My enormous thanks to lovely Karen Sullivan of Orenda Books for sending me a copy of The Old You by Louise Voss in return for an honest review.

The Old You is available for purchase through these links.

The Old You

Nail-bitingly modern domestic noir
A tense, Hitchcockian psychological thriller
Louise Voss returns with her darkest, most chilling, novel yet…

Lynn Naismith gave up the job she loved when she married Ed, the love of her life, but it was worth it for the happy years they enjoyed together. Now, ten years on, Ed has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, and things start to happen; things more sinister than missing keys and lost words. As some memories are forgotten, others, long buried, begin to surface … and Lynn’s perfect world begins to crumble.

But is it Ed’s mind playing tricks, or hers…?

My Review of The Old You

What a fabulously gripping read. From the very first page of The Old You I hoovered up every word. Louise Voss held me transfixed throughout and when the truth was finally, completely, revealed I was left feeling thoroughly satisfied. So many books are labelled twisty but Louise Voss’s The Old You is a supreme example of manipulative and beguiling writing that trips up the reader and surprise them from beginning to end. It’s a cracker of a read.

I had never heard of Pick’s disease and thought that there was a perfect blend of storytelling and well researched material so that the story had excellent authenticity, especially in creating Ed’s character. I thought all the characters we really well defined and totally believable so that reading The Old You felt akin to hearing about real people. I almost expected them to pop up on the news as it all felt so real to me. It was Lynn who was the complete star though. She was a wonderful creation of vulnerability and human frailty mixed with steely determination and perception making her an unalloyed success. I was on her side from the first moment to the last.

That said, The Old You does make the reader question their own morality too. Some of the things that happen are legally and morally wrong and yet they feel absolutely justifiable. Not only is The Old You a cracker of a story, but it lingers in the mind, making the reader ask what they would do in the same situations. It gets right under the skin so that you almost become Lynn as the story progresses because the writing is so vivid and convincing. I really couldn’t put down The Old You as I was desperate to know how the threads would come together and the story resolve itself. I really want to say so much more about the plot but I can’t as it will spoil the read for others. Just believe me when I say it is exciting and dramatic.

I am ashamed to say I haven’t read anything by Louise Voss before. If The Old You is an example of how superbly well she writes I’ll be desperately getting my hands on any word she produces from now on.

Reading The Old You is like being in the vortex of a snowglobe so that it’s only when the final pages actually settle that the reader has the full, dramatic picture. I absolutely loved it and cannot recommend it highly enough!

About Louise Voss

Over her eighteen year writing career, Louise has had books out via pretty much every publishing model there is, from deals with major traditional publishing houses (Transworld and Harper Collins), to digital-only (the Amazon-owned Thomas & Mercer) and self-publishing – she and co-author Mark Edwards were the first UK indie-published authors to hit the No.1 spot on Amazon back in 2011. She is currently working on a film adaptation of her last book, The Venus Trap.

Louise has an MA(Dist) in Creative Writing and also works as a literary consultant and mentor for writers at http://www.thewritingcoach.co.uk. She lives in South-West London and is a proud member of two female crime-writing collectives, The Slice Girls and Killer Women.

You can follow Louise on Twitter @LouiseVoss1 and visit her website.