Cherry by Rose Wilding review – An intoxicating, tense rollercoaster ride
You won’t be able to put this one down.
Cherry by Rose Wilding: Key details
- Publish date: 5 November 2026
- Genre: Thriller
- Publisher: Baskerville
- Available formats: Hardback, audio and ebook
- Series/standalone: Standalone
- Length: 432 pages
Blurb: “After the death of her partner, Gifty is haunted by her mistakes. Her only distraction is Cherry, a missing nineties pop star who everyone else has forgotten. Gifty has nothing left to lose and will hunt Cherry down if it’s the last thing she does.
Ally has sacrificed so much to get the life she always dreamed of. She has the beautiful house, the loving family and a successful career. When it all begins to crumble around her, she will do anything to stop it falling apart.
Determined to leave her difficult past behind, Isobel reinvents herself and sinks into a quiet suburban life. When someone begins to unravel the truth about her, she discovers how far she is willing to go in order to keep her secrets safe.”
Cherry by Rose Wilding: The review
God, I LOVED my time with Cherry, undoubtedly one of my highlights of 2026, and a book that I’m going to be recommending at every chance I get. A boiling-pot of tension and scenes that you can’t bear to look away from, all set against a perfectly-captured late-90s background, I’ve not read anything else quite like Cherry, and it’s all the better for it.
This is the story of three women, initially seemingly unconnected. Ally is a mum to two children, struggling to balance motherhood, her job and her chronic illness. Isobel is the new nanny to Ally’s children, hired by Ally’s husband while he’s working away. The third character, Gifty, has recently lost her partner and is consumed with tracking down an old friend – and 90s pop star – Cherry.
You’ll know most of Cherry‘s secrets within about 30% of the book. But this isn’t your typical thriller that holds its cards close to its chest until the last few pages. Instead, the glory of the novel comes from the slow-burn tension of you knowing something that the characters don’t. The pure adrenaline of waiting for them to find out. And experiencing the proverbial sh*t hitting the proverbial fan when they do. It’s grizzly, it’s glorious, and even though I finished reading about two weeks ago, I still can’t stop thinking about it.
Wilding can write. Boy, can she write. I’ve been hung onto every word, and the characters she’s woven here – all complex, complicated women with a host of issues of their own – are what keep you turning the pages. They’re so flawed that it’s hard to say I thoroughly liked any of them – but that’s the point. Their flaws are what makes Cherry so intoxicating and unputdownable.
I’m being rather vague, yes, but Cherry is a book you’re best going into knowing as little as possible. It’s shocking, it’s a rollercoaster ride from start to finish, and it’s utterly, utterly wonderful. If you’re a fan of thrillers, 90s pop culture and stories about unhinged characters, put this at the top of your TBR, pronto.
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