All You Ever Wanted

by Susan Elliot Wright

You are inside.
With your husband and baby. Your life warm and calm and untroubled.

I am outside.
Alone. Looking in. Watching you.

You have all I ever wanted.
Now it's time for you to share.

Genres: Thriller

400 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2022

About the author

Susan Elliot Wright grew up in Lewisham in south-east London. Before becoming a full-time writer, she did a number of different jobs, including civil servant, cleaner, dishwasher, journalist, and chef. She has an MA in writing from Sheffield Hallam University, where she is now an associate lecturer, and she lives in Sheffield with her husband and a big black dog called Henry. She is currently at work on her fourth novel, which will be published by Simon & Schuster in 2018.

Susan's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/susanelliotw...

Reviews

[Jennifer (Jaye) · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Be careful what you wish for*

A family argument in a car ends in tragedy. The parents are gone but someone hurts themselves to get help while the baby is trapped in the car. This story is predominantly told from two points of view. The first person is Emily we hear a lot about her how she met her husband and got married and now have a child. She knows she is adopted but her mother has always refused to discuss the subject. But now Emily has a daughter of her own Bonnie, her mother remains tight lipped.

Emily keeps getting a sense she is being watched but her husband Simon brushes her off. When her cat goes missing after a couple of weeks of displaying flyers she receives a call from Anna who insists it’s no trouble she will drop the cat off.

On first meeting Emily senses they may have met before, Anna smiles in the Hope something twigs but gets nothing. They form easy chatter and the next thing they are meeting up and having lunch.

Now Anna went from foster home to foster home, her upbringing was the total opposite to Emily’s privileged background, why is she so keen to have all of Emily’s time?

When the reason is out in the open, we see the consequences of one action years ago, turned Anna into what she has become the way she is and soon a ticking time bomb is about to go off as the past and present collide.

This was riveting, also the stalker element was very uncomfortable but I recommend the audio as it for me adds to the story.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst not entirely original, I really enjoyed this dark psychological thriller.

The whole notion of being friends with a stranger is a great hook. That's exactly the case with happy Emily as Anna brings her missing cat to the family home and the pair instantly hit it off.

Both Emily and her husband Simon work at the same school, though the couple recently had a little girl - Emily finds adjusting to motherhood and work life a little tricky.

The author gives the main character a sense of vulnerability as she has drifted away from her friends, so it makes sense that she instantly latches onto the helpful Anna.

It's evident that Anna isn't all that she seems, it's pretty easy to work out who she really is.
Though it doesn't detract from the plot, I found it fascinating to wonder exactly what her motivations were.

Whilst her relationship with Simon also seems perfect, cracks start to appear. This adds an interesting extra layer to the story.

A simple yet addictive read.

[Auđur · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5*

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a fan of this author for many. years and have read every book that she's written. It's always a joy to delve into the latest offering from her and this one really doesn't disappoint. It feels a little different from her previous novels, darker and tenser, but oh so so good.

Emily is a new mother, she's struggling with feelings of low self-worth, questioning herself. She often feels paranoid, as though someone is watching her. Whilst her marriage does appear strong and loving, she's never really forgiven herself, or her husband Simon about how their relationship began. Emily doesn't have the greatest relationship with her own mother, and determined that her daughter Bonnie will not feel the same way about her.

As Simon seems to carry on with normal life, working late, going for drinks, meeting friends. Emily tries to cram her working life into three days, whilst also doing most of the child care.

Anna arrives on Emily's doorstep to return their missing cat, she's seen the posters and phoned to arrange to bring Oscar home. There's an immediate bond between the two women, especially as Emily's old friends have drifted off since Bonnie was born, and it's not long before they are meeting for coffee and lunch, and Anna becomes something of a confidante to Emily.

However, Anna may not be all that she appears to be and as the story progresses, the reader certainly becomes aware of darker motives on Anna's part. Whilst Emily happily embraces a new female friendship and help with Bonnie.

The novel is split into two parts. The reader learns Emily's side of the story in part one, and then Anna narrates part two. It's a great structure and it's so very tense.

Whilst there is no doubt that this is psychological thriller, there's also such insight into domestic and family life. It's often very dark, and creepy, with a sinister edge that pulls the reader in and one can't help but turn the pages quickly as the explosive and shocking ending approaches.

An excellent story, told with empathy and understanding about issues that are often not talked about. Beautifully written with characters that are compelling and so well created. Highly recommended.

