Take Me In by Sabine Durrant

Take Me In Reviews

• 
  Sandra

  This is the third book I have read by Sabrine Durrant. I really like the way this author writes, she can build up tension and makes you feel the panic/stress in everyday situations.
  Tessa and Marcus are on a well earned holiday in Greece, with their three year old son Josh, when the unthinkable happens.... while both parents are distracted Josh wanders into the sea and nearly drowns. He is saved by a stranger, Dave Jepsom, who dives into the sea and rescues the child.
  With an embarrassed thank you they try to extract themselves, however being overly polite they end up buying Dave and the group he is with lunch, in a nearby taverna.
  Back home they resume their pressured lives; Tessa struggling to create a perfect life and to be a stay at home mum and Marcus running is his own PR company.
  Then unexpected things start happening, the business hits a bumpy patch, Tessa is struggling and Dave keeps appearing in their lives. Is he following them ? Does he know their secrets? Is he a threat to them? Or are Tessa and Marcus on a path to self destruction?
  Great read, I enjoyed the tension and build up. Durrant seems to write about the problems of parenting spot on and you can just picture three year old Josh acting up ........ I found it really amusing !
  The ending was a little disappointing but overall I enjoyed and would recommend!!
• 
  Gary

  My first read of a Sabine Durrant novel and having finished it I was immediately looking to see what else she had written. I love this type of book, a psychological thriller full of suspense and great characters. The story is so well paced and the reader is hooked from the start and the suspense just grows and grows.
  Tessa and Marcus are relaxing on the beach on a family holiday when they take their eyes off three-year-old son Josh for a few minutes and he almost drowns. Thankfully Josh is saved by a stranger, Dave Jepson who is on the beach with his own family. Feeling guilty Tessa and Marcus spend the rest of the holiday with Josh's saviour and promise to keep in touch with him afterwards. Once back home family life goes back to normal until both Tessa and Marcus feel that they are been stalked by Dave Jepson. The situation is not helped by Tessa's secrets and Marcus' insecurities which threaten to rip their family life apart.
  
  I would like to thank Net Galley and Hodder & Stoughton for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Lisa

  Another mundane read with alternate POV:s the start got me in but then it was all down hill🙄 took too long to get to the point
• 
  Liz Barnsley

  Another brilliant novel from Sabine Durrant. I love her psychological thrillers because they are always unexpected- her central themes are always fascinating and her characters always brilliantly divisive.
  
  In this novel every parents worst nightmare almost comes to pass- if not for the intervention of a stranger a tragedy would ensue -.however what he wants in return may be too much to provide.
  
  I won't say more than that because I wouldn't want to spoil it but as ever the plotting is taut, disturbing and addictive. The author weaves a beautifully twisted tale of family dynamics and outside influences, of assumptions and errors and keeps you immersed throughout.
  
  I'm a fan. Highly recommended.
• 
  Blair

  Durrant's breakout novel,
  Lie With Me, was about an outsider inveigling himself into the lives of a group of wealthy friends; Take Me In is almost its inverse, studying a privileged family whose lifestyle starts to come apart at the seams when they let a stranger in and find they can't shake him off.
  
  On a family holiday, Tessa and Marcus take their eyes off three-year-old Josh for a few minutes and he almost drowns. He's rescued by Dave, a stranger who happens to be on the beach with his own family at the same time. Tessa and Marcus's guilt leads them to spend the rest of the day with this man and to keep in touch with him afterwards, though both feel vaguely wary of him. Wariness escalates to outright terror as Dave's behaviour grows increasingly bizarre and he appears to start stalking the family. As we progress through the stories told in parallel by husband and wife, it becomes clear they both have plenty of reasons to feel guilty besides momentary neglect of Josh. That's only compounded by the class guilt that defines their interactions with Dave – a combination of embarrassment at being associated with him and fear of his unpredictability.
  
