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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
A stiff start and then ramps up! I re read the last chapter several times. Some extremely unrealistic parts!!
As a daily user of Greenwich Park, I feel like I have a certain amount of expertise relevant to this book. Not so much on the double dealings and shenanigans, but I can definitely speak with authority on Greenwich park and its surroundings. Katherine Faulkner perfectly captures the ambitions and phoniness of a certain type of Londoner, and I read slack jawed as those certain type of Londoners got their just desserts at the end. This was lots of fun to read.
THIS right here is the kind of juicy thriller I've been looking for recently! Katherine Faulkner has a brilliant sense of pacing and storytelling with incredibly effective use of multiple character narration. I devoured this one!
Helen meets Rachel in her prenatal class in the posh neighborhood of Greenwich Park. While Helen finds Rachel odd, she soon learns that Rachel is even stranger and more connected to Helen's life than she first believes...
Such a clever thriller with a great sense of suspense and delectable twists.
Helen meets Rachel in her prenatal class in the posh neighborhood of Greenwich Park. While Helen finds Rachel odd, she soon learns that Rachel is even stranger and more connected to Helen's life than she first believes...
Such a clever thriller with a great sense of suspense and delectable twists.
Greenwich Park is a story that, in a blurb could sound like a fairly common suspense story. It is anything but common. Faulkner is a gifted writer and a master plotter. It take place in upscale Greenwich England. Helen, pregnant for the fifth time after four miscarriages, is ending her job and starting prenatal classes. Serena, Helen, Daniel and Rory have been connected as friends for over ten years. They went to Cambridge together and the couples are still friends.. Daniel, Helen's husband, has to miss their first prenatal class because of a work emergency. This is not a total surprise. Daniel is partners with Helen's brother Rory in an architectural firm founded by her father. Rory is not carrying his weight so Daniel is working nonstop. Rory's wife, Serena, also pregnant, texts Helen to say she's chosen a different class to attend that's more her style. Helen, shy and worried about her health and the viability of this pregnancy is on her own. All the other attendees are couples, until Rachel comes in. Rachel defies all the rules of pregnancy, drinking wine at the class. She promptly attaches herself to Helen. Suddenly, everywhere Helen goes, there is Rachel. Daniel has designed a below ground addition to Helen's childhood historic home since the interior walls in the existing structure can't be changed. They are living there during the remodeling. So there is dust, noise, fear the pregnancy will fail, too much time alone, and the rather "off" Rachel in the picture for Helen. Helen and Rory's younger brother Charlie skipped University and is a DJ. He is reunited in a relationship with Katie, a good friend of Helen's.
The structure of Greenwich Park is quite original and it works. It starts with an afterward, then proceeds consistently through Helen's pregnancy starting with the 24th week and marking each subsequent week. It changes narrators and therefore perspectives among Helen, Serena and Katie but also includes present day interludes in the voice of one or more unknown narrators. Where needed, there are flashbacks to events from ten years earlier. We know right away that someone has written to Helen from jail. So, something bad enough to put someone in jail will happen in this book and Helen did not do it ... maybe. Meanwhile, the characters develop through the perspectives of the multiple narrators from somewhat fixed descriptions to more complex people, each likable in some ways and flawed in some ways. And then there is Rachel, who does not fit into the picture, yet is in the picture. I have read thousands of mysteries. I have never read one that so deftly makes every character a suspect before we even know what happens to put someone in jail. It's like a choose your own adventure story, where you find yourself guessing what bad thing is going to happen and who wrote the afterward from jail and there are tons of plausible endings. I may well reread this just to enjoy the way it is put together a second time. Very, very, very worth your while!!
The structure of Greenwich Park is quite original and it works. It starts with an afterward, then proceeds consistently through Helen's pregnancy starting with the 24th week and marking each subsequent week. It changes narrators and therefore perspectives among Helen, Serena and Katie but also includes present day interludes in the voice of one or more unknown narrators. Where needed, there are flashbacks to events from ten years earlier. We know right away that someone has written to Helen from jail. So, something bad enough to put someone in jail will happen in this book and Helen did not do it ... maybe. Meanwhile, the characters develop through the perspectives of the multiple narrators from somewhat fixed descriptions to more complex people, each likable in some ways and flawed in some ways. And then there is Rachel, who does not fit into the picture, yet is in the picture. I have read thousands of mysteries. I have never read one that so deftly makes every character a suspect before we even know what happens to put someone in jail. It's like a choose your own adventure story, where you find yourself guessing what bad thing is going to happen and who wrote the afterward from jail and there are tons of plausible endings. I may well reread this just to enjoy the way it is put together a second time. Very, very, very worth your while!!
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Fast paced psych thriller! Super good
full review is here:
https://goldintheclouds-faith.blogspot.com/2025/03/2025-book-review-11-greenwich-park.html
full review is here:
https://goldintheclouds-faith.blogspot.com/2025/03/2025-book-review-11-greenwich-park.html
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
I finished this book on one sitting I just couldn’t put it down at all there were so many different things going on it the story I was like what going on with this. Then the girl came back in their life and the most interesting way even. I’m shocked about the ending I though someone else was the suspect in the whole thing and I’m shocked the other child but not really since they hooking up in college and though both of their marriages.
This book was slow to start, but once things started to unfold, they didn’t stop. The friendship between Helen and Rachel is questionable, you knew there was something underneath it all. And the author ties it all in with Helen’s siblings. While I was able to figure some things out, my mind was blown in the last chapter, all the way up until the last line. What a great book! Read it if you want to be questioning everything, see if you can figure it out!
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The whole thing was slow and i didn’t like the characters that much. The pregnant women were very whiny and nothing happened until the last 50 pages. Interesting reveal at the end but I wasn’t attached to the plot/people enough to be surprised or care