Book Review: Greenwich Park

Book Blurb:  Helen’s idyllic life—handsome architect husband, gorgeous Victorian house, and cherished baby on the way (after years of trying)—begins to change the day she attends her first prenatal class and meets Rachel, an unpredictable single mother-to-be. Rachel doesn’t seem very maternal: she smokes, drinks, and professes little interest in parenthood. Still, Helen is drawn to her. Maybe Rachel just needs a friend. And to be honest, Helen’s a bit lonely herself. At least Rachel is fun to be with. She makes Helen laugh, invites her confidences, and distracts her from her fears.

But her increasingly erratic behavior is unsettling. And Helen’s not the only one who’s noticed. Her friends and family begin to suspect that her strange new friend may be linked to their shared history in unexpected ways. When Rachel threatens to expose a past crime that could destroy all of their lives, it becomes clear that there are more than a few secrets laying beneath the broad-leaved trees and warm lamplight of Greenwich Park.

My review:

Greenwich Park is a psychological thriller with an unreliable narrator. And even though psych-thrillers are my favorite guilty pleasure, I approached the novel with some trepidation because the genre is hot and many psych-thrillers have become derivative. Happily, Greenwich Park is fresh and engrossing.

The novel is written from three different viewpoints, which is a hard thing to pull off. But Katherine Faulkner does it well. Each character (Helen/Serena/Katie) has a distinct voice but still remains nuanced and intriguing.

The plot is well-crafted and satisfying. And the pacing is spot-on—I had a hard time putting the novel down.

Bottom line, I give Greenwich Park a five-star review, and I’m eager to read this debut author’s next novel. I do need to add a trigger warning: Part of the plot includes the traumatic aftermath of a rape, though the crime itself does not occur within the scope of the book.

Note: This novel will be released January 4, 2022.