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Dear Amy
In her guise as 'Dear Amy', agony aunt for a local newspaper, Margot Lewis has dealt with all sorts of letters - but never one like this...
Dear Amy,
I've been kidnapped by a strange man.
I don't know where I am.
Please help me,
Bethan Avery
This must be a cruel hoax. Because Bethan Avery has been missing for nearly two decades.
But as the present-day search intensifies for another missing schoolgirl, Margot is unnerved enough to take the letter to the police, hoping they will dismiss it as a sick joke.
Instead, they let Margot in on a little secret. One that confirms her darkest fears and tangles her up in the search for the sender, which could save one young girl's life and cost Margot her own...
Dear Amy,
I've been kidnapped by a strange man.
I don't know where I am.
Please help me,
Bethan Avery
This must be a cruel hoax. Because Bethan Avery has been missing for nearly two decades.
But as the present-day search intensifies for another missing schoolgirl, Margot is unnerved enough to take the letter to the police, hoping they will dismiss it as a sick joke.
Instead, they let Margot in on a little secret. One that confirms her darkest fears and tangles her up in the search for the sender, which could save one young girl's life and cost Margot her own...
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 16, 2016
473 people are currently reading
7174 people want to read
About the author
Helen Callaghan
13 books281 followersMy name is Helen Callaghan and I write fiction whenever I’m left unsupervised. I live in Guildford amongst teetering piles of books.
I’ve always written, it’s my one constant. I was at various points a student nurse, barmaid and drama student. Eventually I settled into bookselling, working as a fiction specialist and buyer for a variety of bookshops, and did that for nearly ten years. In the end I became restless and studied for A-levels at night school. I achieved a place at Cambridge University as a mature student, where I studied Archaeology.
My debut novel, Dear Amy (2016), was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller. Everything is Lies followed in 2018 and Night Falls, Still Missing in 2020. My latest novel, The Drowning Girls, was published in 2023 by Penguin Michael Joseph.
I’ve always written, it’s my one constant. I was at various points a student nurse, barmaid and drama student. Eventually I settled into bookselling, working as a fiction specialist and buyer for a variety of bookshops, and did that for nearly ten years. In the end I became restless and studied for A-levels at night school. I achieved a place at Cambridge University as a mature student, where I studied Archaeology.
My debut novel, Dear Amy (2016), was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller. Everything is Lies followed in 2018 and Night Falls, Still Missing in 2020. My latest novel, The Drowning Girls, was published in 2023 by Penguin Michael Joseph.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,166 reviews
June 4, 2016
This is a psychological thriller that turned out to be a passable read, but failed to hold my interest after a third of the way through. Margot Lewis is the eponymous Amy, an agony aunt for the local paper, with a troubling personal history. She begins to receive letters from a girl who disappeared twenty years ago, Bethan Avery, who has been presumed dead. The letters contain information that would not be known to the public and Margot's interest is ignited. It is a sprawling story but neither the plot nor the characters had enough to hold my attention. However, what I did like is the writing of Helen Callaghan. I think there will be others for whom this will be a great story. Thanks to Penguin, Michael Joseph for an ARC via netgalley.
May 23, 2016
* Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review*
Margot Lewis is an agony aunt with her local newspaper, and receives many letters every week, but when she starts receiving them from Bethan Avery, who's been missing for years, she becomes completely absorbed in solving this mystery. Bethan is reaching out to Margot asking her to come find her , and rescue her from the man holding her captive. Could the letters really be from Bethan? It seems plausible as some of the details in the letters were never made public knowledge.
As soon as I read the synopsis I was intrigued, and I have to say that it started well for me - I felt I was engaging with it, and couldn't wait to discover the outcome. However, at some point the writing seemed to veer off into the realms of impossibility, and became quite unrealistic. It was at this stage that I started losing interest unfortunately. There were parts of it that I loved, and others where the writing came across as somewhat immature.
Margot Lewis is an agony aunt with her local newspaper, and receives many letters every week, but when she starts receiving them from Bethan Avery, who's been missing for years, she becomes completely absorbed in solving this mystery. Bethan is reaching out to Margot asking her to come find her , and rescue her from the man holding her captive. Could the letters really be from Bethan? It seems plausible as some of the details in the letters were never made public knowledge.
As soon as I read the synopsis I was intrigued, and I have to say that it started well for me - I felt I was engaging with it, and couldn't wait to discover the outcome. However, at some point the writing seemed to veer off into the realms of impossibility, and became quite unrealistic. It was at this stage that I started losing interest unfortunately. There were parts of it that I loved, and others where the writing came across as somewhat immature.
July 7, 2016
I was dragging my feet on reading this book, based on some of the low ratings I had seen from my fellow GR friends. This was a NetGalley pick for me, and I can see why I was drawn to it--The publisher's synopsis really peaked my interest. Unfortunately, like most movie trailers these days, the best of what the book is about is told in that synopsis, so the actual read was a big let down. There were no surprises, no side stories to distract, no character that I could root for. (Yes, even poor kidnapped Katie Brown)
I figured out who was who fairly early on, so all the chapters dedicated to the 'slow reveal' almost put me asleep. I kept at it though, as I was hoping to find out WHY these girls were taken and what made this crazy man tick. But no such luck...my questions remain unanswered.
With such an interesting premise, I am bummed that this missed the mark for me...but they all can't be 5 stars! I'm still thankful to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I figured out who was who fairly early on, so all the chapters dedicated to the 'slow reveal' almost put me asleep. I kept at it though, as I was hoping to find out WHY these girls were taken and what made this crazy man tick. But no such luck...my questions remain unanswered.
With such an interesting premise, I am bummed that this missed the mark for me...but they all can't be 5 stars! I'm still thankful to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 16, 2016
As psychological thrillers go, this is at the bottom of the pile.
The twist, if you can call it that, could not have been more obvious, the pacing was slow, and I felt more connection to the person standing behind me in the supermarket queue this morning than I did to these characters.
In any case, thanks to Penguin and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
The twist, if you can call it that, could not have been more obvious, the pacing was slow, and I felt more connection to the person standing behind me in the supermarket queue this morning than I did to these characters.
In any case, thanks to Penguin and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
April 25, 2017
Missing children, missing childhoods, missing truths.
First Class Psychological Suspense From a Major New Voice in Fiction
Bethan Avery went missing seventeen years ago, but suddenly turned up in letters to an agony columnist. Details of her disappearance which was unknown before, confirmed the validity of her identity, but also baffled the columnist as well as the police. Margot Lewis, a high school teacher was also Dear Amy for The Cambridge Examiner, when one of her students, Katie Brown, vanished without a trace and Bethan Avery was surfacing in her letters a few weeks later. A team of specialists, with the criminologist, Dr. Martin Forrester, are brought in to reopen the cold case and pull the strings together. Their findings would not only rock society ...
In the meantime, Margot, the teacher, tried very hard to sort out her divorce from her entitled husband, Eddy, and keep her students interested in Greek mythology. It gives Lily, her best friend and colleague an opportunity to indulge in art as cartoonist. To boost Margot's morale through the messy divorce, Lily makes two portraits. "How He Sees Us" - is the first one. Ben, the headmaster, is drawn as a caricature, leaning over his desk, shouting at them. His face was dark with rage. He sported a judge's wig and full academic gown, and was carrying a huge paddle. The three friends, Lily, Margot and Estella, were drawn as three terrified little schoolgirls in pigtails and school uniforms.
The second one, which she titled "How We See Him", Lily draws a cartoon of Margot as one of the Erinyes: A Fury, an ancient Greek goddess tasked with hounding sinners to madness and death: Chthonic underworld goddess of vengeance and rage. The cartoon characters, Lily, Margot and Estella, are taking revenge on the headmaster. Lily draws them as female monsters out of antiquity. They sit on thrones carved out of bones, looking down on the cowering Ben, as a little scared schoolboy. Estella the harpy flexed a pair of wings and her birds' talons crossed over each other at the ankles; Lily's long hair was a cloud of hissing, multi-colored snakes, and Margot sat on the end, leathery bat wings sprouting from her back, curved fangs gnashing against her bottom lip as she leaned forward, glaring at Ben, caressing the razor-wire whip in her clawed hands. At the bottom of the portrait, Lily wrote: "Stay Mad! Love, Lily" ...
Saying more about this captivating, atmospheric plot will give it all away, so I am unwillingly and under great restraint keeping quiet. There's enough juicy details to keep us very busy if we start talking :-)
It's an ambitious tale, somewhat unrealistic, but written in such a refreshing, original tone, that the book just kept me reading and reading. Many questions surfaced as the narrative continues, which left me a little bit confused and unconvinced, but I really loved the author's refreshing new writing style so much that I will happily settle for four stars.
The tale is as much a what if-thrill than it is a portrait of reality from a totally different angle.
