Phenomenal read!  Fast paced,, ripped from the headlines feel. The pages fly by as you are gripped in the drama unfolding for this circle of friends. The twists and turns keep you wondering until the very end!

This is a book full of twisted secrets and surprises. Nothing is as it seems.

Ali thought she had a great marriage and great friends. But at a college reunion she hosts at her home, her best friend accuses her husband of rape. Ali, who volunteers at a women's shelter, knows that women rarely make false claims of rape, yet she also can't believe that her husband would do such a thing. Soon, decades-long secrets are exposed, a traumatic event from the past comes back into the forefront, and everything has changed.

Ali is a complex, interesting character. I can't imagine what I would think if I was in a similar situation, and I understood her desire to believe both her husband and her best friend. 

The characters all have weaknesses and strengths. None of them are one-dimensional. I didn't expect most of the twists (in fact I thought I saw a few coming, but they were red herrings). I found this to be an engrossing story that gripped me from the first few pages. I definitely recommend it.

What an amazing read!

There is something so appealing about books that feature friendship, especially of the long established kind and so Claire McGowan was already onto a winner with this one featuring six friends born out of the time they had spent at Oxford.  One of them, Ali, decides to throw a party and the six turn up but then the party atmosphere turns much, much darker with an accusation made that will change their perception of everything forever.

I loved this book being instantly drawn into the tale. The characters are well-drawn in shades of grey with the circle of six increased by their offspring who include an eighteen year old and a fifteen year old. Each character was realistic in thoughts and deeds. The premise was great and the writer certainly excelled in execution.

What You Did is definitely up there among my favourite reads of 2019.

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!

Six friends attended Oxford together, and 25 years later, they have a mini-reunion.  Alison and Mike, Jodi and Callum, Karen, and Bill. Two couples are married, Karen, Alison's best friend, is unmarried and flirty.  Alison works on the board of a refuge for women attacked by men. Alison and Mike are married, but Ali has always wondered what would have happened if she had gotten together with Bill and not stood up for Mike all those years earlier.  Jodi and Callum are expecting their first child at age 43. 

The friends gather at Ali and Mike's home and proceed to get drunk and some even get high.  Ali is awakened at 3 am, and is stunned when her best friend, Karen, comes in the house screaming that she was raped.  Ali's life is turned upside down when secrets about all of the friendships come to light.  

I was interested in finding out who raped Karen, and was shocked to read of all the indiscretions and hurt the friends caused each other over the years.  I thought the author did a nice job keeping the reader guessing and tied it up nicely at the end, with a surprising chill to the bones about what some people will do to cover for others to get what they want.  

#WhatYouDid #ClaireMcGowan #NetGalley

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview What you Did by Claire McGowan.
This is a dramatic book, and it felt like a "movie of the week" quite frankly.
The scenerio - a reunion - an assault - an accusation - Devistation!
Good book and will keep the reader engaged to find out what happened.  The characters are difficult to like, but that's real life isn't it!
3.5 stars.

WOW - such an incredible tale of the aftermath of a drunken party. Six college friends, now in their 40s get together for a weekend at Mike and Ali's house, when one of the very drunk guests is raped in the garden. Throughout the book the reader is made aware of the death of a women back in college days, and of the mystery that surrounded her passing. This story loops around both events. I was spellbound throughout my reading and was surprised by the very satisfying ending.

I recommend this book to all who love a good mystery!

This was a really engaging read.  I enjoyed the story and how the flashbacks to college were woven into the story.  The whole time I was guessing who the perpetrator was and did not see the ending coming at all.  The author did a great job of keeping the reader on their toes and telling the story from multiple perspectives.  I usually do not like books with alternating perspectives, but in this book, with each character perspective,  the story became more and more developed and engaging.

My thanks to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing for a copy of “What you did “ by Claire McGowan.

I found this a decent enough read and it kept me guessing to the end . Unfortunately I didn’t much care for any of the characters, and I was right with how I thought the book would finish.
Not a bad read but a pretty run of the mill thriller, so I’ve given an average score of 3 stars