  Take Me In is most interesting when it explores class dynamics and most thrilling when it hints that Dave is truly a malevolent trickster with inscrutable motives, an agent of chaotic evil. It's impossible for these two things to be reconciled, however, which of course means that the culprit must ultimately prove to be someone else, someone closer to home and outwardly more benign. I wasn't surprised by this 'twist', but somehow I did find it disappointing anyway. (Which just about sums up my experience with the majority of psychological thrillers.) For me, the scene in which Tessa calls Maureen was the dramatic highlight of the plot. It was all downhill from there. In the end, Dave is simply a symbol of the ways in which Tessa and Marcus are letting each other (and Josh) down – which is fine, but not what I wanted this story to do.
  
  I received an advance review copy of Take Me In from the publisher through
  NetGalley.
  
  
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• 
  C.L. Taylor

  A menacing, heart-pounding exploration of two people in crisis, a marriage on the verge of implosion and the stranger who pulls out the pin. I knew within the first couple of pages of this book that I was in for a rollicking good read and, after an explosive first chapter, I just had enough time to catch my breath before the author cranked up the tension and reeled me back in. I thought the characterisation and voice in Take Me In were superb. I was particularly drawn to Marcus who lurched around bullshitting, schmoozing and pointing the finger as he battled with insecurity and low esteem whilst desperately tried to regain control of his career, his marriage and his life. I felt quite sorry for him really. I felt some sympathy for Tessa too which is testament to Sabine's skill as an author, given how questionable some of Tessa's decisions were. Take Me In is an assured, confident psychological thriller that is rich with menace. The tension and suspense tighten their grip so subtly you'll be holding your breath by the end.
• 
  Nicki

  Sometimes all it takes is one incident,one unexpected event that starts a domino effect and suddenly your world is collapsing around you faster than a tower of playing cards.
  
  A hot beach. A young family on holiday. A fatal moment of inattention...
  
  And now Dave Jepsom is in their lives.
  
  Dave Jepsom, with his muscles, his pale eyes, his expressionless face.
  
  He saved their child. How can they ever repay him? Especially as what he seems to want in return is everything.
  
  He's in the streets they walk down. He's at the office where they work. He's at their front door, leaning on the bell...
  
  If only they could go back. Back to when the lies were still hidden. Before the holiday, before the beach, before the moment that changed everything.
  
  Before Dave.
  
  But it's never how it starts that matters. It's always how it ends.
  
  The chapter headings of this gripping thriller alternate between him and her.I was puzzled why the chapters weren't titled Marcus and Tessa but it all makes sense when you get to the final intense chapters.This is a fascinating character study of a couple who are so selfish,self centred and have such a high sense of their own importance that when their lives start to fall apart it was hard to feel any sympathy for either of them.I felt a lot of sympathy for poor little Josh and also for another character but I can't go into too much detail without giving away spoilers.The secondary characters in this story where a mixed bag of well developed,realistic but mainly unlikable,untrustworthy personalities.
  
  It's a fast paced,riveting,well written tale of secrets,lies,social judgements,mistakes and misconceptions that had me hooked in from the first page.The tension builds as the story unfolds,you know that a confrontation is going to occur and when it does it is shocking and intense.The final chapters are ingeniously written,you really have to concentrate and follow the words carefully and the ending is definitely a OMG,WTF moment.This is the first book that I have read by this author and it most definitely won't be my last.
  
  Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for a arc of this book via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.
• 
  Ceecee

  I liked this book a lot better than her previous book. Marcus and Tess’s 3 year old son Josh was rescued from potentially drowning while the family was on holiday in a Greece. The rescuer was Dave Jempson who shortly after the event the couple felt ‘he was in their lives but they wished he wasn’t’. Strange unsettling things began to happen such as silent phone calls and the feeling of being watched. There definitely seemed to be something slightly off about Dave but I couldn’t help but think that the couple treated him in a cavalier fashion and they definitely looked down on him. Without spoiling the story I also tempted to think that Marcus and Tess deserved much of what they got as they were treating each other badly and they weren’t playing fair with their son either. Although I wasn’t that surprised by the ending it was good and twisty!
• 
  Anni

  
  
  ‘In Chinese culture, if you save someone's life you are responsible for that person forever…
  You're not worthy to be Josh’s father. He deserves better. One day someone will take that child away from you.”
  
