Thoughts on two of Louise Jensen's psychological thrillers

Louise Jensen is a bestselling British author of psychological thrillers. She's also written a couple of romance novels under the name, Amelia Henley. One of the reasons I love psychological thrillers so much is that the darker side of humanity fascinates me. I also find that good thriller writers are clever, as they can weave intricate stories about flawed and relatable people who do bad things, or have bad things done to them. I don't think you need a bonkers ending - or a bonkers book full stop - to make a good thriller. My feeling after reading two of Louise Jensen books is that she might think that you DO NEED to write whackadoodle stories to produce a good thriller. Nope!

Read on for more of my thoughts...

The surrogate | Published September 2017 | Read September 2024

As the title suggests, The surrogate is about one woman's desperation to have a baby. Kat and her husband, Nick, have tried everything to become parents, and are on the point of giving up. Kat then has a chance encounter with her childhood friend, Lisa, and there's a glimmer of hope that Kat and Nick might finally achieve their dream. This being a thriller, Kat and Lisa’s histories hide dark secrets and there is more to both women than meets the eye.

This one is completely bonkers! I couldn't find a single character to root for (or trust). They are all completely unlikeable and selfish and lacking in common sense. I don't warm to books where the main players are poorly characterised, or when the main female characters are a bit dim.

I kept turning the pages, eagerly awaiting the Big Reveal and hoping for a pay-off for finishing the book. When it came it was absolutely nuts. That whackadoodle ending threw all pretence of credibility out the window. No one would ever guess it because frankly, it is just too nuts and full of eye-rolling coincidences.

A far-fetched thriller isn't so bad if it's well executed, but The surrogate is a half-hearted attempt at clever plotting. Too much detail is left out for the reader to have the first clue about what is going on. It just didn't work for me. I'm completely baffled by how this book passed the editing process.

Rating: ⭐⭐

All for you | Published October 2021 | Read September 2024

This one also a bit mad! All for you follows lives of the Walsh family - Lucy and Aidan and their two sons, Connor and Kieron. Thirteen-year-old Kieron is suffering from a chronic liver disease and Lucy will stop at nothing to make him well.

There's a bunch of storylines vying for the reader's attention on top of Kieron's heartbreaking situation. Connor's girlfriend had A Bad Thing done to her during a reckless dare on a school camp, and she's either dead or missing. Connor's school's headmaster hates him. Aidan is being blackmailed. Two of 17-year-old Connor's friends go missing. Whew!

I'm not going to write anything further about what happens as it's all completely nuts. I don't mind that Lucy is a mother hellbent on saving her son, but what she does to achieve that aim is totally screwball. I couldn't get behind her decision making at all.

Two novels in, I can't see myself reading any further books by Louise Jensen. There's too much mayhem and absurdity. The premises for both books are solid enough, but Jensen is let down in the denouements. I can suspend disbelief like any good thriller reader, but there are limits. A domestic thriller should make some sense, as 'ordinary' people are at the heart of the story. The skill is in crafting a clever, intricate and relatable story with interesting characters who are well fleshed out. Sadly, those elements are missing here.

Rating: ⭐