I so wanted to love this book, but we didn't get on. I felt like it dragged in places and the narrative was clunky. I really disliked all the characters and that pretty much lost me. But I can understand why it had so many great reviews - just not for me sadly.

I just can’t do it.
I’ve tried hard to like this book. It’s not the authors fault I think it’s the translation.

In its own language it has high ratings. In other languages it seems not.

Reading it was hard going as it seems it’s being told quite flat. No pitch or pace to it. Sort of slow and a bit repetitive.

The amount of times she referred to “L” was jarring on my mind. Really impacted on me in a very negative way.

So I switched to audio.

For me it wasn’t much better. The narrators voice was making me fall asleep.

I’m so sorry to be negative but this story was good towards the second half but by that time I’d lost my investment in the story and the characters.

The premise of this book drew me to it – the question posed is What would you do if your closest friend tried to steal your life? The story follows the main character, a writer, who meets a fan at a signing and the fan increasingly encroaches on her life. The novel is written in such a way that at times you feel like you’re reading a true story, and then you realise it’s a work of fiction. There are so many layers and much to muse on as you read. This book took me quite a while to read because I kept putting it down to mull over what I’d been reading. It’s a brilliant novel though and I absolutely recommend it!

Delphine is a writer who after the controversy over her last book now finds herself blocked. L is a sophisticated and charismatic woman who befriends Delphine and manages to insinuate herself into every aspect of her life. An obsessive friendship develops between the two and Delphine becomes ever more under L’s sway. This idea of an unhealthy relationship with a dominant and rather sinister partner is a well-worn trope and I didn’t feel that the author brought anything new to the table. What develops is predictable and more and more implausible and I wasn’t convinced by either Delphine or L. It could be, of course, that perhaps L doesn’t actually exist but is a projection of Delphine’s troubled state of mind, (it is perhaps significant that L never actually meets any of Delphine's friends or family) but I wasn’t really convinced by this possibility either. All in all I found this quite a tedious and unengaging read, somewhat self-indulgent and self-referential, very slow-moving, and with a particularly irritating passage towards the end when the author decides to give away the ending of the film The Usual Suspects for reasons I find quite incomprehensible and inexcusable. I wasn’t impressed by the book, certainly didn’t find it either creepy or menacing, and if it hadn’t been for needing to review it wouldn’t have finished it. If it is in fact based on a true story then I would have preferred that de Vigan own up and simply write a non-fiction account.

Translated from the French by George Miller, ‘Based on a True Story’ by Delphine de Vigan is about a middle-aged Parisian author, Delphine, who is befriended by a woman known throughout only as “L.” who claims to be a professional ghostwriter. L.'s presence gradually takes over every aspect of Delphine's life to the point where their close friendship turns into something far more sinister.

‘Based on a True Story’ focuses on what many would consider to be any author’s worst nightmares, namely writer’s block and plagiarism. It is very “meta” in the way in which truth and fiction become increasingly blurred. The most notable example is that the character Delphine has written a successful novel largely believed to be based on events in her own family which is something that the real de Vigan accomplished with her controversial book ‘Nothing Holds Back the Night’ thought to be about her mother's mental illness. However, for the most part, the extent to which ‘Based on a True Story’ is autobiographical is left deliberately ambiguous, particularly where the identity of L. (or "elle", perhaps) is concerned.

The strength of the book lies in the sense of uneasiness rather than clever structural tricks and it is the gradual accumulation of odd incidents rather than big set pieces which forms the basis of Delphine and L.’s toxic friendship. The plot does move rather slowly and there is a lot of foreshadowing about L.’s behaviour, with many of the early chapters ending with a “but little did I know…” aside which occurred more often than was strictly necessary. However, even though the ending wasn’t entirely a surprise, I still found it very creepy and unsettling. It didn’t conclude with a “big reveal” characteristic of so many other modern psychological thrillers but I think that approach would have felt out of place with the tone of the rest of the book.

‘Based on a True Story’ was definitely a slow-burner and I have been thinking about it a lot since I finished it. The book is being adapted into a film directed by Roman Polanski and I think there is a lot of scope for a really interesting interpretation of its slippery "post-truth" themes on screen. Many thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a review copy via NetGalley.

Delphine De Vigan is an award winning French novelist, but her creative flow is seriously compromised when she meets L at a party.

L's true identity is never revealed, but what we do know about her is both terrifying and shocking in equal measure.

Despite her popularity Delphine is prone to boughts of social awkwardness, a childhood shyness she has never shaken off. That is except at parties where she somehow has the capability to literally dance like no one is watching.

It is via her dancing that L bursts into her life, admiring Delphine's moves and flattering her until L has seamlessly worked her way into Delphine's life.

