A lot of my reading choices come from having a TBR that’s honestly too large to choose from and so me relying on people across social media to help me choose. This is how No One Saw A Thing by Andrea Mara became a book I picked up and read.
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No One Saw A Thing tells the story of a woman who is happily taking her children on the underground when she somehow lets both of them get on the carriage without her. When she then gets to the next stop, only one of the children has got off and she has no idea what has happened to the other.
At the same time, we’re exploring the relationship her husband has with his old school mates – all successful, arrogant folk who compete on who has done better for themselves over the years.
No One Saw A Thing plot – 4/5
The plot behind No One Saw A Thing, explained above, I would say was fine. It follows the stereotypical thriller cliches of having relatively short chapters and finishing every chapter with a slightly overdramatised mini cliffhanger that makes you want to flip and read the start of the next chapter to find out what truly happened.
There’s good pacing at the start that had me intrigued, but as soon as the element of the husband’s friends was introduced and embedded, I started to lose interest as I soon realised that they’d inevitably have to have something to do with the missing child (not a spoiler, you’ll work that out early on if you’ve ever read a thriller before).
Therefore, despite a slightly intriguing premise and a fairly interesting double twist at the end, the plot didn’t blow my mind like some other recent thrillers have such as The Housemaid or None Of This Is True.
No One Saw A Thing characters – 4.25/5
Slightly better than the fairly regular plot were the characters were reading about. Yes, some of the husband’s friends were actively dislikable and our main protagonist spent a lot of the book (quite rightfully so) in constant distress which were both slightly off-putting elements, but other than this, there was quite a diverse selection of individuals.
Throughout the story, we’re also switching every now and then back to a previous event a few days or weeks (i forget) ago where our protagonist met up with her husband’s friends from school as part of annual event.
A lot of these friends are generally fine but a few of them have big enough personalities to break apart from the rest and some of the twists and revelations that come out about them left me impressed with how deep Mara was willing to go.
No One Saw A Thing final rating – 4/5
No One Saw A Thing feels a little bit too easy for me as a book. The premise seemed a little loose (how does a mother let go of her small children and let them get on a train without her) and the eventual twist at the end could have been seen coming a mile off. However, some grippy, short chapters and some surprising character stories that changed my opinions on the characters dragged this up from being just another copy-and-paste thriller. If thrillers are your thing, I imagine you’ll enjoy No One Saw A Thing, if your reading palette expands to other genres, you may find it a little limiting in its ambition.
Pick up a copy from No One Saw A Thing from Amazon
