It's Not What You Think

 

It's Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh
9/22/26; 416 pages
Sourcebooks 

It's Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh is a recommended (maybe) "thriller steeped in current tensions."

Nadeeka is rushing home, certain that she is about to catch Jamie having an affair. Instead she arrives home to find the police there, tape across the front door, and Jamie is dead, stabbed in their living room. DI Burton is helpful and supportive while Nadeeka is overwhelmed. As she tries to handle the details a troubling fact comes forth and DCI Lauren Caldwell takes over the case.

The novel is broken down into six parts and 18 months later. The narrative is told through the points-of-view of Nadeeka Prasanna, DCI Lauren Caldwell, Jaimie Golding, and DS Fraser Hogan. The first part starts out very strong and immediately grabbed my attention. This continues into the second part and I was completely engrossed, feeling this could be a winning novel. And then a choice is made by Mackintosh to set the plot on the highway of controversy. She proceeds to takes a serious political and social concern, simplify it, and takes a side. Big sigh. She does take this and later uses it to makes an even more unbelievable twist. 

Now, yet again, I need to caution an author to keep their personal political/social views to themselves as it diminishes and dates the novel. Novels are written, edited, and then published. There is a delay between the writing and the publishing. Due to this fact, I have a long held rule that authors need to keep their editorializing on contemporary political topics to themselves and out of novels. FYI: the content warning at the end should have been mentioned in the synopsis, then I would not have even started reading this. 3 stars for the opening. Thanks to Sourcebooks/Landmark for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.