Friends Don't Lie by Nell Pattison
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 2nd October 2022
Published: 29th September 2022
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
The new addictive, compelling and immersive thriller from Nell Pattison, with enough dark twists to give you whiplash…Fans of Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell will be hooked.
My name is Isabel Butterworth. Your name is Isabel Butterworth.
We’re around the same age. We live in the same town.
But your life is more exciting than mine, isn’t it? Richer, dramatic, more fulfilling.
Imagine if I’d never found out about you…
But I have. Because someone mistook me for you.
And now I can’t stop thinking about you because I know you’re in trouble. You need my help.
And I need a way to get to know you.
To save you.
To be you…
MY THOUGHTS:
Friends don't keep secrets...friends don't lie...
We've all heard of doppelgangers but what about someone not only the same name as you but who lives in the same town and is relatively a similar age? You wouldn't read about it...or would you? I guess I just did. Because we have not one but two Isabella Butterworths living in Lincoln, a great cathedral city of England. But that is about where the similarities end. Because the two women have equally separate lives vastly different from the other. And one woman would never have found about the other had she not been mistaken for her in the first place.
Izzy Butterworth lives a quiet and isolated existence. She once had a circle of friends at uni with whom she has since grown apart, made especially clear when Izzy began to lose her hearing and socialising became something she dreaded. A misheard word turned into an entire missed conversation and Izzy found it easier to stop frequenting those places she found it difficult to follow conversations, despite her hearing aids.
Then one day, an email lands in her inbox that is addressed to her but is obviously not for her as the email attachments contained photographs that were clearly not her nor the husband and family she doesn't have. But this isn't the first time she's received an email for Isabella Butterworth - another Isabella Butterworth - and she's just binned them, citing them having been sent to her in error.
And then something strange happens. As she leaves her flat to grab a takeaway for dinner, she is accosted by a stranger demanding to see Isabella Butterworth and threatening to kill her. The incident shakes her to the core as he obviously believes the woman he seeks to be living in her flat. He obviously knows the other Isabella Butterworth which is why he didn't mistake her for the other woman. So why is he so desperate to find her? And why did he say he wanted to kill her?
Izzy is so intrigued by the turn of events that she uses the emails sent to her in error to learn more about this Isabella Butterworth. And what she discovers is that the other Isabella has everything that she doesn't. A handsome husband. Two beautiful children. And a gorgeous palatial home. But what should she do with this information? Warn her that she is in danger? But what if she doesn't believe her? And what if her attacker comes back looking for her? Is she putting them both in danger? No...she befriends her. And discovers that she likes this woman called Bella and through her finds a new confidence she was otherwise lacking in her own lonely and isolated life.
What an amazing read this is! I certainly never expected things to play out as they did when I started it last night. In fact, a few of the reviews left me feeling a bit "meh" about it and wondering if this was going to be a waste of my time...but it most certainly wasn't. I absolutely loved this psychological thriller that is so unique but well played from start to almost the finish. The one thing letting it down from being a five start read was the ending. Without giving anything away and my reasons why I feel this way, I just felt a little cheated at the end. But aside from that, it was an outstanding read.
I have read one other of this author's thrillers, "The Silent House", but have yet to read the rest of that series. I like the fact that it factors in hearing loss and the deaf community and how something like that may hinder one's ability in such a story. But the author uses it as an aid rather than a disability, which I find refreshing. Although in this story, Izzy's hearing impairment is really only featured in the beginning and doesn't actually play in the bigger picture...you will understand why that is in the end.
The story unfolds through the alternating perspectives of both Izzy and Bella, but in blocks of several chapters rather than an alternating chapter each. I think maybe the author should have thus divided the book into Part One - Izzy, Part Two - Bella and so forth for easier identification for some. I didn't have a problem with the alternating perspectives and actually found Bella's life a lot more interesting than Izzy's, for good reason I expect. Though I hated Bella's husband Ian with a passion. The man was a self centred git. And I could sympathise with Izzy as well because I could relate to her in some ways also...and found her somewhat sad.
There are a couple of twists even I didn't foresee coming - one is just over halfway through and the others are closer to the penultimate climax. The first twist I was like...what?? I did not see that coming! The other couple I figured out just before they were revealed. But wow! I really loved this read. And I can see why it is compared to Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell because the style is so very similar to the dark tone which is found in their writing.
The plot is very intricate and complex but not confusing. You always know at which point you are and whose narrative you are reading. But equally so, both characters do appear to be unreliable and there is that air of not knowing how much you can really trust them.
FRIENDS DON'T LIE is a dark psychological thriller that has a creepy and often sinister edge to it. I wanted to read it one sitting but I was too tired to finish overnight, completing it this morning. An outstanding thriller that's only flaw is the ending, for which I knock off a half star. Some readers may love it, but not me. But it still didn't ruin my overall enjoyment of this exceptional and intriguing read.
I would like to thank #NellPattison, #NetGalley and #AvonBooks for an ARC of #FriendsDontLie in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
After studying English at university, Nell Pattison became a teacher and specialised in Deaf education. She taught in the Deaf community for 15 years in both England and Scotland, working with students who use BSL.
Nell began losing her hearing in her twenties, and is a strong believer in the importance of disability representation in fiction. She lives in North Lincolnshire, England, with her husband and children.
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