  Sabine Durrant is an expert practitioner in the subtle art of misdirection and false trails when it comes to psychological thrillers, which she displayed to excellent effect in her bestseller ‘Lie With Me’. Having read most of the greats in this field, from Patricia Highsmith, through to Gillian Flynn via Barbara Vine, I reckon Durrant is up there with the best of them.
  Unfortunately, it's perhaps the case that I have read too many in this genre, as I am starting to spot the rabbit up the sleeve well before the reveal, as in this case – but it's still a gripping ride all the way to the end.
  
• 
  Tracy Fenton

  This is my third book by Sabine Durrant and she is fast becoming one of my favourite psychological thriller writers.  Take Me In is a seriously creepy story which I devoured within a day.  
  
  The blurb above explains what the book is about, but what is doesn't convey is how tense and gripping the story is.  Told through alternating chapters Tessa and Marcus weave a wonderful story full of lies, deceit and secrets that once uncovered threaten to blow their marriage and lives apart.  I felt like a rubber necker watching a car crash unfold during this book as you could see this young family about to self-destruct through guilt.
  
  There are so many elements to this story, Tessa's background, secrets and guilt, Marcus' insecurities and work concerns, the creepy Dave Jepsom whose appearance in their lives is menacing and worrying.
  
  If you enjoy fast-paced, knicker-gripping, nail-biting, tense stories that leave you breathless and gasping - then I would definitely recommend Take Me In.
• 
  Lisa

  3.5 stars
  A good domestic thriller with alternating points of view from a husband and wife.
  It all starts when their 3 year old son nearly drowns during the first day of their much needed holiday and he is saved by a stranger who becomes more involved in their lives than they would like...and they are both harbouring secrets...which come spilling out one way or another...of course!!
  Good book that I wanted to keep reading.
  
• 
  Danielle-Gemma♥️

  I really enjoyed this book and I was hooked. Until the end. Where it just fell off a cliff. No real explanation no proper ending. Gone.
• 
  safiyareads

  Take Me In is told in alternative chapters from the perspective of Tessa and Marcus. This was good as it allowed the reader to get an insight into both of their minds and was also crucial with how certain events played out. From the thoughts of both of these characters it is clear that their marriage is unhappy and they both seem to be responsible for this. In fact it is not until about 3/4 way through the book that I even felt like they actually cared about or loved each other in the slightest. There were some references to the fact that they might have loved each other once upon a time but it takes a long time to be sure there is any still there. Because of that, I found that I did not care about their relationship or whether it worked out which I would have if it had been evident throughout that there was substance between them. At some points I was like ugghhh seriously guys you're pathetic... Although I guess it was realistic it was tiring and tedious to read at times. 
  
  Neither of the main characters were particularly likeable and were most of the time rather annoying. Again this made me feel detached and I hadn't invested myself in caring about what happened to either of them. The one thing that kept me reading was the persistent though sometimes minuscule suggestions that something very big and life changing was about to take place. Dave Epsom is a recurring feature in their lives and with him he brings constant uncertainty as well as a threat of danger. It wasn't until about halfway through the book that anything remarkable actually took place and from there the pace picked up slightly.
  
  The last quarter of the book was definitely the most intriguing. After truths have come out and Tessa and Marcus have to confront both of their dishonesties and lack of effort in the relationship; things start to get slightly more interesting. The final act is a confrontation on their family and whether they can survive it is the real question.
  I felt there was a lot of promise and suggestion of a big twist or momentous event to come but I was somewhat disappointed when it did. I found the end quite messy and a bit of a let down.
  A lot of the book I had to force myself through because it focused on one's career which I found boring and the other's betrayal which I found even more boring. There was a lot of hints and undercurrents of something of substance which never really came. For a thriller it wasn't particularly thrilling and in a way the ending reminded me of Lie With Me.
  
