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by Natasha Bell
He thought he knew everything about her until she went missing.
Before she disappeared, Alexandra Southwood lived an average, happy life: devoted to her wonderful husband, Marc, and caring for her two beautiful daughters. But now, held in a room against her will, Alexandra is forced to think about all she's lost, and imagine how Marc and her daughters are coping in the wake of her disappearance. She's shown news clips of Marc, desperately appealing to the public for information on her whereabouts. She tortures herself with visions of her family's devastated new reality. And as she envisions Marc's distress, she can't help but remember their courtship, their marriage —
all that he saved her from and all that they've built together.
Marc's pain is visceral. He thinks of nothing but her. Even when the police discover Alexandra's bloody belongings by the river, turning their missing-persons case into a murder investigation, he cannot accept that she is lost to him. He shifts from total despair to frantic action, embarking on his own journey through the dark maze of secrets she kept and passions he never understood. Following a trail that leads him to find answers to questions he never meant to ask, he's forced to confront how frighteningly little he's grasped about the woman he loves.
Exhibit Alexandra is a shocking psychological portrait, an original and unrelenting thriller that ultimately proves how unknowable even those closest to us can be.
"Starred Review. On one level a gripping page-turner and on another a disturbing exploration of identity, art, and decency, Bell's daring performance can't be ignored." - Publishers Weekly
"This smart, mirror maze of a thriller bristles with sharp edges, twisting familiar Gone Girl themes into Bell's own intense creation." - Kirkus
"A moody, gut-wrenching tale of domestic ennui, feminism, and identity, recommended for literary-thriller devotees and book groups." - Booklist
"I adored Exhibit Alexandra. I thought it was a smart, original page turner which really brought something different to the thriller genre. It kept me up half the night!" - Gillian McAllister, author of Anything You Do Say
"I had such a range of emotions from curiosity mingled with dread and horror as I realised what was happening. An incredibly accomplished debut." - Jenny Blackhurst, author of How I Lost You
"Beautifully insidious, a novel that outwits expectation at every turn." - Francis Spufford, author of Golden Hill
"A taut and spellbinding look at creative darkness and the price we pay when art bleeds into real life. I couldn't put this book down!" - Amy Engel, author of The Roanoke Girls
"A smart, confident thriller, Exhibit Alexandra asks searching questions about motherhood and identity, and keeps you guessing to the very last page. Natasha Bell writes thought-provokingly about home, love, belonging - and what else a woman might want from life." - Beth Underdown, author of The Witchfinder's Sister
"An intelligent, taut thriller which was beautifully written and compelling. I loved how the author played with the whole theme of life imitating art. Full of twists and turns I couldn't put it down. I thought the ending was perfect!" - Claire Douglas, author of Last Seen Alive
This information about Exhibit Alexandra was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Natasha Bell grew up in Somerset and studied English literature at the University of York. She holds an MA in the humanities from the University of Chicago and an MA in creative writing from Goldsmiths. She lives in southeast London.
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