I loved Lesley Kara's first book The Rumour, and I couldn't wait to read this one. I wasn't disappointed. Lesley has a great story writing style that puts you at the scene. Intriguing, plot and believable characters with as always an unpredictable ending. I definitely, recommend this book.

This isn’t an easy read as the main character Astrid is an alcoholic and struggling after rehab to stay on the straight and narrow. She has so many demons many of which are the theme of this novel and some of those turn into genuine fears and there are a number of good suspense moments in the book. Astrid began to go off the rails at 15 when she changes her birth name from Hilary to Astrid as she believes that ‘made me visible’. Her struggle with drink is well described as are the AA meetings when you get a real sense of how hard it is to battle an addiction. There she meets Rosie who she dislikes and Helen who she likes. There are a number of likeable characters such as Josh who Astrid falls for and his charming and kind father Richard. Astrid's mum is a good character and you really feel sympathy for her as she really tries her best to be supportive despite many obstacles and the author demonstrates effectively that an addiction spreads its tentacles widely.

Astrid is full of self loathing and is haunted but it’s hard to tell if some of this is real or imaginary as alcohol distorts memories . She is wracked with guilt over what happens to her ex boyfriend Simon some of which seems to be justified. As the book progresses you realise that someone is watching her and their motive is revenge although until the end you are uncertain why. The story unfolds well and is full of twists and turns and the plot keeps you guessing. The pacing is good and on the whole is is well written. However, I feel that towards the end there are too many twists and turns that it makes your head spin!

Overall. an easy to read story that is hard to put down although I have reservations about the denouement when all is revealed. I like though, that at the end things seem more positive for Astrid.

Astrid is a recovering alcoholic, and after struggling and slipping she is at the last chance saloon - her mother has provided a home, but insists she attends AA and does not drink. However, Astrid has a lot in her past to get over - not least the suicide of her boyfriend.

Things start to look up, she attends the AA meetings, albeit reluctantly, and meets Josh. She starts to paint again, and life looks better. However, there are reckonings from her past still to be faced. Someone is stalking her. Who did her boyfriend tell about their dark secret?

This is a powerful novel, and the author depicts the power of alcohol quite convincingly, although I did expect Astrid to fall off the wagon at several points - that lure is very strong indeed. Towards the end I couldn't put the book down and could not bear to read it, for fear that Astrid would make more poor decisions. There are plenty of red herrings, so it was hard to work out who was friend and who was foe.

Overall a very good read, very gripping and thought-provoking.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Bantam Press for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lesley Kara's writing is as easy to read as ever here, and I loved Astrid's voice. The character work in Who Did You Tell? is really lovely, and I actually found myself wanting to live with them all longer, learn more about them, and find out what happened next. I predicted the twist pretty early on which was slightly disappointing, but as she always does so well, the writer threw in a genuinely surprising second twist on the final pages, which was the payoff I was looking for. A thriller writer with a lot of heart, I would read anything Lesley Kara wrote.

Who Did You Tell... Astrid is an alcoholic on the road to recovery after her boyfriends suicide.. however the secrets of her past start to unravel and the reader is brought through a journey to find out who did she tell her secrets to!

This book was full of twists and turns. The authors writing style draws you into this book right from the beginning
This book gripped me from beginning to end
A good book

A great read which kept me guessing all the way through. I loved the way she introduced snippets to Astrids previous life every so often which kept you guessing

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I highly enjoyed Lesley Lara’s debut novel, The Rumour, so was excited to read this and what a rollercoaster read this was. It follows 32-year old Astrid who following rehab for her alcohol addiction moves back in with her widowed mother in Flinstead, a tiny seaside town. Astrid is still mourning the suicide of her boyfriend Simon who also suffered from alcoholism and is trying to put her messy past behind her...but someone knows Astrid’s deepest darkest secret and won’t let her forget...
Plotwise the less said about this the better. Overall I really enjoyed this and gulped it down in two sittings. Narrated from Astrid’s POV Kara does a great job in getting across Astrid’s struggle and her constant anxiety and paranoia. As a protagonist Astrid is a compelling and unreliable narrator even if at times frustrating. Nonetheless I found her emotionally engaging. Her shame in moving back with her mother and her constant guilt really resonated. There’s lots of twists and turns and surprises thrown the reader’s way. It’s well paced and fast. I loved the setting, too. This is the same seaside town where The Rumour is also set and some wink-wink references. Flinstead is so vividly drawn out and atmospheric I felt like I could hear gulls and waves crashing while sitting in my city home. This is a well crafted suspense read at its finest. 5/5

Although I enjoyed her first book, I found this one to be a little slow.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Astrid is an alcoholic. After some time in rehab, she is back at home living with her mother but on condition that she attends AA meetings and doesn't drink. Reluctantly Astrid goes along with this. She's a bit suspicious of the AA and all the reliance on God and she doesn't really take to the other members especially Rosie who seems to have an unhealthy interest in her. In particular she finds it hard to tell people about things in her past that she's ashamed of and doubts that she'll ever be able to do so.

