The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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

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.

The idea was good the rental property of a lifetime the perfect house designed by an award winning architect at an unbelievably low rent. The only catch is that you have to pass a lengthy personality assessment quiz. You must be personally approved by Monkford (the architect) himself. You have to sign a contract that effectively means you living in a show home never being able to leave a cup unwashed in the kitchen or live a normal life. You can't move in anything but your essentials, no personal possessions, not even books. One Folgate Street is controlled by electronics and quizzes and if you fail to comply the house shuts down appliances controlling the inhabitants in a Big Brother way until you do as it wants.

On the surface this book should have worked it but it didn't really do it for me. It promised so much but I felt fell short of expectations.

Essentially The Girl Before tells the stories of Emma and Jane, two girls who lived in One Folgate, one in the past and one in the present. Emma died under mysterious circumstances while living in One Folgate Street, and Jane is the current occupant. Both women look alike, and both become involved with Edward Monkton, the architect and mastermind behind One Folgate Street--both also happen to bear an eerie resemblance to Edward’s deceased wife. Jane {the present tenant) begins to investigate Emma’s death, and in doing so puts herself in danger.

I felt it was a little confused, was it meant to be a psychological thriller or something along the lines of Fifty Shades of Grey? The pace was there but it took so long to get anywhere that I skim read a lot of the pages. Twist? Well I would hardly call it that. Not really for me and I can only give it 3 stars - sorry!

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.