Gosh. I’ve finished the book but I’m still not entirely sure what has happened. Who is betraying who, who has taken revenge on who and if anyone actually wins out in the end. Lizzie and Becca work for the same company and although initially friendly a rivalry soon takes hold but Becca is then seriously injured at a Christmas party when she plunges from an upper floor. Fast forward a few years and Becca has completely disappeared while Lizzie is still struggling on at the same company while renting a room in her friends parents home. By chance, Lizzie stumbles across Becca online and from then on we are taken on a rollercoaster ride of plot twists and turns that will leave you breathless.

This is a very cleverly written psychological thriller and I thoroughly enjoyed it . It tells the story of Lizzie, an accountant working at a London PR agency. She searches on social media for her former colleague, Becca, who had suffered a terrible accident during the work's party a few years earlier. Lizzie finds that Becca is now running an interior design company and has a husband and a baby daughter. Lizzie thought she emailed some unkind remarks to her friend, Flora when in fact she sent the message to Becca. Then things start to happen. Lizzie is accused of fraud, her Twitter account is hacked and suddenly all Becca’s social media profiles vanish. Lizzie decides to try and track Becca down to make peace.

The novel is told from both women’s perspectives and it is very readable. I struggled to put this book down and read it at every opportunity.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book.

This was one awesome book. And a new favorite author, too.

I know it was supposed to be a thriller and there were a bunch of really tragic parts etc. but I found myself laughing more than anything. Sarah Alderson's developed two really close-to-home characters, and I think that's anyone's silent confession.

She's right, we all know at least one person who hashtags every single thing she does on some social media platform. And we all have also been in the role of pouring over those kinds of feeds (be it on Facebook or elsewhere) for hours at one point or other. So that's why I'm saying close-to-home.

It is because of this that a story like this one was so laughably tragic - you find yourself imagining some people from your own life in either Lizzy's or Becca's place, and THAT makes this a fantastic read.

Something like a reality show in a book form sort of entertainment, I think.

And her flawless writing and constant plot twists made it impossible to see where it was going until at least 3/4 in, and by then your fingers are itching wanting to see how the crazy one will get away with it in the end. Or will she?

Big thanks to NetGalley for the copy in exchange for my honest review. Great weekend getaway while sitting on your own armchair.

I’m Conflicted.
This was a gripping read from the get go, pacey and thrilling.
The big twist caught me off guard - it’s brilliant. But as the book switched perspectives I struggled to keep up and as a result lost interest. That said, the epilogue was genius.

This is definitely one for fans of Gone Girl.
4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley, Mulholland Books and Sarah Alderson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought from the summary of the book that this would be a psychological thriller perhaps with something new and interesting to say about the superficial nature of social media and how no-one ever really knows what goes on behind the camera. However, I didn't feel that the summary really matched up with the books content.
The main protagonist, Lizzie is a hideous character, even before she reveals her true nature, and I didn't really feel that I got to know anything about Becca at all. The story itself was quite confusing, with sudden little reveals to explain a situation that seemed to come from no-where. The ending itself was farcical (where did the convenient car and extra night come from? did I miss something?) and I was honestly glad to get to the end. Sorry, not one for me.

My thanks go to the publishers and net galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Where to start without giving anything away … Lizzie looks up an ex-colleague, Becca, who was beautiful, ambitious and had a cracker of a boyfriend, until the accident which left her hospitalised and then she appeared to vanish off the face of the earth. The problem with Facebook stalking after a few drink is that a slip of the fingers can send the right message to the wrong person, and Lizzie accidentally sends an unkind message about Becca to Becca, instead of another work colleague. This is the start of a feud which ends in death – that’s the prologue, so no spoilers from that!
I really enjoyed this book and would say it’s a good psychological thriller if you are new (or old) to the genre as it’s not too gory or scary, just clever with twists as you’d expect from this genre. Definitely one I’d recommend.

When I first started reading this book, I had to double check that I'd actually picked up thriller and not instead a chick-lit because, for the first 30%, that was certainly how it read! It's a fairly straightforward and easy read and I was sure I'd got the twists sussed but I was pleasantly surprised how the story turned out in the end. None of the characters are particularly likeable but I don't feel like you need to grow close to a character in a thriller in order to be able to enjoy it. I liked that we got both Lizzie and Becca's sides of the story and think the book has a lot of lessons weaved among the plot as well, in particular, our obsession with perfection and the need to appear as so.

Thank you to Netgallery for this ARC.

I read this book in one day! I found some of the story a bit far fetched but very readable. We all know that someone whose life we secretly envy. They appear to have it all. However life is rarely what you see.

Good book. Gets you stuck into it straight away and it keeps you there which I a rare quality in some books. This book is certainly a thriller in every sense of the word. As just when you think you have worked it all out, something unexpected happens that you didn’t see coming.
Thanks to both NetGalley and Hodder and Stroughton for my eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review .

This is the first novel I have read by Sarah Alderson but I will be seeking out more, as it was a brilliantly constructed story.

It is told from the viewpoints of Lizzie and Becca who had previously worked together in a PR company. Lizzie has worked hard on her appearance and is delighted when Becca’s former boyfriend, James, agrees to go on a date with her. Lizzie then spends her whole night on the Internet tracking down all the information she can on Becca, who has disappeared off the radar, and James.

