#Review: Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke @niccicloke @vintagebooks @RandomTTours #blogtour #psychthriller #courtroomdrama #HerManyFaces

Hello again everyone – my big adventure is now sadly over, and (as those of you who are my Facebook friends will already know) I’ve had a wonderful and totally unforgettable time. I’ll tell you more about what I’ve been up to – and about the shamefully few books I’ve read while away – in my next post, I promise. But today I’m delighted to be joining the blog tour for Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke, published by Harvill Secker/Vintage Books in hardcover, for kindle, and as an audiobook on 3rd July. The paperback will follow on 9th April 2026.  My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the invitation and support – the kindle copy I read was my own, purchased from Amazon.

You may remember that this was one of the excellent books I read immediately before my long break. It’s not my usual reading, but that made it all the more enticing – and I must thank author Clare Swatman for mentioning it as a recommended read in one of her newsletters, or I might just have missed it altogether.

ONE TRIAL. FIVE TRUTHS. BUT ARE THEY READY FOR HERS?

 

When a waitress is charged with murdering four men at an exclusive private club, her personal life and upbringing are thrust into the spotlight. During the trial, people closest to Katie start to question what they know about her.

 

Her father remembers the sweet schoolgirl.

 

Her childhood friend misses her kindness and protection.

 

Her lover regrets ever falling for her.

 

Her lawyer believes she is hiding something.

 

A journalist is convinced she is a cold-blooded killer.

 

To each of them she’s someone different. But is she guilty?

 

Fans of Girl by Abigail Dean, Notes on an Execution by Danya Kufafka and Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan will love this intelligent, elegantly written thriller.

Part psychological thriller, part courtroom drama – this was such an original read, told from five different viewpoints constantly making you change your perception of Katie, the enigmatic character at the story’s heart. Their viewpoints and judgements – the father, the childhood friend, the lover, the barrister, the reporter – are inevitably coloured by their relationship to her and their own life experiences, and none of them is entirely a reliable narrator, which makes the story’s telling all the more complex and intriguing. And the five voices are distinctive and instantly recognisable – I never found myself lost among the different threads, entirely hooked by the way the whole story unfolded.

The writing is taut and quite perfectly paced as it moves between the small reveals that expose flaws in the apparently quite simple judgement about Katie’s guilt or innocence, and in the veracity or otherwise of the different storytellers. It moves enticingly between past and present too, as you try to pick up clues that would help you make your own decision, trying to get to know her better. She’s often unsympathetic – but that’s countered by the mounting sense of injustice that permeates the narrative. The courtroom scenes – always something I particularly enjoy – are quite wonderfully handled. And the conclusion was so perfectly judged – leaving you with some remaining questions about everything you’d come to believe, but with the most perfect emotional touches.

This was such clever, edgy writing – it’s a book I raced through, and I very much enjoyed it…

About the author

Nicci Cloke is the author of Someday Find Me, and the co-producer of literary salon, Speakeasy and online story series 1,001 Nights. Before becoming an author, Nikki worked in the Permissions team at a publisher and she has worked as a waitress in a cocktail bar, a nanny and an elf. Nicci Cloke lives in Cambridgeshire.

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