And now I am sitting on my hands ... and zippit under great protest. Oh what a sleuth! What a sleuth! :-))
First Class Psychological Suspense From a Major New Voice in Fiction
Bethan Avery went missing seventeen years ago, but suddenly turned up in letters to an agony columnist. Details of her disappearance which was unknown before, confirmed the validity of her identity, but also baffled the columnist as well as the police. Margot Lewis, a high school teacher was also Dear Amy for The Cambridge Examiner, when one of her students, Katie Brown, vanished without a trace and Bethan Avery was surfacing in her letters a few weeks later. A team of specialists, with the criminologist, Dr. Martin Forrester, are brought in to reopen the cold case and pull the strings together. Their findings would not only rock society ...
In the meantime, Margot, the teacher, tried very hard to sort out her divorce from her entitled husband, Eddy, and keep her students interested in Greek mythology. It gives Lily, her best friend and colleague an opportunity to indulge in art as cartoonist. To boost Margot's morale through the messy divorce, Lily makes two portraits. "How He Sees Us" - is the first one. Ben, the headmaster, is drawn as a caricature, leaning over his desk, shouting at them. His face was dark with rage. He sported a judge's wig and full academic gown, and was carrying a huge paddle. The three friends, Lily, Margot and Estella, were drawn as three terrified little schoolgirls in pigtails and school uniforms.
The second one, which she titled "How We See Him", Lily draws a cartoon of Margot as one of the Erinyes: A Fury, an ancient Greek goddess tasked with hounding sinners to madness and death: Chthonic underworld goddess of vengeance and rage. The cartoon characters, Lily, Margot and Estella, are taking revenge on the headmaster. Lily draws them as female monsters out of antiquity. They sit on thrones carved out of bones, looking down on the cowering Ben, as a little scared schoolboy. Estella the harpy flexed a pair of wings and her birds' talons crossed over each other at the ankles; Lily's long hair was a cloud of hissing, multi-colored snakes, and Margot sat on the end, leathery bat wings sprouting from her back, curved fangs gnashing against her bottom lip as she leaned forward, glaring at Ben, caressing the razor-wire whip in her clawed hands. At the bottom of the portrait, Lily wrote: "Stay Mad! Love, Lily" ...
Saying more about this captivating, atmospheric plot will give it all away, so I am unwillingly and under great restraint keeping quiet. There's enough juicy details to keep us very busy if we start talking :-)
It's an ambitious tale, somewhat unrealistic, but written in such a refreshing, original tone, that the book just kept me reading and reading. Many questions surfaced as the narrative continues, which left me a little bit confused and unconvinced, but I really loved the author's refreshing new writing style so much that I will happily settle for four stars.
The tale is as much a what if-thrill than it is a portrait of reality from a totally different angle.
And now I am sitting on my hands ... and zippit under great protest. Oh what a sleuth! What a sleuth! :-))
December 26, 2020
I started reading this book a little coldly, it didn't seem like it was a great story. But page after page it turned out to be a really well thought out book. It is true that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this one is really a little humble, and even the sentences on the back cover seem like the usual rhetorical sentences and do not ignite any spark. But the book deserves a lot, because the plot is well thought out and the story gets tangled up for most of the book up to about three-quarters, only to unravel in a really unexpected way. The story of Bethan Avery, almost seems like a true news story, since it is so unusual. And the fact that the protagonist of the book, Margot Lewis, tells the story in the first person, increases this feeling, as if she were a journalist who tells. But Margot is part of the story and what a part! And the author is very good at letting us enter the emotions that Margot feels, both those of bewilderment and those of anger. Right, yes, especially those of anger: in certain moments you really want to be there with her and make this anger explode. The book contains some noir parts, some thriller parts and very well detailed psychological parts, so it really has everything you need in a book of this genre and that is what we readers are looking for. Definitely worth reading and I don't want to say anything about the plot because anything, even taking it very distantly, could be considered a spoiler, since a small detail is enough to make you understand how it ends. I'd be hated for that, so I don't do it.
March 21, 2016
Whilst it was an interesting concept I found it far fetched and unrealistic and implausible throughout. Being an avid reader of psychological thrillers I felt this lacked something to make me connect to any characters. However this is just my opinion and I am sure others will enjoy it.
November 13, 2016
4.5 Stars * Set in Cambridge, Helen Callaghan’s hauntingly atmospheric debut, DEAR AMY- spins an intriguing mysterious tale of a current teenage girl’s abduction, with a twenty-year-old cold case of evil and desperation, and a woman of secrets.
A novel of contrasts. Good and evil. Darkness and Light. In order, to solve a mystery and help the victims, the complex protagonist must return to the underworld, her haunted past with an intense unwavering strength of will.
There is a lot here beyond the surface, as the complex layers are unraveled. You do not want to miss a single thing!
Margot Lewis is the agony aunt (a columnist who gives advice when people write in with problems) for The Cambridge Examiner. Her advice column, ‘Dear Amy’, gets all kinds of letters; but none like the one she’s just received.
Margot is unhappy in her marriage (Eddie), unable to have children and a teacher at an exclusive high school in the town of Cambridge, as well as the advice column, Dear Amy. Her personal life is not going well, and she often has panic attacks.
As the book opens a teenage girl, Katie Brown, age fifteen, is packing, leaving for good. It is raining. She has had enough. She is second guessing her decision. She does not like Bryan, her mom’s boyfriend which has worked his way into their lives. Her mom was always taking her side. Telling her what to wear. She will go to her real dad's house. She is running. Escaping. She was always angry.
A car pulls up next to her. An older man. She does not know him. The man is calling her name. How does this man know her? The youth club. She has not been her in two years. He offers to give her a lift. A responsible person. It is pouring rain. His car looks warm and dry. She is exhausted. Maybe she can go back home. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Margot soon learns Katie is missing. One of the students at her school. Something does not seem right.
Soon thereafter, Margot receives a Dear Amy letter. A desperate plea from a girl, Bethan Avery who says she is being held captive and in terrible danger. The Cambridge postmark was mailed the day before. The girl says a man is holding her in a cellar and will not allow her to return home.
She could only imagine rape, torture, and murder. Something about this letter is disturbing. Her mind goes to the scholarship girl, and swimmer, Katie Brown. She was worried for Katie. She goes to the police station.
Shocking. This girl Bethan Avery, was abducted twenty years ago and never found. How is this possible? Additional letters appear, and the investigation shows similarities in the handwriting of the letters as compared to the diary of the Bethan Avery. What happened to Bethan Avery? She had been forgotten. Is the letter for real?
Margot is completely drawn into this chilling mystery. An obsession. At first she thought it could be just a crazy letter; however, the girl continues to say she is being held a prisoner in a dark cellar, crying out for help.
When more letters start to appear, and further investigation reveals startling similarities between the handwriting and that in a diary of the supposed author, Bethan Avery, Margot finds herself totally immersed, which will have life changing consequences.
Told from perspectives of both perpetrator and victim, you hear the desperation of a terrified girl trapped by a monster, and Margot’s unquestionable mental state. At the same time, we also hear from an evil abductor.
In the meantime, a criminologist Martin Forrester shows interest in the case, and joins Margot in the investigation. How are the two cases connected? He states this has happened six times since 1998. Has Katie replaced Bethan? Why did the letters come to her? A scam?
Had she survived for the last seventeen years?
The ongoing mystery: Why is Margot receiving the pleas for help as Dear Amy? She was presumed abducted and murdered in the nineties. How is this happening? Answering this question may cost Margot everything. She is also tormented with fear while reading the letters, and through these letters, Margot may learn the truth that threatens to tear open the fissures in her own history.
Haunting, Twisty, and Chilling! The usage of elements: rain, a gated home reflecting isolation, garden, the setting, imprisonment; snow, magpies, shapes, darkness, and Greek myths — all add a layer of mystery and compliment the experience.
On the surface, Margot is a successful woman, teaching Classics and English at a prestigious school and married to an ambitious man before he was unfaithful. She also was the woman behind the advice column.
However, Margot appears to be hiding something. Memories repressed. She could be fooling everyone. Lies. She could be hurting herself, and causing her life to unravel. Horrors. A secret lurking in her past. Would she risk exposing herself trying to help others? At the same time, her own husband may betray her.
I listened to the Audiobook and the narrator Michelle Ford delivered a suspenseful spine-chilling performance!
Callaghan’s writing is intense, and spellbinding at times with vivid settings, and scents- drawing you in, while the reader is glued to the pages trying to solve the complex mystery of these women. Thought-provoking.
I enjoyed learning why Callaghan set her novel in Cambridge, (a place of contrasts) as it supports the contrasts in the heroine’s life.
Author Helen Callaghan discusses the dilapidated fictional manor where chilling crimes take place. "The Grove." I found this quite intriguing and true.
