Month: Sep 2026

Review: The Girl with the Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup (2026)

Blurb

Devi is a fighter. Growing up in the slums of Delhi, she has learnt that survival comes at a cost – and naturally, that means she’s made a few enemies along the way.

Now she’s being held captive, her life up for sale in an online auction, where the highest bidder will determine her fate.

With her existence hanging in the balance, Devi proceeds to give her captor ‘a confession to beat all confessions’ – as over the course of a single night, Devi unveils the secrets of her seven extraordinary lives.

Devi is the ultimate survivor – a girl from the gutters who dares to rewrite her own destiny. But will she survive the longest night of her life?

Review

Many thanks to the publisher and the lovely Squadpod for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Apologies for the lateness – I got struck down by my first ever migraine (0/10, do not recommend) and am still in catch-up mode!

I was really intrigued by this book for several reasons: I loved Slumdog Millionaire when I watched it many years ago; I don’t read enough books set in India, despite a long-standing fascination with the country; and finally, the premise sounded delicious – a high-stakes, high concept story with a punchy structure and a strong female protagonist. Lots of boxes ticked!

The structure definitely propels the story along. During her night of captivity, with her life on the line, we dip in and out of her terrifying ‘present’ to revisit the past alongside her as she narrates the journey she has taken and the various personas she has adopted along the way. It is a simple but effective way of building a powerful narrative arc in which everything leads up to the climactic moment when past meets present and Devi faces her final reckoning, and the ‘episodes’ of her life are neatly punctuated with reminders of the peril she currently finds herself in, ensuring the tension remains high throughout the book. I found this to be an exciting, dramatic read that kept me up turning pages.

Swarup’s work is ripe for film and TV adaptation, as has been proven, and this latest book is no exception. There’s a cinematic quality to the story, and the frenetic pace and constant twists and turns are perfectly calculated to engage an audience and provide plenty of ‘gasp’ moments. For me personally, I think this plot-heavy approach made it harder for me to engage with Devi as much as I wanted – there are elements of progression and development in her character, but because so much of what happens to her seems to be spun around moments of incredibly great or bad fortune, with deus ex machina-types swooping in to save the day, and ‘goodies’ revealing their treacherous nature, I couldn’t get a grip on what was happening internally in terms of her moral compass and the lessons she learns along the way. But that’s a personal preference – and perhaps part of the point of Devi is that she is so slippery, so hard to pin down – indeed, we meet seven whole different versions of her! For readers who prefer their novels more character-driven, there may be less here to enjoy – but everything is subjective and opinions will surely vary! I’m really glad I read this book, as I think it shines a light on some shocking but sadly still prevalent attitudes and practises, and although the violence is a lot to take, I don’t think it tips into gratuitousness – it’s making an important point, and drives home the horrific treatment women in Devi’s situation often encounter in real life.

If you are a fan of fast-paced, dramatic, twisty books with a compelling setting, books which aren’t afraid to stare the seamy, violent underpinnings of so-called civilised society in the face, books which refuse to take a naive approach to right and wrong but which understand the nuances of survival, then Devi’s story (or seven stories!) will absolutely be for you.

The Girl with the Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup is published by Bloomsbury and is available to purchase here.

Review: The Bestseller by Jenny Knightsby (2026)

Blurb

OU TOLD HER YOUR DARKEST SECRETS.

NOW MILLIONS WILL READ THEM . . .

Therapist Helena Salve knows that client confidentiality is the number one unbreakable rule of her job. But the constant stories of coercive control and threat she hears from her client Belle about her dangerous husband have been wearing her down. One night over too many glasses of wine, she tells her best friend Tala everything that Belle has told her.

The problem is, Tala is a down-on-her-luck novelist who is looking for an idea for her new thriller.

Months later, Tala is excitedly telling Helena that her publisher is saying this is going to be her biggest book ever. The story is Belle’s story. Not only is Helena’s job on the line, but if Belle’s husband is as dangerous as she says, her life is too…

Review

Many thanks to the publisher and the lovely Squadpod for providing me with an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t read loads of thrillers, but I do like to dip my toe in every now and again, and I couldn’t resist the fantastic premise of Jenny Knightsby’s debut novel. I loved the idea of a book’s runaway success having devastating consequences, and I am always up for a bit of meta book-within-a-book shenanigans! Therapists and writers seem like a match made in thriller heaven, with lots of potential for delving into pretty little lies and digging up secrets. Bring it on!

The most fascinating aspect of this novel is the deep dive into character that Knightsby performs as she gradually exposes the truth that the people at the core of the novel have either been hiding or hiding from. Helena is such an interesting protagonist, a keen observer of human nature whose smooth exterior belies the tumult beneath. Tala, her best friend, and the writer who ‘steals’ her patient’s story, is a great foil to Helena’s measured caution, and I really liked the fact that in many ways, their friendship is the central relationship of the book. Female friendships are often more intriguing and complex than romantic relationships, and Knightsby has the psychological insight to do their bond justice.

I did find myself a little disappointed in the way that the brilliant premise plays out – I wanted more on the idea of a bestselling novel cracking open the conversation about coercion while simultaneously destroying a friendship as the truth is revealed. I was waiting for the slow build and the pay-off, but instead it felt as if the plot jumped around from one story thread to another. Individually, Belle and Julius’ present-day story and the ‘core four’ flashbacks of Helena, Tala, Dylan and Jed at university and beyond are both compelling, but for me as a reader, they never quite meshed together in a narratively satisfying climax. There were lots of points of interest, some deliciously dark twists (a couple I saw coming, but definitely not all of them!), and most of the key ingredients of a thrilling plot, but something was missing in the mix for me. I suspect this might be a case of my own expectations not being met rather than anything else – I kept waiting for the story to go somewhere it was perhaps never intending to go.

Having said that, I was really impressed with the character development, and both Helena and Tala are sharply intelligent, interesting female protagonists whose relationship dramas beautifully express the head vs heart dilemma in many different forms, and whose deep but complicated friendship provides an original foundation for this novel. Knightsby is clearly a talented writer, and there is a lot to admire here.

The Bestseller by Jenny Knightsby is published by Headline and is available to purchase here.