The Diary by Vikki Patis

Lauren and Hannah have been friends since they were small children. As teens they call each other sisters so when a secret threatens the friendship and one of them dies, it affects the other so much she moves away. Now after 10 years, there is a memorial back home for the one who died and the secret disclosed in a diary threatens to tear a community apart.

The book has a great premise but falls short with a lack of suspense, pace was slow and I never felt vested in the characters. It was a predictable read that even while I wasn’t vested in the story I did finish it. I would recommend it to fans of mystery as it is a mystery just very slow to get there.

I would also read other works by this author even though this one didn’t work for me.

Rating 3
Linda C.

Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

Rounded up from 3.5

Another book that has been on my TBR for too long!

The Diary is a slow burn psychological thriller, all about secrets and how they can eat away at you if you hang onto them for too long.

The story goes back and forth between the present and ten years in the past following Lauren facing up to things that happened in the past and secrets which have been kept bottled up for the last ten years.

The characters really made this story. Realistic yet extremely flawed and mostly unlikeable.
I really felt for Lauren throughout the story and enjoyed seeing her journey from guilt-ridden and ashamed to the strong person she really is.

The past storyline took me back to my own teen years, reminding me how horrible people can be at that age. Hannah was an especially hard to like character and through most of the story, I really didn't understand Lauren's affection for her. One minute she'd be loving, the next cruel. When Hannah's entire backstory comes out, it makes her actions a lot more understandable.

The book tackles tough subjects like bullying, suicide and sexual assault, so if these are triggers for you, I'd be careful going into this book even though the author handles them with care.

As I said earlier, it was slow burn, at times a little too slow burn for my liking, but of course, that's just my opinion.

The Diary is a thought-provoking debut that was both realistic and compelling.

Very enjoyable read intriguing plot that kept you guessing right until the end
Would read another book by the same author

I really liked this author and this book did not disappoint, it was an appropriately paced, page-turner that will have me hooked throughout the story.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Diary by Vikki Patis.

This is a story of Lauren who lost Hannah, her best friend, when she was eighteen. Lauren has since left town, but Hannah's ten year memorial pulls her back home, and into the mystery of what caused Hannah to flee. But Lauren comes across an old diary of Hannah's that is full of cryptic clues that may uncover what happened to Hannah.

This was soooo hard to get through. I didn't really like the characters, the story was muddled and slow, it just wasn't fun to read.

I really liked this author and this book did not disappoint, it was an appropriately paced, page turner that will have me hooked throughout the story.

Lauren probably should not have come home but she did because Hannah's been dead for 10 years. But there's a diary and lots of secrets are about to tumble out. This has a familiar theme but it's elevated by the characters. A good read.

This was a thrilling read by one of my favorite authors. It was gripping from beginning to end, but I would really advise it for more for the YA market. Recommended.

The Diary by Vikki Patis is a psychological thriller that digs for the secrets of the past. The story involves a teen suicide years before and flashes between the current and past to slowly build what happened all those years ago.

Such a great book. Makes for a wonderful read. I can not wait to read more from this author. I love books like this.

A very tense, claustrophobic psychological thriller. It's always nice to find a new author that you enjoy, and I look forward to reading more of her work.

Secrets, lies this book if full of it. I loved the plot. At times the book was a bit repetitive. The thing that suprised me the most was that the book is titled "The diary" when a diary has no part in the story at all. Im not saying I didnt like the book , I still did.

Very addictive read could not put it down. It was fast paced and I was desperate to get to the end to find out the secrets. Great thriller

It was really hard to get into this book. I didn't feel like I needed to keep reading, and so I didn't want to and it took me a long time to read this one.

So i'm not sure why this was called 'the diary' considering there actually wasn't that much emphasis on the diary. Anywho - i was really bored and unfortunately tuned out early on this one.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a good modern thriller which I enjoyed. The story has a lot of twists and turns and held my interest.

Two girls as close as sisters, with secrets. One dies and the other one is heart broken. Then secrets come out .
The two girls had friends and they all knew secrets about each other.
This was a silly story sorry not for me.

‘The Diary’ is a psychological thriller, centred around one of the main protagonists, Lauren, finding the old diary of Hannah, a school friend who passed away ten years ago. Reuniting for the tenth anniversary of Hannah’s death, the group of old school friends soon uncovers the lies Hannah left behind. This could have been a psychological thriller full of suspense and shocking discoveries, but it was such a slow-burner that it didn’t really have the desired effect. The premise of the plot was promising, but the execution not so much. The book could have been so much shorter than it was.

The diary was one-part psychological thriller and one-part women’s fiction, dealing with serious topics like sexual assault, bullying, and suicide. To my surprise, I enjoyed the serious subject matter more than the thriller portion, which is why I initially picked up the book! I was invested in seeing the story unfolds between the girls, how they got from then to now, and really enjoyed the overall message of sisterhood that sort of developed by the end.

**Thanks to Netgalley for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review.