Holy smokes! This book had a lot of twists and turns. It did get a bit tedious and dragged at times, but WOW. 
Six friends get together for a reunion of sorts. The night is filled with laughter and drinking. Several hours later, in the dead of night, Karen comes running in, screaming that she'd been raped by her friend Mike, Ali's husband. In a bit of irony, Ali volunteers at a women's shelter, advocating for women who are sexually and physically abused. Does Ali stick by her husband, or her best friend Karen?

What ensues is a twisting tale of previous misdeeds as we learn that all the characters have their secrets-including the children.

This novel was wonderfully written, delving deep into the characters lives. A definite page turner to add to your collection.

🌟🌟🌟.💫/5  rounded up to 4. I've been thinking about this rating for a few days now as I was torn...

6 University friends gather together after 25 years. A few head to bed, a few stay up and continue the party. When various reasons pull the 6 out of bed early in the morning, Ali's best friend Karen stumbles into the kitchen claiming that Ali's husband, Mike raped her. To throw an extra twist into an already complicated situation Ali is a rape and assault advocate for a non-profit. Who does she believe? What really happened that night? DRAMA. 

The first half of this book was AMAZING. I was hooked. It covered some really difficult topics perfectly and I actually enjoyed how the author made the main character (Ali) unlikeable. Unfortunately as the book progressed it got a little boring and I was a little unsure of where the end was going to go. The ending was underwhelming and I think could have taken so many other/better directions. 

Overall, I did appreciate the difficult topics covered- rape, sexting gone wrong, martial issues, and fertility. It showed real life, how far people can go, and how crazy they really seem, in an attempt to keep sameness and safeness in ones life. But with that said, the second half of the book I just didn't jive with... hence the 3.5. 

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an E Copy of this book.

This was an excellent book which starts out quite simply with a reunion of university friends from Oxford but this quickly spirals out of control with the assault and rape of one of the party. This was story telling and writing at its best as it delves deeper and deeper into those early heady days as wayward students  25 years ago. Just before reading this I read the latest book by Nicci French, The Lying Room, which starts out in a slightly similar vein but nowhere hits the highs and lows of this book, this over shadowed it by miles. Just when you thought the mystery was solved another variable appeared, on and on until you thought you knew everything there was to know about each of the close friends. Right until the last moment, new revelations that shocked and surprised appeared again and again.about those in the frame for Karen's assault and also the truth about Jodie's baby and her marriage not forgetting, the death of the haunting and beautiful Martha. Wound further into this is Mike's ultimate betrayal regarding Jake and the woes of being a teenager in today's social media challenged society where girls are badgered into having sex. . A brilliant read I highly recommend. Loved the character of Bill so  much.

This was such a good book. Could not put it down when I started reading it. The way the characters inter-twine with each other and work off of each other is magic. I really enjoyed this book and hope she has more soon.

I really enjoyed this book but found some of the characters difficult to connect with. Some good twists but not sure the overall premise is believable.  Well written and compelling enough to read to end but the finale was a bit of a let down.

I really love books like this one. Reunion of friends and lots of secrets and mystery. This book was so good that I read it in one night. I couldn't put it down. Great characters and great story.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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?
At times like this everything valued seems meaningless and you become stranger to yourself.  
This is the sort of book you wont want to put down even to write a few words for a review.  I found most of the characters unreliable, couldnt warm to any of them and even felt annoyed by one or two.  Far from putting me off it just seemed to add to my enjoyment.  I guess there isn’t any rule to say we HAVE to live the characters and I suspected this might have been a deliberate act by the writer.  Also at times I could feel the emotional undercurrents between them.  It also made me think how tragedy can draw people closer or fracture their relationships forever.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the book in return for an honest review.

Wow what a great book!  This started with a reunion of six college friends who had not seen each other in twenty-five years.  The party started out fine but things quickly went awry.  Ali the main character  was naive and didn't have a clue about so much that had been happening right under her nose for years. It seems everyone has something to hide!  The author did a great job of creating scenarios to through us off track about who the real culprit was. I was very surprised to the very last page which ,to me, is the definition of a great read.
I definitely recommend this one .It is five stars for me.

"What You Did" by Claire McGowan follows the story of a group of university friends who are reuniting after 20 years. University boyfriend and girlfriend and now well-off married couple Ali and Mike are hosting the reunion dinner in the beautiful family home they share with their son and daughter and Ali can't wait to show off her perfect life to her old friends - particularly her one-time best friend Karen. 
Following a night filled with food, drink and reminiscing Ali retires to bed leaving several of the guests to carry on the party but wakes during the night to discover Karen bleeding and hysterical and making a shocking accusation of rape against Mike. Mike vehemently denies this accusation and Ali's perfect life is suddenly blown apart and she finds herself torn between her husband and her best friend.
I absolutely loved this book and found myself completely engrossed. I particularly enjoyed the flashbacks to the groups' university days which delved into the relationships in more detail and the tragic death of a fellow student.
I found it impossible to guess at the ending as there are many twists, turns and red herrings along the way and the writing style absolutely flowed for me.
This was a 5 star read for me and huge thanks to Netgalley, publishers and the author for the review copy - a thoroughly brilliant read!

