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Too Close For Comfort

Eleanor Moran

3.22 · Rating details · 514 ratings · 62 reviews

Mia Cosgrove is a high-flying psychotherapist with a thriving practice, but when she receives a desperate phone call from her oldest friend, Lysette, she puts her London life on hold to rush to her side. A friend of Lysette’s, Sarah, has plunged to her death from the top of a multi-storey car park, a text message on her phone next to her, simply saying ‘I’m sorry’ with a s ...more

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Kindle Edition, 448 pages

Published September 22nd 2016 by Simon & Schuster UK

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Jan 08, 2017 Bookread2day rated it liked it · review of another edition

I didn't find this story a page turner and I wouldn't rate it as a must buy, not like I normally do. ...more

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Oct 05, 2016 Liz Barnsley rated it really liked it

Shelves: top-psychological-thriller, received-from-publisher

Too Close For Comfort was an intriguing and genuinely absorbing psychological drama (I don't want the say thriller because this is more considered than that) about a group of friends who are caught up in a whole lot of secrets and lies.

A possible suicide takes Mia Cosgrove to the small close knit community in which her best friend from childhood lives - Lysette is grieving and needs support - but Mia finds herself caught up in a group dynamic that is baffling and even possibly dangerous.

I like h ...more

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Jun 27, 2017 Kirstie rated it liked it · review of another edition

I found this a bit frustrating. I hated the whole 'my best friend' 'no she's my best friend' which I found hard to believe in a group on 30 something women. It was so bitchy too
But the story line was clever with plenty of twists and turns. I have to say the murder reveal you would blink and miss it, as I almost did! And the actual murderer was glossed over greatly, I thought ...more

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Oct 28, 2016 Mary Grand rated it it was amazing

Really enjoyed this book,gripping and different.The amateur sleuth is a psychologist and there are some really interesting insights. Highly recommend

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Feb 14, 2017 Hannah rated it did not like it

This book was a boring slog from start to finish. Frankly I am proud I even managed to finish it.

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Dec 29, 2016 Rachel Gilbey rated it really liked it

Mia Cosgrove is back, and is tackling a whole new case, although this time, arguably she perhaps shouldn't get herself involved in a professional capacity. She is a psychotherapist, who goes to Little Copping to support her best friend Lysette, after Lysette's other good friend Sarah appears to commit suicide.

However after being with her friend for not long, she senses, although she tries to ignore it, that there may be more to the story that meets the eyes, but it isn't until the police ask he Mia Cosgrove is back, and is tackling a whole new case, although this time, arguably she perhaps shouldn't get herself involved in a professional capacity. She is a psychotherapist, who goes to Little Copping to support her best friend Lysette, after Lysette's other good friend Sarah appears to commit suicide.

However after being with her friend for not long, she senses, although she tries to ignore it, that there may be more to the story that meets the eyes, but it isn't until the police ask her to be involved and offer support to the small community that Mia becomes truly involved.

This is the second book featuring Mia Cosgrove, and does work as a complete standalone to A Daughter's Secret, however if you have read the first one you will have a more complex understanding of Mia, and her background.

Mia tries to be a friend to everyone while supporting Lysette and trying to work out just what is going on, even though she isnt investigating, but trying to make sure everyone is ok with has occurred mentally. As Mia is incredibly intelligent though, she knows that things don't add up, but just can't quite put her finger on the reasoning.

Lysette is a complex character, who seems desperate to unload her secrets but can't quite bring herself to reach out fully to Mia, and her behaviour starts to become more and more erratic.

As the story progresses, I got to meet all of the main friendship group that Sarah was involved with, but I didn't really like any of them that much. When the truth finally comes out, as it always tends to in fiction, I couldn't help but feel marginally confused as to various motivations, or explicitly what happened.

