The Poison Tree: the addictive , twisty debut psychological thriller from the million-copy bestselling author

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She has been working as a journalist since 1998, writing for newspapers, magazines including Red, Psychologies, Marie Claire and Elle, as well as writing psychological thrillers. But who died, and why? In a prologue set in the dead of night, why does Karen flee from their home? Who's been watching them? And what has Karen been hiding for all these years?

I actually got really excited for this story when we found out that Adam Glasslake (Alan Murray) was still alive. Then I got even more excited when he went missing. I thought for sure that we were going to find out that he was Paul's father all along; Paul is mistaken for Adam on numerous occasions, and also renaming himself yet again seemed extremely plausible as he's already done it once before. GlassLAKE to SEAforth? Definitely would've been an acceptable pattern. The timeline might have needed some tweaking then (perhaps if he disappeared sooner rather than 5 years later) but it would have brought in a whole new layer of maturation for Adam's character. The drama that would ensue between Paul and Louisa would've been palpable not only because of her shagging her love's son from another woman but also because he would be carrying the extra baggage of being the sole witness to his gruesome (and this time true) death. but - yeah- this book - a great diversion, definitely captivating, good characters. i don't know that i would encourage anyone to own it, but it would be an excellent library loaner. it is a fairly uncomplicated story about cause and effect, with some odd human behavior thrown in. just a lot of me second-guessing the characters with "why didn't she..." and "but why not simply..." These two, scarred and solitary, begin a secret affair. Louisa starts to believe she can again find the happiness she had given up on. But neither of them can outrun his violent past. In present, soon it's new years. Louisa had gone to her sister's place while Paul was snooping around trying to find information on Adam. There's news! Paul comes to know Adam didn't die after all. He was saved and lost his 2 years memory. Didn't remember any people except for his mother. And there's another news, Adam was his band name, his actual name was Alan Murray, and Louisa wasn't aware of even that. So much for being a girlfriend?Apparently a family of four visit the garden to have a family time. It is from the father's perspective. It doesn't take a brain to guess who it might be. Karen was a bit of a square at University specialising in languages for which she has a special gift. Her life was dull and safe until she met Biba a bohemian drama student whom she adored and whose lifestyle she coveted and adopted for one special summer.

Because whether it's in a studio movie in Los Angeles or whether it's an ITV drama, it's always the character that I respond to. It doesn't feel like a change of direction, it feels like it's another role, another character that I really liked and wanted to tell the story for." Paul is in trouble with the police and he is going down for it, unless he reveals what happened and gives up his accomplice. After becoming the one thing you never do in a rough estate Paul is under protection and relocated where he meets Louisa. Louisa has a big secret in her past and keeps herself reserved, low key and interaction minimal, until Paul arrives. Paul reminds her of a past she would rather forget, they both have big secrets to hide however it could be the one thing that brings them together or puts them both at risk. Daniel is quiet. Without any friends. And Paul soon realises Daniel has knowledge but he is an illiterate. He can't read or write. So they make a deal. Paul will be helping him manage his life being an illiterate, and Daniel will be his bodyguard, watching out for him whenever he is in trouble.Yeah, they're so much more fun. I always want to play the bad guy. Well, she doesn't strike you as unlikeable. She's very bewitching and she's the kind of character, the kind of person, that you feel like no-one else in the world exists when they're speaking to you. What can Paul even do, run for his (and Louisa's) life as fast as he could and make sure Louisa survives the impending explosion. He makes it. She's alive. Or at least till that point.

And the entire time I was thinking and processing, what could this book even be about? Simply just about what happened in their past, is that it? I came to know.. That WAS it. The Poison Tree is autobiographical with respect to its setting—like Karen and Biba, I turned twenty-one in the summer of 1997 and remember it like it was yesterday, and I was living in Highgate at the time. This was simply because I was daunted by the task of writing my first novel; there were so many unknowns that I wanted to root the action in a time and place I could be confident about describing. In terms of character, I probably resemble Karen the most; like her, I was a studious teenager, and I have been that girl who hides in a corner at the party, overawed and tongue-tied, more times than I care to remember! That said, Karen is more naïve than I have ever been, something I think we can attribute to her sheltered, provincial adolescence and the fact that she is, due to her precocity, always an academic year ahead of her classmates. As for Biba, while I would love her ability to beguile (and indeed her extensive wardrobe), she is definitely drawn from friends and acquaintances rather than my own experience.but really - it's just a fast-paced crime thriller and is not likely to stay with me for any real amount of time.

yeah, it's all there. and i feel like i have written this review before, for all the books chasing donna tartt's tail. and i was nineteen or thereabouts when i read secret history. i remember being riveted at my temp job, sitting in front of the usually silent phone, occasionally being roused from the text to crisply say "stewart, tabori and chang" into the mouthpiece. but since then, i have met so many people who have been really ho-hum about it. am i wrong? is my memory of it making it out to be something better than it is? was i just impressed at the time because it was something "new" tossed into the previously mild pool of my reading up to that point? It might sound strange but I found writing a dark novel reassuring rather than disturbing. I felt very vulnerable when I was pregnant, very aware that nothing was under my control, from the size of my belly to the big bad world my baby would be born into. Writing The Poison Tree allowed me to exercise total control, even if only over a fictional world.

We come to know it wasn't any girl he was cheating her with, but with that guy Ciaran himself whom he keeps fighting with all the time. Yeah, exactly. She's not just an out-and-out cow. You realise that there are things that are causing her to behave in a certain way, and you forgive her so much because she tries to make it up to you in her own way. So yeah, she's not just an out-and-out evil, bad character. It's more interesting than that."