an old classmate of Cooper's who tells her that Cooper had a hand in killing Celia Gray ... Cooper's high school sweetheart. It was eventually labeled as an accident ... but people still remember and still say that Cooper "got away with it". That's not the only crime he's been accused of. A girl he was dating in college disappeared and has never been found. The girl's mother tells Madison that she's sure that Cooper killed her. Why hasn't Cooper mentioned any of this to her? Is it because he's guilty of both crimes? Or is he a victim of circumstance. Much to Cooper's consternation, Madison feels she needs to find the truth before she can commit to marrying him. Well-written, the plot is complex, filled with twists and turns that had me eagerly turning pages. Just when I thought I had it figured out, the characters would throw me a curve ball. The ending was a bit unexpected. Many thanks to the author / Bookouture / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological / crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I wasn't sure if this book was for me to start as was quite a slow burner to begin with but only to begin with and I'm so glad I kept reading as the further into the book I got the more shocks and surprises I got... Then the ending was even more shocking... Defo worth a read it's told from a few different points of view including a few chapters thrown in telling a story from the past which all ties up well at the end and is easy to follow and towards the end I couldn't put it down so all in all its 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🤗👍