Book Review: The Engagement by Samantha Hayes

What. A. Ride.

If you’re into twisty psychological thrillers that mess with your head and make your heart race, The Engagement will absolutely wreck you—in the best way. I tore through it in one sitting. No breaks, no distractions, just me, clutching the book like my life depended on it. And by the end? I was shook.

It starts off simple enough—Hannah, a protective mother, meets her daughter Belle’s new fiancé, Jack. Sweet, right? A classic meet-the-family moment. But the second Jack walks through the door, Hannah's world starts to unravel. He’s handsome, charming, polite… but to Hannah, he’s a living nightmare. Because she knows him. Not from Facebook stalking or small talk over dinner. No—she knows him from somewhere she’s spent her whole life trying to forget.

That’s when the panic sets in.

And it never lets up.

The moment Hannah sees Jack, it's like her past comes roaring back to life. Her breath catches, her skin goes cold, and her whole body screams one word: danger. She doesn’t just suspect something’s wrong—she knows. But there’s a problem. Belle doesn’t see it. She’s in love. She’s glowing, floating, completely wrapped up in this perfect future she’s planning with Jack. And Hannah? She’s just the overbearing mother trying to sabotage it all.

Except she’s not. She’s the only one who remembers the truth. And Jack is counting on that.

What makes The Engagement so disturbing and addicting is the constant psychological tug-of-war.

You’re trapped in Hannah’s mind, watching her spiral as she tries to convince Belle that the man she’s about to marry is dangerous. But Belle won’t listen. She can’t listen—because to her, Jack is everything she’s ever wanted. And Hannah? She just looks unstable. Paranoid. Maybe even unhinged.

But here’s where Samantha Hayes absolutely nails it: you never fully trust anyone. Not Jack, not Hannah, not even Belle. Everyone’s hiding something. And every time you think you’ve figured out what’s going on, the ground shifts underneath you.

The relationship between Hannah and Belle is so raw, so painful, it feels like you're watching a car crash in slow motion. Hannah is trying to protect her daughter from a predator, but the harder she pushes, the more Belle pulls away. And you get it—Belle wants her independence. She wants to make her own choices. But she has no idea she’s walking straight into a trap.

As for Jack? Let’s talk about Jack. On the surface, he’s perfect: respectful, attentive, maybe a little too charming. But there's a darkness in him you can feel from page one. It's subtle. Slick. Calculated. He says all the right things, does all the right things—and that’s what makes him so terrifying. He’s the kind of villain who hides behind a smile, the kind you only recognize when it’s too late.

Hayes writes with a precision that feels surgical. Every chapter cuts deeper. The pacing is relentless. Tension builds like a pressure cooker—you’re just waiting for it to explode. And when it does? Holy. Hell.

The twist at the end is one of those moments that makes you freeze mid-sentence, whisper “no freaking way,” and mentally start flipping back through the book to see all the signs you missed. It changes everything. You’ll want to reread the whole thing just to catch the clues that were right in front of you.

What I loved most is that The Engagement doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares or over-the-top shock value. The fear is real because it’s rooted in something so believable: the terror of not being believed, the helplessness of watching someone you love be manipulated, and the creeping horror of realizing the past isn’t done with you.

This book is unsettling, addictive, and emotionally brutal in the best possible way. If you’re a fan of Frieda McFadden, B.A. Paris, or Lisa Jewell, The Engagement will hit all the right nerves. It’s not just a thriller—it’s a psychological war zone, and you’ll be lucky to make it out without a racing heart and a deep mistrust of charming strangers.

Rating 3.5/5