Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Published by: HarperCollins
Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Samuel Barnett, Tuppence Middleton & Vineeta Rishi
Publication date: 26th March 2026
Content warnings: racism, hate crime, racial slurs, murder, blood, infidelity

“The truth is even worse…”

My GOD, I’m a Clare Mack fan for life after this! Can you believe this book is my first ever book by this author?! No, neither can I. And lordy me I am kicking myself… This was such an addictive read, a brilliantly written thriller with twists and turns aplenty, exceptional characters and dark, dangerous secrets. I read this between the physical and audio and it was intense! My only gripe with the audio though was one of the narrator’s attempts at a northern accent… eesh 😅 So happy to be sharing my review for It’s Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh!

About the book

He has a secret. She knows he’s lying…

Nadeeka is certain Jamie is having an affair. She knows the tell-tale signs.

She’s been here before.

When Jamie claims to be at work late, she knows he’s lying. He’s with another woman, and she’s determined to catch him in the act.

But when Nadeeka arrives home to confront him, Jamie can’t explain himself. The house has become a crime scene…

Jamie is dead.

The beginning

Here we go. So my first thought reading my first Clare Mack is pretty much what you’d expect. Why the hell am I only just reading her books now?! Jeez. I was instantly pulled in as Nadeeka drives – no, races – home, convinced her boyfriend, Jamie, is having an affair. She just knows he’s with another woman and she’s going to catch him in the act. She’s been through it all before with her ex. But when she does return home, she’s met with a crime scene. Jamie is dead. Thoughts were instantly swirling around my mind, about the potential trouble he was in, whether he was involved with any shady people, whether this was something he could have done himself. We feel Nadeeka’s shock, her pain of coming to terms with the fact that Jamie is dead. We learn he was stabbed, meaning there is most certainly a killer. And we also learn that he and Scott, Nadeeka’s ex, hated each other. Now, I’ve heard the main twist in this book is meant to be one of the most shocking, so I can’t see Scott being the killer. Was he involved, though? God, only a few little chapters in and I was well and truly hooked.

“Had Jamie been a great guy? She doesn’t know anymore. In fact, Nadeeka’s starting to think she didn’t know Jamie at all.”

Nadeeka starts to investigate Jamie’s murder herself. She find initials in his diary, traces them to his workplace, confronting a woman. Is she taking things too far, or was it really as simple as this? She needs updates on the investigation, and as she queries this, that first twist hit and OOOFFF, it gave me goosebumps! This was getting really good really quickly, and I completely get why everyone has been raving about this book! The first twist set the bar high. As perspectives change and we hear from Detective Chief Inspector Lauren Caldwell’s POV, it opened my eyes to more possibilities. The idea that Nadeeka herself could have something to hide, that she could have worked hard to cover something up made me think differently, but even then, I’ve come to learn that it’s not what you think 😂 It was so fun theorising with this book even though all of my predictions would likely be way off the mark. I loved the POVs of both Nadeeka and Lauren, both discovering new information about Jamie that was, quite frankly, horrifying. Just what, exactly, was he involved in?

The middle

At this time, public confidence in the police is low, and I remember seeing a few reviews saying this book was way too political. It is political in parts, but to me it all added to the intensity, the seriousness of Jamie’s murder and what could have happened in the lead up. I’ll admit, I am not a political person. Some parts went over my head and I started to switch off from it a bit (probably me not being educated enough) but I think I still knew enough to feel horrified yet curious. We learn more about Jamie and the people he was involved with, the things he may or may not have done. People he didn’t like or had a grudge against. Nadeeka’s surprised at it all, something she just can’t accept. Her Jamie, being involved in some far right extremist movement was just absurd, surely? The Jamie she loved, the Jamie who loved her. The Jamie she shared a life with. As much as I was wary of Nadeeka’s ex, Scott, at first, he seemed to be a good guy. He protects her, helps her with information (even though he doesn’t really want to get involved.) I hoped it would stay this way!

“We’re coming for you, she thinks. It’s just a matter of time.”

