I enjoyed this book, but I wouldn't say that I loved it. It was definitely a page turner, every time I turned around I was like "can I read?!" But on the other hand, the characters were frustrating to relate to, and enjoy. While I don't necessarily need to love every character I'm introduced to, I actually feel annoyed by these.

Ali has the perfect life.  A beautiful new house, a great career, and a happy marriage to her college sweetheart.  She reflects on her perfect life as she prepares to host a reunion for four other college friends.  But what starts off as a happy reunion turns into Ali's worst nightmare.  She wakes up the next morning to her best friend accusing of being raped.  Not only was she raped at Ali's house, her friend accuses Ali's husband of the horrific crime, which forces Ali to choose between her best friend and her husband. 

What You Did forces Ali to take a closer look at herself and the relationships with those closest to her.  This involves her reliving her university days, seeing them outside of her rose-colored glasses.  Claire McGowan seamlessly transitioned between present and past and truly brought the characters to life.  No detail was left overlooked, and it really made me think how I would react if I were Ali.  A must read!

Four stars for What You Did by Claire McGowan. I expected this to be a middle-of-the-road, forgettable thriller. I was extremely surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It was a page turner that I flew through in about a day. 

Ali’s picture perfect life in suburbia is shattered when her college friends come to visit for a 25th reunion party. Before the end of the night, her best friend has been raped and her husband stands accused. Ali’s loyalties are divided between her family and the truth. 

McGowan makes a very smart decision in having Ali be the victim of past domestic abuse and a volunteer at a battered women’s shelter - it allows Ali to grapple with feelings from all points of view - how should she feel and how does she feel; how should she react and how does she react; who should she believe and who does she believe. It’s all very compelling while under woven with some underlying mystery and a few (sometimes outlandish) twists and turns.

Absolutely incredible best book I have read this year it had me gripped from start to finish it makes you questions all the answers you would have in those circumstances it makes u question ur own beliefs I could relate to each character and I was interested in all of these sides to the story the ending is fantastic and it’s not what you expect at all

What You Did by Claire McGowan is a thriller, and my first book by this author.  Wow this book has more twists and turns, which kept me reading.  It has some really messed up parts, but isn't that usually part of a thriller.  I will be reading more books by this author.  I recommend this book for people who enjoyed thrillers and are not put off by rape and domestic abuse.

I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you.

An excellent thriller which centres around the reunion party of 6 old friends.  One of the girls is raped at this party and this sets the scene for the story.  What follows next is the aftermath of this assault.  This is a well thought out story which deals with a difficult subject.  Secrets and lies are uncovered which makes it a compelling read.  The chapters are short which makes it easy to dip in and out of.  All in all a a highly enjoyable read.

Thank you to the author, publishers and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What You Did by Claire McGowan will keep you guessing up until the final page.  This is a compelling read about a crime that threatens to tear a group of friends apart.

Ali and husband Mike are hosting a twenty-fifth reunion weekend for a small group of their friends from Oxford.  But things take a very dark turn when Ali's best friend Karen accuses Mike of raping her in the garden after the rest of the group has retired for the evening.  Not only is the act, and the following accusation, horrific, but secrets that have long been hidden within the group begin to come to the surface, specifically details surrounding the mysterious death of a fellow student.  The group begin to question not only their friends, but also themselves in a way that they have never done before.  How well do we really know those in our inner circle, and what are we willing to conceal under the guise of friendship?

This is an intriguing whodunit, and I found myself tearing through the pages to uncover the truth.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for this ARC.

A solid, sad, psychological thriller that will hook you from the first page. A great choice for book clubs!

This was a wonderful weekend read. I couldn't wait to get back to it whenever I had to go and do something else, and that says something about the writer. Claire McGowan knows how to keep up the suspense until the very end.  The plot twists and turns as more details from the past emerge, leaving the reader wondering how the whole thing will end.  
I liked the way McGowan revealed more and more about the characters and why they behaved the way they did as the story progressed, and I found that much of the story is understood in retrospect.  
I look forward to reading more by Claire McGowan.
With thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC.

What You Did is an excellent thriller based around 6 old uni friends Ali and Mike,Jodi and Callum and Karen and lastly Bill,they all meet up at Karen and Mike's home one weekend but things take a nasty turn when Karen staggers in from the garden crying that Mike has just raped her.What follows is a well written thriller where once best friends become enemies and a secret that has been kept between the 6 of them for 25 years ago at uni comes tumbling out and marriages start to crumble in the whole messy process.The story is told in flashbacks to their uni days and although i found it dragged a little in the middle it still held my interest till the end which was a surprise.An excellent 4 star read.

A fantastic read that begins straight away from page 1.. The story is based upon 6 friends that met 25 years while at Oxford University and are having a reunion at Ali and Mike’s home. The characters all have distinct characters and Claire brings them all alive perfectly. An amazing thriller that kept me guessing all the way as to who was responsible for the rape, what had it to do with the murder of Martha 25 years ago and what was the motive behind everything going on.  I love the character of Ali and felt very sorry for her and although she made silly decisions I could fully understand her motives. What put the icing on the cake was the twist at the end that was so unexpected.
Great book and I look forward to reading more of this type of book from Claire in the future as she has a great skill .

A group of friends get together for only the second time since they graduated from Oxford University. The last time they saw each other at university a girl was raped and murdered. This time at their 25 year reunion Karen, one of the group, is raped and strangled, although she fortunately survives. Is all as it seems? All of the group have their secrets and hold their cards close to their chest. Told mainly from the view point of Ali, the hostess of the party, but occasionally swapping to the view points of others in the story, this book moves along at a nice pace. There are various twists and turns which do not seem outside of the realm of possibility, although there are times I'd like to question Ali for her reasons for acting in a certain way. A good book. Recommended. I'll be looking to read others by McGowan.