When I invest time in a book, am always intrigued by the author’s inspiration and topics behind the book. I enjoy researching further and enjoy sharing with other readers. A nice interview with the author: Helen Callaghan and Gilly Macmillan.
Note to readers: I noticed a few reviewers did not finish the book. Be patient. Would encourage you to go back and reread. This is not a book to be rushed. A twisting plot worthy of Alfred Hitchcock. Delving deep into the horrors, creepiness, murkiest and darkest corners of the human psyche. A strong female heroine!
Helen Callaghan is an author to follow! An absorbing debut, and looking forward to seeing what’s coming next.
Fans of unreliable narrators will enjoy this well-crafted cleverly constructed suspense thriller, as well as those who enjoyed The Good Girl and Mary Kubica's psychologically rich hypnotic writing. (My favorite).
JDCMustReadBooks
A novel of contrasts. Good and evil. Darkness and Light. In order, to solve a mystery and help the victims, the complex protagonist must return to the underworld, her haunted past with an intense unwavering strength of will.
There is a lot here beyond the surface, as the complex layers are unraveled. You do not want to miss a single thing!
Margot Lewis is the agony aunt (a columnist who gives advice when people write in with problems) for The Cambridge Examiner. Her advice column, ‘Dear Amy’, gets all kinds of letters; but none like the one she’s just received.
Dear Amy, I don’t know where I am. I’ve been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I’m afraid he’ll kill me. Please help me soon. Bethan Avery
Margot is unhappy in her marriage (Eddie), unable to have children and a teacher at an exclusive high school in the town of Cambridge, as well as the advice column, Dear Amy. Her personal life is not going well, and she often has panic attacks.
As the book opens a teenage girl, Katie Brown, age fifteen, is packing, leaving for good. It is raining. She has had enough. She is second guessing her decision. She does not like Bryan, her mom’s boyfriend which has worked his way into their lives. Her mom was always taking her side. Telling her what to wear. She will go to her real dad's house. She is running. Escaping. She was always angry.
A car pulls up next to her. An older man. She does not know him. The man is calling her name. How does this man know her? The youth club. She has not been her in two years. He offers to give her a lift. A responsible person. It is pouring rain. His car looks warm and dry. She is exhausted. Maybe she can go back home. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Margot soon learns Katie is missing. One of the students at her school. Something does not seem right.
Soon thereafter, Margot receives a Dear Amy letter. A desperate plea from a girl, Bethan Avery who says she is being held captive and in terrible danger. The Cambridge postmark was mailed the day before. The girl says a man is holding her in a cellar and will not allow her to return home.
She could only imagine rape, torture, and murder. Something about this letter is disturbing. Her mind goes to the scholarship girl, and swimmer, Katie Brown. She was worried for Katie. She goes to the police station.
Shocking. This girl Bethan Avery, was abducted twenty years ago and never found. How is this possible? Additional letters appear, and the investigation shows similarities in the handwriting of the letters as compared to the diary of the Bethan Avery. What happened to Bethan Avery? She had been forgotten. Is the letter for real?
Margot is completely drawn into this chilling mystery. An obsession. At first she thought it could be just a crazy letter; however, the girl continues to say she is being held a prisoner in a dark cellar, crying out for help.
When more letters start to appear, and further investigation reveals startling similarities between the handwriting and that in a diary of the supposed author, Bethan Avery, Margot finds herself totally immersed, which will have life changing consequences.
Told from perspectives of both perpetrator and victim, you hear the desperation of a terrified girl trapped by a monster, and Margot’s unquestionable mental state. At the same time, we also hear from an evil abductor.
In the meantime, a criminologist Martin Forrester shows interest in the case, and joins Margot in the investigation. How are the two cases connected? He states this has happened six times since 1998. Has Katie replaced Bethan? Why did the letters come to her? A scam?
Had she survived for the last seventeen years?
The ongoing mystery: Why is Margot receiving the pleas for help as Dear Amy? She was presumed abducted and murdered in the nineties. How is this happening? Answering this question may cost Margot everything. She is also tormented with fear while reading the letters, and through these letters, Margot may learn the truth that threatens to tear open the fissures in her own history.
Haunting, Twisty, and Chilling! The usage of elements: rain, a gated home reflecting isolation, garden, the setting, imprisonment; snow, magpies, shapes, darkness, and Greek myths — all add a layer of mystery and compliment the experience.
On the surface, Margot is a successful woman, teaching Classics and English at a prestigious school and married to an ambitious man before he was unfaithful. She also was the woman behind the advice column.
However, Margot appears to be hiding something. Memories repressed. She could be fooling everyone. Lies. She could be hurting herself, and causing her life to unravel. Horrors. A secret lurking in her past. Would she risk exposing herself trying to help others? At the same time, her own husband may betray her.
I listened to the Audiobook and the narrator Michelle Ford delivered a suspenseful spine-chilling performance!
Callaghan’s writing is intense, and spellbinding at times with vivid settings, and scents- drawing you in, while the reader is glued to the pages trying to solve the complex mystery of these women. Thought-provoking.
I enjoyed learning why Callaghan set her novel in Cambridge, (a place of contrasts) as it supports the contrasts in the heroine’s life.
Author Helen Callaghan discusses the dilapidated fictional manor where chilling crimes take place. "The Grove." I found this quite intriguing and true.
When I invest time in a book, am always intrigued by the author’s inspiration and topics behind the book. I enjoy researching further and enjoy sharing with other readers. A nice interview with the author: Helen Callaghan and Gilly Macmillan.
Note to readers: I noticed a few reviewers did not finish the book. Be patient. Would encourage you to go back and reread. This is not a book to be rushed. A twisting plot worthy of Alfred Hitchcock. Delving deep into the horrors, creepiness, murkiest and darkest corners of the human psyche. A strong female heroine!
Helen Callaghan is an author to follow! An absorbing debut, and looking forward to seeing what’s coming next.
Fans of unreliable narrators will enjoy this well-crafted cleverly constructed suspense thriller, as well as those who enjoyed The Good Girl and Mary Kubica's psychologically rich hypnotic writing. (My favorite).
JDCMustReadBooks
September 27, 2024
4 Stars
First of all I really enjoyed the setting of this novel. Margot Lewis lives and works in Cambridge, England. I have never been there myself but it was nice to get to know the city, especially the campus and the university. Who knew that Cambridge University isn't one big university, but that it consists of 31 independent colleges that form Cambridge University as a whole? I didn't.
Margot Lewis is an interesting character. She is a teacher by day and the agony aunt of the town's newspaper by night. In the beginning it seems that she has her life figured out but as we get to know her, we learn that her life is way more complicated. It was fun to guess what was going on in her life.
I also enjoyed the roles of the secondary characters in this story. All of them behaved very suspicious in certain situations and it seemed that all of them knew something essential to the case but wouldn't say what. It also made me wonder who the bad and who the good guys were.
I thought the plot twist was genius! The explanation of the how and when and why of the plot twist was very thoughthrough too. Even the explanation contained another small plot twist - and no, I didn't spoil that one for me. ;)
This psychological thriller does not only have a brilliant plot twist, it has also some very creepy scenes which involves among others things dead phones and dark rooms.
Dear Amy is a genuis debut novel by author Helen Callaghan. It's unique and suspenseful with a great plot twist. If you like psychological thrillers, I'm pretty certain that you like this one too.
**********
This was so good!
Review to come!
First of all I really enjoyed the setting of this novel. Margot Lewis lives and works in Cambridge, England. I have never been there myself but it was nice to get to know the city, especially the campus and the university. Who knew that Cambridge University isn't one big university, but that it consists of 31 independent colleges that form Cambridge University as a whole? I didn't.
Margot Lewis is an interesting character. She is a teacher by day and the agony aunt of the town's newspaper by night. In the beginning it seems that she has her life figured out but as we get to know her, we learn that her life is way more complicated. It was fun to guess what was going on in her life.
I also enjoyed the roles of the secondary characters in this story. All of them behaved very suspicious in certain situations and it seemed that all of them knew something essential to the case but wouldn't say what. It also made me wonder who the bad and who the good guys were.
I thought the plot twist was genius! The explanation of the how and when and why of the plot twist was very thoughthrough too. Even the explanation contained another small plot twist - and no, I didn't spoil that one for me. ;)
This psychological thriller does not only have a brilliant plot twist, it has also some very creepy scenes which involves among others things dead phones and dark rooms.
Dear Amy is a genuis debut novel by author Helen Callaghan. It's unique and suspenseful with a great plot twist. If you like psychological thrillers, I'm pretty certain that you like this one too.
**********
This was so good!
Review to come!
December 25, 2017
This was a cracker of a read. I was sucked into the plot pretty quick and read this fast, eager for more. It’s got a lot going for it!
Full review on way!
