Claire McGowan: A mixed bag of thriller stories

Claire McGowan grew up in a small village in Northern Ireland. She earned a degree in English and French from Oxford then moved to London to work in the charity sector. Her first novel was published in 2012 and she has been writing full time ever since.

I'm a huge fan of McGowan's Paula Maguire series and I've read all six books, published from 2013 until the series wrapped up in 2018. Paula Maguire is a forensic psychologist, and those books combine strong characterisation, well-crafted crimes, and the history of Northern Ireland. There is a story thread about her mother's disappearance when Paula was young that is woven throughout the books that is finally resolved in the last book in the series. I suggest reading the books in order to chart the changes to Paula's personal life and her quest to find out what happened to her mother. You can read my review of the Paula Maguire series here.

I've been working my way through McGowan's standalone novels, read on the strength of the consistently high-quality Paula Maguire series. I still have four standalones to read at the time of writing, published between 2023-2025. I'll update this post as I read them. The standalones are a mixed bag of top notch thrillers with some less-than-stellar attempts at the genre. I always find myself intrigued by the premise of the standalones and I rate McGowan highly as a storyteller, it's just that some of her books have not been well executed from the original idea. My thoughts are below on the six standalones I have read, reviewed in order of publication.

The fall | Published January 2012

The fall is a cracking story of Charlotte and Keisha, two women who couldn't be more different, who team up to get to the bottom of Charlotte's boyfriend's arrest for murder. This first novel that McGowan published is an example of her writing at its best and it her standalones showed a lot of promise based on this debut effort.

Charlotte is posh, living a nice life with fiance, Dan, a wealthy banker. When Dan is arrested for brutally killing a nightclub owner, Charlotte's life spirals out of control. Enter Keisha, a woman from the opposite end of the economic and social spectrum who can help Charlotte get justice for Dan. (It is Keisha's hideous boyfriend who is murdered). DC Matthew Hegarty is basking in the success of Dan's arrest but nursing nags doubts about the banker's guilt.

I loved all three main characters, but especially the feisty Keisha, who risks all to do the right thing. The burgeoning friendship between Charlotte and Keisha is the highlight of the book. McGowan tells the story from the three main characters' points of view, creating distinct voices that explore Charlotte's life of privilege, the seedy world that Keisha inhabits, and the inner workings of the London Metropolitan police. The book is less about the crime and more about its consequences. McGowan takes the opportunity with the story to both provide a social commentary on important social and economic issues and paint a realistic and heartfelt picture of the unlikely friendship between Charlotte and Keisha and the strength the women show in dealing with the fallout of the nightclub murder.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

What you did | Published August 2019

Here is where McGowan's standalones become patchy, as this one of her books is not great. What you did centres on a reunion of six university friends after 20 years who haven't all been together in the one place at the one time since graduating from Oxford. The book's present action takes place at the reunion party in Ali's home, where one of the group - Karen - staggers in from the garden at some point in the celebrations, clearly injured, claiming that Ali's husband, Mike, has assaulted her. Ali doesn't know whether to believe her husband or her best friend. One of them is clearly lying. Ali pieces together memories of the past to try to understand the present.

McGowan has a solid premise for a solid thriller in What you did, even though the friends-reunite-secrets-are-revealed trope has been done many times in the genre. Unfortunately, she misses the mark in the execution. The six friends are poorly drawn and there's no one to root for at all. All the friends are shallow people whose redemption seems unlikely once the secrets and lies are revealed. Ali is infuriatingly naive and gullible and such a contrast to the beautifully constructed female characters in McGowan's previous standalone, The fall.

Rating: ⭐⭐

The other wife | Published October 2019

The other wife (2019) is tied with The fall as my favourite of McGowan's standalones as it's clever and complex. I loved the women at the heart of the story, as I did in The fall. Women teaming up to bring about the downfall of sh**ty mean is totally my jam!

Here's the set up. Suzi is paying for past mistakes and now lives in an isolated cottage, scared and alone, and dealing on the daily with her controlling and jealous husband, Nick, who tracks her every move. Nora moves into the cottage that is Suzy's only close neighbour. Suzy and Nora become firm friends and Suzy is tempted to tell Nora her secret. Nora has stuff going on as well and it seems that she already knows what Suzy did. The other woman in the story is Elle, whose whole life is keeping up a glamorous appearance in her perfect posh London home. Her husband betrays her but Elle is determined to hold onto her curated existence.

