May 7

Who We Were – B.M. Carroll

A KILLER TWENTY-YEAR REUNION.
AND YOU’RE INVITED…

Twenty years after they went their separate ways, friends and enemies are coming together for their school reunion. Katy, who is desperate to show that she’s no longer the shy wallflower. Annabel, who ruled the school until a spectacular fall from grace. Zach, popular and cruel, but who says he’s a changed man. And Robbie, always the victim, who never stood a chance.

As the reunion nears, a terrible event that binds the group together will resurface. Because someone is still holding a grudge, and will stop at nothing to reveal their darkest secrets…

 

My thanks to the publishers who kindly provided a review copy of Who We Were through Netgalley.

 

School days. Did you love them? Hate them? Would you want to go back to a 20 year reunion and meet the kids you chummed with now that they have grown up?

In Who We Were BM Carroll poses that very question and gived her readers an intense look into the lives of a core of classmates who are all being invited to attend their 20 year reunion. For most it brings back some unhappy memories from a time they were carefree and less aware of how their actions may be impacting on others. Facing up to those younger versions of themselves will cause unease and disruption to their lives.

The focus is mainly on one group of friends. The cooler kids, the pretty one, the sports star, the class clown but there are also some of the misfits in the mix too…the kid with epilepsy and mental health issues, the nerdy girl who seems too nice to be in the coolest set.

It is Katy, the carrot-haired nerd who is driving the reunion. She is now a popular teacher and still in regular  contact with a few of her school friends. Katy links the different family groups and her enthusiasm to reunite them keeps events rocking along for the first half of the book.

Other characters feature frequently with new chapters looking in on different family dramas. The author has captured all of their secret problems and tribulations really cleverly, enough that we know there are issues but in the main not too dramatic to have those dramas visible for outside parties to see.

The secrecy is important as a mysterious entity is sending spiteful emails to the schoolmates mocking their high school persona and how their lives turned out. They are using these secrets to expose inner fears or past trauma and upset the recipient.

Soon friends are drawing closer together but with a wariness and insecurity which suggests they don’t really trust their old friends. Someone has a grudge and as events unfold it seems the risk of harm is increasing. Notes left on pillows, homes violated and family members threatened…as we get deeper into the lives of these people we become more invested in rooting for their safety and more worried about which of the group may be looking to harm others.

By the time we reached the endgame I had suspected all the characters and I would point the finger of blame at someone new every three or four pages.

Who We Were is an engaging drama which I could easily envisage as a tv adaptation. The characters are well depicted, given a depth and reality which made me want to read more about them. Good fun was had with this book.

 

Who We Were is published by Viper Books and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B081759L4M/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

 

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April 22

The Murder Game – Rachel Abbott

Eight Guests. One Killer. No Escape

A year ago today, we gathered for Lucas and Nina’s wedding at their glorious Cornish home overlooking the sea.

But no one was married that day.

Last year there were nine of us. Now there are eight. And Lucas has invited us back for a macabre anniversary.

Tonight, he’s planned a game for us: we each have a costume and a role to play. The game, he tells us, is about to begin.

What does Lucas want? What are we not being told? And how will this terrifying game end?

 

I received a review copy from the publishers. My thanks also to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the chance to join this tour.

 

Do you ever pick up a new book and not read the blurb on the cover? Perhaps for an author you always read so you don’t need to know what the story is about? I do it quite often, sometimes just so I go into a story with no idea what lies ahead.  That’s what I did with The Murder Game.  I knew Rachel Abbott’s reputation for writing clever thrillers and after I saw the splash “Eight Guests. One Killer. No Escape” I thought this sounded like a book for me.  Naturally I assumed I would be reading about a secluded location where someone was picking off the guests one-by-one.  Naturally I was totally wrong – well you know what they say about never assuming.

I got the remote location bit correct. A large luxury home down in Cornwall where, 12 months ago, a group of old friends gather with their plus-one to celebrate Lucas’s wedding. Lucas is the wealthy one and his friends are pegged as hangers-on. They seem to crave his attention and bask in his company. Though each are successful in their own right their successes pale against the wealth of Lucas and their childhood dependency upon his favour never fades.

Lucas welcomed his friends to his Cornish home but the gathering is strange for Jemma (our main narrator) she is one of the plus-one’s.  Her husband Matt is a successful and respected surgeon but when he is back in Lucas’s home he seems nervous, secretive and is not taking time to explain to Jemma some of the important background she should know about his old friends. In particular there is a mystery surrounding Lucas’s sister Alex.  She is a nervous, flighty and troubled girl. There is talk of an “incident” many years ago which left Alex broken and reclusive. At dinner on the first night Jemma tries to bring Alex into the conversation but she is quickly talked down by her husband and it is clear Alex is not a conversation topic.