Full review on way!
January 14, 2021
“You have to run with all your might, just to stand still.”
― Helen Callaghan, Dear Amy
I did not love this.
Dear Amy was a book with quite an interesting premise. But I just could not get involved in it. Ultimately what I did was resort to skimming and cheating by reading the ending.
It is a big book..not huge..but long enough and I read a few other reviews which really say what I felt so not alot to add. I did not feel connected to the story either and I did not like the "twists". I felt what this story becomes is not quite as advertised.
SPOILERS:
It is taking me alot not to talk about the twists here. It seems, with contemporary thrillers, they all must end with a twist. In the case of Dear Amy it did not work for me because the whole thing becomes more of one woman's soul searching (with a little romance thrown in) and I had thought I was getting a really dark edgy nail biting thriller. So I was let down.
This is not a bad book or anything like that. But it was not the book I expected going in and although the writing was quite good, in the sense that I did want to know the ending, I could not build that connection to the story where I am furiously turning pages, staying up all night to get to the end. It was not anything like that.
I will say though that the book cover is among the best I have ever seen..
― Helen Callaghan, Dear Amy
I did not love this.
Dear Amy was a book with quite an interesting premise. But I just could not get involved in it. Ultimately what I did was resort to skimming and cheating by reading the ending.
It is a big book..not huge..but long enough and I read a few other reviews which really say what I felt so not alot to add. I did not feel connected to the story either and I did not like the "twists". I felt what this story becomes is not quite as advertised.
SPOILERS:
It is taking me alot not to talk about the twists here. It seems, with contemporary thrillers, they all must end with a twist. In the case of Dear Amy it did not work for me because the whole thing becomes more of one woman's soul searching (with a little romance thrown in) and I had thought I was getting a really dark edgy nail biting thriller. So I was let down.
This is not a bad book or anything like that. But it was not the book I expected going in and although the writing was quite good, in the sense that I did want to know the ending, I could not build that connection to the story where I am furiously turning pages, staying up all night to get to the end. It was not anything like that.
I will say though that the book cover is among the best I have ever seen..
November 21, 2018
It was an interesting read! What I liked about this book the most were twists. Particularly, I'd like to underline a twist ending that I did not see coming at all. Characters were well-developed, but not perfect.
I'd recommend it to all thriller fans!
I'd recommend it to all thriller fans!
June 9, 2016
This begins as an ultra-enjoyable, instantly unputdownable mystery with an idiosyncratic narrator who I found charming. The concept (agony aunt receives letter purporting to be from a girl who disappeared twenty years earlier) is fun, and if the story it's intercut with – harrowing scenes depicting a different girl who's currently being held in captivity, possibly by the same man – is rather more standard stuff, the protagonist's voice makes up for it. Margot simply has so much more personality than your typical thriller heroine. She's funny, very opinionated and a bit of a misanthrope, and at its best, Dear Amy feels as much a comic character study of Margot as a psychological thriller. It was for her judgements and asides that I kept reading, having abandoned other recent hyped-up thrillers a couple of chapters in.
Past the halfway mark, though, it all goes to hell. The episode of is hard to follow and devoid of tension; the mystery stops being interesting; there's an unnecessary and completely unbelievable romance. Although Margot finally starts to sound like a woman in her thirties (for the first however-many chapters, with no information about her age, I assumed she was in her mid-fifties), everything that makes the character unique and interesting is lost in the process. (This is just one example of the sloppy editing and uneven tone that is this book's major problem.) Dramatic developments clog up the final chapters; some you could've guessed at the beginning, some involve twists so wildly implausible they take suspension of disbelief to new heights, but none of this is likely to provide genuine surprises for those familiar with the conventions of the genre.
I found myself wishing Margot actually was older, and situated in a different type of story. Aged up a little, faced with petty local crimes to solve, this somewhat cantankerous teacher/local journalist would make a perfect heroine for a cosy mystery series.
I read an ARC of this back in February. I'm putting the review up now because the book is published in a week's time. I'm assuming/hoping that the final version will at least have been through further editing and will feel more coherent – the version I read was a bit of a mess, and that was more of a problem than the idea, or the writing itself. I'd still read more by Callaghan, but I'd prefer it to be something that doesn't feel quite so much like it's been brutally, uncomfortably forced into the 'psychological thriller for women' box.
I received an advance review copy of Dear Amy from the publisher through NetGalley.
Past the halfway mark, though, it all goes to hell. The episode of is hard to follow and devoid of tension; the mystery stops being interesting; there's an unnecessary and completely unbelievable romance. Although Margot finally starts to sound like a woman in her thirties (for the first however-many chapters, with no information about her age, I assumed she was in her mid-fifties), everything that makes the character unique and interesting is lost in the process. (This is just one example of the sloppy editing and uneven tone that is this book's major problem.) Dramatic developments clog up the final chapters; some you could've guessed at the beginning, some involve twists so wildly implausible they take suspension of disbelief to new heights, but none of this is likely to provide genuine surprises for those familiar with the conventions of the genre.
I found myself wishing Margot actually was older, and situated in a different type of story. Aged up a little, faced with petty local crimes to solve, this somewhat cantankerous teacher/local journalist would make a perfect heroine for a cosy mystery series.
I read an ARC of this back in February. I'm putting the review up now because the book is published in a week's time. I'm assuming/hoping that the final version will at least have been through further editing and will feel more coherent – the version I read was a bit of a mess, and that was more of a problem than the idea, or the writing itself. I'd still read more by Callaghan, but I'd prefer it to be something that doesn't feel quite so much like it's been brutally, uncomfortably forced into the 'psychological thriller for women' box.
I received an advance review copy of Dear Amy from the publisher through NetGalley.
July 5, 2016
My sincere thanks to NetGalley, Helen Callaghan and Penguin UK for providing an advanced review copy of 'Dear Amy' in exchange for an honest review.
I was so hyped up over this book and I was delighted to have been approved to received an arc. However, the reality was very different and I struggled with this book pretty much from the very beginning. I just could not connect with the character of Margot and I found her monologuing quite dull, with my attention often wandering elsewhere. Her character appeared rather flat and however much I tried to focus and warm to her, sadly I couldn't. I finished the book because it was for a NetGalley review - I don't think I would've persevered otherwise.
That's not to say this book isn't for everyone; it just wasn't for me. Psychological thrillers can be a hit or a miss and this one didn't hit the mark for me. It wouldn't discourage me from reading more from Helen Callaghan if the opportunity arose in the future. 'Dear Amy' has received many wonderful reviews and some not so wonderful reviews so it just proves the point that we are all different in our reading preferences. 2⭐️⭐️ from me.
I was so hyped up over this book and I was delighted to have been approved to received an arc. However, the reality was very different and I struggled with this book pretty much from the very beginning. I just could not connect with the character of Margot and I found her monologuing quite dull, with my attention often wandering elsewhere. Her character appeared rather flat and however much I tried to focus and warm to her, sadly I couldn't. I finished the book because it was for a NetGalley review - I don't think I would've persevered otherwise.
That's not to say this book isn't for everyone; it just wasn't for me. Psychological thrillers can be a hit or a miss and this one didn't hit the mark for me. It wouldn't discourage me from reading more from Helen Callaghan if the opportunity arose in the future. 'Dear Amy' has received many wonderful reviews and some not so wonderful reviews so it just proves the point that we are all different in our reading preferences. 2⭐️⭐️ from me.
July 6, 2021
A thriller.
This was ok, I enjoyed it and would recommend it if…..you don’t mind me telling you these are my thoughts…. it’s a bit slow to start with, I didn’t mind that so much as it was building a story.
If you don’t mind a bit unbelievable things that happen that use you to stretch your imagination.
Not sure if I’ll remember it as I lost some enthusiasm the second half.
This was ok, I enjoyed it and would recommend it if…..you don’t mind me telling you these are my thoughts…. it’s a bit slow to start with, I didn’t mind that so much as it was building a story.
If you don’t mind a bit unbelievable things that happen that use you to stretch your imagination.
Not sure if I’ll remember it as I lost some enthusiasm the second half.
June 3, 2016
"Wise men speak when they have something to say; fools speak when they have to say something." How true is that phrase? I can think of many this applies to...and not just men!!
Dear Amy came up as one of THE books to read this summer - a debut to watch according to Deadgood Books so I knew I wanted to read. So I was made up when the publisher approved my request through Netgalley.
Helen Callaghan definitely has a way with words. The way she described the head nun Mother Cecilia as a "female Gandalf" with a "hothouse brain" and "alchemy wizardry" conjures up such an image of the character.
The first half story is sinister at points but not a goose-bump chilling thriller; but as the story unfolds, it gets darker, the tension builds and the twists start to appear.
Helen Callaghan's debut is a brilliant read that keeps you guessing all the way. I did question and mistrust a number of characters throughout the story.