Suspense, This story grabbed me from the beginning and kept me on the edge of my seat through some crazy twists and turns. When a group of middle aged college friends and their families get together for a  casual reunion there's conversation , reminiscing and laughter and too much alcohol.  Things get crazy when one of the women accuses another  friend of raping her  at the party.    The accused is Mike. But his wife Ali is best friends with  the  accuser. The story is told told through Alliso'spoint  of view. As the story unfolds I learned more about Ali'- and Mike and their university days. And the death of a student both Mike and Allison knew when they were students.  Facts  about each character are slowly revealed as the story is told blending  the present with past.  Everyone has  a secret, and they  are destructive.   Eventually, the past and present implode into  a shocking  conclusion.  Great characters and an excellent suspense plot. This story grabbed me from the beginning and kept me on the edge of my seat through some crazy twists and turns. When a group of middle aged college friends and their families get together for a  casual reunion there's conversation , reminiscing and laughter and too much alcohol.  Things get crazy when one of the women accuses another  friend of raping her  at the party.    The accused is Mike. But his wife Ali is best friends with  the  accuser. The story is told told through Alliso'spoint  of view. As the story unfolds I learned more about Ali'- and Mike and their university days. And the death of a student both Mike and Allison knew when they were students.  Facts  about each character are slowly revealed as the story is told blending  the present with past.  Everyone has  a secret, and they  are destructive.   Eventually, the past and present implode into  a shocking  conclusion.  Great characters and an excellent suspense plot. This story grabbed me from the beginning and kept me on the edge of my seat through some crazy twists and turns. When a group of middle aged college friends and their families get together for a  casual reunion there's conversation , reminiscing and laughter and too much alcohol.  Things get crazy when one of the women accuses another  friend of raping her  at the party.    The accused is Mike. But his wife Ali is best friends with  the  accuser. The story is told told through Alliso'spoint  of view. As the story unfolds I learned more about Ali'- and Mike and their university days. And the death of a student both Mike and Allison knew when they were students.  Facts  about each character are slowly revealed as the story is told blending  the present with past.  Everyone

I thought I had read a book by McGowan previously but I don't recognise any of the other titles nor the writing style so I think I must be mistaken. What I do know is that I will absolutely read another book by this author.

Set in upper-middle class suburbia the characters in this book are old uni chums who all seem to have their own lives apart from each other. Until there is a shocking betrayal that rips apart the lives of most of the characters who appear in this book. From a victim misbelieved because of their lifestyle choice to another whose perfect life is falling apart to another who has sat on the periphery and is so close to getting everything they have ever wanted. Everyone has their secrets that are unravelled by one fateful night.

I really enjoyed this book. It was clever without being hard work. As with most psychological thrillers the truth is not what it first appears to be, in fact there are multiple truths uncovered as the story unfolds, some of which are life ruining and others life changing. 

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advance reading copy. I would rate this book 8/10.

I think this may be my favourite read this year. It was gripping and fast-moving, with sympathy being given to a multitude of contrasting characters. I would highly recommend this book.

Ali, a female rights activist, and her husband, Mike, established solicitor, invite close friends Bill, Karen, Jodi and Callum from their university days to a 25 year get together at their London home.  After a night of reminiscing and much drinking of alcohol Ali and pregnant Jodi retire to bed leaving Karen, Mike and Callum to carry on their evening.  Hours later Karen crashes into the kitchen after been violently attacked and declares that Mike has raped her.  Mike denied any wrong doing.  Who do you believe your best friend or your husband.

As the story unfolds you realise none of these people are nice and all have their own secrets and agendas.  Well worth a read!

Many thanks to the publishers and netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of What You Did by Claire McGowan.

Ali is thrilled to have some of her best and longest friends all under the same roof again.  But everything crashes to a terrible halt when her best friend accuses her husband of rape.  Being an advocate of battered and assaulted women, Ali is confronted with the tug of wanting to defend her husband, while also believing her friend, who is also a clear victim.

Despite how difficult the subject matter is, I really appreciate books like this.  They shine a lot of important topics and on the fact that NOTHING is ever cut and dry.   Even though the ending was a bit underwhelming, I thought this book was very well done, and would be fantastic for a book club.

It was suppose to be so much fun. A reunion weekend for 6 university best friends, but when Karen stumbles into the house bleeding and claiming to have been viciously attacked by Ali’s husband Mike all hell breaks loose. Everyone seems to have different accounts of what happened. Who should Ali believe, because someone is lying, but who? 
Although I found this book a touch confusing at the beginning because a lot of characters were introduced very quickly I found it very entertaining. The chapters weren’t too long and everything was wrapped up nicely and I wasn’t able to fully figure out the whodunit before the end. Definitely worth checking out!

The premise of this novel was promising enough that I gave it a try. It started off as promised, a reunion 20 years after graduating from Oxford amongst six friends. One was assaulted by the end of the night, with the shadow of a dark secret that happened on graduation night 20 years ago hanging over them, who dunnit? The story was told mainly from the point of view of Ali, the wife of the alleged perpetrator and then intertwined with all the other players as the story slowly unfolds. This means, besides Ali, all the other characters did not really have a chance to develop or their sides of the story told properly. But despite having the main focus, Ali felt two dimensional and the reasons given why she did what she did just felt unbelievable and bland. The big reveal was quite predictable and the ending was hasty. 
Was What You Did as good as it's hyped up to be? Not really. Was it really bad? It's not so bad that I want to put it in the DNF pile. 

