Things are not looking good for Layla Mahoney. She has been arrested on suspicion of murder after being found on a rooftop with a dead woman in her arms, a knife sticking out of the woman’s chest. Questioned by police, Layla is adamant she had never met the woman before and did not kill her. ‘It was Michael. Find Michael and you’ll find out everything you need to know,’ she tells police. But there is just one problem – Michael does not appear to exist.

Alternating between ‘then’ and ‘now’ chapters, the story of what led up to the fateful meeting on the roof gradually unfurls. Layla has 48 hours to prove her innocence. But as the story emerges, it is difficult to see how she will do so. Her professional and personal life is unravelling: she faces disciplinary proceedings at work and suspects her husband is having an affair. Layla’s story of a strange man called Michael appearing at random times and telling her their fates are entwined is also not doing her case any good.

With an unreliable narrator – is Layla going mad or is her story, no matter how implausible, true? – and plenty of twists and turns, this novel had me hooked, its brisk pace and revelations making it difficult to put down.

Reviewed by Melinda Woledge