I never have read any book from this author but it sure wouldn't be my last!

The story is about two family’s, it looks like they get along real good but when the son of one of the family’s goes missing, it unfolds a lot of ugliness and releases a chain of events which can't be stopped. The secrets they all seem to hide...
The story is told from multiple points of view. This is a great thing because you will know, how everybody fits in, in what part of the story. Throughout the story you will find out what everyone's motivation is to do what they do. Everything falls together in the end.

I raced trough the story as fast as I could. Wanted to find out what happened and who did what. Boy I found out.
You must read this one if you like fast-paced stories with a lot of twist and turns, it left me gasping for air!

Liz Alterman delivers a seriously addictive thriller with You Shouldn’t Have Done That. It’s the kind of book that pulls you in from the first page and refuses to let go.

Jane and Ivy have been best friends for decades, bonded by their sons. But when a ski trip ends in disaster and only one of their boys comes home, that friendship shatters fast. One mother is desperate for answers, the other is protecting her own. As suspicions mount and social media fuels the fire, the tension spirals out of control—leading to a shocking, unforgivable choice.

This book is juicy, twisty, and full of that “just one more chapter” energy. If you love stories about family, betrayal, and just how far people will go for the ones they love, this one’s for you!

First of all, let me start by saying I LOVED this book! We are introduce to Cal and Brad two ‘best’ friends who have know each other since school, they go skiing together and only Brad arrives home. We are then introduced to their respective families and the real truth behind their families 20 year friendship which isn’t as strong as we are lead to believe.
What follows next is a thrilling and engaging novel that looks at how thought / theories based on little to no evidence but taken for fact can have a butterfly effect on all those involved.
These characters are not good people in any sense, all of them in one way or another are flawed and selfish. It’s a wonderful look at how people can justify extreme and selfish actions when it serves themselves.
I found the ending frustrating as I wanted someone to get there just desserts in a more obvious way, but the more I reflect on it the more i realise they probably did.
Fabulous thriller and an engaging read!

This was a fast paced psychological thriller that definitely kept me engaged until the end. Two families that celebrate birthdays and go on vacation together seem to all be best of friends. But when their two sons go skiing together and only one comes back, it sets off a chain of reactions that exposes just how toxic some of the relationships are. As the story unfolds through multiple POVs each character's flaws become evident, and most are pretty unlikable.. You Shouldn't Have Done That is a recurring theme as everyone seems to do things they shouldn't have.. A quick and entertaining read. I'll be looking for more by this author.

You Shouldn't Have Done That is a story about best friends and there sons Cal and Brad.
When Cal goes missing in Wyoming during a ski trip with Brad. The story starts to unravel.
Liz Alterman did a great job of giving the reader what they needed in a true psychological thriller.
I thought that the book was well written, but I hated Ivy and Jane and felt like so much was so focused on them that I lost my way during the book. Solid 3 star read.
Can you write a book about Emerson, cause I did like her!

this book is soooo good. in all the best ways. and worst given the topic lol. but its such a toxic mess of brilliance. that mounts your own anger but also angst for all the characters involved.

weve got two families. the mums great friends since their two boys became freinds in school as young boys. when one of them goes missing it begins to unravel. everyone has motive and secrets in this book. and the narc and toxic personalities of these folk is off the scale!
its also makes you reflect on what you'd do to protect your kids. but due to the horrible nature of these lot you were far enough removed from it to just see it as a really great story with a set of unlikable characters and what happens when they are all pitting against eachother.
i was kept gripped to every page. and there was certain crumbs given to you throughout so that it was just pow pow pow. it was a delicious set of little and big moments that kept you on your toes until the end.

its told from multiple Pov so you get to know each persons views and backgrounds on whats happening.
this isnt just a tragedy hitting a set of families. no, this is tragedy hitting a unlikable set of families which means the plot and events that then go on to take place are a tumbling down of darkness and secrets which make for a thriller at its best and a gripping read.

A twisted tale of toxic friendship that kept me on my toes! I enjoyed this psychological thriller by Liz Alterman and want to read more from her.

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for the ARC!

This was a solid thriller with the perfect amount of messy drama. I enjoyed reading from all of the perspectives, even if I wasn't rooting for any of them. Would definitely recommend as a suspenseful, wintry read!

This book was SO good!! I was desperate for a popcorn thriller but couldn’t find any on KU or in my library that hit the spot. I found this book on “Read Now” and I cannot wait for more people to catch on to just how good this book was. Multi-POVs without being excessive, and the twist at the end actually had me gasping.

You Shouldn’t Have Done That tells the story of two families, united through the close friendship of their sons. While the families are close, both hold dark secrets that they’ve kept from the other. And when these dark secrets come to a head with the disappearance of golden boy Calloway Whitaker, the power of friendship is put up against the ferocity of the mothers’ love for their sons.
And no one comes out unscathed.
I enjoyed the mystery, it was reminiscent of the twisty-turny true crime cases that keep us so enraptured. As a parent, this is the kind of book that will make you reflect on just how far you would go to protect your child, and at what cost.
This was a fun and compelling read, with twists and turns you won’t expect up until the very end. There are clever blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details throughout the book that lead you like Hansel’s breadcrumbs to the grim conclusion.

📚 E-ARC BOOK REVIEW 📚

You Shouldn't Have Done That
By Liz Alterman
Publication Date: March 23, 2025
Publisher: Inkubator Books

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, Inkubator Books, and Liz Alterman for this #gifted e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

📚MY REVIEW:

You Shouldn't Have Done That was a popcorn thriller FULL of things people shouldn't have done! I just sprinkled my popcorn with salt and butter, cozied up with my fuzziest blanket, grabbed my cup of tea, and enjoyed the tale.

The plotlines in this compelling story made for a really fast read, as I had no idea what chaotic mess would come next. Ivy and Jane have been best friends for 20 years and their families are super close, all because their sons became friends in preschool. Their sons are roommates in a Wyoming ski town and both families are looking forward to spending Christmas together in an AirBNB in the same Wyoming town. But when Jane's son Cal goes missing after spending a day skiing with Ivy's son Brad...Well, let the unhinged chaos begin.

Split into four parts, the book was told from multiple POVs over several days in December, which worked so well for letting the reader see into the depths of each character's diabolical self-centeredness. Seriously. What a bunch of self-centered narcissists this lot was! These characters each anointed themselves the center of the universe, and Good God, I didn't like a single one of them.

However, I absolutely LOVED how unhinged each of them became in their own way. It seemed secrets and betrayals dropped at every turn, and I wasn't sure WHO I was supposed to empathize with amongst these wild plotlines. Their unlikeability merely made their unhinged craziness even more entertaining...and I was here for every minute of it. With how unhinged everybody was for the entire book, I kinda hoped for a little more of an unhinged ending for everybody, but that didn't take away from the rest of the story for me.

This is now my second read from Alterman, and I'm learning she is the QUEEN of giving me unhinged and unlikeable characters that I somehow still care about. In a "it's-a-terrible-train-wreck-you-don't-wanna-look-but-you-look-anyway" kind of way. With this read, she's solidified herself as an auto-read author for me. This one is out at the end of March, but you can grab it on NetGalley now!

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I just finished reading this book. Here are my thoughts.

PROS:

The story had a good, consistent energy, keeping me engaged throughout. I liked that the story continually shifted to a different viewpoint. Some people don't like having to "keep up with" multiple characters, but I actually like it. There are always two (or, in this case, 6) sides to every story, right?

I appreciated that there weren't many triggers in this book. Here lately, I will get invested in a story only to be blind-sighted by a super uncomfortable situation (infidelity, abuse, etc). Not too much to dodge in this one, which was nice.

Also, I thought the characters were well-developed, even if most of them weren't very likeable. When we're first introduced to the Chapmans and the Whitakers, they seem like average, very relatable families dealing with common life issues. As their personalities unfold and layers are gradually peeled back, we see each person's humanitarian side (those who had one....) as well as everyone's dark side. Whereas the entire Whitaker family was comprised of train wrecks, the Chapmans seemed like nice people I'd have dinner with. The interpersonal relationships were intriguing - Jane and Wade's failing marriage, Ivy and Jane's best-frenemy situation. It was also interesting that Ivy struggled with stress eating / binge eating while promoting health and wellness to everyone around her, proving that you never really know what someone might be dealing with.

CONS (not too many):

Emerson was too much for me, to the point of being insufferable. I ended up breezing through most of her parts after that scene with her and Max at her house party. Cal was just awful too. I kept waiting for him to get arrested or bite the dust, but he never did. However, that's just my opinion. At least one of them got her just desserts.

Really, the main con I have is the ending. It was super frustrating (not in a fun way for me) that for as vile of a person as he was, Cal just had some magical luck that made it impossible for him to lose. Instead of being revealed for the creep he actually was, the bad guy won I do appreciate that Lincoln is evidently stalking him now. But it could have even ended very quickly with Lincoln confronting Cal and permanently turning his lights out (knocked out a la Emerson, gunshot, anything). He also could have gotten arrested for killing Scotty and Shelby. But instead, he got famous, which made the ending unsatisfying for me.

All in all, the story was entertaining, the characters were complex, no real trigger warnings necessary. Even though I wasn't a fan of how it ended, I would still recomment it. I would read more by this author!

I started this book and then stopped and read another. I picked it up again it was a little hard to get into but once it picked up I was hooked. I was annoyed with every single character but still needed to know what happened. I still don’t know how I really feel about it even after finishing. It’s one of those books that stays with you for a bit.

An enjoyable read that moved along really nicely. This is my first book by the author but I will definitely be reading more by them

You Shouldn’t Have Done That
By: Liz Alterman
Long time friends are a blessing when the whole family gets along. Jane Whitaker and Ivy Chapman along with their husbands and sons have been best friends for years.
They are looking forward to vacation together, but tragedy strikes. Their sons Cal and Brad were skiing in Wyoming, BUT only Brad came home. The families are torn apart as Brad seems less than cooperative about the circumstances surrounding Carl’s disappearance?
In stead of working together to find Cal, the families relationship starts to strain. It does not help that Cal’s sister Emerson starts vilifying Brad.
This nailbiter shows you how far a family might go to protect their children. Secrets come out the twists kept coming.

This was such a massive disappointment, I wish I can take back the time I spent on it. Zero stars for a bonkers plot, lackluster characters and meh ending

Liz Alterman’s novel, *You Shouldn’t Have Done That*, is a riveting psychological thriller that fearlessly delves into the complexities of friendship, loyalty, and the extraordinary lengths parents will go to protect their children. With razor-sharp tension and an emotionally charged narrative, this book is a must-read for fans of Lisa Jewell and Liane Moriarty.

The story centers on Jane Whitaker and Ivy Chapman, best friends for two decades, whose bond is tested when Cal, Jane’s son, vanishes during a skiing trip, while Ivy’s son, Brad, is the only one who returns. As the Whitaker family grapples with their growing fears, suspicions quickly shift toward Brad—why didn’t he report Cal missing? What secrets is he hiding?

Alterman masterfully weaves a tale of psychological suspense filled with deception, shifting loyalties, and the devastating fallout from hidden truths. The story goes beyond the mystery, diving deep into the emotional wreckage left in the wake of Cal's disappearance, particularly through the eyes of the two mothers, who find themselves caught between love and the harsh reality of truth. The involvement of social media outrage, spearheaded by Cal’s sister, Emerson, adds a contemporary and unsettling dimension, showcasing how rapidly public perception can spiral out of control.

With incisive writing, unexpected twists, and a haunting exploration of maternal instinct and betrayal, *You Shouldn’t Have Done That* is simply unputdownable. Just when you think you have it all figured out, Alterman delivers a shocking revelation that leaves you reeling.

This fast-paced, thought-provoking thriller is guaranteed to make you question how well you truly know those closest to you. Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator books for gifting me this ARC in exchange for my honest review! I really liked this book, lately I've found myself having a hard time enjoying most books, a lot of ARCs have been falling flat. Thankfully, this book did not fall flat, I loved the conclusion, it was so well done, and left a creepy- almost paranoid taste in my mouth. I would definitely recommend.

The Whitakers and Chapmans, childhood neighbours, embark on a Wyoming vacation. However, Brad Chapman and Cal Whitaker’s skiing trip takes a sinister turn when one of them mysteriously disappears.

I devoured this captivating mystery/thriller in just a couple of hours! Although the characters weren’t particularly likeable, they were all well-developed and believable. The author also delved into the modern world of social media and influencers, adding depth to the story. While one plot point became increasingly implausible and far-fetched, the author redeemed herself with a shocking and satisfying ending. I’m definitely adding this author to my reading list and will eagerly anticipate their next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A slow burn of a book that feels incredibly tense!

I like reading this but I did feel that some things were a little bit too out there