Big thank you to Penguin UK, Michael Joseph and Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy of Dear Amy in return for my unbiased review.
Dear Amy came up as one of THE books to read this summer - a debut to watch according to Deadgood Books so I knew I wanted to read. So I was made up when the publisher approved my request through Netgalley.
Helen Callaghan definitely has a way with words. The way she described the head nun Mother Cecilia as a "female Gandalf" with a "hothouse brain" and "alchemy wizardry" conjures up such an image of the character.
The first half story is sinister at points but not a goose-bump chilling thriller; but as the story unfolds, it gets darker, the tension builds and the twists start to appear.
Helen Callaghan's debut is a brilliant read that keeps you guessing all the way. I did question and mistrust a number of characters throughout the story.
Big thank you to Penguin UK, Michael Joseph and Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy of Dear Amy in return for my unbiased review.
June 14, 2016
All you need to know beforehand about this book is contained in the product description, to know any more would spoil the read and this is in fact a very hard book to review for that very reason. I have to say that even though I finished it, I didn’t really enjoy it. The main reason was Margot herself. I just could not find myself rooting for her as she is a very hard character to get behind. All the reasons for this are explained in the book, but too late for me to develop any liking for her and because most of the book is focussed on her, it put a downer on the whole read for me. Additionally, I would have liked to have known more of Katie and her plight, but that all seemed to get lost in events surrounding Margot herself.
There is a twist but that twist was obvious from very early on in the read and incredibly easy to figure out. To be honest, events could not have happened any other way in any case and maybe the introduction of a possible alternative could have saved the read for me by keeping me guessing. The story does get a little clichéd at times – phone batteries that die at the worst possible time, cars that won’t start and I did groan at the finale when the characters came together for the inevitable showdown. It is a very slow paced read, which just plods along for the most part and I hate to use the D word but there are times when it is just dull. I received a review copy from the publisher via Netgalley.
There is a twist but that twist was obvious from very early on in the read and incredibly easy to figure out. To be honest, events could not have happened any other way in any case and maybe the introduction of a possible alternative could have saved the read for me by keeping me guessing. The story does get a little clichéd at times – phone batteries that die at the worst possible time, cars that won’t start and I did groan at the finale when the characters came together for the inevitable showdown. It is a very slow paced read, which just plods along for the most part and I hate to use the D word but there are times when it is just dull. I received a review copy from the publisher via Netgalley.
June 13, 2017
*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
#2.5 stars
This gripping story is based around Margot, a Cambridge schoolteacher, who also moonlights as an agony aunt, under the alias “Dear Amy” for a local newspaper. When a haunting letter comes into Margot’s hands as Amy, from a person claiming to be Bethan Avery, it is a shock. This is because Bethan Avery was a young girl who went missing 20 years earlier and has never been found. The letter has the schoolteacher debating as to whether the letter is simply a coax, or it is authentic. When Margot hands the letter over to the police, they seem disinterested. But when a student at her school goes missing, a connection between this current girl’s disappearance and Bethan Avery forms. Margot is drawn in deeper, while dealing with her own problems, including the breakdown of her marriage and her difficult past. Dear Amy had a promising start, the first half locked me in and I enjoyed the use of the letters via an agony aunt that kick started this thriller. It did make the novel stand out from the many offerings in this genre. However, I did feel there were lags in the narrative, some open plot holes and obvious twists. These points aside, Dear Amy is worth investigating if you are a fan of the genre.
#2.5 stars
This gripping story is based around Margot, a Cambridge schoolteacher, who also moonlights as an agony aunt, under the alias “Dear Amy” for a local newspaper. When a haunting letter comes into Margot’s hands as Amy, from a person claiming to be Bethan Avery, it is a shock. This is because Bethan Avery was a young girl who went missing 20 years earlier and has never been found. The letter has the schoolteacher debating as to whether the letter is simply a coax, or it is authentic. When Margot hands the letter over to the police, they seem disinterested. But when a student at her school goes missing, a connection between this current girl’s disappearance and Bethan Avery forms. Margot is drawn in deeper, while dealing with her own problems, including the breakdown of her marriage and her difficult past. Dear Amy had a promising start, the first half locked me in and I enjoyed the use of the letters via an agony aunt that kick started this thriller. It did make the novel stand out from the many offerings in this genre. However, I did feel there were lags in the narrative, some open plot holes and obvious twists. These points aside, Dear Amy is worth investigating if you are a fan of the genre.
January 5, 2017
Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin uk Michael Joseph and Helen Callaghan for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.
You can find my review on Goodreads and Amazon from today. Goodreads under Karen whittard and Amazon under k.e.whittard.
Ok please forgive the bad score. It isn't beau s it is badly written or anything like that. I actually really liked the writing style. Other people who like physiological thrillers may indeed love this book.
It follows an aging aunt Margot Lewis. Who is also a Cambridge examiner. Margots advice column is called Dear Amy. It gets lots of different types of letters. But one day it gets a letter from Bethan a local teenager who went missing. Who has been kidnapped. At first Margot thinks it's a terrible hoax but as more and more letters start to arrive Margot sits up pays attention and realises these letters need to be paid attention too and they need to solve the mystery of where Bethan is.
I have been trying to persuade myself to finish reading this book since last year when I first picked it up. But sadly I couldn't bring myself to pick it up and complete it until today.
Sadly the reason why I struggled to complete this book and why I only gave it too stars was because: I found it really really predictable from the first few chapters I could tell where the book was going and who did it. Which was disappointing because I was proved right. Secondly I thought the characters didn't really have muc despite and I found it hard to relate too. I really like to read physiological thrillers but I like something I can get my teeth into and something that shocks my with things I don't see coming.
This sadly wasn't the book for me. That said you might completely love it.
Leave a message and let me know what you thought of it
Happy reading everyone
You can find my review on Goodreads and Amazon from today. Goodreads under Karen whittard and Amazon under k.e.whittard.
Ok please forgive the bad score. It isn't beau s it is badly written or anything like that. I actually really liked the writing style. Other people who like physiological thrillers may indeed love this book.
It follows an aging aunt Margot Lewis. Who is also a Cambridge examiner. Margots advice column is called Dear Amy. It gets lots of different types of letters. But one day it gets a letter from Bethan a local teenager who went missing. Who has been kidnapped. At first Margot thinks it's a terrible hoax but as more and more letters start to arrive Margot sits up pays attention and realises these letters need to be paid attention too and they need to solve the mystery of where Bethan is.
I have been trying to persuade myself to finish reading this book since last year when I first picked it up. But sadly I couldn't bring myself to pick it up and complete it until today.
Sadly the reason why I struggled to complete this book and why I only gave it too stars was because: I found it really really predictable from the first few chapters I could tell where the book was going and who did it. Which was disappointing because I was proved right. Secondly I thought the characters didn't really have muc despite and I found it hard to relate too. I really like to read physiological thrillers but I like something I can get my teeth into and something that shocks my with things I don't see coming.
This sadly wasn't the book for me. That said you might completely love it.
Leave a message and let me know what you thought of it
Happy reading everyone
January 9, 2018
Well I just loved it. It is a psychological thriller, and kept me on edge, couldn't see the twist comes. It was one of those books that I wanted to finish it but didn't want to finish it lol (I know, I am weird)
Margot, is a classic teacher at St Hilda, and as a part time job writes a column in a local newspaper. It is called Dear Amy, an advise column. One day, when she was checking the letters, was surprised to notice that there was one with a childish handwriting, when she opened it she was shock to learn that this letter was sent to her by Bethan Avery. This can't be true, of course it must be a hoax, because Bethan Avery was kidnapped and presumably dead twenty years ago.
Nevertheless, she felt uneasy with this letter so she went to the police station, and of course, they didn't took her seriously. Maybe she is losing her mind after all, but what if this letter is real and therefore can save others life
Margot, is a classic teacher at St Hilda, and as a part time job writes a column in a local newspaper. It is called Dear Amy, an advise column. One day, when she was checking the letters, was surprised to notice that there was one with a childish handwriting, when she opened it she was shock to learn that this letter was sent to her by Bethan Avery. This can't be true, of course it must be a hoax, because Bethan Avery was kidnapped and presumably dead twenty years ago.
Nevertheless, she felt uneasy with this letter so she went to the police station, and of course, they didn't took her seriously. Maybe she is losing her mind after all, but what if this letter is real and therefore can save others life
February 28, 2017
What started off well for me, ended up in me skimming the last quarter of the book.
It felt so much longer than it actually was.
The premise was good, the twist fairly easy to guess, characters made me feel nothing and Martin and Margot's relationship felt just out of place.
Good idea but needed more excitement and work.
It felt so much longer than it actually was.
The premise was good, the twist fairly easy to guess, characters made me feel nothing and Martin and Margot's relationship felt just out of place.