At the same time she fears she is being haunted by her dead ex boyfriend. Why does she keep smelling his aftershave, why does she see him down at the seafront late at night? The only thing giving her solace is Josh, a decent young man with whom she sees a future. But then she starts getting threatening letters and that whole future and her sobriety are in doubt.

I enjoyed this book. Astrid, in spite of her faults, is a likeable protagonist. She is self aware and is genuinely trying to change. The story is compelling and while I guessed who was sending her the letters and why, this doesn't matter. The ending seemed a little rushed to me - perhaps a little too much telling and not enough showing but overall it was a good read, giving insight into the life of an alcoholic. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC,

I really wanted to love this book as I enjoy psychological thrillers, but somehow this book didn’t do it for me. It is readable, has recognisable characters and is based around the damage an alcoholic can do to themselves, their family and their friends. I am sure many people will enjoy this book, for me I felt it was a little slow perhaps? A little predictable? I didn’t warm to any of the characters so remained ambiguous which is probably a failing on my part rather than the authors

It did take me a while to get into this book but found it to be a well developed story with good characters and it turned out to be a good read which was well written.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I thought this one sounded interesting, but then remembered that I wasn't a fan of Lesley Kara's writing in her last book. I will sit this one out.

Astrid is a drunk. She has been drinking since she was 15 and is on her final chance. Her Mum has paid for rehab and she is attending AA meetings to try to stay sober. She is grieving for her ex boyfriend, Simon, and blames herself for his death. It appears that Astrid is winning the battle but she starts to be afraid that someone is following her,. Then sinister, threatening messages start arriving. The author also gives us occasional asides by the perpetrator to make it clear how much danger Astrid is in, The book sets up a number of suspects that it could possibly be and, although I was right in my guess, there was definite tension throughout the story. The book seems to face the damage alcoholics do head on but softens this at the end. Thank you to Netgalley for advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Astrid is recovering alcoholic. Fresh out of rehab, she's back home living with her mother in a quiet seaside town, attending AA meetings and doing her best to stay sober. When she tentatively starts dating a man she met at the beach, it seems like Astrid's life is picking up. But then she starts receiving anonymous threatening messages and seeing signs that point to the fact that someone know her secret. And that someone is out for revenge...

Well-plotted thriller with flawed, believable characters. I really felt for Astrid, and I liked the fact that we didn't know whether the things she was seeing were real threats or whether she was reading too much into completely innocent occurrences because she was paranoid. An excellent novel with well-paced twists and turns - I would definitely recommend to a friend.

Thank you to Netgalley, who provided a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read a review copy of this gripping thriller.

For fans of psychological thrillers with unreliable narrators along the lines of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, this new novel by Lesley Kara will not disappoint.

Of course you will find yourself second guessing where the twist is and who it involves throughout the whole novel, and you might just guess correctly - but that’s all part of the fun, surely.

It’s a well written and gripping read with an unreliable but not completely unlike able narrator. A recovering alcoholic in a small seaside town, Astrid has some dark secrets in her past that are gradually revealed throughout the novel and keep the tension high. There’s the ubiquitous new love interest and a smattering of romantic encounters, as well as the new ‘friends’ who may or may not be as friendly as they seem - and, of course, there’s the menacing second narrator whose identity is not revealed until the end of the novel.

All in all, I’d recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys this genre. It’s a well written example that won’t disappoint.

The story starts off really strong and keeps you engrossed. Brilliant characters. The only thing that lets it down is the ending feels like it was rushed so they could tie all the ends together

Wandering through the story in a blaze of alcohol addiction with reminiscent of a lover lost. Trying to gain purchase of a normal existence, without the messy dependence on the bottle, Astrid tries to start a new life in a tiny village. But the days past start creeping to the forefront. Can she start again or will she crumble?
Best book I've read in quite some time. Couldn't wait to see what happens, with an originality that draws you in and takes hold.

#who did you tell #netgalley
Many thanks to Netgalley for the loan of this book. I had read the previous book by this author and enjoyed it, but this is far superior in my opinion. I didn’t guess the end like I did with “The Rumour” and I finished it in 2 days. A woman named Astrid newly released from rehab living with her mum and struggling to stay sober, starts to receive sinister anonymous messages and senses she’s being followed. . Determined not to let them ruin her sobriety she embarks on a relationship and starts to learn to live again. But the stalker isn’t easily deterred and steps up their reign of terror. As they see it, why should Astrid make a new life for herself when she has destroyed others? A great revenge thriller but also a thought provoking insight into how addiction can destroy the lives of, not just the addict, but their family and friends. Fantastic!

I’ll start by saying I only managed 49% of Who Did You Tell? before I gave up. I love flawed characters, those characters that are a darker shade of grey than the rest of us but Astrid was naive and irritating.

Really interested in the storyline but it moves too slow for me, I was looking for distractions so I could put this book down and that says it all really!