This is a very readable book, I was definitely interested in Mia and her thoughts, and the way the story was told, was enjoyable. I loved the small hints at Sarah's diary spread in between some chapters, as well as small asides at the end of chapters, from Mia, implying something was big was coming, but that she couldn't tell you what it was yet.

Thank you to EDPR for my copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. ...more

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Nov 15, 2018 Kay Kur rated it did not like it

I didn't like this book. I got this at a charity shop and upon reading the blurb, it got me hooked. However, I got one chapter in and I immediately regretted it... I gave it another chance and I found myself getting into the story on and off. The main character's consistent dialogues saying "Yeah, no", it got so annoying seeing her say the same thing over and over, also, over 100 pages in it was just the same thing about how Sarah was amazing blah blah and how she wouldn't have done that blah bl ...more

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May 20, 2020 Tracy 'loopylarner' Larner-Brown rated it really liked it

I have mixed feelings about this book as I couldn't put it down as I wanted to find out what really happened and I had the wrong person for most of the story, which is something I like! However, I did feel some parts of it were a bit long winded and the ending didn't satisfy me as much as I was hoping. I did like the protagonist, Mia though and how she fought for her oldest friend. Definitely read and cone to your own conclusion! ...more

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Mar 12, 2017 J. Taylor rated it liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 08, 2019 Karen Norris rated it liked it · review of another edition

Whilst this book is not fast-paced or a page turner (for me anyhow), I did enjoy the twists and story.

It took me a few attempts at starting this book, it was written well, although I found some of the parts frustrating and school girl playground tactics of friendship.

Otherwise this is a good book.

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Oct 03, 2018 Anne Robinson rated it liked it

Shelves: after-retirement, crime, mystery, 2018

I enjoyed the book and read it, more or less, in one go as I wanted to find out whodunnit! The characters were fairly unlikeable with a group of pretty unpleasant women at the centre. The plot was gripping enough for me, although a little confusing in places. I would have given the book four stars, but the author’s constant ominous predictions at the ends of chapters and sections became extremely irritating. This would put me right off reading any of her other books!

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Jan 01, 2019 Kerri Elizabeth rated it did not like it

Not a page turner, didn’t leave me wanting more, to be honest I was a little bored with the story. I didn’t really connect with the characters and I feel the whole thing was just slightly flat for a thriller.

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Apr 05, 2019 Hayley Fletcher rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Annoying end to every chapter implying something dramatic will happen which then never does. Too many characters which are difficult to keep up with too.

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Jun 04, 2018 Irene rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction-adult, borrowed-brisbanecl, 2018-reading-read-borrowed

TWs and CWs for: alcohol and substance abuse, sexual assault, implied domestic violence/abuse, rich people's entitled attitudes + subsequent manipulative behaviour, suicide (and death/homicide, but this is a suspense thriller after all). A strong moralising anti-drug thread throughout. (There are also some insensitive comments regarding children/(in)fertility and body image, but I don't note them in this review except for here.)

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My first thought: Too confusing due to a cast of indistinct charac TWs and CWs for: alcohol and substance abuse, sexual assault, implied domestic violence/abuse, rich people's entitled attitudes + subsequent manipulative behaviour, suicide (and death/homicide, but this is a suspense thriller after all). A strong moralising anti-drug thread throughout. (There are also some insensitive comments regarding children/(in)fertility and body image, but I don't note them in this review except for here.)

--

My first thought: Too confusing due to a cast of indistinct characters (character soup?), felt like I was introduced to all of them too fast, but it could also be that I really wasn't given any reason to care about any of them. There were so many times I was tempted to turn back to the front of the book and reacquaint myself with all these indistinguishable shapes of people. Come to think of it, the only person I felt was drawn in "screaming colour", as Taylor Swift would put it, was the Head Bitch, Kimberley. The narrator talks about her so much that I felt we were back in Mean Girls - you hate her, and you hate to love her, but you just can't deny that she's absolutely gorgeous (physically, of course.) - yup, I felt the MC was transfixed by Kimberley's perfection to an extreme. (I mean. It's such an extreme that this is one of my sharpest memories of this damn book.)

