Twisted, knotted, complicated in the extreme .. this is a completely confusing read - and I LOVED it!!

Three quarters of this book consists of intertwining tales from different characters; it's quite difficult at times to work out what the relationships, if any, are between the characters and deciding who is who. The revelations all come in the last 25% and they are well worth waiting for. Without reading all that goes before, none of it would be as exciting or as unexpected. I did manage to work out the part of one of the characters - unusually for me, I got that one right! As for the rest? Nope, didn't see any of it, but boy was it worth reading!

This is a novel full of secrets .. secret pasts, secrets present but as the saying goes, be sure your sins will find you out. I do enjoy a book where it all comes out in the wash and no unanswered questions are left to niggle at me, and this is exactly that. Full respect to Jessica Jarlvi. How she managed to sleep whilst working out this plot defeats me. It is a sensational novel the likes of which I have never come across before, and I recommend it to everyone who despairs of formulaic reads. I promise, you haven't read anything like this before!

My grateful thanks to publishers Aria for pre-approving my request via NetGalley. This is my honest, original and unbiased review.

What did I do? is a great title for this did she, didn't she thriller.
The cover screamed read me and despite seeing a few negative reviews I plunged in and on the whole I am glad I did. At the start I have to admit I did struggle, there seemed to be quite a few characters all very different with different lives but somehow all connected or not?? As I started to separate the different characters in my head and the timeline they appeared I started to love this book. The main character is Kristen but her parents also have a large part. Kristen was a likeable character with a complex character that at the start you do wonder why the hell she is like she is but towards the end everything clicks into place and although I was barking up the wrong tree, I loved that I was led there and when everything comes to light it all clicks together very well.
This is not a beach read this a read where to some degree you do have to concentrate on whose who, when, where and why but do not let this deter you from giving this a try as the ending wasn't what I had expected.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Aria for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review

I persevered in reading this book to the finish and was glad I did, as all the loose ends (and there are many) are tied up and everything becomes apparent. I'm glad I didn't give up and warmed to each of the characters. A good book and well worth a read.

I read the synopsis of this book and I was immediately intrigued. I just knew that this was one book that I needed to read. I haven’t read Jessica Jarlvi’s previous book called ‘When I Wake Up’, which was released last year. I just love discovering new writers and so it was with some excitement that I picked up my Kindle and started to read ‘What Did I Do?’. I really enjoyed it but more about that in a bit.
Kristin is a bit of a funny old fish. It isn’t long until we find out that her husband and her brother are dead- possibly in suspicious circumstances. Kristin was at the scene but she can’t remember if she was the one responsible for their deaths. Instead of sticking around and trying to assist the police in their investigation, Kristin receives a hefty life insurance policy and does a bunk to Sweden. In effect she goes on the run with her boyfriend. To me the fact that she has took off has made her look guilty. I did wonder if she had post traumatic amnesia or whether it was a case of selective amnesia and she wasn’t remembering because she didn’t want to. I can’t say that I really took to Kristin and I remained suspicious of her throughout the book. Her move to Sweden is supposed to be a ‘new start’ but there is trouble on the horizon for Kristin. Somebody knows where she has gone and is on her tail. This somebody will not let Kristin forget about what happened. There appear to be a lot of ‘coincidences’ where Kristin is concerned. She was present at the scene of her husband’s and her brother’s deaths and she was also around when her mother was pushed down the stairs and was left crippled. Kristin either had a hand in all three incidences or somebody is cleverly trying to frame her for all three ‘incidents’. So the main question has to be did was Kristin responsible for all three incidences? Is Kristin in danger? What is the truth? Well for the answers to those questions and more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
‘What Did I Do?’ is one of those books that kept me guessing throughout. I wasn’t sure who or what to believe. I didn’t take to Kristin and because I didn’t feel a connection with her, I wasn’t really bothered what happened to her. I did become addicted to reading ‘What Did I Do?’ and because I needed to know how the story ended, I kept reading on and on. Throughout the book I found myself changing my opinions as to who was guilty and what really had happened. This was one book that really did mess with my head. Reading this book was much like riding on an unpredictable rollercoaster with lots of twists, turns and moments that make your heart rate increase in anticipation of what lies in store. The story is told from the point of view of different named characters and there are chapters that are written by an anonymous character. I wasn’t sure how this way of telling the story would work but I need not have worried, because the chapters interlink and the story flows well as a result.
In conclusion, I did enjoy reading this book and it certainly messed with my head. I would recommend this book and this author to other readers but in particular to those fans of psychological thrillers. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a well deserved 4* out of 5*.