L calls even though Delphine knows that she didn't hand out her number. But instead of being outraged Delphine is flattered. L has lots of contacts, she knows everyone. Why shouldn't she have Delphine's number if she wants it?

But this is just the beginning of what turns very quickly into a toxic friendship. L dominates Delphine's life to the extent of warning her friends away (without Delphine's knowledge) and trying to take over her literary work.

By the time Delphine realises that L is potentially dangerous it is too late, and they are holed up in the countryside together under the pretence of resting Delphine's sprained ankle.

Delphine realises that she must get away from L and get her life back, but who is going to believe her story when no one even knows who L is?

Based on a true story I don't think is a novel that everyone will engage with. What happened to Delphine is truly horrifying, but that doesn't make it a novel that will appeal to all.

So whilst I enjoyed it, I must say I didn't love it - but then maybe it just made me feel uncomfortable - and I'm pretty sure that is what the author set out to do, because none of us want to experience an L for ourselves.

This was a readers book. While it was a slow read, it was intelligent, suspenseful and full of a depth that I wasn't expecting. From a conceptual standpoint, it's brilliant! It reminded me a little of Mal Peet's self-referential writing (but without the fantasy satire). This will appeal to readers of a lot of different genres.

This is one of those instances where I really have to doubt the sanity of all those giving this book such high praise. It's just an empty retread of all the ''Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' life-takeover thrillers, with some alleged literary gloss because it's about an author/by an author/dressed as an autobiography/has a celebrity memoir ghost-writer as subject. Delphine witters on and on AND ON about L so much I just thought 'shag her and be done with it, for cryin' out loud', but no – she needed to go on about her instead, chuntering away to us and moaning about writer's block at the same time. What also gets me about the universal praise is how many cultural references get shoved in – truly this should be speaking to a clique of ten people who can get them all. But no, somehow people have been taken in by the emperor's old birthday suit. I truly am boggled – and not by the piffle that makes up the ending.

After a success with her novel the author Delphine is becoming worn out by the round of publicity and is finding it difficult to start writing again. her two children are about to leave home to study in different parts of the country and she is in a relationship which is good but subject to long separations. At a party she meets L, a glamorous and sophisticated looking woman, and soon after she finds herself in L's orbit. L is a ghost-writer of celebrity memoirs and she has much in common with Delphine, apparently they were at school together. Although Delphine finds some of L's behaviour odd, she is drawn to her and her opinions. As Delphine becomes more dependent on L her attempts at writing falter until eventually after an injury Delphine becomes totally at L's mercy.

de Vigan is known for writing a heavily fictionalised memoir about her mother and there are hints at the issues she went through in this book. The story is again marketed as a fictionalised memoir but it seems a little too crude to be solidly based on fact. The book starts as 'Single White Female' and ends up as 'Misery', both of which are excellent source material for a stalker story. The book is easy to read and moderately entertaining but I found it a little too precious in places.

This book is very slow going ,so much so that I nearly gave up as it seemed to be focused on L all the time and going nowhere.I am glad that I persevered as when the story got going I was eager to find out what was going to happen next between L and Delphine .I was disappointed with the ending as the story got exciting and then nothing ....I was beginning to wonder if Delphine had imagined L but there was a tiny clue to suggest that she had not .

This is an intriguing and curious novel, possibly based on Delphine de Vigan's personal experience, possibly a work of fiction. The theme running through the novel is the nature of truth within literature, the links drawn by reader and author to personal experience, imagined experiences, witnessed experiences. You will move from one viewpoint to another as the story develops. You will certainly be exasperated and synmpathetic, confused and made to feel very uneasy.

I imagine the French original is a beautiful piece of writing, certainly the translation is wonderful, very easy to read and clearly carefully considered. Recommended.

I wanted to read this book for two reasons. One, I really enjoyed No & Me; two, the blurbs ends with the promise that the book will "leave you questioning the truth and it's significance". I mean, who could resist that, right? I'm always one for mysteries.

Truthfully, the blurb was right - I am left questioning the truth. Who is L and what is real? The concept is powerful and I think the author is fantastically intelligent for coming up with it. However, nothing really happens - the plot is thin, the characters bland, and I won't remember it in six months time, which is such a pity for a great concept.

Based on a true story really wasn't for me. But I should make it clear that in this case it is most definitely the story rather than the writing quality that was my issue. I actually rather loved the way Delphine De Vigan writes so I'll hopefully read some more from her in the future.

This is about this book though.

Problem being this has been done before and honestly? In my opinion better. The mysterious meeting of two minds, an ongoing friendship developing that becomes toxic or perhaps mutually destructive, with an ambiguous open ended maybe whatever finale that supposedly leaves the reader in a whirl but honestly, left me slightly flat. The lilting beautiful prose is what held me in the novel not the telling of the tale.