We spend time getting to know Lucas and his guests and as the wedding draws closer Jemma becomes concerned about how Lucas and his old friends seem to be holding back secrets. She also becomes suspicious of her own husband’s affection for another guest. But on the day of the wedding tragedy strikes and one of the household is found dead after a terrible accident. The wedding doesn’t take place and Lucas appears broken.

Twelve months later Jemma and Matt’s marriage is on the rocks, events in Cornwall seem to have been a main factor in the decline in their relationship. The couple receive a letter from Lucas.  He is inviting them back to his home on the anniversary of the tragic event of the previous year.  Matt convinces Jemma they have to attend.

On arriving back at Lucas’s home Jemma finds all the guests from 12 months ago have been invited back.  Lucas has decided everyone is to participate in his Murder Game. He believes one of his friends is a murderer and by making everyone play the game he will solve a year-long murder mystery.

So not a book about a killing spree but a clever psychological thriller where Jemma helps the reader navigate through a series of lies and secrets to determine if there really is a killer in their midst. Distrust and anger lead the way, suspicion leads to fear and Jemma becomes aware that revealing a killer may well put the other guests at risk – as she gets closer to the truth someone takes exception to the information she is uncovering. In a remote house with few potential witnesses Jemma is in real danger.

Clever and devious plotting, the clues are there for armchair sleuths to find and reading The Murder Game is time well spent.

 

The Murder Game is published by Wildfire and is available in Hardback, Digital and audiobook format and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07T5X5X68/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

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September 25

Friend Request – Laura Marshall (Audiobook)

Maria wants to be friends.
But Maria is dead . . . isn’t she?

When Louise Williams receives a message from someone left long in the past, her heart nearly stops.

Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook.

Maria Weston has been missing for over twenty-five years. She was last seen the night of a school leavers’ party, and the world believes her to be dead. Particularly Louise, who has lived her adult life with a terrible secret.

As Maria’s messages start to escalate, Louise forces herself to reconnect with the old friends she once tried so hard to impress. Trying to piece together exactly what happened that night, she soon discovers there’s much she didn’t know. The only certainty is that Maria Weston disappeared that night, never to be heard from again – until now. . .

 

Another audiobook review and this one made for uncomfortable listening.  Returning visitors will perhaps know that I find stories about bullies hard to read. Well Friend Request looks at the impact of school-girl bullying as it occurs and the consequences of one prank going too far.

The blurb for this story sold it to me.  A Facebook friend request from a long dead friend sends Louise Williams into a turmoil.  Maria wants to be her friend.  But Maria wanted to be friends with Louise in 1989 and Louise let her down and chose to hang around with the popular girl rather than the girls she could relax and enjoy spending time with. Then something really bad happened and Maria died – so how can she now want to be friends?

Readers know that Louise has done something terrible in her past and that it still haunts her.  Over the course of the story we (through a number of flashback chapters) see how Louise conducted herself at school.  It makes for awkward reading at times as Louise was no angel and some of the things that she agreed to do in order to retain her status among her friends made her cringe as she recalls them. Made me cringe hearing about them and I got really annoyed with her.

In the present day Louise is a single mum and her 4yo son is her world.  Her best friend is determined that Louise should start dating again but she is equally determined that Louise keeps away from her ex.  When you read a thriller and there is a young child so integral to the plot you cannot help but worry if something bad may happen – tension I could have done without while I tried to cope with my stress over the bullying!!!

I loved the balance of past and future and there are subtle clues over what may lie ahead but you want to keep reading to find out what went wrong in the past. You also want to know how Maria can suddenly have arrived back in Louise’s life and who else may have heard from her.   With a School Reunion looming is it really a good idea for everyone to revisit memories of days best forgotten.

I did mention that this was an audiobook read for me so some thoughts from a listener…narration duties were well handled by Elaine Claxton. She was very listenable and brought the story to life, particularly when covering the chapters from 1989 and she makes her voice younger and softer which was particularly effective.  At over 11 hours in length this was one of the longer stories I heard last month but it didn’t feel it – it zipped along at a good pace and I didn’t experience a feeling of padding or mid-story drop off as I have with some of my other recent audiobooks.

For this story of school days which may be best forgotten the report card is very positive.  I thoroughly enjoyed having Friend Request for company and would not hesitate to recommend it.

 

Friend Request is published by Sphere and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook formats.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Friend-Request-addictive-psychological-thriller-ebook/dp/B01LWTZ751/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1506190627&sr=1-1

 

 

 

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