Charlotte Williams (4) (1954–)

I enjoy a good crime novel, but I also really enjoy psychological thrillers. The cover copy of Charlotte Williams' debut novel, The House on the Cliff, sounded right up my alley.

"A riveting psychological novel featuring Jessica Mayhew, a therapist who becomes entangled in the long-dormant murder mystery that haunts her patient's family."

I was intrigued by the initial meeting of Jessica and her patient, actor Gwydion Morgan. He has a fear of buttons. (It is a real phobia! Who knew?) However show more as their sessions continue, the button phobia takes a backseat to a remembered dream from childhood. Gwydion dreams of hiding in a box to escape an loud argument. His father is a well known director and a serial philanderer. Could the dream be a repressed memory? Is there more for Gwydion to remember?

Jessica herself is dealing with issues as well - her husband has had a brief affair and although they are still together for the sake of the children, she has not forgiven him.

Here's my problem - I didn't like Jessica at all. Not as a person, wife or mother and certainly not as a therapist. She crosses way too many lines, all while justifying her actions to herself. Her daughter is involved in a potentially dangerous situation, yet she blithely lets her walk into it anyway. For me, this storyline seemed more intriguing and more 'psychologically thrilling' than the main plot.

Williams has a very clinical style of writing, that perhaps suits a psychotherapist recounting a tale. But, I found it dry and somewhat tedious. Although Williams does give us a twist at the end, I wasn't overly surprised by the whodunit. Sadly, for this reader, The House on the Cliff wasn't quite what I had hoped for.

The House on the Cliff is the first in a planned series featuring Mayhew. show less

This murder mystery focuses on a therapist, Jess, and a particular patient of hers whose mother has recently been murdered, and the issues Jess is having in her personal life. Jess and her husband have recently separated and she's learning how to navigate single motherhood of her two daughters and how to get back into the dating scene. When Jess gets a new client, Elinor, who is an artist who is suffering from claustrophobia since her mother was killed recently. Elinor has a twin sister show more Isobel, and Isobel's husband Blake is a suspect in the murder. Through Elinor, Jess finds herself getting more involved in the world of art, finds a new boyfriend, and gets much more involved in Elinor and Isobel's drama than she would like. I thought the mystery was well-built and suspenseful, but that the ending was hurried and didn't live up to the rest of the story. I was glad to have received this via Goodreads First Reads. show less

I'm so glad I got this book as a First-Read- Win. I would have hated to missed out on it. It's the 2nd of a two part series. I'll be reading the 1st installment pretty quick. It's sad because Ms. Williams passed away in 2014, hopefully someone will pick the series up it's great and would be well worth it.

This book literally grabbed me from the prologue, I knew I was hooked. It's about a young aspiring artist( Elinor Powell) , her family owns a very prominent art gallery in the area. She was show more given a very valuable painting when she was younger that she left in her unlocked cottage one night when she went out and didn't lock the painting in the safe. Someone walked in and stole the painting and during the crime someone very important to the family was murdered. This case baffled the police as well, so there was an ongoing investigation that was going on. One DS was especially interested in the case and even though she was told to move on she still had a nagging feeling about the case.

Elinor is having such a hard time adjusting to everything that her GP suggested she see a therapist to help her work these issue out. She was referred to Jessica Mayhew who is has a full plate in her professional and personal life that the last thing she needed was to get involved with troubled patient but she sees a challenge and decides to take her on. She has mixed feelings about the crime that had taken place plus the patient herself. Jessica sees herself getting pulled in with this manipulating family and it really takes over her life.

It's set in the Welsh countryside, with a lot of beautiful historical landmarks. This book kept leading me into different directions, from the start of the book and it so many different directions even from the very start. It's one of the best psychological thrillers I've read in awhile. show less

As I write this review I'm a bit confused by The House on the Cliff by Charlotte Williams. I don't know whether I would classify it as a mystery, or a romance, or women's literature, or a mixture of the three. If it is a mixture of the three, then that might be why it just.. fell completely flat for me. Rather than trying to do well at one of the styles, it attempted too much and the ultimate reveal and ending of the book was predicable, in fact I predicted it about halfway into the book, show more and not at all a reward for suffering through the novel.

Read the rest of this review at The Lost Entwife on Jan. 30, 2014. show less