  Rating: 4/10
• 
  Heidi

  I loved Durrant’s last book,
  Lie With Me, so Take Me In was one of my most anticipated new releases of 2018. Again, we have a really intriguing premise here: couple Marcus and Tessa are on holidays in Greece when their young son, Josh, falls into the ocean whilst his parents are distracted. It is only thanks to the rapid actions of a bystander, Dave Jepsom, that the boy is saved from drowning. Although Marcus and Tessa are grateful to the stranger for his intervention, they become wary of him when he makes repeat appearances in their lives once back in England. Soon Dave becomes a sinister spectre in their lives and a constant reminder of their guilt and inadequacies – ultimately bringing this little family to the brink of disaster.
  
  I loved the idea of the story, which unfolds through both the POVs of Marcus and Tessa, a well-off successful couple who at first glance seem to have it all. It’s not until the story progresses that we learn that their marriage is far from perfect. Durrant has a knack for delivering flawed, somewhat unlikeable characters that still manage to extract some empathy from my cold, cold heart, even though neither Marcus not Tessa could hold a candle to Paul Morris from Lie With Me, and I admit feeling quite frustrated with them on several occasions. Here we have two people who seem to have it all, and yet they are basking in constant dissatisfaction and self-centredness. Little Josh really has to take a backward seat as his parents bumble from one disastrous decision to another, each so wrapped up in their own misery that they have little time for playing happy families. And then there is Dave Jepsom, who inserts himself in their lives like a big fat cuckoo in another’s nest, hovering in the shadows like a menacing premise that seems to pre-empt their unravelling. Like Marcus and Tessa, I was constantly wondering if Dave could really be responsible for all the misfortune that befell them, or whether it was all in their imagination. Hero or villain? Friend or foe?
  
  With this brilliant premise I am somewhat disappointed that the book ultimately did not fully deliver for me. There was so much potential for this story to be truly chilling and heart-poundingly tense, but it never seemed to exploit all the possibilities the author hints at. It is difficult to describe my feelings without giving away parts of the plot that may spoil things for other readers, but I can say that I felt that too much time was spent on intricate details of Tessa and Marcus’ everyday lives (and Marcus’ work), and not enough on the chilling spectre of Dave hovering in the peripheries. There were a couple of moments when I thought that the book would finally get to the point (e.g when Tessa calls Maureen and finds out some chilling facts about Dave) and utilise this aspect to ratchet up tension, but it never fully got there. Considering the finale of Lie With Me, I was breathlessly waiting for the final reveal to throw me a big curveball, but found that I could see its trajectory from a mile off, and it ultimately disappointed. To be totally honest, I felt that the ending didn’t fit at all, and left me feeling dissatisfied, with many questions left unanswered.
  
  In summary, and after much soul-searching, I sadly concede that despite Durrant’s writing style (which I still love), Take Me In was ultimately disappointing for me. I felt that this book had so much more potential to be great, but the narrative got lost in translation somewhere along the way and turned out to be more of a casual stroll around the block than the heart-pounding thrill ride it could have been. Whilst I enjoyed Durrant’s keen observations of a modern, middle-class marriage and the smoke and mirrors of suburban life, including the couple’s friends (who were as unlikeable and deceitful as the couple themselves), it ultimately read more like a relationship drama than a heart pounding psychological thriller. I still liked the story, but I did not love it as much as I thought I would.
  