The final reveal: I would only let myself feel a small twinge of satisfaction, the product of feeling so completely left in the dark that finally getting answers was a relief. And how, because this book started SO. SLOW. I never felt like much was happening or anything was being discovered, except for the assault scene, which only cemented my dislike of a character that was meant to be dislikable. Maybe I like my mysteries too obvious? But this was a pain and a chore to read. No one was really confiding in Mia or telling her anything useful that would let her investigate anything until the final hour; a lot of it was petty, peevish bullying directed towards our MC because... she is doing her job??? And people around her resent that???? (cue suspense of disbelief klaxon) Oh, well, THAT'S the nature of adult female friendships, right?! So much insecurity, so much transference (to use a psych term lol) - it really felt like Mia is this outsider intruder that they can all suddenly take it out on in lieu of Sarah. Also, I know this is the type of book where everyone is some kind of unlikable, but I really wish Mia had had some actual emotional support, because the raw callousness and self-interest of her home base (esp. her boss) towards her really had me doubting MYSELF. Damn. If she were a real person I would be making sure she was going to extensive therapy after this as well as building up her circle of support.

Stylistically: you can expect that style of pithy wordplay that seems to be so popular now in AF (I have quoted some of my favourites in the progress updates), as well as the hallmark suspense technique of questioning questions (haha) trailing after practically every utterance, trying to depict Mia's mental state of... mostly doubt, and trying to foreshadow some End of Days every time a section came to an end, when, spoiler alert, it was just her fiance wanting to end the relationship and her best friend almost ODing on a pharma cocktail. (Oh, yeah, and the moralising anti-hard drugs thread throughout? Hard to miss, did not sit well with me.) Were these disasters really that *mysterious*?? They seemed pretty foregone to me, not climactic in the slightest. (Oh, man, this particular aspect makes me so angry and I don't know why...)

Summary: If you know me, you know I'm only driven to write about something if I HATE it... or, okay, if it evokes strong feelings about how it could have been improved, which this book has certainly done. You can read it if you want, but if you are anything like me, who likes my fiction to go down smoothly - which is to say that I can enjoy the story coming together in front of me because I don't have to solve the puzzle myself, much less get frustrated at the dearth of evidence and its pacing in getting to me - this is not that. You're gonna choke on how dry it is, actually. Should I be done with the awkward alcohol metaphor yet? I suggest if you want to give it a go, stay away from any and all intoxicating substances, because: 1) There's already enough booze and coke in here to do that for you, and 2) You're gonna need your wits as sharp as you can possibly get 'em. It's not your standard thriller by any means. Good luck! 🤞 ...more

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Feb 11, 2019 Geraldine rated it did not like it

Shelves: crime, 2019

I don't know why I persevered with this until the end.

Well, I thought that there was a story within it, and I thought that if I got to the end, all the hints and clues would coalesce into a 'whodunnit'.

But no. There was a twist. I'm going to have to go spoiler alert (view spoiler) I don't know why I persevered with this until the end.

Well, I thought that there was a story within it, and I thought that if I got to the end, all the hints and clues would coalesce into a 'whodunnit'.

But no. There was a twist. I'm going to have to go spoiler alert (view spoiler)

I felt by the end the author herself had become bored of the story, which was unsurprising, because the book was very boring. Cliched characters who were only ever revealed in very superficial ways,and carried no contradictions. We had hours and hours of extraneous detail - the event in Cambridge could have been conveyed in several thousand fewer chapters, and the dinner party at oh got whatever her name was the ghastly caricature Tory wife.

I couldn't really work out why the core female characters were friends with each other, given that the only thing they had in common was being parents at the same school.

