I’m struggling to write a review on this one. It’s quite dark at times which I often enjoy in a book and it started off really well.

But, I think because both the main characters were not likeable it made it difficult to keep engaged. It felt a little longer than necessary.

Overall the plot was interesting and I’d be happy to read the authors future books.

Many thanks to #NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

A story of toxic relationships, of best friends who are a little too involved in each others lives. It's rather dark in places, with some shocking revelations. I didn't warm to the characters, but I'm not sure you're meant to. It's well written with an intriguing plot.

This is the story of an unequal friendship, of friends since birth, and both are now in their 70s. Muriel (Moo) is the champagne drinker, the one people are drawn to in their youth, the successful author and recipient of an MBE. Ruth is the resider by the A597, and though she has her moments of journalistic success, those sandwiches are eaten at the grace and favour of Moo, for whom Ruth is now a full-time carer. It’s fair to say that Moo is not easy to live with, the pair row and there are frequent threats of will changing, perhaps whilst they play Scrabble or Ludo. What does Ruth make of Muriel’s pronouncement that in 72 hours she will die? This shocking announcement sends Ruth into a chaotic spiral, and she’s now entering uncharted waters. Ruth narrates how reliably only time will tell.

A lovely wicked read, funny and captivating. A little disturbing in places and sometimes I found it hard to keep up - but it kept me hooked right to the end!

This was a darkly funny read - if somewhat uncomfortable at times.

The Final Hours of Muriel Hinchcliffe MBE follows two elderly "friends", Muriel and Ruth, who have known each other since birth and live together. What initially seems like an unusual if harmless situation is slowly unveiled as the toxic nature of their relationship becomes clear.

Definitely recommend for anyone who likes an unreliable narrator and unfurling plotline across numerous time periods.

This is a dark book with quite an interesting story. But the characters are so toxic and unlikeable that I struggled with this book. It seemed to take ages to read and then ended so suddenly. It isn’t a bad book but not the book for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

This was a difficult read as I struggled to keep up with what was happening and which timeline the chapter was talking about. It also went on for a bit too longer than needed to and I was left confused with the ending- the way I thought it would end, it didn’t which was a bit disappointing.

The story follows Muriel and Ruth, two women who have been best friends since birth except their friendship was forced by their mother's meeting whilst on the labour ward. Ruth seems very jealous of Muriel because Ruth’s mother sorted on Muriel, whose own mother found Muriel as an inconvenience. Long story short, Ruth struggles to carry a pregnancy through and Muriel steals her husband and has a baby with him.


Muriel husband dies and so does her son, she then becomes wheelchair dependent and Ruth ends up caring for Muriel. There is a lot more that happens and the story flits from past and present showing their toxic friendship.

I love books about people and their relationships and this is a great on.

The title tells you what it’s about and the themes of toxic friendships make this an engaging read.

The book is entertaining and surprising, really good read.

A bit of an uncomfortable read, the oppressive relationship between two elderly ladies is full of casual nastiness. But it’s very well written, drip feeding their back story through cleverlyahndled flashbacks, so totally believable.

I am actually not sure what to write as a review for this book. At the beginning it seems to be about two elderly women living together with one as the carer of the other. As the story develops it seems that they are co-dependant on each other. At first I sympathised with Ruth who seemed to be badly treated by Muriel, not just as an old woman but for most of their ives but then the story took a darker turn. After a few twists and turns the ending was inevitable I think. A fairly good read and not what I expected at the start of the book.

Muriel and Ruth, Moo and Roo, have been best friends since childhood, spending a large portion of their lives living together. But now they are old, Ruth is caring for Moo when she makes her shocking announcement, that she will die in 72 hours.

I have given this book 3 stars as although it was enjoyable and well written, I just didn’t like the characters. There was noone I felt linked to, or understanding of the character choices. I actively disliked Roo, deceitful and selfish, but both her and Moo are as bad as each other.

The plot behind the characters was interesting and the book is well written in a slightly unusual style which I enjoyed. I didn’t dislike reading the book, just the characters I couldn’t warm to. I do think it might be a marmite read.

I'm not sure what I think about this book. It was well written and the characters were richly drawn - but they just weren't very likeable. The author keeps the reader guessing and the story was dark and twisting. It was a powerful picture of toxic, co-dependent friendship and just left me feeling a bit sad at the nastiness of people.

Thriller is a genre that promises to keep readers on the edge of their seats, and this delivers. From the very first page, the tension is palpable, and the plot twists and turns in unexpected ways, making it difficult to put the book down.

The characters are well-developed and the author does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing as to who can be trusted and who is hiding something. The pacing is spot-on, with just the right amount of action and suspense to keep the reader engaged. The writing style is gripping and evocative, making it easy to visualise the scenes and feel the emotions of the characters.

The author's attention to detail and ability to create a believable world adds to the overall experience of the book. Overall, this is an excellent example of the thriller genre. It's a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the very end and is sure to satisfy fans of the genre.

Highly recommended for anyone who loves a good suspenseful read.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

silly in places but in others, a fairly effective depiction of your toxic monogamous codependent female friendship taken to outlandish extremes. not bad!

