Whitcoulls Recommends: It’s Not What You Think and Based on a True Story

It’s Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh. Nadeeka is having a relationship with Jamie but she suspects he’s having an affair and one day heads home unexpectedly to try and catch him out. What she finds when she gets there is something else entirely...her house is a crime scene and nothing is as she'd imagined. And then it gets worse as the real story of what had been going on in Jamie’s life - and mind - unfolds into a real, current day, this is what the world is like now scenario. This is certainly a book for our times and the twists and turns confirm that Clare Mackintosh writes terrific thrillers, with this one her best yet.

Based on a True Story by Sarah Vaughan. Dame Elinor Kingman is one of the UK’s most beloved authors, and as she prepares to turn 70, she’s organising a huge celebration party at her estate in Cornwell. Her three children will be in attendance, as will many of her friends and the literary world’s great and good, along with a TV crew who are filming a documentary on her life. Then, the night before the party, someone sends her an email threatening to expose something they claim to know about her which could destroy her legacy, reputation and family. I’ve loved Sarah Vaghan’s books since Anatomy of a Scandal a few years ago - she’s great at writing about secrets that have the potential to derail everything and this one is great.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks atb Joan McKenzie.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Head book by at Wickles is with us now. Good morning, Hello,
Happy Easter, Yes andtie you what have you got for
us today? My first book is by Claire Mackintosh, and
we at Witkells have been fans of hers for a while.
She's a really terrific thriller writer. But those of us
at work who've read this one all think it's her
best yet. It's called It's Not What You Think, and

(00:34):
it starts with a woman called Nadeka. She's a divorced
mother of two kids. She's in a relationship with a
new guy called Jamie, but she thinks he's having an affair.
He can't be contacted when she needs him. He says
he's working late. There's all the usual excuses that she's
familiar with from her marriage to her former husband, so
she decides to go home early one day to try
and catch him out, and when she gets there, she's

(00:56):
astonished to find that he is indeed there, but he's
dead on the carpet and the police are in the
house investigating the crime scene. Now there've been a few
odd goings on in the neighborhood, and things just start
getting weirder as Nadeka takes matters into her own hands.
When she visits the police station, the news they give
her is truly shocking, and then when she goes to

(01:17):
his place of work to talk to colleagues and friends,
it doesn't take long for them to shut her out.
Like so many of the thrillers that we talk about,
it's full of twists and turns and it's clever. But
what I will also say is that this is very
much a book of our times. Is the story about
what's been going on in Jamie's life and in his
mind becomes clear and a real current day kind of

(01:41):
what the world is now scenario, and it's really chilling.
If you love a goodness, I just want I just
want you to tell me now if you love it,
you need to read it. I just want to know
what's what's really going on here. A new book from
Sarah Vaughan, which, of course a lot of people will
have read her book Anatomy of a Scandal.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yes, which I loved, and this is her sixth book.
It's about Dame Eleanor Kingman, who's a celebrated British's author,
and on the eve of her seventieth birthday, she's planning
a big party on her flash estate in Cornwall. Her
three daughters will be there. She has a fairly prickly
relationship with them, but they'll be there, as well as
lots of friends and the great and the good of

(02:21):
the UK literary world. And there's a TV crew who've
been planning to make a documentary about her life. And
all of these groups converge to potentially ruin her big day.
There's a lot at stake. She of course has a
fortune and a reputation to uphold, but it seems she's
also maintained a lie about her talent and career and
somebody knows. So you know from the very beginning that

(02:43):
a body is found on the beach near her home
and it's clear that things aren't going to go well,
and they don't. The night before the party, she gets
an email which threatens to expose this lie that she's
built up over so many years, and she can't figure
out where it's come from, and all the big party
ideas start to fall apart. There's lots of enemies on
her rise to the top, and some of them are

(03:05):
probably there to ruin her big day. A lot of
the books I talk about with you seem to be
about the drama and the dynamics of dysfunctional families because
they're such great literary fodder. But I think Sarah Vaughan
does this as well as anybody.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Is this a thriller?

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, it feels like it's entering towards the street's real nice.
I love it. So the first book, It's Not What
You Think by Claire Macintosh and based on a true
story by Sarah Vaughan, was the second book. Thank you
so much, John, and enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Thank you you two.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.