In the early hours of the morning, after a few glasses of wine, she fires off a message to her best friend, Flora, about what she has found out about Becca. This is where things begin to go wrong and we have all done what she inadvertently managed to do.

Nothing is as it seems and the plot twists and turns in several directions with some not very nice characters. I couldn’t put it down.

Thanks to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton, Mulholland Books, and Sarah Alderson for my ARC in return from my honest review.

Excellent novel. Highly recommended.

This is a fast moving,engrossing tale. The characters all resemble people we know but they are not necessarily as they appear on the surface. There seems to be an obvious story line which needs to make its way through to the last page but that's not what happens. This book has many clever twists and it's easy to waste your sympathies on the wrong character. One thing is for sure,it will keep you reading to the end.

Friends LIke These is a psychological thriller about jealousy and the power of social media.
Lizzie is an accountant working at a glamourous PR firm in London. Lizzie and her friend, frumpy but lovely Flora, spend their days at work watching and gossiping about Becca.
Becca is gorgeous, glamourous and apparently once dated Prince Harry. Her boyfriend, James, is a equally gorgeous, successful and rich and Lizzie and Flora spend the Christmas party imagining life as his girlfriend.

Several years later - Lizzie has reinvented herself - losing weight and gaining confidence. When she sees James on Tinder she swipes right. A night of cyberstalking James and Becca has unintended consequences and Lizzie's life begins to unravel. What is the truth behind the perfect Instagram tags #luckiestgirlever #blessed.

This is a well-plotted story with a lots of dramatic twists. And while I must confess that I didn't really like any of the characters (apart from Flora!) you are dragged along and want to know the very twisted truth behind them.
I think this would be a great holiday read. It's a fast-paced thriller.

I’m kind of on the fence with this book. I started our loving it and quickly read the first half then in the second half I decided I wasn’t loving it so much. There’s nothing wrong with the book I just found a certain part of the plot slightly far fetched and a tad predictable.

The book is told from both Lizzie and Becca’s points of view which makes an interesting read so I’d give this book 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder and Stoughton and the author for the chance to review.

I enjoyed this cleverly plotted book that weaves a thread of doubt and suspicion throughout.

The book follows both Lizzie and Becca, two colleagues from the same firm, whose lives connect via social media and then strange things happen.

I enjoyed the social media aspect and the fact that it keeps you guessing.

A good read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview in exchange for this honest review.

Awesome story that really sucks you in and keeps you captivated throughout! I really hadn't seen this one coming and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it!

Very cleverly written book full of twists and turns that I was not expecting and could not predict! Read this in next to no time! Highly recommend!

Amazing book, I was hooked and it didn’t disappoint! Fabulous twists and turns and I thoroughly recommend reading!!!

This is a cleverly written and well plotted thriller. It tells the story of Lizzie, an accountant working at a London PR agency and how she searches for her former colleague, Becca, who had suffered a terrible accident during the work's party. Lizzie finds that Becca is now running a successful interior design company and comes complete with good looking husband and baby daughter. Piqued by jealousy Lizzie thinks she has emailed some snide remarks to her friend Flora when in fact she sent the message to Becca. Then stuff begins to happen. Lizzie is accused of fraud, her Twitter account is hacked and suddenly all Becca’s social media profiles vanish. Lizzie decides to try and track Becca down to make peace.

The novel is told from both women’s perspectives and it is very readable, the action moves at speed and it kept me fully engaged.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

When Lizzy finds that she has been sought out on Tinder by James who she knew as the 'perfect boyfriend' of her ex colleague Becca it sets her off on an interesting path. She immediately swipes right and waits for his reply. While she is waiting she tries to find Becca online but Becca whose FB posts were full of what a wonderful life she had, seems to have disappeared after an accident. Then Lizzy stumbles across Becca and finds that she has miraculously recovered from her accident and is married (not to James) but to a rich wonderful man and has a baby. For some reason, Lizzy is jealous of Becca and immediately sends a FB message to another friend bitching about Becca but it goes astray with some devastating repercussions.

I thought this novel started in a very promising way. It has some interesting things to say about social media and how we present ourselves on it. I know people who have abandoned it because of the posts by friends about their wonderful lives, children, jobs, holidays and I don't blame them one little bit. Some days I swear that if I see another hashtag blessed, I'll do some serious damage to someone. Unfortunately the beginning is by far the best part and halfway through when we are beginning to struggle a bit with Lizzy's dilemmas a major twist happens which makes things even worse. There seems to be a trend recently for novels about horrible women who are envious, disturbed, psychopathic even and I for one am a bit fed up with them. The first one or two I read were ok but this is not a good example. I disliked all the main characters and found nothing redeeming in them, not because they were bad or evil (after all Humbert Humbert is pretty evil but nonetheless a compelling character) but because they were gratuitously nasty with some poor excuses for their behaviour thrown in. I can't say I would recommend this book but would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC,

This book was... OK. I mostly enjoyed it but I found the storyline and characters far-fetched and formulaic. It was hard to get past that. On the whole, this was a suitable read for my daily long commute into and out of London. I went through it in three days and it made the journey more enjoyable. But I’ll tell you what: I’ll forget about this story within a few weeks. There was simply nothing deep or memorable about it. The ‘twist’ at the end was predictable and a bit of a letdown. But the whole novel had a good tempo which kept me reading. So, all in all, it was an OK read.