And seriously I'm sorry but you know there probably are people out there in the world who have not yet seen the intensely brilliant "The Usual Suspects" but have always intended to do so, who may decide to read this novel. The author lays out the ending of The Usual Suspects in full, including the final scenes in that movie (which DID leave me in a whirl and is cleverly, insanely excellent) thereby giving away all its secrets and even some of the nuances. Why???? Why would you DO that. It irritated me beyond all reason - LUCKILY I have seen that movie, no spoiler for me. I believe it was to make comparisons to how the character in "Based on a True Story" was feeling but you know sorry this was no Usual Suspects and this character is no Kayser Soze. No. Just no.

2* for the beautiful writing but you can keep the rest.

This is a slow burner, don’t expect to go into this one and be met with action and mystery straight away... Or at any point, really. This whole book is a character study, and if you’ve been following my reviews for a while, you know I’m not hugely into these kinds of books, unless I’m absolutely captivated. Unfortunately, I wasn’t complete captivated by this one.

I really loved the writing in this novel, it was superb and if de Vigan wrote more books in my favourite genres, I’d likely read them just for her style of telling a story. This book is written as though you are reading a book… if that makes sense, so you are instantly pulled in to the narrator's life, but unfortunately, it wasn’t all that exciting.

I was waiting for some big reveal in the story, as others had claimed this was to come… but nothing happened that I wasn’t expecting to happen. This lack of twist was a real let down for me, it’s one of those books that’s left me thinking “really, that was it?”.

I don’t hate this book. It was well thought out, well written and has very well developed characters. The tension of the novel is built perfectly, but it leads to nothing. Yes, this leaves you questioning the truth, it makes you think, but it didn't leave me excited, shocked or thrilled, and that's ultimately what I look for in a mystery / thriller novel.

Describing this book is so fun because it’s just so unusual. This is a fiction book but the tricky part is that it features Delphine de Vigan (the author) as a character called by the same name, Delphine de Vigan. All the happenings in the authors life are the same (writing of ‘Nothing Holds Back the Night’ and her life and relationships) but it also features another character named L (pronounced elle=she,her). It’s a mix between reality and fiction which makes it completely unique and again unusual .

‘When you’re an adult, friendship is built on a kind of recognition, of complicity: a shared territory. But it seems to me that in the other person we look for something that we only possess in a minor, embryonic or frustrated form. So we tend to form links with those who have been able to develop a way of being that we incline towards but have not attained.’

Delphine de Vigan has written her latest novel ‘Nothing Holds Back the Night’ and after its huge success she gets stuck writing her next one. The expectation of topping her previously published book is taking its toll on her and making her depressed and unable to approach a computer and even type anything into her Word file. Now questions of her morality come up: Why has she shared such a personal story of her family with the world? Was it all even true? Had she no shame for doing that? While pondering over these questions she meets L. a beautiful and fascinating woman at a book event she attended. She immediately becomes drawn to her – she’s everything Delphine aspires to be. From this point on their friendship intensifies and they become very good friends – they have dinners, they share their personal stories and their work but something is wrong.. L. is now taking over her life, she starts to dress like her, reply to her emails, she even mimics her mannerisms. What originates from a healthy friendship turns into a toxicicity of great length. Does she really know L.? Was their encounter a coincidence or does L. have hidden motives?

‘You know, what interests me,’ I went on, ‘is understanding what we’re made of. How we manage to assimilate some events, some memories, which mix with our own saliva, spread through our flesh, while others remain like sharp stones in our shoes. How can we decipher the traces of the child on the skin of the adults we claim to have become? Who can read these invisible tattoos? What language are they written in? Who is capable of understanding the scars we think we’ve learned to hide?’

This novel was something strange, something personal and I feel like this was a therapeutic thing for Delphine and she needed to write it.. I feel like she needed to write this so she can let go of her worries but then again this story is fiction and it may not represent her feelings at all. The title ‘Based on a True Story’ is brilliant and the origin of the title takes place in the book and I have to say that this book is very intelligently written. A shoutout to the translator George Miller because I loved the way he made sentences come to life. Having previously read ‘Nothing Holds Back the Night’ I appreciated this book more and I recommend you read that one before this one but it’s not necessary. I just love how she created this story resembling her life and adding fiction to it or did she add fiction to it? The French are making an adaptation of this book ‘D’après une histoire vraie’ with Eva Green as one of the leads but I have to say that making an adaptation of this book isn’t something that I’m all for because I view it as something personal to both the reader and the author.

This is a great novel from Delphine de Vigan and it is definitely worth reading because of its peculiarity and thrillery aspects.

De Vigan is a master of playing with the truth in this engrossing and riveting tale about identity and the stories we tell ourselves in order to make sense of our lives.

Brilliant book. Excellent main characters and plot. I would recommend this book.