It’s Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh

It’s Not What You Think is the latest novel by Clare Mackintosh, which was published in March 2025. Clare Mackintosh is one of my favourite authors, but I usually wait to read her books until they come out in paperback. I saw a post from Clare a while ago saying It’s Not What You Think was available on a half price pre-order from Amazon. I try not to buy books from Amazon generally, but I wasn’t going to turn that down!

Clare Mackintosh is a very, very good thriller writer and her twists are always incredible. It’s Not What You Think is right up there with her best.

Nadeeka is very happy with her new partner, Jamie. But over the past couple of months, she’s become concerned about his behaviour and is starting to wonder if he is cheating on her. One day, she dashes home, expecting to find him in the act. But she finds something worse. Much worse.

Jamie is dead. He’s been murdered in her home…

Who would do such a thing and why? It’s the start of a nightmare for Nadeeka, which just gets worse and worse.

The story is told in the third person from the point of view of several characters, particularly Nadeeka, police officer Lauren and Jamie himself.

I can’t say a lot more about it, without giving anything away, other than that it is fantastic and the twists are brilliant. The twist at the end of the first section is absolutely jaw dropping – as good as the big twist in Clare’s first novel, I Let You Go. I did guess one of the other important, but more predictable, twists.

It’s Not What You Think is a great combination of psychological thriller and police procedural novel. If that sounds like your cup of tea, give it a go! You won’t be disappointed.