Front Page Fridays Week-44
Front Page Fridays Week-44
Welcome to Front Page Fridays Week-44. On Fridays I showcase the first page of a new book.
My Front Page Fridays Week-44 guest is Helen Matthews with the first page of her brand-new psychological thriller, If I Were You.
Here’s the opening:
TESSA
Chapter 1
A weight is bearing down, compressing my chest. Struggling for air, my head throbs. I’m slipping. Panic drags me back. My arms thrash around. The duvet slides onto the floor.
The man lying next to me jolts awake and swings into the routine he’s perfected.
“Stay calm, Tess. We’ll breathe together. I’ll count. In for one – two – three – four. Hold for seven. Slowly out through your mouth.” His eyes connect with mine, reassuring me. “Good. Keep it going. Better now?”
I nod. I should be over the racing heart and breathing struggles.
Adam, my husband, unplugs his phone from the charger, checks the time, and curses. His feet thud on the floor. Moments later, the shower hisses into life.
Clicking on the bedside lamp, I sit up. Before he leaves I must talk to him. Tell him my plan to pick up the strands of my threadbare life. He won’t like it.
Adam’s dark hair is damp and curling from the shower. He’s stopped bothering with hair gel. He hands me a couple of tablets with a glass of water. “Here you go – better now?” His fingers move rapidly, buttoning his blue-striped shirt, leaving it open at the neck.
“Thanks, darling. I’ll be fine. Listen – I’ve set up a Zoom call with Ed at two-thirty.”
He stiffens. “About what?”
I paste on a smile. “About going back to work after Christmas.”
“It’s too soon, Tessa. Cancel. We’ll discuss it tonight.”
His eyes look bloodshot, his cheekbones more pronounced. This is my fault, causing him so much stress this past year. He leaves the room without saying goodbye. Once he’s out of the house, he’ll forget it. I doubt he worries about me while he’s at work. Adam’s the most focussed man I know.
Not long ago, I was focussed too. Adam and I used to power-walk to the station, our FitBits counting steps and calculating calories. On our short commute from Wandsworth Common into central London, where I was head of HR for a tech start-up company, we’d glance at news headlines on our tablets, then settle down to work. Back then, I could shoehorn vast amounts of activity into every day: exercise classes and swimming, work and socialising, volunteering at the food bank, studying part-time for a Masters in Psychology. I believed I could bend time to my will.
All that self-improvement – using my brain, being productive, staying fit – turned out to be a poor investment. I was one of those young, healthy people struck down with long Covid. For months I struggled through a joyless pattern of work, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat. At weekends I stayed in bed. Desperate not to go off sick, I used up my annual leave to rest, imagining I could fix myself with more sleep…
My doctor explained the virus had attacked my heart, and insisted on signing me off sick anyway. If I don’t return to work soon, I’ll be dismissed. I know this for sure because I wrote the company’s policy on ill health. Luckily I made the terms generous, but if you can’t show up to do your job, it’s only a matter of time.
I’ve set up today’s Zoom with Ed, my boss, to negotiate a phased return. Before facing him, I need more sleep. Setting my phone alarm for ten-thirty, I lean back and my heavy eyelids close.
Rat-tat-tat. Someone is hammering on my front door.
About If I Were You
She needs your help. But the truth she is hiding could destroy you both.
Tessa’s once-perfect life is unravelling. Struggling with a long illness, it’s hard to find energy to get through each day. She’s about to lose her job, her marriage to Adam is shaky and she’s lost contact with her sister, Maddie, after a bust-up at their Mum’s funeral three years earlier.
Then one bleak December day, a desperate Maddie turns up on Tessa’s London doorstep with a baby in her arms and says she’s escaped an abusive partner. She fears for her safety and that of her baby son, Leon. She begs Tessa to let her stay and hide for a while.
But next day, Maddie leaves Leon in Tessa’s care, saying she’s going to consult a solicitor.
She doesn’t return.
Yet again, Maddie has vanished.
Despite her own ill health, Tessa must summon the strength to stand in her sister’s shoes and care for Leon. She’s convinced her sister would never abandon her child and believes someone is hunting Maddie with deadly intent. The police take a different view and soon call off the search.
Now danger stalks Tessa and Adam, too, because the truth is far more sinister than anyone could ever imagine. Can Tessa find her sister before it’s too late?
Purchase link
About Helen Matthews
Helen writes page-turning psychological suspense novels and is fascinated by the darker side of human nature and how a life can change in an instant. She is the author of five published novels. Her new suspense thriller If I Were You was published by DP Books on 5th February 2026. Previous novels have won prizes including the opening pages of a novel award at Winchester Writers' Festival and the suspense and thriller genre prize in the 2022 Pageturner Book Award.
Born in Cardiff, Helen read English at the University of Liverpool and worked in international development, consultancy and human resources. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes University.
Some of Helen’s novels cover themes of human trafficking and she has been appointed an Ambassador for the charity, Unseen UK, which works towards a world without slavery. She donates her author talk fees, and a percentage of royalties, to the charity.
