Review: The Body Lies

The Body Lies by Jo Baker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was on the busy, dirty Annerley Road in south London that the man hit me”

The Body Lies starts with the assault of the pregnant, unnamed main character (MC), for the next 3 years, she is constantly anxious about the Blue Anorak Man….always on alert and feeling a little on edge. She applies for, and gets a job at a university a few hours from London, teaching Creative Writing.

Husband, Mark decides is not the time for him to move as it’s in the middle of the school year and he can’t (or won’t) leave his pupils, so they decide to live apart temporarily, with visits at weekends and term time….to spend time with young son, Sammy.

Our MC starts the course, meeting her pupils and we read a few chapters of their own writing, Nicholas’ is particularly dark……all true he says…he becomes a little creepy, and his writing seems to be about a dead girl…..who was she?

Then after a party, he rapes our MC and then disappears, she doesn’t report it as she didn’t fight back and just gave up rather than be hit again….”giving up is not consent”…….

but her troubles begin in earnest…her husband leaves her for someone else, a student makes a complaint about her behaviour, she is suspended from her job, a budding romance ends abruptly and someone is watching her…will this end in violence? Will Nicholas be found?

Little Sammy is a happy darling of a boy that brings brightness to this tense tale, while this may not be a typical psychological thriller, it has an insidious tension that will resonate with many women….that constant wariness when being out alone, even being overburdened at work as we don’t want to say no, rather than being deemed ‘difficult’…..of a friendly smile being seen as something more…..everyday occurrences for many.

It’s not a light read due to the subject matter at times and I wonder if a man would read this the same way…..I found this to be a very powerful and thought provoking read and it’s going to keep popping into my thoughts for a long time.

Thank you to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.


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