  
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• 
  Rachel (not currently receiving notifications) Hall

  Sabine Durrant’s fourth novel is another compelling psychological thriller than unnerves and holds the reader fascinated in abject horror from start to finish following the near-drowning of three-year-old, Josh, that marks the unraveling of his parents lives and the implosion of their fragile marriage. With the air between the financially comfortable and upwardly middle-class media professional couple of Marcus and Tessa Nicholson already thick with tension they leave their home in South London for a week on a Greek island and a potential chance to reconnect. Riveting from the off with a creeping tension and sinister foreboding, Durrant’s novel is full of pithy commentary on marital friction, self-doubt and the “having it all” dilemma of modern parenting in a searing dual narrative between husband and wife.
  
  Fraught with their own individual inferiority complexes and paranoia, the arrival of the shaven headed, heavily tattooed and testosterone exuding figure of Dave Jepsom, oozing brooding masculinity in his box-fresh white trainers accelerates every aspect of their descent into marital discord. The first time either of the couple properly take notice of him is when his act of heroism and the rescuing of their son etches his presence into their lives and memories. An awkward luncheon and offer of financial recompense for his lost trainers passes with the Nicholson’s both keen to get back to England and move on from the fixed smiles and pleasantries with Jepsom and the testy politeness that fills their villa.
  
  For a redundant Marcus, watching another man save his child seems to fulfil his over-bearing father’s prophecy of being an utter disappointment as a man as he overcompensates and puts on a show of falsely cheerful bonhomie, ill-advisedly talking freely about the secrets of his portfolio of PR clients and staves off the confrontation of his diminishing stature in the eyes of his wife. For Tessa, Jepsom seems to mock the fabricated image of being a good wife and mother that she has worked so hard to construct and masks a much greater fear of discovery that she is a ‘fraud’, with her lack of education, working-class background and suspicion that their saviour can see straight through her. For Marcus, preoccupied by his business concerns, exhausted and asleep whilst supervising Josh and Tessa, off illicitly calling her lover of three-months when the danger mounts, Jepsom appears to act as their conscience, reminding them both of the lack of honesty and communication within their marriage.
  
  On their return home a creeping sense of unease takes hold with Jepsom’s sudden intrusion into the Nicholson’s lives, all exacerbated by the secrets and lies between the couple which mean they are both labouring under the weight of misapprehensions. As they attempt to navigate the uncharted waters of extricating themselves from their messy personal situations the frequent appearance of Dave Jepsom (with gifts for Josh, a Facebook friend request and handyman skills) introduces a new element of suspicion into their lives. Tessa is unnerved by the feeling of being watched and judged as a bad mother with matters culminating in her car being vandalised as she is wracked by concerns that Jepsom has the measure of her. Alongside this a slew of damaging disclosures relating to Marcus’s clients and his own personal indiscretions drive the couple further apart, with both holding the mysterious figure of Jepsom accountable for their fate, by way of leaking secrets to the press in Marcus’s situation and threatening to expose Tessa’s infidelity.
  
  As Marcus throws himself into work and attempts to push his anxieties and doubts of self-worth out of his mind the implosion of his life since meeting Jepsom continue to rankle, as the man looms in the background and his previously orderly life fragments. Fuelled with a seething bitterness Marcus is unconvinced by Tessa’s more benign view that Jepsom is perhaps a guardian angel figure and warning when they are most in danger of losing what matters in both their lives. Finally with all the cards on the table a week’s staycation in Suffolk arrives and with it comes an opportunity to play happy families either signalling the start of normalcy resuming or merely another attempt at papering over the cracks in a fragile marriage.... But which will it be and are the Nicholson’s both correct in thinking that the source of the danger that is obliterating their world emanates from the shadowy figure of Jepsom or might the danger be closer to home than either think? Although I was never in doubt as to where the story was headed into the final third of the novel and I felt that the climax was perhaps a little too obvious, I was impressed by how succinctly Sabine Durrant brought it all to a close without feeling in the least bit contrived. I had expected to be more disappointed by the lack of clarification of Jepsom’s motives and his supposed stalking given how frustrating I had found it prior to the Suffolk holiday but when it came to pass I instead found it all rather well-judged.
  