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For some reason I find books that are in part about fractured friendship groups being brought back together really fascinating. What You Did is based around a pretty horrifying situation. We mainly follow Ali, whose best friend accuses Ali’s husband of raping her. It is an unthinkable thing to consider and the ramifications of this accusation shape the rest of the book.

There is a lot going on in this book. The relationships between all these characters are convoluted and more complex than they first appear. The reader also gets to hear different points of view which further dirties the water and calls into question just what is going on. I think What You Did started off pretty well and had me intrigued rather quickly. I also think it brings up the crucially important issue of acquaintance rape which is not something often spoken about, and awareness is always a good thing.

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.

Despite not loving certain aspects I have to admit I did still found What You Did very readable. It’s a bit of a hit or miss in my opinion. There were some interesting plot points which hooked me in but there was too much that didn’t quite work for me to really love it.

The most intense start to a book! From the opening chapter, I was hooked and just couldn't wait to unravel the truth. Ali has to decide between her best friend and her husband, and I found myself questioning what I would do if I was in the same situation. I found Ali to be quite likeable and I really felt for her at times, I think all of the characters were well developed and despite there been several people the story centered around, it was never confusing. I like that this jumped from past to present as it meant we could get a clear picture of Mike and Ali's past and friendship with the group. What You Did is full of lies, deceit and betrayal, and I loved it. My kind of thriller

As with my previous review where I suggested that going on holiday with your closest friends and their families might possibly not be the best idea, similarly here, a reunion weekend with your besties from college, with all your family et al in tow – over 20 years on – is probably not going to work out to be the jolly get together you were expecting.

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?

Things start to go wrong almost immediately when Mike mixes the rooms up, and Karen’s surly son (father unknown, never disclosed) wants to sleep in his tent in the garden!). And it goes downhill from there with the adults degenerating to a level around about that of the average college student. Imbibing as much alcohol as they can possibly manage … and then some, and then moving on to narcotics. As one does when your children are hanging around somewhere in the vicinity, liable to be watching, recording every move in order to bribe you with it at some later stage. But I digress – this doesn’t move in that direction!

At some point before the drugs come out, Ali and Jodi decide to call it a night. But then, a while later, while everyone is in a bit of a stupour, not knowing where they are or what time it is, there is screaming and Karen comes stumbling inside claiming she’s been raped … by Mike, Ali’s husband. If Ali thought that incorrect room assignments were the worst of her problems, she’s about to be mistaken!

The author then proceeds to lead her readers on a rather clever, merry dance into the past as we see how the relationships between these 6 ‘friends’ actually started and evolved into what exists today. Between groups of people, especially when men and women are involved, the balance is never equal. There’s always someone who’s weaker and someone else who holds the power – who these people are might differ over time as circumstances change, but it all boils down to who needs something from the others. It’s intriguing to delve into this tangled web and discover where the power lies.

An absorbing 4 star read!

“I didn’t know what to say, and so I left, feeling deeply ashamed of the person I’d become. Or maybe it was even worse than that. Maybe I’d been like this all along.”

What You Did has a familiar sounding premise... a group of old friends reunited, a shocking event happens, flashbacks to 
a university ball twenty-five years earlier where something else terrible happened (has there ever been a fictional university ball where something terrible didn’t happen?). I feel like I’ve read several books where the plot sounds very similar to that; however, What You Did feels a bit different and is very well executed.

Karen stumbles in from the garden of her old friend Ali’s house, distraught and traumatised. She’s been raped - and the man she accuses is Ali’s husband. And right there, everything changes for everybody.

This plot line could go badly wrong in the wrong hands, but I feel it’s sensitively and responsibly handled. Ali’s confusion and grief are utterly believable - she knows Karen, she knows women rarely lie about rape, but she also knows her husband - who can she believe? Trying to make sense of what’s happened and find an explanation she can live with, Ali finds herself thinking and acting in ways she can’t quite believe. 

Although we see the story mainly from Ali’s viewpoint, the lasting, devastating effect on Karen isn’t downplayed either. Then there are the other, secondary victims - Karen’s teenage son, Ali’s son and daughter, who are affected in different ways. 

Where does the truth lie?

An excellent and thought-provoking read which I’m not convinced even necessarily needed the historic-terrible-thing-at-university-ball plot thread in order to work - but it doesn’t do any harm to have it there, either. Recommended.

*RANT ALERT*

During the story, one of the characters tells Ali, the lead character, that shes a f*cking idiot, they got that spot on!

All the way through I just wanted to shout out the same.

I truly tried to empathise with the characters and be open minded as I felt it had real potential but this was a real rough struggle to get through. 

Dont get me wrong, it hits on some real tough hard hitting subjects with rape, deceit and delusions but OMG do the characters really have to act so damn stupid all the time.

A big fat no from me...