S.M.Govett: Believe, Michel Joseph, publishing June 2025, 9780241707340 hardbeck, available as ebook

The author was a solicitor before turning to writing, has written mainly YA novels, this is her debut crime novel.

The story is told alternately by a female detective, Stratton, and Natalie, who had been raped by her boss suffering only to see him declared innocent in a trial. Natalie is a solicitor herself, has bravely moved on only to find herself in a simi,ar position 10 yrs later when her husband Ryan, her soulmate,  is accused of the same crime. The question of whom to believe, seen from the acused, the wife's and the police's  side drives the novel to the last page. 

I found the beginning a bit slow but the story soon gathers momentum using psychological angles,  with a surprise development towards the end. An accomplished debut.