  Neither of the Nicholson’s are particularly sympathetic characters but their distinctive voices ring true as the split narrative airs their grudges, slights and acrimony. Both inherently selfish, their dissatisfaction with their aspirational life epitomises the first-world problem’s of affluent suburbanites everywhere and their friends prove similarly difficult to warm to. For the couple, Josh seems an inconvenience and source of frustration, curbing Marcus’s wilder side and more understandably tethering Tessa to the home. Seeing the ‘His’ and ‘Her’ narrative strands alongside each other magnifies the absolute loss of perspective of the couple and makes for deliciously tantalising reading. The need to appreciate both sides of the story and this the necessity of a dual narrative admittedly tempers the pace of the action but for Sabine Durrant’s line in social observation, wry take on the hang-ups of the well-heeled alone Take Me In is well worth reading. The novel bristles with a palpable undercurrent of menace and an ever present threat that builds to a brilliant denouement as the tense narrative is batted back and forth between Tessa and Marcus with increasing speed.
  
  A brilliant mix of blame, recriminations and guilt within a marriage, all magnified by misconceptions which combine to make for a wonderfully unsettling read, a taut psychological thriller and a darkly comic look at modern neuroses.
• 
  Val Robson

  The plot starts on a Greek Island where Marcus and Tessa are holidaying with their young son Josh. Tessa said she had to go to somewhere private to change into her swimming costume but this was just an excuse to call the man she is having an affair with. Marcus drifts off and isn't watching Josh in the water who then gets into difficulties. Josh is saved by a nearby tourist, Dave Jepsom. Dave is from a completely different walk of life from Marcus and Tessa and although grateful for his heroic rescue they struggle to connect with him. They offer him money and to replace his lost trainers which causes offence. Tessa turns down the offer from one of Dave's companions of a Coke for Josh as she doesn't want him to get a taste for it. Marcus and Tessa take Dave and his group out for lunch where their social differences are very obvious. The rest of the week is spent in awkward encounters or more usually avoiding Dave who is keen to keep in touch and give Josh gifts.
  
  In the following weeks Marcus and Tessa's lives unravel more and more as each behave badly and get more and more paranoid about being watched or followed. Tessa carries on with her affair and Marcus encounters numerous difficult issues that coincidentally go wrong in the same timeframe at the PR business he co-owns with Jeff.
  
  Is it their imagination? Are they being stalked? Is it guilt? Are the PR company problems a coincidence or is there an informant?
  
  I found the plot very slow in the first half with way too much elaborate details about surroundings, food, and objects which didn't help towards the story. The story then picked up in the second half and I read that much more quickly but then it ended very abruptly.,,,and confusingly,. I had to go back and reread the final pages as I felt I'd missed something. Some maybe view it as a good ending with a good twist but I was just frustrated as having investing so many hours slogging through this book I was disappointed with the ending which left too many questions unanswered.
  
  With thanks to NetGalley for inviting me to read this in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Clare

  
  With thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Staunton for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.
  
  Take me is the second book I have read from Sabine Durrant. The synopsis explains perfectly what happens in the book. However the dynamic of Marcus and Tessa's marriage was another tantalising layer to the story.
  
  Although it is briefly mentioned Tessa came from working class roots. Tessa's father was not mentioned but her mum would bring home lots of new boyfriends. After the birth of Josh she felt unattractive, but also she felt she did not fit in with her middle class friends. Marcus was mentally abused by his father and lacks confidence as an adult.
  
  Unusually I did not like Tessa or Marcus but that did not stop me enjoying the story. Take Me In was wonderfully written laced with deceit and paranoia. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for what would happen next to Tessa and Marcus. The barely hidden menace around Dave made my spine tingle. I loved the description of the Dave, the stereotypical Working class brit aboard with his shaved head, muscles and tattoos on his back.
  
  The cliff hanger was amazing but it was written in a confusing manner. It was not necessary because I would never have guessed the ending. I recommend this book but I think Sabine's last book was better.
  