Helen’s Social Media Links
https://www.helenmatthewswriter.com
https://www.Instagram.com/helen.matthews7
https://Facebook.com/HelenMK7Writer
Other Books by Helen Matthews
Girl Out of Sight - https://geni.us/GirlOutofSight
The Girl in the Van – https://geni.us/GirlinTheVan
The Sisters - https://geni.us/The-Sisters
Lies Behind the Ruin - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BY3DXSP4
I hope you enjoyed reading Front Page Fridays Week-44. Please come back next time when I’ll be featuring a different author and the first page of their book.
And please take a look at books already featured on Front Page Fridays:
1. Blood Ribbons by Lin Le Versha – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-1/
2. Fatal Blow by Brian Price – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-2/
3. Can I Trust You? by Rob Gittins – Front Page Fridays Week-3 – Rachel Sargeant
4. The Last Bird of Paradise by AJ Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-4 – Rachel Sargeant
5. Never Forgive You by Hilly Barmby – Front Page Fridays Week-5 – Rachel Sargeant
6. The Mists of Pencarrack Moor by Terri Nixon – Front Page Fridays Week-6 - Rachel Sargeant
7. The Thief of Joy by Stacey Murray – Front Page Fridays Week-7 - Rachel Sargeant
8. Edge of the Land by Malcolm Hollingdrake – Front Page Fridays Week-8 - Rachel Sargeant
9. The Mind of a Murderer by Michael Wood - https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-9/
10. The Midnight Man by Julie Anderson – Front Page Fridays Week-10 - Rachel Sargeant
11. Dark Road Home by Sheila Bugler – Front Page Fridays Week-11 - Rachel Sargeant
12. Her Charming Man by Rachel Sargeant – Front Page Fridays Week-12 - Rachel Sargeant
13. Wedding Bells at the Lakeside Hotel by Linda Huber – Front Page Fridays Week-13 - Rachel Sargeant
14. Dark Island by Daniel Aubrey – Front Page Fridays Week-14 - Rachel Sargeant
15. The Shame by Maureen Myant – Front Page Fridays Week-15 - Rachel Sargeant
16. Dead Mile by Jo Furniss – Front Page Fridays Week-16 — Rachel Sargeant
17. The Violin and Candlestick by David Jarvis – Front Page Fridays Week-17 — Rachel Sargeant
18. New Memories by S.E. Shepherd – Front Page Fridays Week-18 — Rachel Sargeant
19. Young Blood by Victoria Gemmell – Front Page Fridays Week-19 — Rachel Sargeant
20. Private Investigations by Rob Gittins – Front Page Fridays Week-20 — Rachel Sargeant
21. The Car Horn revolution by A.J. Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-21 — Rachel Sargeant
22. What Lies Beneath by Maureen Myant – Front Page Fridays Week-22 — Rachel Sargeant
23. A Safe Place by Stephanie Carty – Front Page Fridays Week-23 — Rachel Sargeant
24. Fatal Image by Brian Price – Front Page Fridays Week-24 — Rachel Sargeant
25. Run For Your Lies by A.A. Abbott – Front Page Fridays Week-25 — Rachel Sargeant
26. A Walk in the Park by Natalie Kleinman – Front Page Fridays Week-26 — Rachel Sargeant
27. A Storm in a Teacup by Rachael Gray – Front Page Fridays Week-27 — Rachel Sargeant
28. The Midnight Bookshop by Amanda James – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/blog/front-page-fridays-week-28
29. A Death in the Afternoon by Julie Anderson – Front Page Fridays Week-29 — Rachel Sargeant
30. Justice by Madalyn Morgan – Front Page Fridays Week-30 — Rachel Sargeant
31. Let Me Out by Amanada Brittany – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/blog/front-page-fridays-week-31
32. A Pocketful of Poisons by Brian Price – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/blog/85orb6bc15cs2voyn37yv3jprw0jec
33. Tribute by Madalyn Morgan – Front Page Fridays Week-33 — Rachel Sargeant
34. Mistress of the Manor by Cara Clayton – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/blog/front-page-fridays-week-34
35. Waves of Change in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Chistensen – Front Page Fridays Week-35 — Rachel Sargeant
36. A French Inheritance by Jennifer Bohnet – Front Page Fridays Week-36
37. Beneath the Same Moon by AS Andrejevic – Front Page Fridays Week-37 — Rachel Sargeant
38. The Fallen by Maureen Myant - Front Page Fridays Week-38 — Rachel Sargeant
39. The Bad Women by Jennie Ensor – Front Page Fridays Week-39 — Rachel Sargeant
40. Lies Between Friends by AA Abbott – Front Page Fridays Week-40 — Rachel Sargeant
41. Fatal Shot by Brian Brice – My Front Page Fridays Week-41 — Rachel Sargeant
42. The Alibi by Katharine Johnson – My Front Page Fridays Week-42 — Rachel Sargeant
43. The Croatian Island Library by Eva Glyn – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/blog/front-page-fridays-week-43