Make Yourself at Home

• Author: Wendy Clarke
• Genre: Mystery/Thriller
• Publication Date: March 4, 2025
• Publisher: Bookouture Audio

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for giving me access to an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

You don’t really know your husband,’ my sister-in-law whispers, and a chill runs down my spine. ‘Can you really trust the man you married?’

Gary and I have always been happy. Our fridge is covered in the love notes I leave him every morning, we always start the day on the doorstep with a goodbye kiss, and I make sure we never, ever fight. But since Gary’s sister Lisa moved in, things have been different…

The day Lisa arrived at the school where I work, asking for help, I knew we had to welcome her into our home. Gary hasn’t spoken to his parents in years, and his childhood was far from perfect. But now every time Lisa enters a room, I watch him sneak out the door. He’s no longer home for dinners, spending longer hours at the office. It’s me who’s chatting to Lisa all night as we cook. Learning more and more about the family Gary told me nothing about.

And then I spot them through the front window on my way home from work. Arguing. Shouting. Gary thrusts an envelope into Lisa’s hand. He looks nothing like the man I love. Lisa won’t tell me what’s going on, but she whispers to me that I shouldn’t trust the man I married.

When I met Gary, I thought I was finally safe. But Lisa’s arrival in Victoria Avenue is forcing my husband’s secrets to surface. She thinks I’m innocent, that my own past is picture-perfect, but she has no idea how far I’ll go to protect the ones I love.

A rollercoaster psychological thriller full of twists and turns that will have you gasping for breath. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Shari Lapena and The Housemaid.

Wendy Clarke is a new-to-me author, but I can never resist a good-sounding book when it comes my way. I love the idea of books where people keep hidden secrets from their upbringing, and this was the kind of audiobook that I couldn’t wait to start.

It is narrated by Lucy Paterson, who did a fantastic job with the characters and the story. There isn’t a huge cast of characters, but set in the UK, so there are quite a few different voice tones, accents, and manner of speech that Peterson demonstrates throughout the story. As someone who read this book only in audiobook format, my favorite thing is when the characters really have some personality come through clearly, and it was simple to keep track of the characters and the events, since each character was easily distinguishable by vocal tone and accent.

Reading a lot of one genre in a row never works well for me, and I always forget that it is especially true in the mystery/thriller books—they can become formulaic, rely on a deus ex machina, or just leave events kind of open to interpretation. It’s so hard to find a solid author to stick with, so I try to remain open to reading books from new or unfamiliar  authors. Sometimes I find a great new author, and sometimes they aren’t a good fit for me. 

This book is narrated through the eyes of Catherine, who initially struck me as a character that I found easy to empathize with. However, her personality and behavior changes over time, as she struggles with unresolved grief, increasing paranoia, and situations that become dangerous. I wasn’t sure if she was being set up as an unreliable narrator or if there was something else in the works.

However, over time, I struggled to stay connected to Catherine. The character that I liked at first became more and more oblivious and gullible over time, making it hard to empathize with her when she suffers consequences of her behavior, since it always seems to come as news to Cath. Her relationship with her husband, Gary, baffled me. He was always talking down to Cath, and he was a character that was easy to hate, especially since he had so much motive.

The story opens with Cath getting to school early in the morning, and getting her classroom set up before the children arrive. Cath seems to have a small group of coworkers that she is friendly with, but I really got the feeling that her husband has done an effective job of blocking her from making supportive relationships. Part of it was the way he actively tries to manipulate Cath, while she does everything for him except wash his feet, basically. While she is getting ready to start her work day, she discovers that someone has lit her car on fire in a shocking act of arson. 

Events quickly devolved into Cath receiving threatening text messages as the threat came closer to home. I couldn’t figure out why Cath seemed to be unable to make a healthy adult choice throughout the book—I’ve never once brought a random, new coworker home to stay with me for an unmentioned amount of time. Even worse, she kept disregarding Gary’s opinion when she finally did ask about it. The relationship between Cath and Gary was like watching some of the rowdier talk shows, where everything is laid out on the table for all to see. That is what is was like reading the book: we found out more about Cath’s past and what makes her feel even more stress and fear in response to the messages she is receiving.

Along the way, the friendship between Cath and Lisa develops pretty nicely, and I was thrilled for each of them to have a coworker who is also a friend. The interactions between Gary and Lisa, as well as in his private discussions with Cath, show an entirely different side of her husband, and Cath discovers more about the secrets her husband has been keeping from her. It also slowly reveals pieces from the puzzle of her own past, so that we get a more complete picture of the events that led up to this strange living arrangement. 

Overall, this wasn’t a bad book, but it didn’t have that extra thing that makes me sigh when finishing a book that I really loved. Technically, there wasn’t anything wrong with the book other than that I didn’t find myself fully invested in the story. I think part of it was staying connected to a character who I struggle to respect, and Cath’s innocence worked against her in this book. 

This might be a good fit for you if:

• Love mystery/thrillers that have a lot going on.
• Can’t pass up discovering long-held secrets.
• Enjoy a good mystery with many twists and turns.
• Like huge plot twists.

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