A tight group of college friends reunite twenty five years post grad. What could go wrong? What You Did, by Claire McGowen is a very cleverly crafted tale of secrets, lies, and deceit, fraught with anger, accusations, murder, and heartbreak. Sounds fun, right? Actually, it is truly an intriguing and enjoyable read.' I enjoyed it very much and give it my highest recommendation,

This was a good story that kept me guessing until the end. Only a few small things that bothered me which is why I deducted a star. Would recommend!

*I received an e-arc of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review. Thanks Netgalley!

I was at a 3-star rating for this book until the author managed to surprise me twice near the end. That’s something that doesn’t happen often, so I’ve bumped the rating to 4 stars out of appreciation.

The basic plot of What You Did centers around a group of six friends who get together for their 25th graduation anniversary. During the drunken night of celebrating, one of the women is sexually assaulted. What ensues is a mess of she said-he said drama that threatens to ruin everyone’s friendships — and lives.

The worst thing about this book is that a woman who worked with abused women refused to believe that her best friend had been raped. On the one hand, this did show the reality of how hard it would be to accept that your spouse had done something like that. But it also felt really unlikely that she’d toss out everything she believed in so quickly.

The book doesn’t get too graphic in its depictions of the assault, but it’s a constant part of the story. So, this is probably one to skip if this topic is a trigger.

I saw many of the twists coming a mile away, but I didn’t guess the final two reveals.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

A group of friends from Oxford gather for a weekend reunion after 25 years and on the boozy first evening, one of them is raped and accuses the husband of another. What ensues is an unraveling of relationships, and exposition of old secrets and--most dramatically--the revival of the mystery of the murder of one of their old classmates all those years ago on their last night at university.

Well-written, tightly-plotted and entertaining. This was my commute audiobook, and it kept me engaged, and made me curious about this author's other work, which I have some of and now plan to read soon. Didn't commit any of the cardinal sins of mystery-suspense no heavyhanded dialogue that is all plot exposition, and no clumsy foreshadowing. And the characters were interesting, with the 'working-class-kid-breaks-into-well-heeled-clique' trope thrown in to fuel and explain some of the characters' decisions. A good, light read.

A decent story with some great twists and turns to keep you zooming through the pages. In a genre that’s been well written there are better novels, but this was good for compulsive readers.

A good thriller with some twists, enjoyed reading this.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This book is chock full of enablers and sociopaths and if that isn’t the kind of book you can just fly through... well we can’t be friends.

The relationships explored in this book is an interesting dive into dysfunctional group Will definitely read more Claire McGowan!

I feel like this book started really well but then started to dwindle and got very disjointed. The ending was was very lacklustre and I feel a lot was left out.

This was a very engaging and suspenseful novel! It had many twists and turns along the way! I really enjoy this author’s style of writing!

The premise for WHAT YOU DID had the potential to be a great read.
Your best friend since college has accused your husband of rape, who can you trust? which side of the story do you believe?

This story covers a range of sensitive issues such as rape and domestic abuse. Which in my opinion isn't executed that well, majority of the characters and the decisions they made were pretty annoying and made me roll my eyes.

Besides all that I didn't hate the book, it was a pretty average book and was easy to get through.

I really enjoyed this book it was full of suspense & twists with s few red herrings & kept me guessing. I’d recommend this to anyone.

I really loved this book! In general, I love books that we have reunions of old friends and then we piece together the different layers of what happened then verses now. This book had those elements, added drama, and a LOT of thrills. I highly recommend this book.

Wow! What a ride this took me on. Will definitely be buying a finished copy for my shelves. 4 stars.

I had a hard time following this book, seems to be a great story line but it was just hard to follow

3.5 stars - This was a solid suspenseful domestic thriller. It definitely kept me guessing until the end. The characters were interesting although I found Ali a little too naïve to be believable. And I would have liked to know more about the relationship between Cassie and Jake. I felt like the side story of Cassie and her boyfriend, Aaron was not really necessary to the plot. But overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a quick and fast paced read.