#WhatYouDid. #NetGalley
This story pulled me in on page one as the 25th college reunion of six friends ends with a rape. The assault, described in all its brutality, occurred in the lush gardens of the hostess, Ali and her husband’s home. The victim, Karen, is one of the guests, but the truth about the event doesn’t come out until the surprise ending of the book. 
The characters are all well developed. Ali is a naive woman who wants  everything in her world to be beautiful and perfect. This assault doesn’t fit into her life style. And as the rape is described, in all it’s brutality, Ali’s life turns upside down. But future events and truths that are revealed makes her world get even darker! Karen, who is far from perfect, made me feel sorry for her, and for other reasons than the assault. I found that I was sympathetic towards some of the other  characters, but was also repulsed by some. 
The truth of that eventful night and past lies covering 25 years slowly emerge among many twists and turns in the story.  I thought I had it all figured out a couple of times, but soon discovered how wrong I was.!  Overall, I enjoyed the book, but felt it was a little slow at times. I still consider it a good book, well worth the read  and gave it  four stars. I also would recommend it to those who love mysteries with shocker endings. 
Many thanks to the author, Claire McGowan, to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I didn’t dislike this book, but there were no likable characters which made it extremely difficult to care or empathize with any of the major players in the story. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44107392

This story centres around the 25 year reunion of six college/university friends, two teenagers and a 10 year old child.

The night starts well with a meal, reminiscing about old times but as the drinks start to flow half of the party can't keep up the pace and retire to bed.

Several hours later, in the early hours, Karen comes running in, screaming that she's been attacked by Ali's husband, Mike. The irony is that Ali volunteers at a women's shelter, advocating for women who are sexually and physically abused. Who will Ali stick by, her husband, or her best friend Karen? Will she go against her own beliefs?

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.

What really went on in the garden that night and will their lives ever be the same.

This thriller had a few twists throughout but I did guess quite early on who was to blame but I couldn't really put it together so it still kept me guessing. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book although I'm not sure that I really warmed to the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy in return for an honest review.

A big Thank you to @amazonpublishing, Thomas & Mercer, & Netgalley for sending me this e-book for my honest review! My first "ARC." :)

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.

Review:  3.5 /5

What a gripping page-turner of a book! I was going back and forth on who and what really happened at college when their friend Martha was murdered. As I kept reading, I thought I had it all figured out who did what. I was SO wrong. This book just has you guessing every chapter. My gripe is that I did not like the multiple perspectives because it made the tone of the story a bit inconsistent - from Benji (10 years old) to Ali then to Karen again then back to Ali. I felt it would have been stronger with just Ali's POV to be honest. Also, I really did not care for some of these characters and possible that the author did this purposefully to make everyone feel like a suspect. Her husband and her friend: I almost wanted to scream to Ali to leave them both as she deserved so much better than what these 2 were doing to her throughout the story. It's a fast read, entertaining, and great for mystery/crime fiction lovers like me.

I thought the book was well written, however a lot of it seemed repetitive and overdrawn.  I felt like yelling at Ali at multiple points in the book.  She came from an abusive home and saw her husband, Michael, as a way to move beyond this and she was completely oblivious to him and his actions.  She could not see beyond her own needs, although this is something she ditched a relationship with her mom over.  She is looking for someone to take care of her needs in the middle of the tragedy.  I felt she came across as whiny and needy when she needed to be strong and woke.  I would like to see what else this author can write, as this just did not really reach me as a reader.

Thank you Amazon and Net Galley for an early release of this book.  Verrrrry consuming, I really liked it.  Each chapter something else was revealed. This book drew me in from the beginning and kept me there. A very good read.

Can't really rate this above ok,mainly as there doesn't seem to be a likeable character in the whole thing... I'm even discounting Bill for being pathetic.
A story of friends who don't really like each other it would seem... or if they Do,they have a funny way of showing it.
Fairly predictable up to the last page.
That gave it a nice twist.

Got pulled in right from the very first paragraph. This story shows that you don’t always know people, even your own spouse, as well as you think you do. Mike, Ali’s husband is accused of raping a mutual friend between them during a party in which all of their college friends are present. Now that he is sitting in a jail cell being interrogated, Ali tries to get to the bottom of exactly what happened between her friend Karen and her husband. The story takes a very serious turn almost immediately after all of this happens with another violent crime and I have to admit that completely floored me. Once the family skeletons start tumbling out of the closet it’s a fast ride from here on out! I kind of saw the revelation, the big one, coming near the middle  but it was still kind of unbelievable even though I’d gotten the sense that this is what had occurred. Towards the end of the book, just when I thought I knew everything a new suspect pops up, at least in MY mind. This throws everything into a spin for me as multiple people began to appear guilty of the crime. Not to mention a previous crime which had occurred back when all the characters were in college in 1993. About 90% into the book the story shifts again and brings yet another suspect to light! I feel that the author did a really good job at casting suspicion around to the different people in Ali’s social circle. At this point I really had no idea who committed this crime now or the crime that happened back in 1993. The suspense element is definitely there because now I’m itching to know who did this. So by the end of the book I’m completely blown away by all that has transpired. All in all I felt this was a really good book, and even after the people that committed the crimes were found out there were even further surprises right at the very end of the book that completely caught me off guard. What a story! I would definitely read something else by this author.