OBSESSION: The bestselling psychological thriller with a shocking ending

I don’t normally read this kind of book, but being a psychological thriller it caught my attention and I’m very glad it did. It’s an easy, well written accessible read and you’re quickly drawn into the story, initially from heroine Carly’s point of view. Carly is married to good natured doctor Rob, and their friends Jenni and Craig soon enter the tale and all kinds of sparks fly in every imaginable direction. The story is told from different points of view, which makes for interesting reading, and somehow this author has the knack of making you long to know what is going to happen – the ‘skip forward I can’t wait’ syndrome. I can tell you this : plenty does happen – some of it exciting, some of it quite sexy, and some of it tragic. From the start you really want to know what happens to these four people and that urge never leaves you. It’s an extremely satisfying easy read and the tension builds and builds towards the many climaxes (of various kinds). If you want an easy read, that’s sexy, exciting and supremely gripping, this is for you. But be warned: once you start you cannot put it down.

As soon as I saw the blurb I wanted to read this. A psychological thriller – yes please – definitely my kind of book and now after reading, I have to say it is quite different to many that I’ve encountered recently. When Carly asks her GP husband Rob one question whilst on a family holiday, it sets off a chain of events that nobody could forsee. The lesson here is don’t ask a question that you don’t want to know the answer to! Each chapter is told by one of the four characters and whilst this sometimes repeats some of the narrative, hearing their version of events in their own voice does give another perspective and a makes it a more personal and, at times, voyeuristic read. I can’t remember when I last read a book where I disliked the characters so much but then I feel that was the author’s intention. This is not a sugar coated story but more of a delve into the darker side of the human psyche. Carly, I detested from the outset. She had a nice life, children (who she didn’t seem to care for very much) and a loving husband but she still wasn’t happy, picking a fight whenever she could – my nickname for her was Carly the Cow. However, as I read on, I began to realise that none of the others were any great shakes either and actually I couldn’t really get behind any of them. Perhaps Rob, Carly’s husband, was the only one that I felt any remote sympathy for in the beginning but then he began to grate with his religious outpourings and double standards. I am not an atheist but I’m not particularly religious either and religion does feature heavily with a couple of the characters. Surprisingly so really, considering some of their thoughts and behaviour. This is very much a slow burner of a story and focuses more on the characters than actions, however, the slow build up did add to the intensity of the story – you just knew that something bad was going to happen but you couldn’t look away. The short chapters made it a very addictive read; I may not have cared much for the characters but I was still desperate to know what happened to them. There are several themes covered in this story including mental illness, depression and addiction. Don’t be mistaken however that this will be a depressing read – these darker elements add to the gritty realism and the realisation that in fact the scenarios our characters face could happen in other families. The author has woven these strands very well into a dark and gripping plot with the power to shock. One thing I should mention is that there is quite a lot of sexual content in the story, so much so that when I first started reading, I thought it was heading towards being an erotic thriller – this didn’t bother me at all but if that isn’t your thing, just be warned. Obsession is the author’s debut novel. The storytelling is accomplished and powerful and I’m looking forward to reading more by Amanda Robson.

This started off really well for me, the story does move along at breakneck speed and I did really enjoy the first half of it. I was surprised with the amount of sexual scenes in this book and I won’t lie it was probably a bit much for me in the beginning, but after a while I did become immune to it. The plot itself was very out there, I would say there was plenty of shocking content in this, these characters were an absolute mess and it was like watching car crash tv, I couldn’t look away. However by the time it got to the second half of the book, I did start to think it was becoming a little bit repetitive and I did question these people’s behaviour constantly, it did seem to be a bit too far fetched. It did also make me feel a bit frantic at times, I’m not sure if it was the writing style or because it was so chaotic and it was the ending that really got to me, when I finished it I was sat there thinking what the hell was this all for. 🤯 I am conflicted with my rating of this, as I neither loved or hated this book and there were some aspects of it that were redeeming. I was compelled to read it and I thought it portrayed mental health problems and toxic relationships quite well, but I’m not sure I would recommend it, I will leave it up to you to decide if you want to read it on this occasion, but do the check triggers!

Well I loved this book in fact I did it all in one new day and it's a long book. I was disappointed when it ended as it was addictive and I wanted more,more more ! All the charecters were flawed and you really wouldn't want to know them but when you read the story you understand why. It's about two couples and their friendship . Mmmn sounds boring I hear you say. Err no anything but. It's salacious , scandalous and shocking. It is a totally guilty ride for the reader more than anyone . It's like knowing someone's secrets but they get worse and worse. It's very different from anything I've read but I devoured every twist,turn and shocking moments. More please , Amanda Robson .... I need more !