• 
  Maya Panika

  Tessa and Marcus are a self-absorbed couple, smug in their affluent suburban world with a rich sense of entitlement and snobbish to boot, though they’d never admit it. Life is ticking along so very nicely for them, until the holiday in Greece; a moment’s forgetful neglect from both parents, both preoccupied—Marcus in judging the working class family sharing the beach, Tessa in texting her lover from the seclusion of the lavatory—as their son, Josh, almost drowns. Josh is plucked from the sea in the nick of time by Dave Jepsom, a muscled, tattooed Essex-man builder with a basic-Brexit family. Tessa and Marcus are reluctantly grateful to Jepsom, never gracious, as they endure lunch with the man and his family, then play hide and seek for the rest of the week to avoid having to spend any more time with him. Then, on their return, he seeks them out at their home. He buys gifts for their son. It gets worse; Tessa and Marcus see Dave Jepsom everywhere they go. Is he following them, stalking them, and if so, why? What are his motives, his intentions? At first, it’s just glimpses; Jepsom is always there, lurking in the background every time they make a mistake or behave badly. Their perfect and predictable lives take a turn for the worse. Everything starts to go wrong for them. Is Dave Jepsom behind it; is he deliberately sabotaging their lives?
  I began to sense this wasn’t going to end as predictably as it seemed from about halfway through, and I was right, but not right. It’s a wonderfully twisting story, and it leads you on in the most wonderful way. It gripped me, held me, kept me turning pages until long, long after I should have turned out the light and gone to sleep. It’s an enormously compelling tale, exceptionally well told. Detailed enough to be interesting, but never too much; the description, the emotion, never gets in the way of the plot. The characterisation is superb, so subtly drawn—all is shown and never told. Every twist in the tale comes through the eyes of the couple at the heart of it. Everything happens naturalistically, the story unfolding at a perfect pace, never hurried, never over-done. An almost perfect thriller.
• 
  Christina McDonald

  An utterly compelling psychological thriller that had me gripped from the first page. Take Me In is a brilliant character study of two people who don’t know how to get out of the cycle of their own destruction and self-sabotage.
  
  On a family vacation in Greece, Marcus and Tessa momentarily lose sight of their three-year old son. Josh nearly drowns, but is rescued by Dave. And now Dave is in their lives, following them, showing up unexpectedly at their house, appearing at their work. And then suddenly their lives start to disintegrate, and they can’t help but wonder if it’s Dave who’s responsible.
  
  Sinister and foreboding, the creepy thing about this book is how it could actually happen. The writing is beautifully descriptive and eloquent, while the characters are so real I felt like I could actually meet them outside the nursery, or in the course of a day at work. Despite their flaws, I really felt sorry for both of them and completely understood why they made the choices that they did (as wrong as they were!). Fast-paced and riveting, Take Me In is a story of secrets and lies, betrayals and treachery that you won’t soon forget.
  
  Thanks so much to NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.
• 
  Bethanie

  I didn’t enjoy this book. I really liked the premise, but I just didn’t connect with the story.
  
  The story alternates chapters from Tessa’s and Marcus’ point of view, but neither of the characters are likeable. They’re thankful to Dave at first, but they soon begin to resent him and suspect he’s not as nice as he seems. The parents don’t want to be reminded that they failed to protect their child, and Dave’s presence serves as a reminder of this. Without the references to the fact that something terrible was going to happen, all of Dave’s actions would seem perfectly innocent.
  