[Emily Portman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my top reads of the year! All You Ever Wanted is a dark domestic drama that ticks every single box, with an ending that’ll have you thinking for months.

I knew this book would be good, but I didn’t realise how much I’d love it and how much it would take over my brain space! Such a dark, compelling and emotional read. I wasn’t mentally prepared for how much I became emotionally invested in these characters and their complex lives! The plot had me constantly thinking, the feeling of knowing something wasn’t right was so satisfying and impressed me more with each passing chapter. The author has done everything right here and it’ll be hard to forget such a gripping and intense journey. If you love family drama, can’t-put-down thrillers and obsessive characters, you’ll adore this book!

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the premise at the start of the book, the way it was written and told in such a way it was like a movie scene. It really drew me in. I enjoyed the book and it was a very easy quick read, though it wasn't hard to figure out who Anna was and the more I read the more I disliked her. But I disliked Emily more as time went on, she was just so gullible at times and never seen the way Anna was manipulating and deceiving her. Plus she was clueless about her husband too.
The ending was a bit too predictable and rather cliched. But overall an entertaining read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for the ARC in return for the honest review.

[libby · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh
it was an okay story but considering it's in the mystery thriller genre it wasnt very... thrilling.
it lacked suspense and was very predictable. by the time the second non-predictable plot twist came in I had lost all care for the characters.
i also just hate simon. the simple fact that emily hardly even confronted simom about what he did was shocking - i'd be more mad at simon than anna tbh.

it's that sort of trope where you're meant to think the main character is stupid for missing all these clues but it just got annoying after time

yeah, no

the ending tho 😏
hot ending there susan
however i think like the 70 pages between the second plot twist and the ending could be cut. instead a scene where emily confronts simon for being the most pointless character to emily and the readers would be appreciated.

but yeah, no.

[Frances Elgar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brought in an airport on New Year’s Day, I’d didn’t need a gruesome difficult thriller, and I certainly wasn’t given one!

Although a great idea (woman feels stalked. Stalker meets woman. Stalker and woman become friends. Stalker is a psychopath) it’s such an overdone trait that there wasn’t a single twist that caught me out!

Great description, some dodgy wording, we’ve certainly started 2023 with a bang average book… but then with my hangover maybe that’s a good thing

[Eloise Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book but I felt that a lot of it was predictable. The prologue had me hooked, but it became quickly obvious because of the prologue that Anna was the sister. The husband was a flirt throughout so of course when he left that was no surprise at all. Anna was clearly unstable throughout as well so her actions at the end of the book were also predictable for me. It was a good book but I feel as though it could have been written in a way to make the twists more thrilling. However, I did really enjoy the story and overall think it’s a decent book.

[Denise Forrest · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a strange woman turns up on Emily’s doorstep with their lost cat, she doesn’t think anything of it. Not the kind of person she would normally be drawn to, there’s something about Anna that suggests they could be friends. At first the friendship seems perfectly normal, but Anna has a secret she’s keeping from Emily.

This is an unusual thriller in that you are aware that things could take a sinister turn, but everything seems ok on the surface. I enjoyed reading about the family dynamics and the character’s backstories which explained how they reached this point in the story.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was excellent. There are so many novels out there that try to pull off this type of story but they inevitably fall into stereotypical predictability and cliché. That doesn’t happen here. Susan shows us exactly how it should be done. The deeply emotional qualities of the previous four novels are successfully applied to the thriller genre which lifts this well above the rest. The paranoia and fear that Emily experiences is completely convincing and, at around the half-way point, the emphasis is brilliantly transferred. I knew about the change of direction and was a little concerned. I had absolutely no reason to be. Great stuff and looking forward to the next.