This was a decent enough book, but I think it just went on too long in places and got a bit over wrought. I would ideally give it 3.5 stars. The story starts with bored wife and mother Carly, asking her husband Rob if he has ever thought of other women. Rob hasn’t, not really, except maybe the odd thought about doe eyed Jenni, one half of another couple they hang around with. Carly seems to be unhappy with life in general and this is later presented as depression. She dwells on her husband’s remark and then decides to embark on an affair with Craig, Jenni’s husband. I think there was a decent story within all the bed hopping and angst. Carly had the main voice within the book and, while not exactly likeable, she was more developed. The other characters just seemed like bit parts, particularly the husbands. Rob, the saintly Doctor husband and Craig, the walking cliché and deliverer of some cringeworthy lines (“Jenni starves me, x feeds me”). Both husbands also seemed to have some fairly unpleasant attitudes to women and operated in a 1970s haze of “well, if it’s offered on a plate/I couldn’t help myself”. The most interesting character was Jenni, a saintly practising Christian, a doe eyed gentle, meditating vegetarian. Yet still waters run deep, I thought Jenni was sadly relegated to shorter more skimped over chapters while the rest of story centred around the vapid Carly and her endless whines. It was enjoyable and I read to the end, but I think it ran out steam just as the plot started to get more interesting. It was like a book of two halves in a way, an in depth first half about a woman’s extra marital affair which was, somehow, all her friend’s fault. Then a darker, more complex story in the second half that got a bit rushed and overlooked.

Obsession is the debut novel from Amanda Robson and has the by now almost compulsory tagline promoting it as a ‘psychological thriller perfect for summer reading’.. I suspect that the term psychological thriller has been very loosely applied, because to me, Obsession read part toe-curling gratuitous erotica, but for the most part this was just a compilation of bizarre behaviour and nonsensical responses by two husbands and wives. Over the course of a sleep inducing and repetitive 464 pages, Obsession struggled to compel me to continue reading and it doesn’t help that the likelihood of such a situation actually occurring in real life is minimal, hence making this tale of relationships seem puerile at best.. only to then go seriously off the scale in terms of out there plot twists. The craziness begins from the get go in Obsession as a drunk Carly Burton shares a bottle of wine with her husband of ten years, GP Rob, and relieved of the burden of supervising her three children, she mischievously asks him a question about who else he would go for, if he could. Religious Rob initially resists being drawn into the conversation but as Carly goads him he eventually gives the name of Jenni Rossiter, fellow NCT mother and one half of a couple - with husband Craig - who they share a close friendship with. This disclosure seriously upsets the apple cart and suddenly Carly is hellbent on seducing Jenni’s husband, Craig, which takes next to no time to come to fruition. However, Jenni’s response when she discovers her husbands adultery with her close friend is to throw Craig out, but not tell Carly that she knows that she was the other woman involved, leave Rob in the dark and continue to fraternise with the couple. How likely is it that you would want any further contact with each other in such a situation? Unfathomable, would be my answer. Jenni, who quickly morphs into a deranged religious zealot decides to make Craig wait for forgiveness and meanwhile sets in motion her own devious quest for retribution. Over the course of this tepid novel Carly has a spell in a psychiatric hospital for her severe mental health problems (which she overcomes with mesmeric speed), Jenni starts working at the doctors surgery alongside Rob and Carly and then moves away to a fishing village in Cornwall. Still caught in a bitter game of last man standing in pursuit of what they want, Carly and Jenni, are both scheming and very flexible with the truth. As the story progresses the two female characters both takes turns in adding another kink into developments along the way, but in between all this there is an awful lot of ‘come to bed’ eyes and beseeching of the Lord. It should come as no surprise that Amanda Robson does manage to throw some deaths in along the way but frankly, I would not have been surprised if she had also found time for an alien landing in this melodrama of two marriages and two jealous women utterly losing the plot. What makes this novel even stranger is that the four adults all appear pretty compos mentis before the fateful question is posed, making the ensuing drama all the more contrived when Carly seems to develop a sex addiction, alcohol addition, paranoia and serious self-esteem problems all in the course of a few pages. Although I enjoyed the narrative style of moving through the four players all contributing their own points of view it does lead to some overlap. I struggled to find a definitive timeline behind the events that unfold which I think would have certainly helped me to gain perspective on seeing Carly go from hearing Jenni’s name to suddenly setting Craig firmly in her sights. From what I can gather, the entire novel takes place over the course of two-years or so, but without any recourse to the dates, I found the sudden shifts in mindset from stable to seriously mentally ill unrealistic. I also had issues with the role of religion in Obsession, specifically that both Rob and Jenni are committed followers whereas spouses Craig and Carly are not. Given that most couples that come together usually share a common belief and have been married for nigh on a decade, it seemed odd that it could suddenly undermine the relationships. Carly is best described as an out and out piece of work: an attention seeking drama queen with a fiery temper and a malevolent streak whose interest and concern for her children was negligible and basically equated to ignoring them or plonking them in front of the television. In contrast, Jenni, starts Obsession as a simpering religious bore only to then transform to some kind of vamp! For me, it was not a problem that I disliked most of the characters, more so that they were one-dimensional, underdeveloped and never really progressed beyond platitudes to communicate with each other, hence there was little to cement the belief that they would have ever fallen in love. Sadly I would have preferred a more ‘show, don’t tell’ approach to the whole story. I personally felt little suspense in the novel and even found myself laughing when Carly’s husband, Rob, described the “schizophrenic friendship” between the two women. An excuse for a psychological thriller, this is soft-porn depicting two of the mystifyingly superficial and vapid relationships that limps to a finish. Not a book that I feel able to recommend and the novel equivalent of the maxim, ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’. Review written by Rachel Hall (@hallrachel)