Good idea but needed more excitement and work.
April 12, 2025
Dnf 53%
Books read & reviewed: 1️⃣6️⃣0️⃣🥖4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣
Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Word Count: 100k Words, veryyy...longg
2 🌟 EXACT on average..
➽──────────────❥
My DID system's agreeableness scale:
1️⃣2️⃣🥖1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣, 4 people DNF'd, 4 people didn't even start the book.
11th read in "Discovery for the (DID) system's majority agreeable ✨Good✨ book" April
——————————————————————
➕➖0️⃣1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣6️⃣7️⃣8️⃣9️⃣🔟✖️➗
P- 1️⃣: 2️⃣🌟, soooooooo boringgggggg (づ￣ ³￣)づ
P- 9️⃣: 🌟,
P- 1️⃣7️⃣: 1️⃣🌟, I'd like to also send a letter to Amy...
Dear Amy,
THERE'S LITERALLY A MISSING PERSON THAT IS KIDNAPPED WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU NOT DOING ANYTHING LIKE COME ONNNNNNN ISNT THAT EVEN A LIIIIITLE BIT FUCKING SUSPICIOUS THAT A PERSON SENDS A LETTER CALLING FOR HELP????? Shes like....chilling in life
P- 5️⃣2️⃣: 🌟,
P- 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣: 🌟,
P- 9️⃣6️⃣: 2️⃣🌟, My crisicism is that the pacing.is...SOOOO SLOWWWWWW, nothing is going nowhere, the kidnapped person is also kind of just "chilling" and the mystery is not even solving AND WE'RE ALREADY AT THE 50% MARK
P- 2️⃣4️⃣: 3️⃣🌟, not good :(((( why she no call police in like the first moment she got the letter :(((((((((((
P- 1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣: 🌟,
─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ────── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───
⟡₊ ⊹ Meet the judges for "Discovery for the (DID) system's majority agreeable ✨Good✨ book" April!!! ⟡₊ ⊹
P- 1️⃣: "HAIIIIIIII uwu (^^)"
P- 9️⃣: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"
P- 1️⃣7️⃣: "i don't know shit to say, i was dragged here, i just want to watch motocross"
P- 5️⃣2️⃣: "I have no patience for poor books, only those of true depth and quality are worth my time and attention, the rest are mere paper."
P- 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣: "it ain't that deep bro 💀"
P- 9️⃣6️⃣: "There's always something to criticize within a book"
P- 2️⃣4️⃣: ":((((((((((((((((( mmmmmm uhh, just make it good :0"
P- 1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣: "Most disturbing books in the world is my comfort books ❤️🔥, (unless it's meaningless child rape, by then get out of my face)"
Books read & reviewed: 1️⃣6️⃣0️⃣🥖4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣
Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Word Count: 100k Words, veryyy...longg
2 🌟 EXACT on average..
➽──────────────❥
My DID system's agreeableness scale:
1️⃣2️⃣🥖1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣, 4 people DNF'd, 4 people didn't even start the book.
11th read in "Discovery for the (DID) system's majority agreeable ✨Good✨ book" April
——————————————————————
➕➖0️⃣1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣6️⃣7️⃣8️⃣9️⃣🔟✖️➗
P- 1️⃣: 2️⃣🌟, soooooooo boringgggggg (づ￣ ³￣)づ
P- 1️⃣7️⃣: 1️⃣🌟, I'd like to also send a letter to Amy...
Dear Amy,
THERE'S LITERALLY A MISSING PERSON THAT IS KIDNAPPED WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU NOT DOING ANYTHING LIKE COME ONNNNNNN ISNT THAT EVEN A LIIIIITLE BIT FUCKING SUSPICIOUS THAT A PERSON SENDS A LETTER CALLING FOR HELP????? Shes like....chilling in life
P- 9️⃣6️⃣: 2️⃣🌟, My crisicism is that the pacing.is...SOOOO SLOWWWWWW, nothing is going nowhere, the kidnapped person is also kind of just "chilling" and the mystery is not even solving AND WE'RE ALREADY AT THE 50% MARK
P- 2️⃣4️⃣: 3️⃣🌟, not good :(((( why she no call police in like the first moment she got the letter :(((((((((((
─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ────── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───
⟡₊ ⊹ Meet the judges for "Discovery for the (DID) system's majority agreeable ✨Good✨ book" April!!! ⟡₊ ⊹
P- 1️⃣: "HAIIIIIIII uwu (^^)"
P- 9️⃣: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"
P- 1️⃣7️⃣: "i don't know shit to say, i was dragged here, i just want to watch motocross"
P- 5️⃣2️⃣: "I have no patience for poor books, only those of true depth and quality are worth my time and attention, the rest are mere paper."
P- 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣: "it ain't that deep bro 💀"
P- 9️⃣6️⃣: "There's always something to criticize within a book"
P- 2️⃣4️⃣: ":((((((((((((((((( mmmmmm uhh, just make it good :0"
P- 1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣: "Most disturbing books in the world is my comfort books ❤️🔥, (unless it's meaningless child rape, by then get out of my face)"
February 6, 2017
All of my reviews can be found on www.novelgossip.com
I loved the idea behind Dear Amy, a girl that’s been missing for almost twenty years suddenly resurfaces? I’m all over that premise, and while there were aspects that I liked, overall I wasn’t as impressed as I would’ve hoped to be by this one.
Margot Lewis writes an advice column for the newspaper, Dear Amy. Most of the letters are run of the mill, then she begins receiving correspondence from Bethan Avery who was last seen seventeen years ago. Is Bethan really alive? And if so, how is managing to get letters mailed if she’s in danger? Simultaneously, Katie who is a student at the school where Margot teaches has also vanished. Plenty going on here, but unfortunately it mostly feel flat for me.
I liked the general idea and this was a quick read for me, I finished the whole thing in just two settings. Clearly it’s a page turner and it had some elements I need in a good psychological thriller. The tension was always climbing higher and mounting and Callaghan’s writing style was fluid. That’s about where the good stuff ends for me.
The biggest letdown for me was that I could see the big twist coming a mile away. That’s always a disappointment, yet there was something that made me keep reading so I have to give some credit where it’s due. The pacing was on the slow side for me, though the tension gradually amped up, it took awhile to get there and the chapters were pretty long. I prefer shorter, snappier chapters in thrillers, just a personal preference. I’m all for things being far fetched, but for some reason it went too far for me here. I can’t really elaborate more in order to remain spoiler free.
Overall this was a mediocre read for me, I can’t say I really liked or disliked it. Maybe with the sheer amount of psychological thrillers I read it’s just getting harder and harder to shock me. I would read something by the author in the future as I did enjoy her style and feel that she’s a talented writer, I just wanted a sharper and tighter plot.
I loved the idea behind Dear Amy, a girl that’s been missing for almost twenty years suddenly resurfaces? I’m all over that premise, and while there were aspects that I liked, overall I wasn’t as impressed as I would’ve hoped to be by this one.
Margot Lewis writes an advice column for the newspaper, Dear Amy. Most of the letters are run of the mill, then she begins receiving correspondence from Bethan Avery who was last seen seventeen years ago. Is Bethan really alive? And if so, how is managing to get letters mailed if she’s in danger? Simultaneously, Katie who is a student at the school where Margot teaches has also vanished. Plenty going on here, but unfortunately it mostly feel flat for me.
I liked the general idea and this was a quick read for me, I finished the whole thing in just two settings. Clearly it’s a page turner and it had some elements I need in a good psychological thriller. The tension was always climbing higher and mounting and Callaghan’s writing style was fluid. That’s about where the good stuff ends for me.
The biggest letdown for me was that I could see the big twist coming a mile away. That’s always a disappointment, yet there was something that made me keep reading so I have to give some credit where it’s due. The pacing was on the slow side for me, though the tension gradually amped up, it took awhile to get there and the chapters were pretty long. I prefer shorter, snappier chapters in thrillers, just a personal preference. I’m all for things being far fetched, but for some reason it went too far for me here. I can’t really elaborate more in order to remain spoiler free.
Overall this was a mediocre read for me, I can’t say I really liked or disliked it. Maybe with the sheer amount of psychological thrillers I read it’s just getting harder and harder to shock me. I would read something by the author in the future as I did enjoy her style and feel that she’s a talented writer, I just wanted a sharper and tighter plot.
November 24, 2017
two and a half stars.
Margot Lewis is a teacher at St Hilda's. Under the guise of Dear Amy she is also an agony aunt for the Cambridge Examiner and is the process of divorce from her husband of a few years, Eddy. When she receives a letter asking for her help in a kidnapping, Margot is perplexed. The letter is from Bethan Avery and she has been missing, believed dead though no body was found, for nearly twenty years. Is someone playing a cruel hoax? Or is it for real? Also at present one of the young girls from Margot's school Katie Brown has also gone missing. Can there be a connection between the two events?