It's difficult to write about the plot of The other wife without giving it all away. Suffice to say, the way the it is revealed that the three women are connected is masterful. The women aren't necessarily likeable, but they are compelling characters who are real and relatable. I was invested in the story from the outset even though the book is more of a slow burn. Things get very messy, but in a deliciously nasty way.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The push | Published November 2020

The push (2020) is quite similar to What you did, but this time, the group reuniting is a bunch of women with newborns who met at an ante-natal group. The main setting is the fancy house of one of the women in the group. There is a fall from the balcony at the house and DS Alison Hegarty is called in to investigate. There are six lots of parents involved so the book takes a locked-room mystery approach but the reader doesn't know who has fallen from the balcony or who might have pushed them until the second half of the book.

The story is told from multiple points of view, an attempt I assume to build suspense in locked-room mystery style. The narrative becomes crowded and the alternating voices and time periods make for a disconnected reading journey. The bigger issue is that none of the characters is likeable (embodying all the awful x-ists imaginable) and not just that, but quite poorly drawn so they weren't even engaging in their nastiness. You don't really care about any of them.

McGowan tries to explore a lot of weighty subjects within the narrative - infertility, geriatric pregnancy, adoption. lesbian relationships, infidelity, gambling - but it doesn't work with the investigation into the fall off the balcony and the awful characters. Each couple has a secret that is revealed as the story progresses, but the secrets aren't too hard to spot. The final reveal is surprising but largely because it is completely disconnected from the story leading up to it. Again, McGowan had an idea for a solid thriller, but is let down in the execution of it.

Rating: ⭐⭐

I know you | Published October 2021 | Read March 2022

I know you isn't one McGowan's best standalone novels, but it's better than What you did and The push. Rachel is the main character in the present story, but she was once Casey, a young nanny to two children (aged 5 and six months) in Los Angeles. The household is toxic, with film producer, David and his wife, Abby, creating all kinds of chaos. One day, Casey returns from a walk with the baby to find the other three family members have been brutally murdered. Casey is under suspicion for the murders, but manages to escape prosecution. The present story sees Casey-now-Rachel living a quiet life in a Lakes District village some twenty years later.

I liked the dual timeline in this one as the two stories are clearly conveyed and the narrative is tight. McGowan does a nice job of capturing the craziness of Casey's nanny life, and I rather liked this part of the book. The Jon Benet Ramsay-like family situation is disturbing, as is McGowan's exploration of the American justice system, but makes for an intriguing set up for the present-day story.

The LA experience contrasts with Rachel's new life in the village. She volunteers at an animal shelter and is committed to her relationship with Alex, separated from his wife, Anna. Rachel's peace is shattered when she finds a dead body while walking her dog in a park one day and realises she knows the victim. Rachel doesn't call the police as she is worried about being suspected of murder yet again. It looks like someone might be trying to frame her.

The past and present crimes are connected, but to say anything further would be to spoil. I warmed to Rachel so I became invested in the story's outcome. McGowan crafts the character to elicit sympathy and I was hoping for a good outcome for Rachel. I figured most of it out before the reveal, but I still enjoyed reading the unfolding story. The pacing is on point, Casey/Rachel is a believable character, and there is sufficient complexity to the story to make for a solid thriller.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Are you awake? | Published November 2022 | Read February 2024

Are you awake? is set in a nice (fictional) part of London where neighbours, Tim and Mary, bond over their mutual sleep issues. They both think they saw something in an abandoned house across the park from where they live while dealing with said sleep issues. The pair then become potential witnesses in the case of a missing teenage girl. The police don't believe their account, though, so they set off to solve the case themselves.

Tim's sleep issues stem from the PTSD he is experiencing from his time as a war correspondent in the Middle East. Mary is a new mother with a hot but hopeless husband, struggling to get some rest with a baby and toddler to care for in their small flat.

The plotting of Are you awake? is intriguing enough and I didn't guess what was going on until quite near the end. I connected with Mary's sleep deprivation issues but her husband's clueless and unsupportive behaviour made my hackles rise. Mary is a lawyer but she doesn't behave as if she understands the law much at all, which was odd. I get that Mary's maternity-leave brain was addled by the lack of sleep, but some of her thoughts and actions were at odds with her professional expertise.

Tim is a likable character, and I felt his struggles with the aftermath of a Syrian bomb attack that force him into a period of long-term leave. I embraced his unlikely friendship with Mary and the duo's slightly mad search for answers, even if the book's ending is somewhat implausible.

The comical moments in the book are a highlight and I loved the sass of Mary's toddler daughter, Audrey, who often seems to be the most astute person involved the messed up narrative. While Mary dragging her children around on her amateur sleuthing seems somewhat irresponsible, it does allow for lots of Classic Audrey Moments. Perhaps if McGowan had embraced the humour and the madcap antics of Tim and Mary, the book may have worked better. I'm still a McGowan even after the mixed bag of standalones I've read so far, and I will seek continue to read her stuff.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐[Mostly awarded for Audrey 😉.]