Psychological Thriller Review: The Woman on the Ledge | Ruth Mancini

Lies! Revenge! Obsession! Secrets! Manipulation! I cannot recommend this book enough—it is seriously twisted and the back half is so satisfying it made my toes curl with pleasure reading how it all unfolds.

“She couldn’t seem to stop herself from teetering on rooftops, from living life very close to the edge.”

I went into Ruth Mancini’s book The Woman on the Ledge fairly blind and it kills me to say it but that is the way to do it. But for those of you who need a bit more convincing, read on! This book is so full of twists and turns from the very beginning that you won’t be able to stop reading!

About the Book | The Woman on the Ledge

Obsession. Intrigue. Revenge. Whose secrets are you keeping? And why?

A woman falls to her death from a London bank’s twenty-fifth-floor roof terrace.

You’re arrested for her murder.

You tell the police that you had only met the victim the previous night at your office party. She was threatening to jump from the roof, but you had talked her down.

You’ve got nothing to do with this tragedy. You’re clearly being framed.

So why do the police keep picking holes in your story? Even your lawyer doesn’t seem to believe you.

It soon becomes obvious that you’re keeping secrets.

But who are you trying to protect? And why?

Obsession. Intrigue. Revenge. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Review | The Woman on the Ledge

The Woman on the Ledge left me absolutely buzzing to talk about it! I am puzzling over how to review this book because it is such a rollercoaster from page one that my brain is struggling with what to say that won’t give too much away! The story centers around Tate Kinsella, a thirty-something struggling actress who is working in a temp role for a bank housed on several floors of a large commercial office building. Tate is arrested for murder, and taken in for questioning.

Two weeks earlier at the company Christmas party, Tate goes up to the roof of the office building for a cigarette and notices a woman sitting on the ledge of the building. It doesn’t take an expert to know what may be going on, and Tate approaches her in the hopes of helping. The woman on the ledge introduces herself as Helen, and she says she works at another company housed in the building. Helen says her life is so messed up that she can’t see a way forward.

Tate eventually talks Helen off the ledge. To help Helen feel not so dire, Tate shares that things aren’t so great for her either. She doesn’t really connect with anyone at the office like she hoped, and she is having an affair with her boss, Tom. Tom is married and has a daughter, and Tate knows that the chance he will leave his wife for her are very slim.

Tate convinces Helen to split a cab home with her and exchanges numbers. Still, she is surprised when Helen calls her the next day and asks her to let her into the building. She lost her diamond earrings that have sentimental value for her. Tate doesn’t feel comfortable, especially when Helen reveals she doesn’t technically work in the building anymore, but she goes along with it. Soon after badging Helen in, the two split up and Tate starts at the roof stairwell, while Helen starts at the ground floor. However, Tate never encounters Helen again. She traces the full stairwell and then goes back to the roof to see if she missed something.

And on the roof she does find Helen… sort of. Looking down to the street Tate, sees a body lying on the street. She stumbles out of the building and towards the body, saying that it is her fault.

Flashforward two weeks, and Tate has been arrested for murder. Along with her attorney Sarah, Tate tries to explain what really happened at the building. Until she learns one more shocking piece of news… the dead body isn’t Helen. In fact, no one can find any record that Helen even exists.

The dead body is Tom’s wife, Maddy, and Tate is the prime suspect.

I wish I could continue to describe the plot because all of this that I shared happens in basically the first 10% of the book! What transpires from there is the story of what really happened to Maddy. Is Tate responsible? Did Helen set her up? Or is there something much more twisted going on?

The first half of the book is full of jaw dropping twists. To say Tate can veer towards unreliable is an understatement. Her own lawyer repeatedly catches her in small lies during the interview at the police station, and each time Tate confesses a bit more to her about what really happened on the roof two weeks earlier.

But don’t let anything in this book lull you into a false sense of security about what is going on. I was shocked so many times in that first half that I can barely even describe how deliciously twisted it all is. The back half still has some twists in store, but it unfolds in a different way. The book goes back even further in time and also moves forward to what is happening with Tate after her arrest. There are more stories revealed than just Tate’s, and more twisted details for the reader to uncover.

The second half of this book takes a turn towards revenge and obsession, and every single page was so delightfully satisfying and gripping that I couldn’t tear myself away. This book had me a chokehold for the entire length of it. What starts as a twist-filled salacious popcorn read brings a surprising amount of depth in the second half. There is no easy way to describe this without spoiling it, so I’ll just say that the drive towards the conclusion is one that left me profoundly gratified with how the story came together.

The Woman on the Ledge is truly an all-time great story of secrets, deception, and revenge. A must-read thriller!

Other Books to Check Out

If a twisted tale of revenge, lies, and obsession is your thing, you should also try I’m Not Done with You Yet by Jesse Q. Suntanto. This book showcases obsessive female friendship at it’s finest, and has so many twists and turns you won’t be able to stop until the last page.

For a taste of revenge, obsession, secrets, and lies set in the high stakes world of tabloid journalism, check out The Trade Off by Sandie Jones.

If you like a legal thriller twist (and without spoilers, I will say that The Woman on the Ledge has a pinch of that), check out the deeply powerful, revenge-filled legal thriller, Her, Too by Bonnie Kistler.

Last but not least (in fact, it may be the one you most need to try if you liked this book), check out The Collective by Alison Gaylin. So twisted. So satisfying. So dark. And so much revenge!

About the Author | Ruth Mancini

Ruth Mancini was born in south-west London and started her career as a marketing executive for a publisher before undertaking a post-graduate diploma in law and retraining as a solicitor. Ruth has spent the past twenty-five years in and out of courts and police stations, representing those accused of crimes. She still practises as a lawyer for a large criminal law firm with offices in London, conducting advocacy in the courts and defending people arrested at the police station. She also reviews trial files across the firm and juggles her legal work with writing crime and psychological fiction.

Ruth lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two children.

Her fifth novel, THE WOMAN ON THE LEDGE will be published by Penguin (UK) and HarperCollins (US) in January 2024.