This is a story about two couples who have been friends for many years. It starts with one not so innocent question when the wife asked her husband, "Who else would you go for, if you could?" and there goes the downward spiral of one person's mind. Paranoia, obsession, betrayal, back stabbing and everything else. When reading this book it's like watching a horror movie peeking through your fingers. You're too scared to watch it but can't help it and you really want to know what's going to happen next. This is written in the POVs of the four main characters, Carly, her husband Rob, Jenni and her husband Craig. Rob is a doctor and his wife Carly is a nurse and they work together in the same practice. Craig is a fireman and his wife Jenni is a housewife but used to be a nurse. Jenni and Carly met at college and they continued their friendship throughout the years. Rob and Carly have three children, one girl and two boys, Jenni and Craig have two boys. All five children are close to each other and goes to the same school , they share holidays and go out together regularly. Reading through the pages you can feel one of them starting to unravel and getting paranoid when the husband naively tells his wife who he fancies if he has the chance. I tell you now, never ever ask your partner that question because that is a ticking time bomb even if you think your marriage is all hearts and roses, unicorns and rainbows. I don't want to give away any spoilers you just have to read the book but be warned, if you have triggers re cheating then this is not the book for you. Put the book down and walk away slowly then run. For a debut novel this is pretty impressive. Flipping through the pages is like standing in the middle of a railroad track and seeing the train's headlights coming closer and closer but you can't jump out of the way. You don't want to know who does what, who deserves what's coming to him/her and you think, "Why in the hell are you doing this, you mega super nova douche?" If the characters were real and I bump into one of them on the street I'd give him a very enthusiastic high-five. On his forehead. Then say, "It's all your fault!" I couldn't put this book down last night and finished it in the early hours of the morning. It has been a long time since a story has wound me up so much it took a while before I could relax when done reading. A well deserved five stars from me. I highly recommend this book to friends but take a chill pill at the same time, I wish I did.

Started out good, then got long winded, as I had read over half of it I decided to finish it. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone But it’s not a bad read.

This book isn't great literature. Its not going to win the Pulitzer. But it's a perfect treat for those looking for a juicy, twisted, dramatic and somewhat dirty tale of two couples who are best friends. I read it in two days on a beach vacation. It starts with that terrible question all wives ask their husbands at some point. The "if you could sleep with any of my friends, who would it be?" question. Horrible question. And all hell breaks loose after that question is posed in the book. An easy, fun and fast read.

Los personajes y las situaciones son absurdos, nadie se comporta asi.Mantiene el interes a ratos, para leer si no tienes nada mejor que hacer ...

Two couples who are also family friends find themselves in the midst of jealousy, hatred, sexual affairs, and Christian beliefs in this debut psycho crime thriller by Amanda Robson. The novel started off well but fizzled out about two-thirds into the book. After all, the moral of the story is karma is a boomerang.

I locked myself home the whole weekend so as to finish this story. You just cannot put it down . The narration from different points of view adds psychological dimention to the story . Loved the book and wait to download a new one by the author on my kindle !!!!

I can’t say enough good things about this book. It’s an engrossing read that kept me turning pages all night. The way the author uses her storytelling through the eyes of the main characters gives this book so much. You become enthralled with all the characters and there are many twists and turns that you don’t see coming. I can’t wait to read her next novel!!