What a great read. I read it in one day as I was gripped from the start.the characters were well described but at the same time the missing daughter manages to stay elusive to the reader, although guessing makes the story flow more. The chapters dealing with individual characters added so well in bringing the characters to life and although I normally do not like bouncing in this manner it was ideal here and added to the readability. What a Bizarre family portrayed here full of lively characters. A superb ending to this dark, psychological story.
My thanks to NetGalley for lett8ng me read this book.

Not what I was expecting at all! Very bitty and confusing to follow in first chapters. No direction and I really struggled with this one. Sorry x

Will keep you in its sweaty grip from the very beginning until the last page. Buckle up darlings because you are in for a bumpy ride. But what a great ride in it's going to be. So yes absolutely pick up this book and be prepared to loose chunks of time because you will not be able to put this book down. Excellent, excellent story. Happy reading!

WHAT DID I DO? Written by Jessica Jarlvi
MAY 1, 2018; 420 Pages; Aria
Genre: fiction, suspense, thriller, contemporary, Sweden

​​​​(I received an ARC from the PUBLISHER via NETGALLEY​)​

RATING: 2.5 STARS

I really enjoyed Jarlvi's first novel, When I Wake Up, so I was excited to see another book being published this year. On the whole, I enjoyed the book, but I found it hard to always stay on track with who was speaking. There were moments, especially towards the end, that plot points seemed to be forced in order to make all the pieces fit. It did keep me reading to see where it would all end up.

Interesting read, although I did initially struggle and found it a bit confusing. However, I'm glad I persevered as it is a good story with plenty of twists and turns and great characters.
Thanks to Net Galley and Aria for the ARC..

Review: This is an interesting read and one that for me was just OK.

The story is very gripping and the way it is written keeps you reading. The characters are described well and you get to understand them really well. 

However, at times I found myself going back and having to re-read parts to remember or find where we had jumped to next. 

Despite this it is a good story but it did let it down somewhat.

Kristen is on the run and trying to start a new life away from all the drama in America. She's leaving a dead brother and husband behind. People believe she killed them but did she, is she even sure herself what she did. The big question though just who is she running away from.

Wow there were some twists in this making it a good story but it did take some following though. It took a while to get into the story and understand just who everyone was but once I did it got better. It does jump around a lot too. The ending was good and I liked the conclusion to the story.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read What Did I do by Jessica Jarlvi. If you enjoy novels that have serveral voices each chapter, this is the book for you. I like that very much myself. The other interesting point is there is an unknown voice as well and this adds to the suspense. The main characters Kristin is hiding something and Frank who is searching for his daughter. How these characters fit together and how it will connect was what kept me reading. The ending was a bit disappointing - just ok for me.

THis was a strange book. I enjoyed the story but it did jump around between characters and time quite a lot which did get confusing.

The story of a women who flees the states after her husband dies, harbouring many secrets. She i not really sure what the truth is and is running and hiding from it.

Thanks to Aria and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read in exchange for my honest opinions

I'll be honest, I struggled a bit with this book initially, I found if very confusing with the multiple points of view, varying stories and timelines trying to keep up with what was happening where and why, it did however redeem itself when the stories eventually came together as the twist towards the end totally shocked me and I certainly didn't envisage this at all, and then it totally made sense and then it was a AH YEAH moment now I get it!

Thank you to Aria and Netgalley for a preview of this book in return for my honest opinion.

The title of the book, What Did I Do? plainly sets the plot. Her husband is dead. Her brother is dead. She is responsible, isn't she? Oh, and her mother has been crippled by being pushed down the stairs. She was there on all three occasions. She did it, didn’t she? Why doesn’t she clearly remember? I was curious from page one. I kept wondering had she actually done these criminal acts. Beyond the obvious questions, there were things about Kristin that kept me reading this book.

Meanwhile, there are other stories, other characters, and these include memories that are intriguingly connected. They are extremely mysterious. What do these other stories have to do with Kristin? Not only is she haunted by unclear memories, she is being stalked by someone. Her new life, such as it is, could be ruined forever. All Kristen wanted was a new beginning, yet that seems highly unlikely for her.

I found this dark psychological thriller to be truly captivating. After all, was I rooting for a murderer? The twists and turns in What Did I Do? will definitely throw you off! That is how well-written this book by Jessica Jarlvi is! She is definitely an author to watch.

I was immediately attracted by the cover of this book, we see Kristin face half hidden by the hair. One sentence sums up the book a lot: "She remembers killing someone, wouldn't she?"

It all starts when two murders occur in Chicago, Kristin finds himself quickly at the center of this case. Except that she does not remember what she did or did not do. With a life insurance payment, she escapes to Sweden to start from scratch. But escaping her past is not as easy as she believes. Whatever she's doing, someone is watching her.

A captivating story full of twists with the endearing character of Kristin. We immediately want to know if she has committed or not her two crimes. I loved this book so much that I bought his first novel when i wake up.

DNF @ 25%

Unfortunately I found that after a promising start, the book failed to hold my interest, and I reluctantly decided that it was not for me.

What Did I Do? by Jessica Jarlvi is one of those books that the cover just screamed read me when I saw it and having read another book by the author it wasn’t a hard choice to pick this one up. Jessica’s first book When I Wake Up was one that I remember being easily pulled into so I was hoping for more of the same, unfortunately that wasn’t the case this time.

The story in here is told from multiple points of view including an unknown voice and varying timelines in the beginning. Sometimes this type of set up is one that works wonderfully and others not so much. This time was definitely a not so much example because everything seemed to be so scattered and disconnected it can be easily confusing and hard for readers to connect to.

Kristin was a character that seemed to be hiding from her past and on the run with a new boyfriend in Sweden. She jumpy and skittish so we know that there is something in her past that she’s avoiding. Unknown phone callers and glimpses of things that make her think she’s been found have her on edge. Meanwhile Frank has lost a son and is searching his missing daughter, Sophia. And then an unknown female is forced into prostitution and desperate to escape.

The question for the reader becomes how do all of these varying stories connect and will they all tie together by the end. The problem though is maintaining interest to make any sort of ending actually exciting by the time it comes and for me that is where it failed. Hopefully though in the author’s next attempt her book will go back to the instantly engaging type of story I’d found in the first.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

An interesting one this. Lots there at the start but a plot which for me didn’t last until the end. Or maybe it did and I didn’t fully appreciate it. The main character has OCD which was a nice touch and not just a plot device. Can’t say I liked any of the characters mind - not a nice word or nice persona amongst them. There seemed to be lots of characters as each chapter switched from one to the other which wasn’t always easy to follow. The time lines also felt mixed for me.

Kristin's life spirals out of control and the unravelling is the high point if you like, of the book, the denouement less so. So, a mixed bag this one for me but the writing and turn of phrase is such that I will be back for more.

Kristin is running from her past. A dead husband, a dead brother, a mother crippled when she was pushed down the stairs. How could she have caused so much damage? Now she's on a mission to find herself. To figure out how so much tragedy centers around her.
A great psychological thriller. Surprising, entertaining, titillating.
Great characters. At first it seems like a lot of characters to deal with, but it all comes together.
4 Stars