What You Did

Product Information

Recommended: It wasn't for me, maybe it is for you. I see that some found it to be a delightful read. Maybe, you would too. I was fortunate to receive this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review. This review will also publish to my blog, tropicaldelusions.blog,. Enter their 4 best friends from university: a second couple Jodi & Callum ...both married and pregnant and then the two single outcasts of the group, Karen and Bill, that have been pushed together more than a few times but just don’t feel that way about each other. Karen’s son also tags along, Jake, who is supposedly best friends with Ali’s daughter Cassie, but their bond to one another seems a bit TOO close for comfort.

Ali is hosting a reunion party for a group of old Oxford College friends. They haven’t all been together in twenty-five years. Ali is both nervous and excited . She has planned everything to be the perfect reunion. Ali has the life she always wanted, a career she can be proud of and a wonderful family with her college boyfriend, now husband. But that night her life is turned upside down when her best friend Karen staggers in from the garden, bleeding and traumatised, she claims that she has been assaulted—by Ali’s husband, Mike. Ali must make a split-second decision: who should she believe? Her horrified husband, or her best friend? With Mike offering a very different version of events, Ali knows one of them is lying. Suddenly Ali is faced with re-examining her life and her rose-tinted version of university life. There were darker memories of those days that have hidden in her mind and all but disappeared until that fateful night . Someone is willing to kill to keep things hidden. I have read other books by this author and was not disappointed. I'm hoping this one was just an anomaly. I will be happy to read her future books. Rachel lives a quiet life in the peaceful countryside, content with her perfect man and her lovely dog. But when she stumbles upon a body in the woods one day, all that shatters. She knows what she has to do: run. Don’t get accused of murder. But when this victim is identified as her boyfriend’s estranged wife, Rachel realises she’s already the prime suspect. The Dead Ground is the second installment in the Paula McGuire book series. It begins from where, The Lost, the first installment had left off from. The protagonist, Paula McGuire is still a forensic psychologist who resides in the small town of Ballyterrin, North Ireland. Paula lives with her father, who is a former policeman, while at the same time she is still chasing the ghost of her mother that has constantly been haunting her. With that said, Paula is an exceedingly likable character, who made lots of mistakes, with Aiden O’Hara, the newspaper owner, and DI-Guy, her boss. However, despite the number of mistakes that Paula has done, she still has work to do, considering the fact that a baby has been snatched from the hospital and everyone is racing against time to locate the missing baby. Apart from having the theme of pregnancy, this book also has the theme of missing babies, which proved to be both compelling and disturbing at the same time.The twenty five year reunion of six uni friends ends in rape, one of them charged with the crime and another betrayed. Recent events force memories of a tragic accident to resurface leaving them to doubt each other and themselves. How many of them will lie to keep the life they always wanted and how far will they go to achieve that? Absorbing, timely, and beautifully written, What You Did is a superior psychological thriller from a major talent." - Mark Edwards When old college friends get together for a night of dinner and reminiscing, it was supposed to be a reunion, to catch up and relive old memories. What You Did covers the lives of 6 college grads coming together for a 25 year weekend reunion. Also in my early 40s, stories like this appeal to me a great deal. These characters are my peers, so to speak. Unfortunately, all six (and their children) were intensely unlikable assholes. Worse, our main protagonist, Ali, might very well be the most ignorant main character ever written--she definitely fulfilled her quota of stupid thoughts, stupid choices, and stupid actions. A stronger female lead would have likely made a huge difference in how I felt about this story.

Who is lying? Who is telling the truth? Why would this woman accuse her husband for no reason at all? Who does she trust ...her husband.. or her best friend? Reunions are supposed to be exciting, reunions are supposed to be memorable but this reunion proves to be a nightmare for the protagonist. Ali decides a reunion with her friends from university after twenty years. Ali, a home maker and a volunteer at a local shelter for victims for rape and domestic abuse and Mike, a corporate lawyer are married with two children and a lovely suburban home. Jodi and Callum are lawyers and Jodi is heavily pregnant with the child she's longed for. Karen is raising a son by herself and lives in near poverty. Bill has returned home from Sweden after ending a relationship. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. But what if you can’t tell which is which? What if you don’t know who you can trust? I am familiar with Claire McGowan’s books having read a few from her Paula Maguire series. This is a stand-alone novel and she has proved that she can do both perfectly well.

