The Diary by Vikki Patis (ARC)
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Read: 30th November 2018
Purchase: Amazon
★★★★ 4 stars
A tale of secrets, lies and misconceptions, THE DIARY by Vikki Patis is an intriguing narrative about six teenage girls, six secrets and a 10 year mystery. It delves into the sisterhood of teenage friendship and how fickle and tenuous it can be, and how easily broken the ties between us and those we consider important. It's about different forms of abuse, bullying, judgement and revenge. it's about teenage suicide. It's about past mistakes, forgiveness and letting go - or lack there of. It's about Lauren...and Hannah...
Ten years ago, Lauren Winters left home, running from her past, her secrets and her memories of her best friend Hannah. She loved Hannah like a sister but their relationship, as close as it was, was fraught with secrets and lies that once she found out, Lauren couldn't forgive. But when Hannah commits suicide on her 18th birthday, Lauren's world spirals. Her last words to Hannah were hateful - and now she can't take them back or apologise. And they have resounded in her mind over and over for a decade.
Now 10 years later, she is returning home for a memorial in Hannah's memory at her dad's request. She doesn't plan to stay long - just a few days.
But then she receives a strange text. Like it was Hannah speaking...from the grave. Someone knows what she did. Someone else knows her secret. Someone besides Hannah. But who? But it doesn't stop there. She receives another...and another. And when she meets up with the old crowd from school, she soon learns that they too have been receiving strange and threatening texts about their own secrets - secrets that only Hannah knew about.
One of the girls asks Lauren about Hannah's diary. What diary? Hannah didn't need a diary, Lauren thought; She had me. But this diary, if it exists, would contain all their secrets. What if someone had found it and was using it to taunt them?
But when Lauren finds a tatty old notebook hidden away beneath the only remaining piece of furniture in her room, she is shocked to discover that it is Hannah's diary. The very diary she didn't think existed...filled with all their secrets. Everyone's. Except Hannah's. And within these pages another secret emerges...the pure contempt and almost hatred of everyone she writes about. The picture of a very different Hannah. How could she say such things? About any of them? These were her friends. Hannah knew what happened to her and within these pages she throws it back in her face.
Then it is suggested that there is another copy of the diary. One of their outer group reveals that Hannah called him the night before she died, declaring that there was a diary in which she detailed everything about everyone. That she left it with someone she trusted more than anyone and threatened to go public with it and all their dirty little secrets. Is there another diary? And is this what their tormentor is using to taunt them with?
THE DIARY is a captivating story told entirely by Lauren both in the past and present, as slowly the secrets begin to unfold. In some parts, Lauren hints at some things that occurred without really going into detail which I found a little irritating at times. Did it happen or did it not? Did she say this or did she not? In some parts, the reader is left to "just work it out" themselves without anything really being revealed as such.
Lauren was fairly likable, but I found her view of Hannah a little obsessional. I failed to see why she put her on such a high pedestal when it was clear Hannah was a bully and could be mean and cruel. Even Hannah's closest friends said so. Even when Lauren discovered Hannah was responsible something so incredibly humiliating happening to her, she still had her on this pedestal. Maybe it's just what happens when someone like this dies, rather than remembering them in their cruel and often true form you place a halo on them in their memory and hold them in a high regard - possibly out of your own regret. Either way, I grew to dislike Hannah immensely - maybe because I was victim to bullies like her at that age so I failed to have any sympathy for her. Teenagers can be cruel, and the tale told here just highlights that fact.
However, five of them grew out of the terrible teenage years and look back on them with horror at some of the things they did. Hannah didn't have a chance to, she took her life before she could. And the question remained - WHY? Why did Hannah take her own life? The tormentor from their texts proclaimed to know why. But did they really? When Lauren makes another shocking discovery, she learns the truth of Hannah's death and she finds herself crying tears of regret and pain for her long lost friend.
THE DIARY is an emotional read in some parts - particularly for those who have ever experienced the things outlined in the story. You can feel their pain, their angst, almost to the point of reliving your own teenage years. Where Hannah's tortuous abuse was revealed I found myself empathising with her in a detached way, though I could still feel the sting of her words and her cruelty to those she called her friends.
While I liked Lauren and her dad, I didn't like the other girls - they all seemed to be harbouring something sinister. And I didn't like Hannah - and she was dead! But the biggest niggle for me was the constant reference to Hannah being Lauren's sister. She wasn't. She may have loved Hannah like a sister, they may have grown up together, but they weren't sisters. And the constant reference - even by one of the former teachers - to them being sisters just irked me. Hannah lived in Lauren's house for just a year. Hardly enough to make them sisters. When I started the book I admit I was thoroughly confused with the sister reference, wondering how it factored in - which of Lauren's parents was Hannah's and all that. It was off-putting and irrelevant. Best friends is where it should have been left.
I've seen some people mention that the title is misleading and has nothing to do with a diary at all. This is not the case. While "the diary" appears to play a small part in the story, it is its entire existence and the secrets it contains that has a hold over every single one of the women - and its inference is very clear. THE DIARY knows ALL their secrets, just as Hannah did. Secrets that many are afraid will come out. THE DIARY is their incubus.
A compelling story though with a predictable outcome THE DIARY was still a good read.
Thank you to #VikkiPatis, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheDiary in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment