Cover Image: Who Did You Tell?

Who Did You Tell?

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Member Reviews

I was lucky enough to be chosen to receive a free copy to read in exchange for an honest review.
This is a gripping thriller that grabbed me from the beginning and held me late into the night. The characters are all relatable and most are likeable. I won't give anything away but recommend this book as a must read.
Thank you Netgalley

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There were still some surprises in this. I did work out some of it but there were enough little mysteries and red herrings to make it enjoyable.

The main character is a familiar one, an unreliable narrator. It does feel a little bit like it's s been done before (think girl on a train). The sense of place is good, setting it in a small town was perfect as the same group of people bumping into each other and becoming involved in each others lives seemed natural.

The story is a mystery and psychological thriller but also about realtionships.

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My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, for the ARC.

This is a somewhat tense, psychological, thriller. If I were watching this in film quite honestly I would find it rather boring to begin with, but it all comes together at the end.
Astrid is a recovering alcoholic - moved back to her mum's house in sleepy Flinstead having been financed by her mother to conquer her addiction. No more chances are going to come her way and she starts attending her AA meetings where she, in particular, meets Rosie - whom she regards as rather weird and over-zealous for the AA Plan, and Helen, who befriends her.
However, Astrid is haunted by a secret from her past when she drank heavily with her boyfriend Simon. Those words said within AA are meant to stay within, but Astrid fears that before Simon died - he'd Told Someone. WHO?
Astrid is a talented artist, although this had fallen by the wayside over her drunken years. She strikes-up a relationship with Josh whose father Richard owns a remarkable house nearby and is commissioned to paint a room for him.
In between fighting her ever-present desire to drink, not letting her mother have cause to doubt her sobriety, and her growing closeness to Josh, Astrid is convinced she is being watched - that Simon is still around - she smells his aftershave, sees his silhouette; then she starts to receive threatening notes.
Who Did You Tell?

Well, you don't find out until the very end - so read it!

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Astrid, a recovering alcoholic moves in with her Mum but life 5here is not as smooth as she hoped. This is an excellent story about the stress on the entire family when alcoholism is involved! The characterisations were so strong and the struggles so real that I had difficulty putting it down and, in fact, the people were still in my mind long after I had finished the book.
A compulsive read

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Astrid has had to move back to the quiet seaside town of Flinstead to live with her mother. It’s not that she wants at this time in her life but there’s really no alternative. She is a recovering alcoholic 190+ days since her last drink and she has been given one last chance to sort herself out for good.
Astrid joins the local AA group and is determined to keep of the booze. She meets Josh and embarks on a new relationship, she starts working as an artist and feels that things are looking up for her even though she can’t bring herself to tell Josh about her alcohol problem.
Things begin to spiral out of control, it’s clear Astrid has things in her past that she wishes to keep hidden but she becomes convinced she is being followed. She is making new friends but is uncertain about who she can trust.
This is a solid thriller with believable characters and storyline plus the odd surprise. I enjoyed reading it and recommend giving it a go.

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Requested this book as I had enjoyed The Rumour by Lesley Kara. And I enjoyed this one too. Something a bit more complex than a thriller but there was a definite whodunnit feel to this book.

Also liked the reference back to The Rumour - nice touch!

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Thoroughly enjoyed. Personally knowing a person with an alcohol addiction I felt the writing of this quite personally. Well measured and shows the turmoil that affects no just the addict but, the entire family and the wider community.

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Astrid, a recovering alcoholic, moves back in with her mum after a stint in rehab and finds her past coming back to haunt her. I loved this book, fast paced and kept me guessing until the end.

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Having an insomniac moment, I started and then found myself a third of the way through Who Did You Tell? at 3am. I became absorbed in Astrid’s alcoholic struggles with her desires to drink and her challenges in saying no. Finding herself at age 32 without a job, living with her Mum in the sleepy seaside town of Flinstead, I was so happy that things were suddenly looking up for her when she met handsome Josh and his Dad Richard. As a trained scenic designer, Richard asked Astrid to paint a trompe l’oeil for him, so she was earning a little money.

Astrid is sure that Simon, her dead ex-boyfriend/drinking partner is somewhere close by. She can smell his distinctive aftershave and knows that she’s being watched and followed. Added to that, she has started receiving threatening letters.

Astrid attends a regular AA group where she meets odd Rosie who she doesn’t like and Helen who she befriends.

