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August 2019, Aria Fiction, 364 pages, Ebook, Review copy
Book summary from press release
Have you ever wanted to kill your best friend?Anna was the perfect wife. Perfect mother. Perfect woman. And now she's dead. Leaving behind her husband, David, and two young children their lives will never be the same. But Vicky will make sure life goes on...
These two women have been best friends forever, a lifetime of secrets lies between them and now Vicky is ready to step up into Anna's perfect shoes. But not everything is as it seems and as David begins to question Vicky's motives for walking into his life things might just get a little murderous.
The question on everyone's lips is, who killed Anna? And what actually happened on the night she died?
Nayu's thoughts
I'm fond of a good thriller (this one is a great one), and I love any story which heavily involves children, maybe because I have none and am eternally fascinated with how children think and act, in a non-weirdo kind of way. What you don't know is interesting, and while Vicky knew a little about Harper and Lewis, like me she fell in love with them. They are adorable! They are not perfect children, no child is perfect (or adult for that matter), but they do help cut through the grief of losing Anna. They are a big fat reminder that Anna is gone, which Vicky is painfully aware of, but they are one of the good things about Anna, which is a joy to read about, because Anna wasn't as nice as she seemed.
A lot of times nice people are fully nice, but Anna is a case where nice was an external persona she wrapped herself in. She was downright awful to Vicky a lot of the time. Vicky obviously remembers those times as she struggles with the issues that her so-called best friend gave her. I liked how Dawn wove different timelines into the tale, because it shines a light on a past we only have Vicky's account of, it unlocks some mysteries that Vicky has in the present, and also gives a deeper understanding of who Vicky is. Vicky isn't entirely innocent just like Anna isn't. Dun dun DUN!!!!!! (I think you all know the music for that part.)
Vicky both has and doesn't have an ulterior motive throughout the story. I think she had a vague idea of what she wanted to happen, but, understandably, she got used to living with David and the children, as seen when David's family come and disturb the nice routine Vicky has which makes her flustered and causes her to make decisions that aren't always wise. Did she kill Anna? Did David? Dun dun DUN!!!!
Sorry, couldn't resist! Of course I am not going to tell you the answer - it would obviously spoil the plot more than alittle, and you really do need to read both timelines to understand the truth, which is a shocker. This is firmly on my reread shelf because of how much I like Vicky, despite her faults, and dislike Anna, because of how mean she is, and feel sorry for David too. So go read it! You won't regret it.
Find out more from Dawn on her social media:
Twitter: @DGoodwinAuthor
Facebook: @DGoodwinAuthor
Suggested read
For another single father tale check out Fatal Option by Chris Beaky (Thriller, 10E/10E)
Novel Extract: Best Friends Forever Chapter 2
Vicky felt nervous as she rang
the doorbell, which was silly because this house had been her second home for
so long. But that was when Anna still lived in it. Vicky had known David a long
time, but you could count on one hand the occasions they’d spent time alone.
She’d seen him at the funeral, of course. Not that she
could remember much about it. She’d self-medicated with vodka in order to get
through it. But she had been struck by how broken David had looked and she
hadn’t known what to do with that. She wasn’t entirely sure what she had
expected. He’d always been such a physical presence before, so to see him
decimated, like an empty husk, had been a shock. Then her focus had shifted to
Lewis and Harper, wide-eyed in their sombre, stiff outfits chosen specially for
the occasion, and he had fallen out of her consciousness.
After that, it became harder to call him, ask him how
he was, take that first step of reconnecting, especially as she was quietly
battling with the gaping hole left in her own life. Anna had been her constant
companion since they were thirteen years old, their only time apart being the
university years when Anna had gone off to make something of herself (and meet
David) while Vicky stayed behind and watched, an eyewitness to Anna’s much more
exciting and privileged life. In those days, she had hoped that Anna would
return to her; this time she knew without a doubt that she wouldn’t.
The only reason she had texted David last week was
because the gnawing ache inside her couldn’t be ignored any more. She needed to
maintain a connection to Anna somehow because without that, she felt like she
was falling into a hole that she couldn’t claw her way out of, so she’d sent a
tentative text. He hadn’t replied straightaway and she had tried not to read
too much into it. But of course, she had analysed it endlessly, kicked herself
for being too forward. The usual.
His reply came the next day. A simple message:
We’re okay. Kids
would love to see you. David
She’d replied suggesting the following weekend when
she didn’t have the dirt of a workday on her skin and they didn’t have the
weight of school hanging over them.
And here she stood, her shaky knees clad in clean
jeans that hung a little looser thanks to the most effective diet there is: grief.
Anna would be pleased at that at least. Vicky’s hand hesitated over the
doorbell, then she squared her shoulders, adjusted the heavy bag in her hand
and pressed the buzzer.
The house next door had a Team GB flag attached to
the aerial of their car. It flapped and twisted with the rise and fall in the
breeze. Olympics fever was starting to grow, even though the opening ceremony
was still weeks away. Vicky wasn’t all that interested and figured the
excitement would peter out before long.
The door was flung open almost immediately by Harper,
who rushed at her legs with force.
‘Hey, Bug! Wow, I’ve missed you! You okay?’
Vicky dropped the bag to the floor and knelt down to hug her back. As she
released her, she felt a smaller body climb onto her back. ‘Lou-Lou! There you
are!’ Lewis hugged her tightly around the neck, threatening to cut off her air
supply, but she didn’t mind at all. She felt her heart lift a notch for the
first time in a month as pure love flooded through her for her godchildren.
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