What You Did

Product Information

a university ball twenty-five years earlier where something else terrible happened (has there ever been a fictional university ball where something terrible didn’t happen?). I feel like I’ve read several books where the plot sounds very similar to that; however, What You Did feels a bit different and is very well executed.

As the mystery unravels there are many more surprises and twists to come. Can you really trust your friends? Are your friends who they pretend to be? Amidst all the partying and drinking, Ali's best friend Karen stumbles inside from the garden accusing Mike of sexually assaulting her. Mike denies the accusation but Karen does not relent. Ali does not know who to believe – Is her husband capable of committing such a heinous crime? Is her best friend capable of telling such an improbable lie? This psychological thriller wasn't really a thriller. The suspense never reached a level of ... I have GOT to find out what happens next. It started with a bang and then fizzled a bit. None of the characters have any redeeming qualities. Mike and Ali seem to have it all. They’ve been together since university and have the perfect marriage. Two kids. A beautiful house. And money. Ali feels like she has it all and is content being an activist for rape victims. She has the life she has always wanted and naively believes that nothing could shatter that.

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

You see, I am huge of The Fall. I really like Claire McGowan and I am pretty excited to read The Other Wife but this book just wasn't it. It didn't feel like it is by Claire. One of the positive things I have to say about this book is that I enjoyed reading the last chapter and epilogue, not because the book finally came to end (okay, maybe, a little) or because I felt something was missing but because, it had a hint of essence of Claire's work. It’s the 25th anniversary reunion for the group of 6 that created a bond while in university, a bond that is still strong today. But is it? When the six ex Oxford University friends had a reunion years after their graduation none of them had any idea that things would go so tragically wrong. The way each of them handled it revealed how their friendship wasn’t as strong or genuine as they thought.

Readers are given insights into the friends' shared past and what happened on a dark night years ago through their various POVs, which is done to muddy the waters and create tension among the friends and readers. When Karen staggers in from the garden, bleeding and traumatised, she claims that she has been assaulted - by Ali’s husband, Mike. Ali must make a split-second decision: who should she believe? Her horrified husband, or her best friend? With Mike offering a very different version of events, Ali knows one of them is lying - but which? And why? With Mike and Ali hosting the weekend reunion, soon arrives Karen, Bill, and married and a couple soon to have a baby, Jodi and her husband. Ali is pulled in both directions, wanting to believe both her husband and her best friend. She is at crossroads with herself especially when she is the one dealing with such cases daily at her workplace.

Publication Order of Anthologies

Secrets start to unravel and the reader is forced to think what kind of a friendship did the six share as everybody is hiding something or the other from everybody else. The rape accusation also reveals a murder of a common friend Martha while they were still in college. The plot becomes more and more complex as the story progresses. Karen stumbles in from the garden of her old friend Ali’s house, distraught and traumatised. She’s been raped - and the man she accuses is Ali’s husband. And right there, everything changes for everybody.