As for the main character...her role made no sense. DEployed by the police to offer counselling to people in the village. That isn't the police's role. And if they had ulterior motive - they sort of did, they wanted her to be a grass - they wouldn't have picked someone who was friends with the core characters. Just didn't ring true.

I could write for ages about various plot devices that were in effect implausible - they could have happened within the laws of of physics, but really not within the patterns of sociology, psychology, criminology etc.

And I didn't like the writing style. Too many excursions into (attempts at) lyrical writing, which jarred with the genre. To many attempts at lame metaphors, and, just when I was getting really annoyed - train doors slamming. I also thought it had a poor sense of time, difficult to judge how much time was elapsing or what season it was set in.

I've just looked at other books by this author. I thought I had read one previously. Turns out that I did, less than 18 months ago - and this is actually the follow up to that, basically the second in a series. And I DIDN'T RECOGNISE a single recurring character, or anything from that book which was alluded to in this. I gave that 2 stars so heaven only knows why I even bothered with this one. ...more

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Jul 09, 2017 Robin rated it it was ok

Having enjoyed some of Eleanor Moran's early novels I bought A Daughter's Secret hoping for more enjoyable reading. No, it was thoroughly awful. The main protagonist, psychotherapist Mia, 'works' with her patient, Gemma, 'work' being the operative word. If Moran gave this phrase to Mia once, she gave it a hundred times. It is worked in where ever possible, as if Moran had learnt this is an expression that would give Mia some gravitas as an expert. Unfortunately, Mia's behaviour undermines her de Having enjoyed some of Eleanor Moran's early novels I bought A Daughter's Secret hoping for more enjoyable reading. No, it was thoroughly awful. The main protagonist, psychotherapist Mia, 'works' with her patient, Gemma, 'work' being the operative word. If Moran gave this phrase to Mia once, she gave it a hundred times. It is worked in where ever possible, as if Moran had learnt this is an expression that would give Mia some gravitas as an expert. Unfortunately, Mia's behaviour undermines her depiction as a person of trust and ability. On the positive side, Mia's relationship with her father, her mother and her best friend from teenager-hood are developed well to illustrate the foundation for her angst, limitations and ability to empathise with a teenager 'hooked' on her father's image of himself. It is this that encouraged me, together with my pleasure in the early novels, to try again with Too Close For Comfort.

This novel was another disappointment. Mia is invited by her 'best friend' Lysette to visit after Sarah (often described as Lysette's best friend, leading to Mia's discomfort) is believed to have committed suicide. As in Mia's earlier work, she becomes associated with the police investigation, while attempting to provide assistance to the family, friends and community left behind. The chapters describing Mia's work, her relationships with Lysette and her fiancé are interspersed with excerpts from Sarah's diary.

As the solution is dealt with so briefly it is apparent that it is Mia's relationships that are pivotal to the novel. So it is there that I looked for positive features to add to this review. Unfortunately, Mia became more annoying as the plot proceeded. What is most annoying is that somewhere in Mia there is an interesting character who could be the focus of a novel that shows Moran's earlier promise. I hope that, having found a character that some readers have found engaging, Moran develops her and her next story with some of the panache she showed in her earlier work. ...more

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Nov 14, 2018 Laura Crosse rated it liked it

Hmm... ok so this was a suspense thriller in its basest form but in more depth it was actually a detailed look at the ins and outs of a supposedly idyllic country village. I know some of this may seem far fetched with all the mummy’s taking drugs in the bathrooms and stuff but to be honest in this day and age I would be surprised if this didn’t go on in most areas. Not with everyone obviously but I think there’s always going to be drugs somewhere. And it may not be who you think taking them. Tha ...more

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Mar 09, 2019 Nona rated it did not like it

Shelves: listened, terrible

I am currently listening to this book and doubt it will get past one star, if that. The reader is intent on giving everyone of these women a posh voice and boy is she using every upper crust London district she can muster.
There really is no actual story, it just goes from the narrator's quandries over every situation, her indecision, and her silly situation.
I would definitely not want to have her as my councillor or confidant. Eleanor MORAN has completely stuffed up her character in this one.
I ...more