When the ensuing chaos forces her to re-examine the golden era the group shared at university, Ali realises there are darker memories too. Memories that have lain dormant for decades. Memories someone would kill to protect.

So we have 6 friends, 2 of which are married couples (Ali and Mike; Jodi and Callum), the other 2 still single (Karen – who’s remained Jodi’s close friend – and Bill), together with a combination of 2 complicated teenagers and 1 younger child. It really is a recipe for disaster. They’re having a reunion at the home of Ali and Mike who finally seem to have reached the pinnacle of success with a beautiful home and enviable positions in their community. But right from the start I had the feeling that something was a bit ‘off’. Why was Ali so very over-anxious for everything to look so perfect and in-place? If these were such old, dear friends would they care what room she put them in, or if a napkin was the wrong colour? Each character is written with depth and precision and if you searched your own group of friends you'd likely find the variety of characters among them - although maybe milder. The planning that Claire McGowan must have done to prepare for this is phenomenal. Each chapter weaves a small thread of the story whilst developing the characters and their changing relationships. As a new thread is added, you are forced to re-evaluate your opinions and everything you had previously thought making this a suspenseful novel full of twists and surprises.

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I'm not sure where to start with this one. I feel like I should get a few start for being able to finish it. The protagonist is one of the most unlikable characters I've ever read about in a book. That in and of itself is not the problem - the problem is that I don't think it was the author's intent. As her family and best friend go through the unthinkable, she worries about her beautiful home and her beautiful things, and that's just a start.

Oh, what a night! Boozy and late! And a touch of weed. At 3:30 AM, Ali, asleep, is woken by screams. She goes downstairs to find (a sober) Jodi. In bursts Karen; bloodied, frenzied and disheveled. She says "He raped me". Well, the only one still outside with her was Mike. Did someone come in to the yard and choke/rape Karen? The police arrive and Karen is brought to the hospital as Mike is arrested. What ensues is a twisting tale full of secrets and lies as we learn that all the characters have been hiding things, including the children. But, can I blame Ali for wanting something she never had, especially when her childhood was so abusive and traumatic? This story centres around the 25 year reunion of six college/university friends, two teenagers and a 10 year old child.Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of What You Did by Claire McGowan. This thriller kept me guessing, although I did have my suspicions. I just couldn't reconcile the scene with my suspicions, but then it all came together in the end. The last line was particularly chilling! The party should have been perfect: six couples from the same baby group, six newborns, a luxurious house. But not everything has gone to plan, and while some are here to celebrate, others have sorrows to drown. When someone falls from the balcony of the house, the secrets and conflicts within the group begin to spill out … As the group re-connects and the alcohol starts flowing, old pictures come out, and the discussion turns to a young female classmate, Martha, who died in the university garden all those years ago. While the men revel in their youthful memories and ply themselves with alcohol late into the evening, Jodi & Ali head for bed. Tiny Synopsis: Ali Morris has her friends from her Oxford Uni days visit for the weekend to catch up after for a reunion. It seems Ali has the most charmed life with the amazing successful husband, 2 great kids, beautiful home, and a respectable job helping women in need. However it all comes crumbling down when her best friend, Karen, accuses Ali's husband Mike of the most unthinkable crime: rape. It all spirals down from there as Ali has to grapple with trusting the word of her husband or her own best friend. This also brings up other aspects of their past at Oxford and the mysterious death of their friend whilst in college. However, despite it’s promising start and compelling premise, What You Did kind of fizzled out for me. To be honest, the vast majority of the characters are very difficult to like or really empathise with in any way. That is not necessarily a problem, I’ve enjoyed plenty of books with unlikeable characters but in this case it just didn’t work for me. The story took some odd twists and turns which also didn’t totally come off.