The premise of this story sounded interesting and I was intrigued enough to keep reading. But I was
. not wholly engaged and never really believed in the story. Maybe it's a case of so many of these type of supposed psychological thrillers being churned out these days. For me, this one had nothing out of the ordinary. I never cared for any of the characters. It is liberally sprinkled with the f word and that became wearing after a while as well. Towards the end the story became farfetched.
While it was an okay read, it left me feeling it missed the mark. Others may well like this book more than I did. This is a debut novel so it will be interesting to see what the author writes next.
Margot Lewis is a teacher at St Hilda's. Under the guise of Dear Amy she is also an agony aunt for the Cambridge Examiner and is the process of divorce from her husband of a few years, Eddy. When she receives a letter asking for her help in a kidnapping, Margot is perplexed. The letter is from Bethan Avery and she has been missing, believed dead though no body was found, for nearly twenty years. Is someone playing a cruel hoax? Or is it for real? Also at present one of the young girls from Margot's school Katie Brown has also gone missing. Can there be a connection between the two events?
The premise of this story sounded interesting and I was intrigued enough to keep reading. But I was
. not wholly engaged and never really believed in the story. Maybe it's a case of so many of these type of supposed psychological thrillers being churned out these days. For me, this one had nothing out of the ordinary. I never cared for any of the characters. It is liberally sprinkled with the f word and that became wearing after a while as well. Towards the end the story became farfetched.
While it was an okay read, it left me feeling it missed the mark. Others may well like this book more than I did. This is a debut novel so it will be interesting to see what the author writes next.
February 12, 2019
Beginnt gut und fesselnd, lässt dann aber stark nach.
Die Story und der intensive Stil haben mich direkt eingefangen. Es war wirklich gut.
Margot ist nicht besonders sympathisch aber eine vielschichtige, authentische Persönlichkeit und mit allen ihren Macken und Eigenheiten glaubhaft.
Als Lehrerin mit Kolumne in der Zeitung, in der sie Leserbriefe beantwortet, macht sie sich Sorgen um ihre verschwundene Schülerin Katie und bekommt zur selben Zeit Briefe von Bethan, einem Mädchen, das vor 20 Jahren verschwunden ist.
Man weiß nicht wem man trauen kann und wie das alles sein kann und zusammenpassen soll. Aber der Twist kommt, ist zwar unerwartet aber ab da wird es auch oft kompliziert und schwierig nachzuvollziehen. Es gibt nur vereinzelt spannende Szenen und der Schreibstil lässt nach.
Letzten Endes einfach nichts Besonderes.
Die Story und der intensive Stil haben mich direkt eingefangen. Es war wirklich gut.
Margot ist nicht besonders sympathisch aber eine vielschichtige, authentische Persönlichkeit und mit allen ihren Macken und Eigenheiten glaubhaft.
Als Lehrerin mit Kolumne in der Zeitung, in der sie Leserbriefe beantwortet, macht sie sich Sorgen um ihre verschwundene Schülerin Katie und bekommt zur selben Zeit Briefe von Bethan, einem Mädchen, das vor 20 Jahren verschwunden ist.
Man weiß nicht wem man trauen kann und wie das alles sein kann und zusammenpassen soll. Aber der Twist kommt, ist zwar unerwartet aber ab da wird es auch oft kompliziert und schwierig nachzuvollziehen. Es gibt nur vereinzelt spannende Szenen und der Schreibstil lässt nach.
Letzten Endes einfach nichts Besonderes.
March 10, 2016
Dear Amy has been on my radar for a while and when I had the chance to review I was over the moon. I am such a lover of psychological thrillers and love discovering new authors in this genre so this book sounded right up my street. Dear Amy arrived in an amazing package with brown string tied around the book and two letters from the book which made me incredibly impatient to start reading!
When Margot, an agony aunt in a local paper, receives letters to her ‘Dear Amy’ post box from someone claiming to be Bethan Avery, a teenage girl who went missing nearly twenty years ago and presumed dead, she gets drawn into Bethan’s world and starts trying to track down the girl. When the police aren’t sure about the letters, Margot takes it into her own hands and starts the perilous journey to find out what happened to Bethan Avery.
Is she still alive? Are these letters really from her or is it a hoax? Why would someone pretend to be Bethan Avery? And, if she is writing them, where could she be writing from? Margot is determined to find out…
OK, so this novel didn’t head in the direction I thought it would. In fact the whole sort of middle to end was very peculiar. Not in a bad way, just a ‘never would have seen that coming EVER’ way. And I can’t work out if I liked it or loved it. I definitely thought it was good but I just don’t know if I loved it.
I think the main reason I’m unsure is that whilst it was thrilling and shocking and surprising, it felt a little unrealistic. For everything to happen and unfold as it did would have required the largest amount of fate and coincidence. And, well, it’s not to say it would never happen (!) But I just thought it was a little far-fetched. And yes, this is fiction and anything can happen in fiction, but when the story is so grounded in reality, it can be hard to look past that when something a little improbable occurs.
However, aside from that, I really did enjoy this book. It was full of tension and mystery and had a great pace to it. Helen’s writing is enchanting and rather beautiful, even when it’s describing some rather macabre things! Her descriptions were second to none and gave me an impressively vivid picture in my mind of what was going on in Margot’s quest to find Bethan.
I think my favourite aspect of this novel is that we see and understand everything at the same time Margot does. As the reader we don’t have any special insights or understanding of what’s going on until Margot does and I love books that make you feel almost like you could substitute yourself with the main character. I definitely felt a lot of emotion on behalf of Margot! I was scared, confused and shocked along with her and didn’t know how to deal with some of the reveals either!
Dear Amy is a very well written, intriguing and fresh take on the psychological thriller genre. With characters you -think- you can trust and a narrative that spins you around multiple times until you’re left dizzy, it’s a book to have on your reading pile this year.
When Margot, an agony aunt in a local paper, receives letters to her ‘Dear Amy’ post box from someone claiming to be Bethan Avery, a teenage girl who went missing nearly twenty years ago and presumed dead, she gets drawn into Bethan’s world and starts trying to track down the girl. When the police aren’t sure about the letters, Margot takes it into her own hands and starts the perilous journey to find out what happened to Bethan Avery.
Is she still alive? Are these letters really from her or is it a hoax? Why would someone pretend to be Bethan Avery? And, if she is writing them, where could she be writing from? Margot is determined to find out…
OK, so this novel didn’t head in the direction I thought it would. In fact the whole sort of middle to end was very peculiar. Not in a bad way, just a ‘never would have seen that coming EVER’ way. And I can’t work out if I liked it or loved it. I definitely thought it was good but I just don’t know if I loved it.
I think the main reason I’m unsure is that whilst it was thrilling and shocking and surprising, it felt a little unrealistic. For everything to happen and unfold as it did would have required the largest amount of fate and coincidence. And, well, it’s not to say it would never happen (!) But I just thought it was a little far-fetched. And yes, this is fiction and anything can happen in fiction, but when the story is so grounded in reality, it can be hard to look past that when something a little improbable occurs.
However, aside from that, I really did enjoy this book. It was full of tension and mystery and had a great pace to it. Helen’s writing is enchanting and rather beautiful, even when it’s describing some rather macabre things! Her descriptions were second to none and gave me an impressively vivid picture in my mind of what was going on in Margot’s quest to find Bethan.
I think my favourite aspect of this novel is that we see and understand everything at the same time Margot does. As the reader we don’t have any special insights or understanding of what’s going on until Margot does and I love books that make you feel almost like you could substitute yourself with the main character. I definitely felt a lot of emotion on behalf of Margot! I was scared, confused and shocked along with her and didn’t know how to deal with some of the reveals either!
Dear Amy is a very well written, intriguing and fresh take on the psychological thriller genre. With characters you -think- you can trust and a narrative that spins you around multiple times until you’re left dizzy, it’s a book to have on your reading pile this year.
August 27, 2023
Set in Cambridge this is a book with an "educated tone". Initially I found it interesting and an intriguing read. It's centered on Margot, a teacher, who also writes an agony aunt column in the local press - Dear Amy. There is a letter from someone claiming to be the victim of an abduction from an unsolved case from some years to the agony aunt column. This leads to Margot being involved in a "Cold case" type review.
I found this basic scenario appealing and was looking forward to reading this story. Having finished the book a few days before writing this review I am still a little unsure how I feel about the book as a whole. The pace and tension for maybe the first half of the book was lacking something for me. While we discover quite a bit about Margot and her personal life, there seems to be relatively little about the case other than the fact that it is quite probably relates to a serial abductor, I also found some of the characters in the book generally somewhat under written and developed. The exception is certainly Margot who in spells of introspection develops into a good character.
