Who Do You Trust? by Kirsty Ferguson
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller
Read: 6th March 2021
Published: 18th March 2021
★★ 2 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A perfect sunny day, a family celebration, a heart-stopping hour that changes everything...
Dana has all she ever wanted – a husband she loves, her four-year-old daughter Kelsey who is the apple of her eye, and another baby on the way to complete her perfect family.
But then the worst fear that Dana has, comes true, and everything she thought she knew, she now starts to doubt. As her world comes crashing around her, who can Dana trust?
Her husband Logan who seems to be getting worryingly close to Dana’s best friend Pippa?
Her new friend Melanie who has a sinister habit of turning up in the strangest places?
Her parents and her sister, who Dana knows are keeping a terrible secret from her?
Matt, who says he’s Dana’s friend, but sometimes she’s not so sure?
Or will Dana discover that it’s a dangerous mistake to trust anyone…
Join Kirsty Ferguson on this heart-stopping, plot-twisting, roller coaster read, perfect for fans of Shari Lapena and Adele Parks.
MY REVIEW:
Having thoroughly enjoyed the author's previous thriller "Never Ever Tell", I was eager to dive into WHO DO YOU TRUST?, squeezing it in between my many other reads. The premise was intriguing and initially when I began I was excited by the storyline thinking this is going to be interesting but after a few chapters, it just seemed to fizzle out.
The story begins with Dana, hubby Logan and 4 year old Kelsey trekking to her parents' place for a BBQ that was the promise of a new start after months of stubborn estrangement that, when explained further in, was just plain pigheadedness in my opinion. Upon arrival, Logan did his part bringing in cooler bag of beers and plonking himself down beside his brother-in-law James for a serious drinking session and catch-up. Dana seemed to be in a permanent bad mood, giving him the evil eye on regular occasions, as well as doing a good job of pretty much ignoring her sister Alesha. "She'll come round," her mother told her younger sister, "she just needs time." While Dana had already decided she was never going to forgive her sister for whatever slight had befallen her.
Then Kelsey woke up and came looking for mummy. While everyone thought she was cute and adorable, I found her demanding and precocious. Because when it was discovered her much-loved bear Boo-Boo was nowhere in sight, out came the screams and tantrums that had everyone trying to soothe her while Dana ran around, heavily pregnant I might add, looking for the beloved Boo-Boo. Looking to her slightly inebriated husband for support, Dana blamed him for not packing the one toy that would soothe their daughter. So the only thing to be done was to drive home and get Boo-Boo. In an instant, Kelsey's screams stopped and her face lit up in a smile. "Find him, mummy. Please."
Then in the blink of an eye Dana's world came crashing down and everything changed. She and Logan argued over everything. She was grieving and he was moving on...and yet neither could understand the other at a time when they should be drawing on each other. Logan wanted change, Dana wanted everything to remain the same...and neither would budge. Her mother tried to reach out to her but Dana shut her, and everyone else, out.
And then Dana met Melanie, an effervescent woman who had lost her daughter after her husband left her for another woman. Her personality was a force to be reckoned with and she took Dana under her wing immediately. Almost at once, Melanie started texting Dana daily - just checking in to see how she was or to go for a coffee. But everyone else who met Melanie didn't trust her...but then they didn't have to. Dana trusted her. Because Melanie understood.
And then there was Matt, who had lost his wife and shortly after his young son. When Dana met him she took an instant like to him whereas Melanie took an instant dislike to him. Matt became a confidante when she could no longer talk to Logan and the two drew closer...while Melanie seemed jealous at this new rival for Dana's friendship. Her cheerful persona turned silent and seething whenever Matt was around but Dana put that down to her just being protective of her. But when Dana began to suspect Logan of having an affair with her best friend Pippa, she called on Matt for his support.
In the midst of all this drama Dana gave birth to a baby girl who, after some argument, was called Grace. She fell in love with her instantly and began to heal through the love for her new daughter. Matt and Melanie, albeit separately and respectively, were on hand for support while Logan seemed to be drifting further away. And added to that, strange things were happening. Menacing messages left for Dana that rattled her, leaving her feeling vulnerable and afraid...especially when she began to feel that someone was in her home, stalking her and making her question whether it was real or whether she was doing these things herself. Who would hate her THAT much? It didn't take Einstein to work that one out, in my opinion. I guessed right away.
In the end, Dana is left with the question of who to trust. Her new friends? Her old friends? Her family? Her husband? All of them had secrets and all of them seemed to have an agenda. So who could she trust?
The premise for WHO DO YOU TRUST? was indeed promising that took us on a dark and disturbing journey with this psychological thriller. I had high expectations for this book, particularly after enjoying the previous one so much, but the entire thing just fell flat. I read the book in one sitting, sacrificing sleep in the hope it would get better and that it would all make sense in the end. If anything, it made even less sense in the end than it did at the beginning! The first final twist was no surprise and the second wasn't really either. In fact, that made more sense than anything else that happened here. But then everything was just left up in the air, no real explanation and no real conclusion to how it all ended for Dana and her family. I can't say much more than that without revealing spoilers but honestly...the story just goes round in endless circles and it was all just a tangled mess.
WHO DO YOU TRUST? will have you guessing, it will have you turning the pages but I doubt it will leave you with anything but scratching your head wondering what the hell just happened. The book is like a car crash - a tragic event from which you just can't look away. Of course it didn't help that I didn't like any of the characters. They all annoyed me no end.
In a nutshell, it was disappointing. But it doesn't deter me from reading more of Kirsty Ferguson, as I know she is capable of brilliant psychological and domestic thrillers. This, sadly, was not one of them.
2 stars for me...and even that is being generous, in my view.
I always feel bad about leaving a negative review because I know this was someone's hard work. And while I know I am not going to enjoy every book I read, it saddens me when I don't. But reading is subjective and what I don't enjoy, another may revel in.
I would like to thank #KirstyFerguson, #RachelsRandomResources, #Netgalley and #BoldwoodBooks for an ARC of #WhoDoYouTrust in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Kirsty grew up in a rural town, on a farm and likes to base her stories in isolated places, physically, mentally and emotionally. She has long been a lover of reading and writing, beginning her professional career in 2015. She can be found with a good book in hand, her to be read list never growing any smaller no matter how hard she tries.
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