[Sue Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

All you ever wanted by Susan Elliot White.
You are inside.
With your husband and baby. Your life warm and calm and untroubled.
I am outside.
Alone. Looking in. Watching You.
You have all I ever wanted.
Now it's time for you to share.
I really enjoyed this book. Creep chilling. 5*.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read the synopsis for this novel I expected it to be similar to my usual type of book but it was a little bit different. Yes there was a criminal element but this was more about the characters, the small family whose lives are disrupted by Anna. And their realisation that she wasn’t really who she said she was.
Most of the novel was told by Emily’s point of view. Her concerns over her job, made worse by her marriage to Simon, who worked in the same school. Her guilt about drinking too much whilst accepting that it helped her cope. She becomes increasingly reliant on Anna, not realising that little was as it seemed. I wasn’t that keen on her until I got to know more about Anna.
In the second part of the novel the narrative switches and the reader starts to realise exactly who Anna was and the lengths she was prepared to go to so she could get what she wanted. There wasn’t that much focus on her but I found it just enough. I could see her determination, but also her weakness and her loneliness.
Whilst this wasn’t a novel where I had strong feelings about the characters, with the exception of Simon who I detested almost immediately, I did have some sympathy for both Emily and Anna. I could see both points of view and understand to some degree why they reacted the way they did at certain points. I would definitely be interested in a sequel to this book, but in many ways it was the perfect ending. This novel was a slight departure from my comfort zone but it was one I enjoyed

[mrsbookburnee Niamh Burnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read this on netgalley but forgetting to put my review up, I had a re-read and oh my god! I forgot how epic this book was!

The authors writing is a bit of me, dark, sinister and with foreboding characters and of course Simon the dickward - hated him immensely.

Poor Emily seemed to be gaslit by everyone around her, loved her POV when she gradually comes to the realisation that something is not right.

Though Anna was a wrong’un, I completely felt for her and all she had been through, her POV enables you tho understand the why to her behaviours.

A must read for thriller fans

[Amanda Varley · Rating 4 out of 5]

New mum and tired teacher Emily is finding life hard. She feels constantly behind and failing to keep up in both her roles. So when she clicks with Anna, the woman who returned her missing cat, her new friend seems like a helping hand in her chaotic life as she steps in to help with her daughter Bonnie and is available for Emily to offload her worries to. But Anna is a stranger. And Emily has forgotten that strangers might not be who they seem....

I really enjoyed this book by author Susan Elliot Wright. I have not read any other books by her but I really enjoyed the way this was written, using different perspectives and shifts in chronology to show how the two women are connected.

The contract between Anna and Emily is very interesting and introduces some moral questions for the reader to consider. Anna's life has been one of struggle, rejection and loneliness whereas Emily seems to have a dream life and it does encourage you to question whether you should feel sympathy for her or whether she is ungrateful. I personally felt quite a lot of sympathy for Emily as a character considering the difficulties she faces as a young mum and overworked teacher coupled with the relationship with her husband, who I felt was quite unlikeable.

Anna is certainly a character that the reader will feel sorry for and her actions are clearly as a result of the trauma and rejection she has faced.

A fantastic book that keeps you hooked.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

All You Ever Wanted. Emily and Anna. Two women who want very different things. Emily is (perhaps) happily married with a year old baby. She’s a teacher at the same school where her husband Simon, an administrator, was once engaged to another teacher (long story.) She has a bad relationship with her mother, has lost touch with her friends, feels overworked and gets little help from her husband whose time seems to be filled with afternoon and evening meetings. Yes, she is suspicious of those meetings. So when her missing cat is rescued by Anna, who works several jobs to support herself, Emily is receptive to Anna’s offer to help. She’ll take care of the baby a few afternoons a week. The women become fast friends. And all I can tell you, without spoilers, that at this point you will not be able to put All You Ever Wanted down.

This psychological thriller is compelling, suspenseful, chilling and compulsively readable. Both Emily and Anna are complicated women who elicit feelings of sympathy, frustration and anger from the reader. Simon and Emily’s mother are also well described characters. This is a 5 star read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster UK and Susan Elliot Wright for this ARC.

[Reading Escapologist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC.

I have read some books by this author before and that’s why I requested this novel. I have mixed views on this one.

The opening was good - Emily has it all; a lovely house, a beautiful husband and a baby daughter. But she drinks a lot and is clearly unhappy. She’s convinced that she’s being watched and that she can’t trust her husband.

But this goes on for the first half of the novel. Constant negativity and paranoia. It bored me. If it wasn’t for the narrator shift in the middle, I might not have finished this book at all.

The pace picks up again as we hear from a different character. There are a few twists and turns. Along with some very obvious revelations.

