Discover Well-Read Black Girl Books and the projects reshaping publishing →

Book Summary and Reviews of Nine Lives by Catherine Steadman

Nine Lives by Catherine Steadman

Nine Lives

A Novel

by Catherine Steadman

  • Readers' Rating (2):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2026, 288 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

When she begins to peer into the lives' of her glamorous neighbors, one woman discovers a terrifying secret in this riveting psychological thriller with nine lives worth of twists, from the New York Times bestselling author of Something in the Water, a Reese's Book Club pick.

These are your neighbors. One is a killer.

Reeling from a very recent divorce, Frankie has moved into a glamorous London neighborhood. This is a new chapter in her life. She's decided to put down roots with the beautiful Persian cat she left her marriage with named Blue.

But little niggles with her perfect new life start to grow and when Blue returns one night from slipping into places he shouldn't Frankie's concerns solidify. Two words are roughly scratched into his collar: HELP ME. Unsettled and unwilling to ignore the incident, Frankie roots out an old unused "Cat Cam" collar. What slowly begins as a voyeuristic fascination with her neighbors and the secrets they're hiding soon turns into a perilous quest for the truth that threatens to bring untold terrors to her doorstep.

A riveting thriller about terrible secrets hidden behind the pastel-colored façade of one of London's most upscale enclaves, Nine Lives is catnip for suspense readers everywhere and perfect for fans of modern classics like The Girl on the Train and The Woman In the Window.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Terrifyingly plausible...Nine Lives will have you flipping pages far into the night."—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network

"Breathtaking. Beautifully told and insanely gripping, with surprises at every turn. I devoured it." —Clare Leslie Hall, New York Times bestselling author of Broken Country

"A clever thriller, seen through the eyes of a unique protagonist. Catherine Steadman delivers a spine-tingling and wholly original take on a well-worn trope that is smart and unputdownable." —Sandie Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Woman

This information about Nine Lives 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.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Janine_S

Twisty psychological thriller
A twisty psychological thriller involving a “voyeur” cat helping uncover secrets in a posh London neighborhood. A perfect choice for a read whether it’s a rainy day or sunshine at the beach.

Frankie Green, coming off a rather acrimonious divorce, thinks she’s found the perfect house. Her neighbors include a celebrity, a cute guy, a retired GP but also some sketchy sorts. Frankie’s cat, Blue, likes to wander, so after a few days of discovering her back door open, Blue goes out with a cat cam to help Frankie figure out what’s going on and then things start to get really strange. It seems someone somewhere in her neighborhood may be held captive!

The book covers approximately nine days of Frankie’s life since her move. A few chapters go back in time to the character Blue has discovered but most of the story is in present time. As the denouement nears tension picks up and the discovery is rather exciting. Along the way Frankie picks up the celebrity as her friend and the ending is smashing – “back at you, Ben (Frankie’s ex).”

While I wouldn’t say this is “I can’t pit it down” book, I will say the book does capture from the start and because Frankie is likable and Blue is so much fun – the cat cam is clever.

My thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for allowing me to read this ARC.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Catherine Steadman

Catherine Steadman is an author and screenwriter based in London. She grew up in the New Forest, Hampshire, and now lives in East London with her husband and two daughters. Catherine's first novel, Something in the Water, was a New York Times bestseller with rights sold in over thirty territories. She is also the author of Mr. Nobody, The Disappearing Act, The Family Game (a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice), and Look in the Mirror.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!
Win This Book
Win Theo of Golden

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…

Enter

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
A Pair of Aces
by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
Two women on opposite sides of the law team up to bring down gangster Lucky Luciano in this gripping novel.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    Somebody Worth Killing
    by Jessica Payne
    Meet Nadia Davis, loving mom, devoted wife, secret assassin… and she needs a babysitter.
  • Book Jacket
    Feast
    by Catherine Kurtz
    In 19th-century France, a girl with a magical taste becomes a duc’s poison taster amid nobility and danger.
  • Book Jacket
    The Reimagining of Thornwood House
    by Jaleigh Johnson
    A witch and her ward discover a magical walking house and find the true meaning of home.
  • Book Jacket
    Summer's Never Over
    by Darby Bozeman
    A woman revisits a Southern summer camp where a counselor's death may not have been an accident.
Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

The C is A R

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.