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May 01, 2020 Linda Hepworth rated it did not like it · review of another edition

A friend recommended this book and, as I can usually rely on her recommendations, I persevered with it. However, within a very short time I found myself becoming irritated by most of the main characters (with friends like these, who needs enemies!) and the totally implausible plot. As a therapeutic counsellor myself, I was horrified by Mia's frequently unprofessional behaviour and found myself feeling outraged about all her regular clients who were neglected whilst she was faffing about in the t ...more

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Jul 27, 2020 Rachel rated it liked it

This book follows Mia, who goes to help her friend after a suicide. Whilst there the police asks Mia to help with the investigation into the death in her role as a psychologist. Mia enters the world of Little Copping and it's residents, getting to know the politician and his wife, the school teachers, friends, and Max, the bereaved little boy. She starts to become unsure of the facts but gets tangled up with the press in the process and starts to mess up her own relationship with her fiancee, al ...more

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Apr 02, 2020 Laura rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was the first book I've read by this author but it was recommended to me by a friend. It did seem a bit long winded but was a good story nevertheless. It didn't have me as hooked as I'd expected, but saying that I didn't see the twist coming. I was convinced I knew what had happened and who was involved - but I was wrong. Slightly annoying that one person got away with things though! Some things were not made clear. It seems strange that somebody apparently did it and confessed, yet there w ...more

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Oct 23, 2018 mrsruthiewebb rated it it was ok · review of another edition

It felt like this took an age to get through. Maybe my mind wasn’t in the right place but I struggled to keep up with the characters and what was happening.

The story was pretty linear with some diary entries that, I felt, didn’t give much more to the story. The hinted love triangle/former lover story wasn’t needed and just distracted from the main track. I was intrigued by the story and kept with it and I didn’t see the twist coming so I guess that was a good thing.

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Jan 31, 2019 Katie Baker rated it did not like it

I really didn't like this book but I had to keep reading it to find out what had happened. T didn't warm to any of the characters, the half finished sentences and almost revelations really annoyed me and the way people behaved was just bizarre. Not for me at all. Felt like telling the characters to stop being so silly and just ask the question or go home, not socialise with people they hated at every possible opportunity. ...more

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May 27, 2020 Shirley Johnson rated it it was ok

I found this book hard going due to the dithering of the characters in the story line. The story is based around Mia who is a psychotherapist who visits her friend after a tragic incident. What follows with the events didn't ring true, the friends and family members were weak and the hints at what they may or may not say to each other drove me mad!

...more

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Jan 08, 2017 Catherine rated it it was amazing

Morans writing is intensely gripping, and the story which she unfolds in Little Copping plays testament to this. The only thing I didn't like, was the catch sentences at the end of every chapter, which I felt pushed foreshadowing to and unnecessary and nihilistic degree. ...more

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Jan 14, 2017 Lucy Folan rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 23, 2017 uma rated it liked it · review of another edition

I actually enjoyed this book. It really drew me in and I was dying to know what was going to happen. Which explains why I am a zombie at work today haha. I can see why some other people would say it is boring but I personally found it very compelling

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Aug 24, 2018 Emma Harvey rated it liked it

Very confusing read! A lot of characters were introduced at the start of the novel and it was difficult to keep up with who was who. However, I did like all of the personalities of the characters and how everything unfolded. And i liked the twist at the end, which I didn’t expect.

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Sep 01, 2018 Sharon Jones rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 18, 2019 Lynne Lyons rated it liked it · review of another edition

It didn’t fully engage me, I’m afraid. I stuck with it but didn’t find the story fully convincing. Had to concentrate really hard to distinguish characters from each other. The reveal of the murderer was so inconsequential, coming from nowhere, that I could easily have missed it!

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