Review by Booklist Review
When Annabelle Reynolds hears the phrase, "May all your dreams come true," it resonates like a curse, not a blessing. Annabelle's dreams are nightmares, and they do have an alarming track record. Some foreshadow mishaps involving her husband James and daughters Scarlett and Olivia; others involve visions of herself in the arms of another man or with James' hands clenched murderously around her throat. Insofar as she can get anyone to heed her warnings, crises are usually avoided, but the near misses are straining her fragile marriage. When Scarlett is seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident, secrets Annabelle thought she had buried deeply in her past come to light, and her suburban-perfect world devolves into a hellscape where cyberstalking, kidnapping, and revenge rule. As a taut example of the psychological suspense genre, Constantine's latest domestic thriller delights with whipsaw twists revealed from both Annabelle's and Scarlett's perspectives. Breakneck pacing, bombshell revelations, and unpredictable outcomes orchestrated by devilishly unreliable characters coalesce in a spellbinding and satisfyingly spine-shivering read.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A woman worries that her confounding nightmares are actually premonitions in this slick standalone from The Last Mrs. Parrish author Constantine (a pseudonym for sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine). Successful PR agent Annabelle Reynolds has a happy family life and a loving husband, so she's startled when she awakens one morning from a dream about a violent marital spat. Annabelle's husband, James, is a sensitive doctor who rescued her from a toxic relationship with a manipulative professor, so she knows he'd never lay hands on her--but she still can't shake the thought. Subsequent dreams, including one about a beachside encounter with a handsome stranger, prove eerily prescient, and then Annabelle has a vision of her older daughter, Scarlett, in grave danger. She keeps a close eye on Scarlett while trying to understand who, or what, is penetrating her subconscious. The nerve-jangling action relies heavily on coincidence, but the plot barrels along at such a breakneck pace that readers are unlikely to get hung up on plausibility. The Constantine sisters are at the top of their game. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency. (June)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
When a woman starts having dreams that seem to foreshadow future events, she also begins to unravel a dark family secret. Annabelle Reynolds has all the trappings of a happy, successful life: a handsome, solicitous neurologist husband; two beautiful daughters; a thriving career in media communications; a big, beautiful house in the most desirable part of town. So, when she wakes from a terrible nightmare in which her husband is choking and threatening her, she chalks it up to an overactive imagination. But soon there is another nightmare about a very specific plane crashing--and this one comes true. Could she be psychic? Her husband, James, is not only skeptical, he is downright dismissive. But Annabelle can't lose the feeling of dread that bad things are coming. Of course, there are cracks in the facade of her perfect life, anyway: Her older daughter is texting with someone she met online, hoping to meet up with him IRL, and Annabelle herself hides a private grief. When she dreams of a handsome stranger who then becomes her next client, she realizes that, whatever the origin, her dreams are true signposts that something is wrong--in her past, in her marriage, and, possibly, with her children. Most of the chapters are told from Annabelle's point of view, either in the present or in a time labeled "Before," but occasionally there is a short interlude in the voice of "The Wife." Whose wife? And what's up with the husband she is so closely investigating? Despite a bit of mustache-twirling once the villain is revealed, the complex characters plus the hint of supernatural prophecy put a new spin on domestic thriller tropes. Women, Constantine roars, believe your instincts! A tension-ramping nail-biter of a novel. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