I'm a huge fan of mystery-thrillers and after seeing so many five star reviews of this one I just needed to read it myself. I'm really glad I got the arc, because it was as good as everyone says it was. I couldn't put it down.

An interesting domestic thriller with a few surprises. The story revolves around a group of college friends that reunite after 20 years and a devastating event occurs that causes accusations to fly.

It took me several weeks to complete this book. I enjoyed it but I struggled to pick it up after putting it down. It didn't have the "thrilling" aspect that I enjoy. There really wasn't anything special about the story that made it stand out from the many other books in the domestic suspense category.

Overall, an okay book but nothing memorable or special.

The prologue opens with a woman coming round after being brutally assaulted in the garden of a house. We are then drawn into this book as in the first chapter we learn that she is staying in a house with friends and it is obvious that it is one of them who has raped her. Twenty years on from university the six friends and their families decide to celebrate by having a reunion at the luxury home of Ali. She organised the reunion and is a volunteer at a women’s refuge and is married to Mike, has two children and a very comfortable lifestyle. Karen is a single mum struggling to make ends meet and she arrives with her 18 year old son Jake. Callum and Jodi arrive, the6 are married and Jodi is pregnant after years of trying for a baby. The sixth member of the group is Bill, who has just returned from Sweden and has recently split up from his partner. The group reminisce their university days and have been drinking heavily when Karen staggers into the kitchen with her rape allegation. As the story progresses we are taken back to events that happened in their university days and all the secrets and lies that have laid dormant for twenty years, indiscretions and crimes also are revealed. This was a brilliantly well written psychological thriller, with a dark and disturbing storyline which has me hooked from the beginning. A highly recommended read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Six university friends meet for a reunion with tragic consequences. Someone seems to be lying but who??
Lots of truths are exposed during the investigation, many are hurtful and damaging. But the truth must out regardless of personal ties.
This was a riveting and interesting read. Lots of red herrings. There's a sensational twist at the end, I didn't see it coming. An excellent read.

I must thank NetGalley for an ARC of the book to read in return for an unbiased and truthful review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review of the book.

This was a real page-turner for me. As the novel opens, we find a cast of mostly unlikable yet very human characters who are faced with a crisis in their otherwise (seemingly) ideal lives: at a 20-year reunion at the protagonist's beautiful new home, her best friend says she was raped--by the protagonist's husband. As one thing leads to another, secrets are exposed, life-long friendships are questioned, and things generally go to hell in a hand-basket.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and found it to be well-done. I do have two criticisms, though. The first has nothing to do with the book but with the cover art: it's awful! When I first glanced at this (admittedly, on a small screen), it looked like either a semi-wrecked airplane or--worse--some odd shaped sanitary pad.

The other criticism is more subtle and hard to define. I think there's a statement being made here about men and women and the cruelties both sexes are capable of. There are quite a few mentions of feminism at the beginning of this book, mostly mischaracterizations by people who are opposed to or critical of the protagonist's work with sexual assault and domestic violence survivors. I get it on one level: many people are opposed to the big F word because they seem to not understand what true feminist ideology is. Maybe that's what the author is trying to point out. Yet there was a constant niggling for me, something that felt off. While I know many people have been convinced feminists are something they aren't, did it seem at times like their criticisms were actually legitimate in this book? Why did everyone simply conflate all of feminism with people who work with rape and domestic violence? And are we so backward (in the US or UK) that we allow those notions to persist? I just don't know what the author's intent was here or if it came out clearly by the end. Ultimately, we discover the violence and cruelty some men are capable of, but that always seems juxtaposed at each turn with the deception women are, too, capable of. Is the author trying to show that the fraught terrain of patriarchal society makes women into these self-serving creatures? Or, is there some kind of equity being suggested between women's schemes of entrapment and callousness and men's ability to exploit, rape, beat, and even kill women?

I didn't mean this review to turn into the meanderings above; however, I find myself still trying to tease out these strains and figure out whether or not I'm just thinking too much about all this. Aside from this personal conundrum, I emphasize that this is a strong effort and a book I enjoyed reading.