I am left struggling to know how to review this book and do it justice! From the off I was drawn to the characters, thinking it would be wonderful to get to know them. They certainly turned out to be entertaining!

Moo and Roo are living their lives out together. Best friends, rivals, they have had a tumultuous past.

This book was gripping and I flew through it. The book gets darker as the story unfolds, skeletons definitely come out of the woodwork, and not just for Moo and Roo!

Brilliant characters. I highly recommend this book.

Muriel and Ruth have been best friends almost all of their lives and one night Muriel tells Ruth she will be dead in 72 hours. Surely that's just the ramblings of an old, poorly lady. Ruth is about to find out.

This was a dark and slightly sinister read. The story is told from Ruth and she is very much the unreliable narrator from the start. The plot jumps to past events that explain how they both ended up in the situation they are in. This is one of those stories where no one is particularly likeable at all. They all have their issues and flaws making you wonder about many decisions they make. The plot is a slow steady burn to an ending I had just about predicted. i did like how it finally came together and especially the letter to Courtney. It was possibly the most poignant moment. The ending was dark but exactly how you expected it to end. A dark read about toxic friendships and family.

Born on the same day in 1943, during an air raid, Ruth and Muriel have been best friends their whole lives, remaining inseparable through marriages, careers and some monumental fallings-out. Now, in their mid-seventies, Ruth cares for frail, wheelchair-bound Muriel, tolerating her selfish, entitled behaviour in the knowledge that Muriel has promised to leave everything to Ruth when she dies. Their days are monotonous, filled with Scrabble and passive aggression, until one evening when Muriel suddenly proclaims that in seventy-two hours she will be dead.

The Final Hours of Muriel Hinchcliffe, M.B.E. is a sharply observed story of friendship, family and betrayal. Author Claire Parkin crafts a compelling relationship between two women who at once loathe each other and yet cannot imagine life without each other, and the resentment, envy and co-dependence between the two is both believable and fascinating. I found myself drawn into their lives - the timeline switching between the present day and Ruth's memories of defining incidents spanning more than seventy years, and I was desperate to know how the narrative strands were going to be woven together to reveal the secrets at the heart of the friendship. Parkin gleefully scatters red herrings and misdirection throughout the story, so that the reader might make up their mind that the narrative is heading in a particular direction, only to find themselves wrong-footed.

The framing and narration is reminiscent of Elizabeth is Missing or Three Things About Elsie, the reader's perceptions of the elderly - and the perceptions of the - often frustrated and impatient - younger characters in these novels lending themselves easily to the unreliable narrator trope. Can we trust Ruth's recollections of the past or observations in the present? Is she being manipulated or is she doing the manipulating?

From the outset, Ruth portrays herself as the put-upon, long-suffering sidekick who has always lived in the shadow of her more beautiful, charming friend; at one point she notes how Muriel entered the world serenely, while Ruth, according to her mother's accusatory account, had made so much noise when she was born minutes earlier that they couldn't hear the all clear siren announcing that the air raid was over. Because it is Ruth who is telling the story of the two women's inextricably linked lives, it is up to the reader to challenge the narrative we are presented with and uncover the truth. Indeed, both women are complex, layered characters, and it is impossible not to feel sympathy for both of them at times; they are undeniably products of their generation, class and experiences.

Parkin writes Ruth's voice convincingly throughout - from lonely, neglected little girl to cantankerous old woman. Muriel is inevitably more of a cypher; we are not privy to her innermost thoughts so must draw our conclusions about her from Ruth's biased testimony. Because of this, the ending felt rather hurried and unearned.

Overall, this was a hugely enjoyable, riveting debut, and I look forward to seeing what else Claire Parkin has up her sleeve.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

I did like this although it was a quite a slow story - I'm giving this feedback is the slowness was worth it for the bombshells dropped, for example about Harvey.
Didn't expect the depth / deceit from Ru, but I expected it from Mu, who seemed like a mean, jealous and unlikeable character. Portrayed well in the story though.
I almost thought the end was fitting, although I questioned whether I was mean!!

A totally original tale with the green eyed monster the most guilty at the end. Great characters and excellent use of moving time line. I listened to this recently on an audio edition but felt there were things in the book I had missed along the way so was glad to also get an ebook copy.

What a very odd and vaguely disturbing book. Dark, very, very dark. It buzzes with a constant undercurrent or resentment, hatred (dare I say it? Yes, I think so...), and toxicity, all hidden - sometimes barely - under a veneer of respectability. Moo and Roo are dysfunctional, competitive and in so many ways dreadful to each other. Throw in a good helping of dementia and delusion, and the pot starts to bubble.

The characters are an interesting mix of weakness, madness and spite. Harvey was awful, Roo's mother possibly even more so. Moo and Roo are not far behind. The only sensible one was Stephanie. Either way, it goes to show how you can end up feeding off someone, literally sucking them dry, if you don't move on. Physically, emotionally and mentally.

I'm going to say 3 and a half stars. It isn't quite my cup of Earl Grey, more like a bitter, slightly past-it's-sell-by-date green tea. The one that gives you hallucinations.