Finders, Keepers: The new suspense thriller about dangerous neighbours, guaranteed to keep you hooked in 2022 Paperback – 2 Sept. 2021

The plot is gripping, the characters and interplay between them well developed and the quality of writing is excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked the way each chapter was introduced: firstly, with an item that seemed random but actually hinted at a key element of the events as they unfolded and secondly a definition which reflected Verity's profession and also related to the chapter's content. I was so wrapped up in the book, and in particular the doings and feelings of narrator Verity (ironically named?) that I put other things on hold so I could give it the time and attention it deserved. I thought I had guessed the ending, but solving the crime was not the main point of this book. It was more complex and satisfying than that.

Good book, wanted to finish it but was a bit hard going in places

I’m a huge fan of Sabine Durrant’s writing. The last book I read by her was Lie With Me, which was a few years ago, and after reading her latest, Finders, Keepers, I definitely need to catch up. Her plotting in her latest novel is excellent, and I loved how she twisted everything on its head. I was blown away by the ending of this book.What Sabine Durrant excels at as well, in this book and in the last book I read by her, is her characters. They feel like real people, and I love the way how she gets inside their heads and how she explores their personalities. Verity is the main character in Finders, Keepers. As I was reading, I spent a lot of that time feeling sorry for Verity. I felt that she was quite a vulnerable character, although it did seem to me at some times in the novel, that she didn’t mind spending time on her own. She does have her dog, who is Verity’s world, to look after as well.Things begin to change for Verity, however, when a young family move in next door. Although things get off to a bit of a shaky start between them, Verity soon forms a friendship with, Alisa. Verity also starts helping out Alisa’s son with his English. From the start, I didn’t like Alisa very much. I felt as though she was using Verity. As Verity was someone who lived on her own, with very little company, I could see that Alisa must have seen that she was very easy to take advantage of.I didn’t like Alisa’s husband, Tom, right from the outset. Although he doesn’t appear as a main character throughout the book, you can certainly sense his presence. It’s how he speaks to Verity as well that made me dislike him right from the start.Don’t go into this novel, expecting a fast-paced read. It is much more of a slow-burner, but that is the beauty of the storytelling here as we step into the characters’ lives. It’s what makes the ending all the more shocking as well. You’ll think you know who the characters are and then Sabine Durrant twists everything on its head. It is very well crafted.I absolutely loved this book, and I think Sabine Durrant has definitely now become one of my auto-buy writers. Finders, Keepers, is absorbing from the first page right through to the chilling finale. Its characters will definitely get under your skin. I highly recommended it!

A book of revelations that are drip fed throughout the storyline. Nothing is at it appears. The book is well written but exceptionally slow in places. One of those, ‘get on with it’. A plus are the repeated questions I asked myself- who is/has done what to whom?Verity is an intelligent woman whose job is updating the meaning of words in the Oxford English Dictionary. She lives alone in the family home. She collects other people’s discarded possessions and rubbish- a hoarder. Her house is a tip; as is the garden.Tom, Ailsa and their three children move in next door from Kent, having renovated the property. Tom is perturbed that the state of Verity’s property is causing problems and he’s not shy of voicing his distaste. Ailsa and Verity become uneasy friends.Well.....that’s the background and I’ll not give anything away suffice to say that an event sets a domino effect into the lives of the households. As I mentioned, secrets are revealed- some easy to guess, some not.Another reviewer has said that this book is a ‘slow burner’ and I agree with that. Better than many books of this genre and worth a look.

Verity is a single, middle-aged woman who still lives in her childhood home, having inherited it from her late mother. When yummy mummy Ailsa moves in next door, the two women form an odd friendship – exploitative and supportive; honest and mendacious; genuine and fake. In the course of the novel, the balance of power shifts between them. There is some wonderfully elliptical dialogue between the two women, especially at moments of revelation, and also when socially gauche Verity observes Ailsa with her husband and friends.It put me in mind of Notes on a Scandal (Zoe Heller), The Woman Next Door (Cass Green) and Flesh and Blood (Sarah Williams, ITV). However, I’m not giving away spoliers with any of these comparisons. Although they all feature lonely, middle-aged women who observe the goings-on of a glamourous younger woman, the plot of Finders, Keepers takes its own deliciously slow-burning path.