But the ending has really affected my rating too. It ends with a bang. And that’s it. There’s no closure for the reader. A very odd finish for what was clearly building up to be a shocking ending.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

hmmmm… I prefer her other books

I have read everything by Susan Elliot Wright and loved all her books, especially The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood. This book I’m afraid I liked a lot less. The plot was fairly predictable from early on (no spoilers but it’s about family ties, separation and how lives diverge). The characters were also thinly drawn, quote two dimensional and certainly not as complex, engaging and interesting as those in her other books. If you haven’t read her work before, I recommend not starting here but with The Flight and then check out the earlier books. I hate to say this but this novel was a disappointment.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it quite a predictable storyline. I could tell where it was heading fairly early on which caused me to lose interest at times. However, the ending was a huge cliff-hanger and I really want to know what happens next 😅 I really can’t make up my mind as to whether I think Emily calls an ambulance or not so I do hope there is a sequel I can follow up with!

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want to know exactly how the book will pan out from the end if chapter 1 then this us for you. Not a single twist, ounce of suspense or anything unexpected. Dull.

[ReadandRated · Rating 4 out of 5]

This intense psychological thriller follows the life of Emily who is struggling to keep on top of things as a new mum. Keen to be seen to be coping, she tries hard to maintain the house, washing, meals etc for her husband Simon while in reality she is not coping well and feeling lonely. Before having the baby they were both teachers at the same school and for him life is pretty much as it was before.

Emily is slipping into paranoia and often feels as though she is being watched. With no friends left on the scenes, and a distracted husband, she is grateful when the woman who returns her missing cat is friendly and before long she is an integral part of their lives.

The book is told in two POVs, first Emily's and then Anna's which gave a nice dimension to understanding the story arc and the character's motives.

As for Simon, let's just say he isn't winning any prizes for husband of the year...

This story of domestic noir comes with a side order of fate, family and trust which makes for compelling reading.

My thanks to the author, Simon & Schuster UK and Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of Emily mum of 1 year old Bonnie and wife of Simon Unknown to Emily Simon was already engaged to someone else when she met him. All three are teachers at the same school. Strange things start happening to Emily at home. She has the feeling that she is being watched and then her cat goes missing. Emily is also concerned that Simon might be having an affair so Simon thinks Emily is just being paranoid.

For me this was a book of two halves. I really loved the first half. It started quite creepy and stalkerish which didn’t last too long unfortunately. I really love stalker books and was hoping for more. I was still intrigued by the story. The second half was told from another POV and that didn’t interest me quite as much.

[Karen Makeham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emily gets to know Anna when she drops off her missing cat. Anna then becomes close to Emily and her daughter Bonnie. As time goes on, Anna seems to know more than she should about Emily, who is having marriage difficulties. Things take a darker turn, as things from their backgrounds come to light. What does Anna want?
A great psychological thriller, perfect for thriller fans, with many twists and turns.

[Anett Ashton · Rating 1 out of 5]

An absolute waste of time.
This book stole a few hours of my life I'm never getting back.
For what?
Well, let's see. Empty, one dimensional characters? Check. Twists that didn't seem like twists because they were so unimaginative? Check. Boring, repetitive dialogues? Check. Parts that could be actually interesting but the author chooses to completely forget about them almost immediately? Check.
Basically if you ever read a domestic/ psychothriller, you've read this book too.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an excellent book!

I had a feeling that this book would be good.. and I was right. Wow. This is such a dark and emotional read and i certainly wasn't prepared for how emotionally tied I would be to the characters. The author has done everything right here and i loved following the journey.

I will certainly be recommending and reading more of Wright's books!

[aya · Rating 4 out of 5]

great and addicting read, however once it got to about 70% u can tell the writer was running out of ideas but tbh i enjoyed the plot even if it was kind of unoriginal.

the ending was really rushed but who cares as long as the child was safe with her mother im good!

also simon is just a terrible terrible man, knew it from the start

[Tara Niland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read, main character seems to have it all in life but someone is watching and they want what she has, who can she trust especially when she allready seems to suffer from paranoia. to begin with…. Read it you won’t be disappointed .

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hooked from the first few pages, a great easy holiday read, I loved the change of narrator it was unexpected and actually needed.
I was really really hoping for a twist that I hadn’t already guessed, but it never came so I was left feeling a little underwhelmed.

[Scarlet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst I did enjoy this book, at times it felt a little predictable and was quite a sad tale of family secrets and a lot of tension. It was a thrilling read and definitely makes you turn page after page, revealing even more twists and secrets. The ending was a good one.

[Raoua · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected a better ending tbh, the whole story overall was nice, predictable but nice, although I expected Emily to know the truth about what happened to Oscar, was also waiting for a confrontation between her and Simon. I feel like the ending was being wrapped up too quickly.