I loved switching to Jamie’s POV – everything I thought about him up to this point was gone, replaced by brand new thoughts and feelings. I loved learning everything from his perspective as we see the early days of him getting involved in something unthinkable, something horrific. Part of me was irritated by him not doing what was right the instant he knew something was off, instead of just going along with it all, getting in too deep that it eventually became way too dangerous for him to back out of. But jesus, it’s been written brilliantly and I was always on the edge of my seat while reading. It was tense, every chapter filled with dread and uncertainty. The closer Lauren and her team got to the truth, the faster I seemed to read. I so loved how everything unravelled, how one small clue or piece of evidence led them to something more serious, something horrific and potentially fatal. The people Jamie was involved with were the worst kind imaginable. But his intentions, his reasoning for everything broke my heart. I had no idea how this would end, whether Nadeeka was safe. It was intense!

The end

I guessed the main twist a while before it hit and to be honest, after all the hype this had gotten, I expected something else, something a little bigger, more ‘out there’ but it was still executed brilliantly. The clues are definitely all there if you look hard enough! With a brand new, exciting perspective, the story took an even darker turn, and Lauren’s perspective in particular made me panic, made me incredibly nervous. She already had a lot on her plate, but this new discovery was a lot and certainly added so much more pressure to the whole investigation. The pacing towards the end was fast, urgent, and where sections one to five of the book had focused on one particular POV, Part Six includes multiple. It’s anxiety-inducing, I held my breath so many times as the chapters got shorter, the character POVs swapped and changed. The tension builds so effortlessly and there were so many times I thought about how bloody good this would be as a TV series. I couldn’t stop thinking about New Dawn’s plan of a “bloodbath”, how so many lives could soon be lost. It was truly horrfying.

“No one can stop the sun rising, no matter how hard they try.”

Emotions were running high, and not just for the characters. I was stressing here 😅 Time was running out. I had so much anger and hatred for one particular character, and was urging this person to fail in their plans. My eyes were reading faster than my brain could keep up with (have you ever done that when things get really good and you have to start a section again, stopping yourself from spoiling a moment before you’ve read it properly?!) I really enjoyed how the ending played out, the suspenseful moments were pure perfection and I especially loved the ending chapters 18 months after the horror. I loved how the very end was left open, and when I tell you I sat and thought about what the future held… I sat and I thought about it. A lot. This was a fantastic book, and ever since finishing it I’ve been constantly kicking myself because of it being the first book I’ve read by Clare Mackintosh. I mean, what?? I’m so looking forward to making my way though Clare’s back catalogue and I just know they’ll be my kinda books. But first… time to recover from this one!

Overall thoughts

It’s Not What You Think is one of the most anxiety-inducing books I’ve ever read, a proper heart-in-mouth, twisty thriller that I couldn’t stop thinking about! When Nadeeka races home, convinced she’s about to catch her husband having an affair, she discovers something much more traumatic. His dead body. His blood. But when the truth comes out about the horrors he’s been involved with, about how and why he was brutally murdered, things get incredibly dark and unthinkably dangerous. If you haven’t read it yet, just you wait; your theories will be everywhere. If you have read it… did you guess the twist?

For me, the first twist was brilliant and so unexpected, but I did guess the main twist a little before the big reveal! Even knowing it though didn’t take away the enjoyment because jesus christ it was brilliantly written, genuinely the stuff of nightmares. The characters and multiple POVs were exceptional and I particularly loved DCI Lauren Caldwell heading up the investigation into Jamie’s murder. Yes it gets political, but it was essential in making this book as tense, as real as it is. It’s tightly plotted, brilliantly paced and highly thought-provoking, and I finished this book feeling like I’d just run a marathon. What a ride! A chilling, disturbing and suspenseful thriller, with such an intense plot. A must read!

Huge thanks to Harper Fiction for my very special hardback proof! You can grab your own copy of It’s Not What You Think right now on Amazon* or wherever you buy your books. Make sure you’re following Clare over on Instagram for more updates!

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thanks so much for your support!

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