What You Did

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Rachel thinks her life has started to come together, she lives in the countryside and has a boyfriend she loves albeit he is separated from his wife and has a small child. One morning on her regular walks with her dog she spots a body. What does she do? She runs it is the wife of her boyfriend. Should she report it? Well she has her reasons, 20 years ago when she was known as Casey she decided to fly to Los Angeles to become a Nanny thinking it was a stepping stone to fame.

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? AFOJFOJFOJ WHYYY!! ??? I absolutely loved Claire McGowan's writing in I Know You and What You Did, so naturally I was pumped af to grab her latest off NetGalley. The start was promising with Mary's raw af account of being a mom of two young kids with a bum ass husband. Her daughter, Audrey, was the uncontested star of this book—which is why I gave this two stars instead of one. Mary and Tim decide to become amateur detectives when they think they see a missing girl in an abandoned house. Their suspicions are all based on not very much, and they put their lives in danger because they can’t sleep and are bored. In this tense thriller from the bestselling author of What You Did and The Other Wife, a woman finds a dead body. Will she make the same mistake as last time? This was very formulaic like many thrillers from well-known authors this year, which was disappointing. Thankfully Audrey made the first part of the book slightly enjoyable.Reading about breast feeding, crying children, food being thrown, and dirty nappys always bores me to tears as a woman who is childless by choice. And, the decisions she would make while her children were in tow would not win her any “mother of the year” awards. So, I found myself wanting to skim through half of the chapters for that reason.

The Casey Anthony case meets the Jon-Benet Ramsey case in this suspenseful, well-written thriller by Claire McGowan. But what would happen if a child-killer like the one who killed Jon-Benet was exonerated on appeal, grew up, changed her name, and then stumbled upon another murder way too close to home? Did someone discover who she was and try to frame her? And was she actually innocent of the original crime? One follows Casey, a young English girl, who leaves London to work as a Nanny for a rich Hollywood family, around 20 years ago. The family she works for is a bit mad, the mother, a ‘wanna be’ actress, is highly strung and very difficult to be around. The father is a bit mysterious, there’s a couple of kids. A baby and a precocious young girl. Casey has her hands full and things go pear-shaped. Enough said. I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down as it drew me in immediately and before I knew it I was in the middle of the book! Excellent stuff and I’ve just added another book by McGowan to my TBR list, if it’s half as good as this one, it’ll be enjoyable. Sipping thoughts: I reallye enjoy McGowan's writing style. This was not my favorite of hers but I enjoyed it. It was a little repetitive but I had to find out if the characters were just crazy or delirious. I did figure out one part of the twist early on. And ended up figuring out the second part before the reveal. The main characters, Tim and Mary, really bothered me with some of their reactions but it made for a good read. Can't wait for the next release.After the past two unprecedented heat-wave summers here in the Pacific Northwest, I understand Mary’s predicament. Trying to escape the heat became an obsession, to the point where I wasn’t thinking rationally. Although I don't suffer from PTSD, I’m a worrier and often have difficulty getting to sleep because my mind wants to revisit every single negative situation I can imagine. Mixing this with having been prepped as a witness for a trial, I understand the controversy over eye-witness reliance. All of these allowed me to become part of the story while still maintaining some objectivity. Mary's two young children won't let her sleep; Tim, a journalist, just can't, following recent trauma. When these two sleepless people witness something concerning in the dead of night, perhaps linked to a recent crime, the unlikely pair - both experiencing their own form of desperation - come together to investigate.

I kept really wanting something exciting and gripping to happen, but it didn’t; it was very disappointing. I Know You, by Claire McGowan is my first foray into this author’s work – it’s a wonderful 4.5-star effort. I was considering giving it 5-stars but, I need to have some wriggle room if any subsequent reads by McGowan are better. Yes, this was that good!This is the second Claire McGown novel I've read, and it didn't disappoint. She does a fantastic job of constructing characters that you can really hate, like Casey/Rachel's mother dearest, and the mom of the family she nanny's for. You really feel for Casey/Rachel, as she struggles with who she is, what she wants, and finding inner strength. Rachel discovers a dead body in the woods and immediately panics and runs from the scene. This is not the first time she has found a dead body and last time didn't work out well with her being accused of murder. This time the victim is her boyfriends estranged wife and Rachel knows she will be the prime suspect.