Ben

by Matthew Gilbert

After suffering several ill-fated relationships in the past, Kim has finally found a man she can trust — a man who is different to other guys. Ben is charming, funny, and successful, and Kim finds herself slowly falling in love with him.However, things slowly start to change as mysterious deaths follow Ben wherever he goes. Is it just coincidence, or is Ben not quite the perfect boyfriend he seems to be, after all?You will find yourself locked into the pages and swept along by the plot of this action-packed thriller. This chilling tale will haunt you long after you turn the final page…

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2016

About the author

Matthew Gilbert was born in Southampton but grew up in Swansea, South Wales. Matthew was an avid reader from an early age; Enid Blyton, Richmal Crompton and Malorie Blackman were his favourite authors as a child. Growing up, Matthew's influences were Stephen King and Dean Koontz. He also enjoys reading John Saul and James Patterson. Matthew liked creative writing in school and enjoyed writing stories. After university (where he earned an undergraduate degree in French and Italian and a postgraduate degree in Early Childhood Studies), Matthew went travelling. Whilst in Australia, Matthew came up with the idea for his first novel, Ben. However, this project took a back seat when Matthew returned to Wales and started writing children's books. Over time, Matthew found that he really wanted to finish his thriller novel, so he decided to stop writing children's books and concentrate on Ben. He found it refreshing to write for a different audience, and especially enjoyed developing the characters. Aside from writing, Matthew enjoys playing football, travelling and running. He is still an avid reader. In 2013, Matthew married Laura, whom he had first met when he was nine years old. They had their first child, Ellie, in 2015.

Reviews

[Laura Adams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Goodreads won't let me give no stars! This book was absolute bollocks, just terrible. Made it to Chapter 12 and had to abort. It was just so, SO terrible. For shame on the publisher. My cat would have done a better editing job, and she doesn't read English. And the writer? Clearly no real life experience, let alone writing experience. Every sentence is a cringe-fest. Poor writing - poor. I can't even.

[Ursula Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

My personal opinion is that this is a very badly written book. I felt it started off badly with "Ben said" "Kim said" instead of letting the conversation flow. Apart from this I felt there were too many unbelievable occurrences.....Kim gets a parcel in the post of a creepy picture and a) keeps the picture and b) never talks about to her boyfriend who has the exact same picture. Ben goes first of all sightseeing at night with a female stranger while on a romantic weekend away with his girlfriend who is asleep at the hotel and then for a drink with a guy from work who he supposedly hates whilst having a bad headache.
Every character in the book must have a medical condition because they are all constantly falling asleep regardless of the fact that they may have only woken up an hour previously.
The graphic sex scenes when not relevant to a story are to me just a way for an author to fill pages.
Maybe I'm missing something but you never seem to find out the significance of the headaches Ben keeps getting, the time of 3.32am or what was the whole story with the picture......
And finally, there is no way a policeman would pick up what could be evidence from a crime scene and put it in his pocket

[Clare eagles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read.

Loved this book from the start. Real page turner. Kept me intrigued right to the focal page. Thoroughly enjoyed it!!