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Radio 2 Book Club: The Girl Before

On Monday 6 February, the suspense filled thriller The Girl Before by JP Delaney will be featured on the Radio 2 Book Club.

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The Girl Before

Enter the world of One Folgate Street and discover perfection…but can you pay the price?

For all fans of The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl comes this spellbinding Hitchcockian thriller, which takes psychological suspense to the next level.

Jane stumbles on the rental opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to live in a beautiful ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect, on condition she abides by a long list of exacting rules. After moving in, she discovers that a previous tenant, Emma, met a mysterious death there – and starts to wonder if her own story will be a re-run of the girl before. As twist after twist catches the reader off guard, Emma’s past and Jane’s present become inexorably entwined in this tense, page-turning portrayal of psychological obsession.

Selection panel review

The book was selected with the help of a panel made up of Reading Agency and library staff from across the UK. Our readers loved The Girl Before – here are some of their comments:

“I really enjoyed this book. A nice little psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns…there are so many lies and half-truths, you will be second-guessing all the way through.”

“I liked the characters and felt as if I knew them personally. I loved the descriptive writing about the house and how it worked.”

“It is crammed full of ideas and asked a lot of questions. It juggled a lot of different moods, from mystery to creepy body horror to techno-thriller, and I lay awake at night on more than one occasion trying to sort through all the things that were going on in the story.”

About the author

The Girl Before is the first psychological thriller from JP Delaney, a pseudonym for a writer who has previously written bestselling fiction under other names. It is being published in thirty-five countries. A film version is being brought to the screen by Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard.

A word from JP

“When my heroine, Jane, is considering moving into a beautiful minimalist house that’s available for a suspiciously low rent, the estate agent warns her there are some rules: no ornaments, no pictures…and no books. ‘No books!’ Jane echoes. ‘That’s ridiculous!’ It’s the first indication that the landlord’s rules are not just draconian, but a little bit mad. Because not to be immersed in a good book is a denial of life itself, right? Stories are the way we share and compare our different experiences of the world. That’s why I’m so thrilled The Girl Before has been chosen, not only by the Radio 2 Book Club, but also by The Reading Agency. To be enjoyed by any reader is an honour, but to be selected by people who are immersed in stories every day feels fantastic.”

Get involved

Tune in to Simon Mayo’s Drivetime show on Monday 6 February to hear a live interview with JP.

Have you read The Girl Before? You can share your thoughts with us on Twitter using #TheGirlBefore.

You can take a look at what other readers thought, or leave your own review.

Want to find out more? Take a look at the Radio 2 Book Club Twitter feed or find out more on the Radio 2 Book Club website.

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