For me the book changes quite radically about halfway through. The pace and tension brings the book far more to life, Around this time there is a very good twist in the story which I really didn't see coming until maybe the paragraph before. It is this and the character of Margot, both aspects of which I think were very well written, that are the redeeming features of this story. I was not blown away by the basic storyline however I did find that this book grew on me. I'd certainly read another story by this author.
Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review
I found this basic scenario appealing and was looking forward to reading this story. Having finished the book a few days before writing this review I am still a little unsure how I feel about the book as a whole. The pace and tension for maybe the first half of the book was lacking something for me. While we discover quite a bit about Margot and her personal life, there seems to be relatively little about the case other than the fact that it is quite probably relates to a serial abductor, I also found some of the characters in the book generally somewhat under written and developed. The exception is certainly Margot who in spells of introspection develops into a good character.
For me the book changes quite radically about halfway through. The pace and tension brings the book far more to life, Around this time there is a very good twist in the story which I really didn't see coming until maybe the paragraph before. It is this and the character of Margot, both aspects of which I think were very well written, that are the redeeming features of this story. I was not blown away by the basic storyline however I did find that this book grew on me. I'd certainly read another story by this author.
Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review
February 11, 2017
This was entertaining reading . I have been in a reading void just lately , which I put down to various things like the great demands of my cat. I just can't find anything I fancy, and if I'm honest I picked this because it was cheap at a time of mid month poverty.
So, it's a bit gruesome but thankfully sparing on the gory details. I liked the start more than the end but isn't that so often the way of things .
So, it's a bit gruesome but thankfully sparing on the gory details. I liked the start more than the end but isn't that so often the way of things .
June 3, 2016
Dear Amy was not really for me.
First of all I should be clear this is not because its badly written - it is not. In fact I liked the style and the pace and Helen Callaghan is obviously talented- people who like psychological thrillers may well love this but I had several issues with the plot and becoming engaged with it.
The story concerns Margot, a teacher , whose alter ego "Dear Amy" is the agony aunt for a local newspaper. When she starts receiving letters from a girl claiming to be a kidnap victim (Bethan Avery, missing for many years) and around the same time another local girl goes missing Margot gets caught up in the mystery of who might be writing these letters and why.
For me though it was blatantly obvious from very early on who was writing the letters. I didnt really feel that there was much in the way of a mystery. Of course I could have been wrong (at which point this rating may well have been higher) but turns out I was right. Even that is fine but I don't really feel the author challenged me in this read or gave me any reason to doubt myself.
Secondly there were one or two very generic plot devices used to prevent the characters getting somewhere too quickly. I roll my eyes these days every time a mobile phone has no signal (usually all of a sudden) or has run out of battery (hey it happens but EVERY time someone is in mortal danger or whatever? It seems so if you are a character in a psychological thriller) Thats fine too there are only so many ways of moving (or not) a plot forwards at the pace required but when you've read the same reason many many many times it becomes slightly dull.
Having said that the premise is intriguing - and as well there were certain nuances of character and beautiful little layers to some of the story threads which made good reading - indeed it was these that kept me reading to the end.
Dear Amy is pretty much what you expect - that is NOT a negative - but for me these days I like the unexpected. Whilst Dear Amy is beautifully written it held no real buzz for me. I liked it well enough. I just didnt love it. And the standard of book I've read in 2016 so far means the 2* rating is a comparatively fair one on a personal level.
Still recommended for psychological thriller fans because hey, when you love them you love them and you never know which ones are going to *get* you.
First of all I should be clear this is not because its badly written - it is not. In fact I liked the style and the pace and Helen Callaghan is obviously talented- people who like psychological thrillers may well love this but I had several issues with the plot and becoming engaged with it.
The story concerns Margot, a teacher , whose alter ego "Dear Amy" is the agony aunt for a local newspaper. When she starts receiving letters from a girl claiming to be a kidnap victim (Bethan Avery, missing for many years) and around the same time another local girl goes missing Margot gets caught up in the mystery of who might be writing these letters and why.
For me though it was blatantly obvious from very early on who was writing the letters. I didnt really feel that there was much in the way of a mystery. Of course I could have been wrong (at which point this rating may well have been higher) but turns out I was right. Even that is fine but I don't really feel the author challenged me in this read or gave me any reason to doubt myself.
Secondly there were one or two very generic plot devices used to prevent the characters getting somewhere too quickly. I roll my eyes these days every time a mobile phone has no signal (usually all of a sudden) or has run out of battery (hey it happens but EVERY time someone is in mortal danger or whatever? It seems so if you are a character in a psychological thriller) Thats fine too there are only so many ways of moving (or not) a plot forwards at the pace required but when you've read the same reason many many many times it becomes slightly dull.
Having said that the premise is intriguing - and as well there were certain nuances of character and beautiful little layers to some of the story threads which made good reading - indeed it was these that kept me reading to the end.
Dear Amy is pretty much what you expect - that is NOT a negative - but for me these days I like the unexpected. Whilst Dear Amy is beautifully written it held no real buzz for me. I liked it well enough. I just didnt love it. And the standard of book I've read in 2016 so far means the 2* rating is a comparatively fair one on a personal level.
Still recommended for psychological thriller fans because hey, when you love them you love them and you never know which ones are going to *get* you.
March 25, 2016
I'm halfway through this book and don't honestly know if I'll finish it.
Firstly the presentation of this book is certainly different. Tied around the book is a piece of coarse string under which is Bethan's letters.
Margot Lewis, paranoid ex-junkie, now teacher (!) and part time advice columnist for a local rag has received two letters purporting to be from Bethan Avery who went missing twenty years previously. Bethan was a fourteen year old schoolgirl snatch off the streets, now presumed dead. Margot jumps in with both feet determined to solve the mystery, as recently another young girl Katie, has also gone missing.
Margot is one of the most irritating characters I've come across with her constant paranoia and whingeing. She meets Martin, some sort of expert in this type of case and within minutes they're on first name terms and having coffee or lunch together.
The time-line which doesn't make sense – chapter 13, for instance, after a reconstruction of Bethan's disappearance has been filmed, it is broadcast on television. The first page of chapter 14, it apparently hasn't, turn to chapter 15, and it obviously has as the headmistress at Margot and Katie's school, makes reference to the “new evidence” So which is it? Has it been aired or not?
Where have the Bethan Avery letters come from? No-one asks to see the envelopes to check the postmark. No-one asks how they could have even been posted if she were still held captive. It's all too full of holes.
The poor grammar really grates on me for example, time and again she writes “person that” where it should be “person who”. There are references to brand names – why do we need to know, for instance, that Margot uses a Macbook Air, drinks a certain type of wine, or drives a specific make of car? It's irrelevant detail, and speaking of detail, the author has fallen into the trap of thinking the more the better as we are given minute descriptions of how she makes her toast or ties her dressing gown. Likewise her attempts at creating suspense are too full of detail to be effective.
So far, at the halfway mark, I am neither drawn in, or even sure I'll finish it. If I do I'll update this review.
I have been sent a complimentary copy by Amazon specifically for review
Firstly the presentation of this book is certainly different. Tied around the book is a piece of coarse string under which is Bethan's letters.
Margot Lewis, paranoid ex-junkie, now teacher (!) and part time advice columnist for a local rag has received two letters purporting to be from Bethan Avery who went missing twenty years previously. Bethan was a fourteen year old schoolgirl snatch off the streets, now presumed dead. Margot jumps in with both feet determined to solve the mystery, as recently another young girl Katie, has also gone missing.
Margot is one of the most irritating characters I've come across with her constant paranoia and whingeing. She meets Martin, some sort of expert in this type of case and within minutes they're on first name terms and having coffee or lunch together.
The time-line which doesn't make sense – chapter 13, for instance, after a reconstruction of Bethan's disappearance has been filmed, it is broadcast on television. The first page of chapter 14, it apparently hasn't, turn to chapter 15, and it obviously has as the headmistress at Margot and Katie's school, makes reference to the “new evidence” So which is it? Has it been aired or not?
Where have the Bethan Avery letters come from? No-one asks to see the envelopes to check the postmark. No-one asks how they could have even been posted if she were still held captive. It's all too full of holes.
The poor grammar really grates on me for example, time and again she writes “person that” where it should be “person who”. There are references to brand names – why do we need to know, for instance, that Margot uses a Macbook Air, drinks a certain type of wine, or drives a specific make of car? It's irrelevant detail, and speaking of detail, the author has fallen into the trap of thinking the more the better as we are given minute descriptions of how she makes her toast or ties her dressing gown. Likewise her attempts at creating suspense are too full of detail to be effective.
So far, at the halfway mark, I am neither drawn in, or even sure I'll finish it. If I do I'll update this review.
I have been sent a complimentary copy by Amazon specifically for review
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