The Verdict
Today it’s the His and Hers book, the novel behind the Netflix series, and I’m answering the questions you’ve been searching: what is it about, is it worth reading, and what should you know first.
My verdict is that it’s worth reading, if you like dark, twisty thrillers. It’s a fast, nasty, clever book with a great final third. I give it four out of five. This review is spoiler free, which means no killer, no late twists and no deaths beyond the first one.
What Is His and Hers About
His and Hers is a psychological thriller by Alice Feeney, published in twenty twenty. It is her third novel. It starts on a Monday, with Anna Andrews, a BBC newsreader, losing the job she has loved for two years when a colleague returns from maternity leave.
The next morning, a woman’s body is found in the woods of Blackdown, a pretty village in Surrey. The detective on the case is Jack Harper. He is also Anna’s ex husband.
Anna is sent to cover the story. The catch is that this is the one place she never wants to go back to, and both she and Jack are hiding something.
The Characters Without Spoilers
Let’s meet the cast. Anna is a polished presenter with a messy private life. She drinks quietly all day from miniature bottles, she hides her past, and she has a complicated relationship with her mother, who is getting forgetful.
Jack is a rumpled, tired detective who moved back to his old village after the marriage fell apart. He is also not telling his own team everything.
Around them are Priya, his keen young sergeant, Richard, the cameraman who knows Anna too well, and the village itself, which is full of secrets.
The Three Voices
The structure is the clever bit. Most chapters alternate between Her and Him, Anna and Jack, each with a time stamp, like Tuesday at seven fifteen in the morning. Both narrators are unreliable, and they lie to us as often as they lie to each other.
Then, between those chapters, there’s a third voice: the killer. These are short, creepy chapters with no name and no gender, telling us how it feels and what is planned next.
Feeney is a former BBC producer, and it shows. The newsroom details feel lived in, from the running orders to the cruelty of rotas.
The Themes
Underneath the plot, this is a book about the stories we tell. The title is the clue: there are two sides to every story, his and hers, which means someone is always lying. Feeney keeps asking how much we edit our own memories to survive.
It’s also about motherhood and grief. Anna and Jack lost a baby, and that loss hangs over every scene like weather. The book is honest about how grief can turn two people who love each other into strangers.
And it is about women in the media. The newsroom politics, the pressure to look good on screen, and the way a woman can be replaced overnight are written by someone who has seen them close up.
What Works
First, the hook. The opening page, with the killer talking about love, is a great way to start, and the first body arrives within a few chapters. You’ll want to read the next one before you can stop.
Second, the structure. Splitting the story across three voices means that every chapter ends on a small reveal, and each one makes you rethink the last. The short time frame, just a handful of days, gives it the speed of a train.
Third, the misdirection. Feeney keeps handing you reasons to suspect almost everyone, and a few of the clues she plants are genuinely sneaky. When the truth lands, it’s both a surprise and fair.
The Setting and the Prose
I love the setting. Blackdown is a postcard English village on the outside, with thatched cottages and a school with a long history. Underneath, it is cold, gossipy and dark, and the woods around it are practically a character.
The prose is clear and brisk, with plenty of dry humor. Anna’s observations about television news are a highlight. There are lots of short, quotable lines about lying, memory and loneliness, though a few get repeated too often.
Writing and Pacing
The pacing is quick. Chapters are short, the cliffhangers are constant, and you can fly through it in a weekend. The middle is the strongest section for me, when the pressure is building and everyone is lying.
Where it dips is a handful of flashback chapters. They are important, but they slow the story for a few pages. Some of the narrators’ inner monologues also use similar phrases, so Anna and Jack can blur together.
What Doesn’t Work
Now the criticisms. One, the book leans on coincidence. A few things happen simply because the plot needs them, and if you like your mysteries tight and realistic, you may roll your eyes.
Two, Jack’s voice can be unpleasant. He comments on women’s bodies a lot, and the book is playing him as a flawed narrator, but it can be wearying.
Three, the final act goes big, and at times veers close to melodrama. It is gripping, but not subtle. And four, some readers will find the amount of drinking and self pity repetitive.
The Reading Experience
Practically speaking, it’s a quick read. The chapters are short, many of them only a few pages, and the whole story takes place across about three days, plus a short epilogue months later. Most readers finish it in a weekend, and plenty do it in a single long sitting.
It also rewards a careful reader. Feeney plays fair with her clues, and many of them are tiny, like a throwaway line about a key or a cup of tea. If you finish it and want to go back, you’ll spot things you missed.
If you like this author, her other thrillers, such as Sometimes I Lie and Daisy Darker, use similar tricks with narrators you can’t trust.
Content Notes
Now the content notes, which matter here. This is an adult thriller, and the reviewer’s assessment is that it is dark. There are scenes of explicit sex, strong language, and frequent heavy drinking.
There is the death of an infant, domestic violence, graphic murder, and cruelty to animals. The book also includes sexual abuse and exploitation of teenage girls, described in the back story. I’m not going to say more, because that would spoil it, but if any of that is a hard line for you, skip it or read about the content first.
It is definitely not a book for young teens.
How Explicit and How Violent Is It
Since parents guide is a big search, let me be clear. The sex scenes are explicit, but they are short, and they are not the focus. They mostly involve a single affair, and they are written from a rather cold, male point of view.
The violence is the bigger issue. The murders are described in some detail, with knives, injuries and cruel staging of the bodies. It is more disturbing than gory, in my view, because of how calm the killer sounds.
Language is strong throughout, with frequent swearing. If you read Verity or a Freida McFadden thriller without trouble, you will cope with this, though it is darker than both in places.
Should You Read It Before the Netflix Show
Many of you are asking whether to read the book before watching the Netflix series. The killer is the same in both, so one will spoil the other. The show moves the setting to Georgia and trims the story.
My advice is to read first if you like unreliable narrators, because the book’s three voices are its best feature. Watch first if you want a short binge.
The Scorecard
Here are my scores. The hook gets four and a half out of five, tension also four and a half, characters three and a half, pacing four, and impact four. That’s an average of just over four out of five.
Who It’s For
Read His and Hers if you like fast thrillers with unreliable narrators, if you enjoyed Sometimes I Lie or Gone Girl, and if you want a twist to argue about.
Skip it if you need a gentle mystery, if abuse of teenagers or infant loss are hard lines for you, or if you want every detail to be realistic.
If you’ve read it, leave a comment and tell me whether you guessed the killer, and thanks for watching. Subscribe for more honest reviews, and I’ll see you next time.
