Image of cover from GoodReads

!WARNING: There are major spoilers!

Trigger warnings for book: murder, explicit sexual content, animal cruelty, discussions and decpictions of suicide and self-harm, loss of a child, rape, sexual assault

I read “His & Hers” recently because I wanted to test out Alice Feeney’s books. They seem to be getting more popular recently and I love to read mysteries/thrillers. I decided to test it with this one and it was definitely worth it!

Let’s set the scene and meet the characters:

• Location: London and Blackdown, England
• Time: Circa early 2020s
• Anna Andrews – An alcoholic TV presenter who struggles to cope with her grief over events that occurred during her teenage years and the death of her daughter. After being demoted from her dream job, she’s forced to take a new story that takes her back to her hometown, where she is forced to confront past relationships and memories.
• Jack Harper – An exhausted police officer who is assigned to the murder of his secret girlfriend. As it turns into a string of murders, eventually threatening the lives of his sister and ex-wife, he feels like he’s losing his mind.
• Mrs. Andrews – Anna’s mother who is struggling from dementia while trying to get her daughter’s attention. Jack has been taking care of her while Anna is in London.
• Priya Patel – The partner of Jack, who is a rookie to the police force. She is still shiny and a new with a sparkle in her eyes and Jack thinks she talks way too much
• Cat Jones/Catherine Kelly – Anna’s coworker who had been on maternity leave. Her return forces Anna back into her old position. Anna later learns that she has actually known Cat for years, but has been unable to recognize her.
• Richard Jones – Husband of Cat and affair partner of Anna. He is a cameraman who has worked beside her in the field previously and is assigned to this case with her.
• Rachel Hopkins – Murder victim #1. An old friend of Anna’s and Jack’s affair partner. Currently was running a charity.
• Helen Wang – Murder victim #2. An old friend of Anna’s. Currently the principal of their old school.
• Zoe Harper – Murder victim #3. An old friend of Anna’s and Jack’s sister. Currently an out of work fashion designer with a daughter.

It starts off a bit slow, but then gets interesting as the plot gets a bit confusing. It features three perspective: His (Jack), Hers (Anna), and the killer’s. Is the killer also his or hers? You’re left wondering that the whole book. There are constantly seeds planted to create doubts.

For example, after Rachel is murdered, it is stated that Anna went to visit someone. But it is not clarified until many chapters later that Anna had been visiting her daughter’s grave. A parking ticket with yesterday’s date on it does not help her case, until it is revealed that the machine is malfunctioning.

Another example, Jack is revealed to be having a relationship with Rachel and some items, including her phone, are in the trunk of his car. This made me wonder if perhaps he was an unreliable narrator or maybe he did not remember killing Rachel. Especially after it is revealed that he was with her the night she was killed. Of course, he does not reveal that to any of his fellow investigators.

The next day after Rachel’s murder, Helen is found dead in her office. The two murders are connected by a red friendship bracelet that has been tied around their tongues as well as words written on them somehow. The third day, Jack returns home from Priya’s apartment to find his sister murder (his niece was safe thankfully).

After this murder, Priya begins to suspect him, but she also seems to become auspicious at this point. I began wondering if perhaps she had been involved. Simultaneously, Richard and Anna no longer had a hotel room booked at the only hotel in the town. He suggests a house a nearby that belonged to his wife’s family. He also seemed suspicious at this point and I wondered if possibly he and Priya were working together.

But this is the part where Anna learns that Cat Jones is Catherine Kelly. The girl who was the victim of her friend group in school. And suddenly it makes sense. She had a solid motive. Anna was part of the group of girls that tortured her, hurt her, and let a group of men rape her. Anna slept with her husband and was trying to take her job. It makes sense. Or does it?

So who did it?

This book had a twist ending that I never saw coming. The character who never has a name, other than “Mum” and “Mrs. Andrews” is revealed to be the killer in the last chapter. She had at least 5 known victims. Her abusive husband who she buried in her garden, Rachel, Helen, Zoe, and Cat.

She states that no one ever suspects the old woman with dementia and that it was easy to fake it. She says that all she had to do was wander out into the street in her nightgowns a few times.

She originally was going to frame Jack, but realized there was still something between him and Anna. So instead, she framed Cat.

But what was her motive? Her Anna. She moved away soon after the incident took place on her 16th birthday. Her mum blamed herself. Until she found a letter Anna wrote describing everything that had happened. This turned her mother into a vigilant killer who wanted revenge for Anna leaving for London and never coming back.

My review

Overall, I loved this book. I was not expecting that ending and I loved the twists of it. I enjoyed trying to figure out who the killer was and struggling. I couldn’t decide at times if the narrators were unreliable or lying.

The only question left unanswered for me is if Anna and Jack will actually stay together this time. They seem to have grown closer, but did it truly heal the wounds of the past? Will they be able to work out future problems?