What nobody realises is that Astrid is carrying around a terrible guilt. She killed Simon. He had been living without drink until he bumped into Astrid again. They had a binge session and he was terribly ill.

This book is fast paced and kept me guessing right to the end. I rate it 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thanks
Thank you to the author Lesley Kara and Publishers Random House UK for an advance copy of this ebook in exchange for an independent review.

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After the success of The Rumour, I was expecting great things, and Who Did You Tell is sufficiently gripping, exciting, and dark. Another brilliantly thrilling book.

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I found this book hard to get into at first, as Astrid is a difficult character to engage with, and I found her previous alcoholism difficult to read about. However, once I became immersed in the story, I found it hard to put down. The story is clever, and compelling.

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I really enjoyed this, I couldn’t put it down once I’d started. Brilliant twist in it as well which is always good! I like the flawed character.

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Having thoroughly enjoyed The Rumour I was keen to see how this would compare. I didn't realise at first that it is set in the same town as The Rumour and there is a mention of it but they are otherwise standalone stories. Really enjoyed this, it kept me guessing all the way through, with strong characters. Highly recommend this.

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I loved Lesley Kara's first book The Rumour, and I couldn't wait to read this one. I wasn't disappointed. Lesley has a great story writing style that puts you at the scene. Intriguing, plot and believable characters with as always an unpredictable ending. I definitely, recommend this book.

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This isn’t an easy read as the main character Astrid is an alcoholic and struggling after rehab to stay on the straight and narrow. She has so many demons many of which are the theme of this novel and some of those turn into genuine fears and there are a number of good suspense moments in the book. Astrid began to go off the rails at 15 when she changes her birth name from Hilary to Astrid as she believes that ‘made me visible’. Her struggle with drink is well described as are the AA meetings when you get a real sense of how hard it is to battle an addiction. There she meets Rosie who she dislikes and Helen who she likes. There are a number of likeable characters such as Josh who Astrid falls for and his charming and kind father Richard. Astrid's mum is a good character and you really feel sympathy for her as she really tries her best to be supportive despite many obstacles and the author demonstrates effectively that an addiction spreads its tentacles widely.

Astrid is full of self loathing and is haunted but it’s hard to tell if some of this is real or imaginary as alcohol distorts memories . She is wracked with guilt over what happens to her ex boyfriend Simon some of which seems to be justified. As the book progresses you realise that someone is watching her and their motive is revenge although until the end you are uncertain why. The story unfolds well and is full of twists and turns and the plot keeps you guessing. The pacing is good and on the whole is is well written. However, I feel that towards the end there are too many twists and turns that it makes your head spin!

Overall. an easy to read story that is hard to put down although I have reservations about the denouement when all is revealed. I like though, that at the end things seem more positive for Astrid.

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Astrid is a recovering alcoholic, and after struggling and slipping she is at the last chance saloon - her mother has provided a home, but insists she attends AA and does not drink. However, Astrid has a lot in her past to get over - not least the suicide of her boyfriend.

Things start to look up, she attends the AA meetings, albeit reluctantly, and meets Josh. She starts to paint again, and life looks better. However, there are reckonings from her past still to be faced. Someone is stalking her. Who did her boyfriend tell about their dark secret?

This is a powerful novel, and the author depicts the power of alcohol quite convincingly, although I did expect Astrid to fall off the wagon at several points - that lure is very strong indeed. Towards the end I couldn't put the book down and could not bear to read it, for fear that Astrid would make more poor decisions. There are plenty of red herrings, so it was hard to work out who was friend and who was foe.

Overall a very good read, very gripping and thought-provoking.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Bantam Press for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Lesley Kara's writing is as easy to read as ever here, and I loved Astrid's voice. The character work in Who Did You Tell? is really lovely, and I actually found myself wanting to live with them all longer, learn more about them, and find out what happened next. I predicted the twist pretty early on which was slightly disappointing, but as she always does so well, the writer threw in a genuinely surprising second twist on the final pages, which was the payoff I was looking for. A thriller writer with a lot of heart, I would read anything Lesley Kara wrote.

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Who Did You Tell... Astrid is an alcoholic on the road to recovery after her boyfriends suicide.. however the secrets of her past start to unravel and the reader is brought through a journey to find out who did she tell her secrets to!

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This book was full of twists and turns. The authors writing style draws you into this book right from the beginning
This book gripped me from beginning to end
A good book

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A great read which kept me guessing all the way through. I loved the way she introduced snippets to Astrids previous life every so often which kept you guessing

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