  The ‘twist ending’ was predictable, and was dragged out far longer than necessary. It seemed like it was going to be revealed several times, only for the chapter to end. I assume this was to try to build suspense, but instead it felt annoying. The story came to a sudden end shortly after and felt unfinished.
• 
  Gabrielle

  Really enjoyed this book. It is described as a thriller but it is more a suspenseful drama.
  A story about a couple caught in a roller coaster of emotions caused by work dramas, affairs, toxic people. Believable and unrealistic at the same time. Unfortunately the ending was very much, surely it’s not him, but it was! Ok that was questionable and why?? Couldn’t put it down though, was a very good build up to a slightly disappointing ending, but still recommend highly.
• 
  Siobhan Jackson

  I was disappointed by this book. I felt it had promise at the start and got into it easily, but then nothing really seemed to happen for soooo long, then the ending was a disappointment too.
• 
  Jan

  OK, I finished reading this a couple of weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it. It's a tense and twisty psychological thriller about a young couple whose little boy is saved from drowning by a stranger whose arrival in their lives seems to trigger a gradual breakdown in the couples relationship and brings to the surface a whole bunch of untruths and secrets.
  
  Its a real page turner and you never know quite who to trust and whom to fear.
  
  I found the ending somewhat difficult to get my head around and am not sure whether I missed some vital element earlier or if it's meant to be a little enigmatic and keep you wondering - if so it did its job!
  
  I'll be interested to hear if anyone else found this a bit puzzling too.
• 
  John Wiltshire

  This seems to be another novel where for some inexplicable reason the author decides to make the main character so utterly unlikeable that it's hard to have any sympathy for her in her predicament. But what another great opportunity to vent some misogynist angst. I find myself hoping this young mother has been targeted by a dangerous stalker, just to see how much damage he can do to her shallow, pretentious life. Do people really live like this? In trendy London, of course, having 'kitchen suppers' with their obnoxious Guardian-journalist friends, bemoaning the craze of making your own crisps (chips, for all the colonials reading this). Tessa has it all: well off husband working his butt off to achieve this (faux) life for her, a lovely young son, a fabulous house and she's given up her (pathetic PR) job and swans around enjoying life not working. So what does she do? She cheats. She scurries around conducting a sordid (literally, they do it in cars in public sometimes) affair, leaving her very young son even when he's sick to continue this mindless, unemotional dalliance. The inevitable happens one day on holiday--her inattention (and lusty, base desires...) nearly get her son drowned. Thank God for Dave Jepsom, a stranger who rescues him.
  So other than the poor little lad Josh, who didn't deserve this mother, I don't care what happens to Tessa, which is not a good way to be reading a book.
  Having said that, the premise of the story is somewhat intriguing. Who is Dave Jepsom, who after the rescue appears to stalk the family? Is he actually stalking them? Does he have evil intentions? I sincerely hope so and will continue reading... update to follow...
  Finished Well. Huh. A masterclass in how not to end a book. Dave Jepsom was not the person doing all the nasty: the break in, the stories in the press, the destroying the business, the scare tactics with the child. I think. I'm actually not sure. Another villain was brought in right at the end. So who did what? I have no idea and don't care. Who was Dave Jepsom? What did he actually do? No idea.
  I actually got to the end of this and flicked around on my kindle to see if I'd missed a page or two. Not a good way to end a book.
  Recommendation? Well... again, this might make a good book for people who just like something escapist whilst they're lounging around the pool on holiday and still want to be able to join in conversation and drink to excess and thus what you're (pretending) to read doesn't really matter. Other than that? Nah.
• 
  Jannelies

  Thanks to NetGalley for this book.
  
  Mixed feelings here. On the one hand, an interesting idea. On the other hand, two main characters that both lack what it takes to become really alive, and one main character that was as flat as a newspaper.
  It is not that I was bored with the book. It is very well written and I wanted to keep reading to see whether anything interesting would happen. But all the scenes where people are just sitting together talking about absolutely nothing - and this includes Marcus' stories about his work - didn't do it for me. I don't like people that are selling hot air and I cannot imagine how you can live with yourself when you make a living out of it.
  Marcus is too weak to my taste and Tessa keeps on jabbering about how she is not a good housewife. What is the definition of a good housewife? And if you don't want to be one, go and find a job and a sitter for the child. Everybody happy.
  Dave Jepsom promised to be an interesting figure but we learn nothing about his motives which would have made the story better.