Book - Before We Met by Lucie Whitehouse

Love the cover!

Hannah is a British woman in her 30's who was living and working in New York City when she met Mark Reilly, also British, and a successful businessman who owns a well-known software company. The two soon fell in love and Hannah gives up her friends and career to move back to London, due to the closing of Mark's company office in New York. 

The two got married and Hannah settles in Mark's apartment. Fast forward to a few months later, she is still unemployed and he is often travelling for work, especially to New York, where he still has clients. One day, Hannah decides to surprise her husband and went to pick him up at the airport. She waits for a long time, but there isn't any sign of Mark and he isn't picking up his phone. 

Concerned, Hannah decides to contact Neesha, his personal assistant, and his colleagues, who all thought Mark was in a romantic getaway in Rome. On the next day, Mark calls Hannah apologizing extensively, justifying what happened with a bunch of excuses, and promising her he'd come back home on Tuesday.

But something still feels off to Hannah. On a whim, she manages to get inside Mark's company building and get access to his desk, only to find evidence that her money was completely wiped out of her account. Here, is where things really get tricky. Is Mark's company in trouble? If so, why didn't he tell her directly? But it makes no sense, because he is still keeping the same lifestyle as before. And on a conversation with Neesha regarding who Mark might be talking to, she told Hannah a woman named Hermione has been calling and he always closes the door while talking to her...And Mark's family, why does she know so little about them? Dead parents, a estranged brother, and that's pretty much it.

Although Hannah is feeling bad for betraying her partner's trust, she can't shake the feeling that something isn't right and starts looking for answers. Their life will never be the same.

At the beginning, the story was going back to the time the couple met in NYC, which I thought was kind of slow and bland, but as the narrative progressed I started to find it very intriguing. It wasn't predictable, at times I thought the story would end a certain way but after all the ending was completely different. I definitely recommend this novel for fans of domestic and psychological thrillers. This is my first book by Lucie Whitehouse and I'll definitely check out more of her! 

Rate: 4/5