Do I Really Know You? by Sheryl Browne
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Suspense
Read: 17th July 2022
Audio Links
Published: 19th July 2022
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
She’s the friend you trust with your life. But can she trust you with hers?
When the police knock on my door to tell me that my best friend Kiara has taken her life, my world shatters.
Ever since we met at university along with my husband, Nathan and her ex-husband David, the four of us have been inseparable. I can’t believe that, suddenly, she’s not here.
The police say that Kiara fell from the balcony of her small, pristine apartment. But I refuse to accept that she jumped.
I thought I knew Kiara better than anyone. But I soon find out my friend was keeping some big secrets.
Talking to her ex-husband, David, I’m shocked. Was she really having an affair, like he claims?
Searching for evidence, I let myself into her apartment. My heart races as I find her diary and I read the name of her last appointment – Nathan. Why would she be meeting with my husband? And why didn’t he tell me?
It soon becomes clear that everyone around me has been hiding the truth, and when the police call again and ask me to look at security camera footage from the night Kiara died, fear floods through me as I recognise her final visitor. Can I trust anyone in my life? And if someone did push Kiara that night, could I be next?
Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl and The Wife, Do I Really Know You? is a gripping new psychological thriller from bestselling author Sheryl Browne. Once you start reading, you won’t be able to stop!
MY THOUGHTS:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Sheryl Browne's tense and creepy psychological thriller DO I REALLY KNOW YOU?
You've known each other for years. Since you were young...much younger. You've been there for each other through all the good times, the bad and even the downright ugly. You've endured turmoils together, picked up the pieces together and come through the other side together. You have always been there for each other. No matter what. Yet...how well do you really know each other?
The story opens with a heart-stopping prologue that sets your pulse racing and those tiny little hairs standing on end as shivers tingle down your spine as two terrifying phobias assault the reader within the first electrifying pages. Yes, phobias. The most terrifying of them all...spiders. And lots of them!
The mystery of "who" had me guessing throughout. Who did who not really know? Who had cornered who in the dark and let loose a terrifying cluster of eight-legged little ferals? Who was gaslighting who? And who wasn't all they appeared to be?
Maddie and Kiara have been best friends since university but in recent months have had a falling out. Why, Maddie isn't sure, but Kiara had been distancing herself from her and she was left wondering why. Every time she tried to speak to her friend, Kiara would either make excuses or simply avoid her altogether. Which left Maddie wondering just how well she knew her best friend.
Then one morning the police arrive to inform Maddie that Kiara was dead, an apparent suicide, and Maddie is left bereft. Why hadn't she tried to find out what was bothering her friend? Why hadn't she made more of an effort? She should have known, shouldn't she? But then she remembers their sudden rift the past few months and finds herself questioning just how much she really knew about Kiara and what secrets her friend had been keeping. I mean, she had to be, didn't she? For her to take such drastic action in ending her life. Was she really that unhappy?
Since university, Maddie and Kiara had married their respective boyfriends Nathan and David. And while Maddie had a happy life with Nathan and their two children, she wondered just how happy Kiara had been with David. After all, they were separated at the time of her death. But David adored Kiara and would have done anything to make her happy. In fact, he had...by moving from their beautiful country-styled barn conversion into the minimalist clinical fourth floor apartment. All in the name of Kiara's terrifying arachnophobia. She saw spiders in every corner of the old barn and yet in this new-build apartment high off the ground there would be no chance of them invading her space. Here, she would be safe...and happy.
So why did she take her own life? What made Kiara plunge to her death from her fourth floor balcony? Was it really suicide? Or was it an accident? Had her phobia elicited the one thing she would run from irrationally over a balcony in an attempt to escape them?
Maddie is sure there is more to Kiara's death than meets the eye. But when she tries to confide in Nathan he brushes her concerns off as her imagination conjuring up things that didn't happen due to her reliance on sleeping pills. The same pills that gave her hallucinations as well as imagining things. And yet if she didn't take them she'd be exhausted from lack of sleep or nightmares that plague her even in her waking moments. Either way, Maddie is a mess. And Kiara's death only adds to her stress and worries. Of course it doesn't help that Nathan is always away in some far flung country examining bugs for research which, as an entomologist, is his job. But is it her imagination that Nathan seems to be withdrawing from her?
And so we return to the question of "who". This cleverly told multi-layered story, which unfolds through the eyes of several unreliable narrators, throws us twists and red herrings that we are left questioning who it is that we really don't know? Someone is certainly not who they appear to be...to anyone. I laid out all the pieces of the puzzle I had thus far and closely examined them...and came up with a working theory around 40% in. It's like a game of cat and mouse reading one of Sheryl's books as I ponder if she could outwit me again? Sorry, Sheryl, not this time. I had it worked out long before the gradual reveal. But of course, that didn't affect my enjoyment of this creepy spine-tingling thriller.
DO I REALLY KNOW YOU? is definitely creepy and spine-tingling but not in the usual sense. It's the hundreds of creepy eight-legged little psychopaths terrorising Kiara, and the reader, that is enough to send shivers down anyone's spine. Spiders are not your friend. Not in my world. And if you are afraid of spiders, beware...because they feature heavily in this book and play a huge role to the story. But not only that, fears are being played upon as well. Because at the beginning, each of the friends all reveal their fears to one another...paving the way for who it is that is wearing a mask to play on those fears.
I thoroughly enjoyed DO I REALLY KNOW YOU? (despite the eight-legged psychopaths). Gaslighting is one of my favourite weapons in psychological thrillers. It is the subtle and covert manipulation that leaves readers questioning if what they are reading is real...if the characters are truly that unreliable or if something else is making it seem that way. The paranoia is delicious and the vulnerability chilling. And Sheryl's execution is brilliant.
Again, I love the short snappy chapters that keep the pace moving even quicker and the flashbacks from the past to the present helped put everything into perspective...albeit, a little unreliable maybe. But Sheryl revealed just enough at the right time as she drip-fed us information to both intrigue and maybe hoodwink us. The ending was a slow and gradual reveal that I saw coming but may well shock others. And leaves us questioning how well do we really know those we thought we knew?
Sheryl's often told me, after reading previous books, she would have to work harder at outwitting me as I've become something of a master at guessing her villains. Or is it that I just know at which angle to look? Having stated in her bio that she would have made an excellent psychopath, I'm now left wondering if I have an inner psychopath too...lol
I would like to thank #SherylBrowne, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #DoIReallyKnowYou in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
When she's not writing Sheryl can usually be found messing about on the water in her little narrowboat, Aquaduck, which she says she can generally be found falling off and she admits to being a bit accident prone.
Sheryl lives in Worcestershire with her partner and a variety of disabled dogs, of whom she says "my furry-friends give me back much more than I could ever give them. I really wouldn’t be me without them." According to readers of her thrillers, she also apparently makes an excellent psychopath.
Thanks so much for sharing your fab review, Stina! I'm still smiling at that last comment! :) x
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