“What You Did” by Claire McGowan 

What’s it about: University friends get together for a reunion and chaos ensues. The main character named Ali is shocked to learn that her husband is accused of sexually-assaulting her best friend. She tries to discover the shocking truth about what really happened. 

What I liked about this book: This book has two narratives-the current situation and the backstory about the characters when they attended university. This split narrative is interesting and gives insights into the characters. I also liked that the book has some commentary about class and what it means to believe victims of assault.

What I disliked: The book starts off strong and gets slow in the middle. It picks up in the ending but overall the ending was rather average. I also found some of the characters one-dimensional. Some people found the main character unlikeable, but I didn’t. 

Overall impression: 3/5 stars it wasn’t bad but not overly good. There are some amazing thrillers out there and this is middle of the road.

This is the first book I've read by Claire McGowan and I found it a gripping read. I would give it 4.5/5 stars. It takes you back to time at University and how decisions made amid youth and alcohol and lust can stay with you forever, even when you think it's far behind you. The book moves between 1993 and present day and gradually the secrets are revealed. The ending was a real twist and left me with a strong dislike for two of the characters I hadn't given much thought to! I will definitely be looking out for other books by this author.

Ali and her husband Mike are having an anniversary party with their old university friends. They are celebrating knowing them for 25 years, staying up late drinking and reminiscing about the past. They are awoken by Karen who is Ali’s best friend crying that she was raped by Mike.

Ali is stuck between a rock and a hard place as she wants to believe her husband is innocent but why would her friend lie? 

The story goes back to when all the friends met at Oxford University, leading up to the ball where a tragedy occurs and secrets are kept. 

The reunion party is told from different people’s prospectives and you come to realise their friendship is woven together with lies and secrets, just like Pandora’s box being opened, once these secrets are revealed the consequence can be fatal!!

Although this book deals with the subject of rape I thought it was written in a sensitive way. The fact that Ali had worked with people who had been victims of an attack and had supported this women to testify, gave the book a different angle as Ali has to chose between supporting her husband or her best friend. 

Read this practically in 1 sitting. The tension kept building throughout and I was desperate to find out who and why was Karen attacked. This had me on the edge of my seat with goosebumps. 

The ending was quite unexpected and made me race back to the party to see if I had missed any clues!! 

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

So good !  An excellent thriller. Keeps you on the edge of your seat right until the very end. A must read for all lovers of mystery and suspense. #buythebook

I really enjoyed this book and was surprised by the ending. It was a really easy read and hooked me from the start. I really liked all of the characters and liked the chapters set in the past. So many things happened in this book which helped to keep me interested. It was a real page turner and very well written. I felt really sorry for Karen and it was an impossible situation for Ali to be in. I developed an emotional attachment to the characters and was desperate to know what had happened. This book is the perfect read for all thriller lovers and I definitely recommend it!

A brilliant book. A real thriller that had me guessing all the way through. Fast paced and a realistic story I really enjoyed this book. I couldn’t put it down and read it in one evening. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

Wow! Another great read by this author.This one kept me guessing until the end.  Keep up the good work Claire McGowan!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
 
I couldn’t put this book down. The twists and turns kept me guessing throughout the entire book and I wavered back and forth a lot on who was responsible for the crimes. I found Ali to be a bit infuriating and Mike completely unlikeable but I still enjoyed the plot. Parts of it seemed extremely far-fetched but I don’t know a lot about the legal process in that part of the world.

It was a perfect reunion six of them together .
After twenty years Host Ali has the wonderful family with her husband Mike .
But Karen staggers in from the garden traumatised she claims to be assaulted about Mike , 
I had an ARC from Thomas Mercer

Wow what a rollercoaster read!! Starting with a reunion of 6 Uni friends after 25 years hosted by Ali and Mike, all is going well until Karen stumbles in bruised saying Mike has raped her, he is arrested and we are left to wonder right until the end what really happened that night. 
Going between past and present we build a picture up of their lives, the lies, the betrayals. 
I really didn't see that ending coming!!

I liked this book, but only for the twist at the end. I found Ali extremely irritating, not for her kind heart which is apparent throughout the book but for her need for everything to be perfect, at times I would be talking to Ali to make her aware to stop worrying about how her house looks, or how her perfect life seemed to others. I liked this book because it made me guessing who the 'bad guy' was until the very end, as I find in some books you get an idea towards the middle end of the book, so a fantastic ending. My only criticism is that I felt the epilogue of the story wound up to quickly, there were unanswered questions... what happened with Bill and Ali, what happened with Jake did he survive? A fantastic book, which lead me to want to read more of Claire McGowan's other books.