There’s a scene in The Family Retreat, the new psychological thriller from writer Bev Thomas, published this month by Faber, that hits a painfully familiar nerve. In a London GP surgery, a male patient becomes increasingly hostile towards a female doctor. His tone becomes menacing, his behaviour less predictable. His aggression doesn’t manifest into something explicit or physical, but it bubbles under the surface, almost spilling over, spits of threats lacing the encounter. The doctor feels vulnerable, unsure of her own footing, unsure of the point he crossed a line, or even where that line is. Eventually, the patient leaves, and the doctor is, ostensibly, unharmed.

On the surface, The Family Retreat reads like a thriller. The pages gallop along, the characters and plot distract and deceive, but hidden in this familiar framework is actually the story of men’s power and control told through a domestic abuse plot line. Cleverly, Thomas uses thriller’s hallmarks to upend a genre that has historically sensationalised men’s violence, and instead offers something that rings far more true to the subtle, complex nature of abuse.