A woman meets her dream guy, but his mother is something out of a nightmare in Jones' debut thriller.Emily Havistock is immediately attracted to the handsome Adam Banks when they meet each other's eyes across the room at a networking event for her London consulting firm, and even though she wasn't looking for a boyfriend, it doesn't take long before they're seeing each other every night. Emily's last relationship ended in disaster, but she feels a true connection to Adam, although he's not forthcoming about his past. A couple of months into the relationship, he invites her to meet his mother, Pammie, and assures Emily that Pammie will love her. On the way, when Emily makes a light joke about his mom's taste in music, Adam snaps at her. One would think that Emily might have considered cutting her losses then and there. But, no, Emily is enamored with Adam, so she vows to make it work. What follows is a hellish sequence of passive aggressive nastiness on the part of Pammie that would bring any woman to her knees, begging for mercy. Emily doesn't feel like she can confide in Adam since he treats his mother like a saint, but she does have the support of her flatmate, Pippa, and best friend Seb. It doesn't help that Emily feels undeniable sparks with Adam's younger, very attractive brother, James. Things with Pammie eventually come to a head in a spectacular way, and Emily begins to realize that Adam may not be as perfect as she thought. Emily, who narrates, is relatable even if readers will root for her to put the fiendish, and fiendishly clever, Pammie in her place and smack Adam for not sticking up for her. Jones ratchets up the tension to the breaking point and throws in a curveball that will make readers' heads spin.Melodramatic yet wildly entertaining, with a smashing twist.

To smitten Emily Havistock, the narrator of British author Jones-s engrossing-if-flawed first novel, sexy London IT recruiter Adam Banks seems like the perfect catch-until she discovers Adam has a pretty big catch himself: Pammie, his meddlesome widowed mum with whom he seems hopelessly enmeshed. As Emily becomes painfully aware, her sexagenarian adversary will stop at nothing to split up the couple (including faking a breast cancer diagnosis), and, Emily starts to suspect, might even have had a hand in the death of Adam-s previous girlfriend. Far from having the desired effect, however, Pammie-s machinations make feisty Emily all the more determined to land her guy, a single-minded focus that leads her to ignore glaring warning signs that the volatile Adam might not really be the one for her-or indeed the man she thinks he is. The startling if unbelievable 180 at the end of the road will spin readers- heads, but not enough to compensate for all the contrivance to engineer it. Still, fans of plot-driven psychological thrillers will enjoy the ride. 200,000-copy announced first printing. Agent: Tanera Simons, Darley Anderson (U.K.). (Aug.)