The Perfect Date by Julia Crouch Published by Bookouture on October 6, 2023
Genres: Psychological Thrillers
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Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, AmazonI’m out on an early morning dog walk when I find the body. It’s Harry, the man I was dating. It should be the worst thing that has ever happened to me… But it has happened to me before.
Six months ago I found the body of Ash, another man I’d been seeing. The police arrested me, and the trauma nearly destroyed me. I moved back home and changed my life.
Now, it’s a bright sunny morning, the air is fresh, and I’m finally feeling like I can move on. I can’t wait for my second date with Harry…
Then my rescue dog starts barking.
I follow the sound to see what he’s found, and then I realise what it is. Who it is. I back away, trembling.
My heart pounding, I call the police and wait for them to come.
But I don't tell them I recognise the dead man. If I did, I know I’d be their number one suspect.
How could this have happened to me again ?
Who is doing this? Will I be next? And worst of is it my fault?
Because there are things nobody knows about me…
My Thoughts
I’ve never read anything by this author before; therefore, it won’t be the last. Both the characters and the writing were excellent. This book holds everything, from thrilling suspense that will keep you on the edge of your seat to unexpected turns and twists. You shouldn’t skip reading this one, I assure you.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read and review this book.
About Julia Crouch
Julia Crouch spent ten years working in theatre, then, after a spell of teaching, she somehow became a graphic and website designer, a career she followed for another decade while raising her three children. An MA in sequential illustration re-awoke her love of story-telling and a couple of Open University creative writing courses brought it to the fore.
Cuckoo, her first novel, emerged as a very rough draft during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in 2008. A year’s editing got it ready for submission to an agent and within a couple of months she had a book deal with Headline and had given up the day job.
Every Vow You Break, her second novel, was published in March 2012, Tarnished, her third, came out in 2013, followed by Every Vow You Break in 2014, Her Husband’s Lover in 2017 and The New Mother in 2021. She is also published in Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Brazil, China and Ukraine.
Unable to find a sub-genre of crime writing that neatly described her work, she came up with the term Domestic Noir, which is now widely accepted as the label for one of the most popular crime genres today. She has even written a foreword to a book of academic essays on the subject.
She works in a shed at the bottom of the Brighton house she shares with her husband, the actor and playwright Tim Crouch, their three children, two cats called Keith and Sandra, a dog called Uncle, and about twelve guitars.
