My Best Friend's Secret by Karen Clarke
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 16th December 2023
Published: 28th September 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
She knows her. But can she trust her?
When Rose’s old friend Elise suddenly arrives on her doorstep having just escaped a controlling marriage, she offers her a place to stay.
But Elise wants more than a safe refuge, she wants Rose to help her get her daughter back, so that she can truly start afresh with five-year-old Daisy safely in her arms. Every little girl needs her mother, after all.
Ready to insert herself into Elise’s old home, Rose gets a job as a teacher, home-schooling Daisy.
But when Rose is asked to take the little girl and bring her to Elise, she gets cold feet… Elise’s behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic, and Daisy’s father is far from the monster described…
Will Rose take Daisy and return her to her mother, or is the real danger closer to home?
Who should she trust?
An utterly gripping novel of suspense and drama from the bestselling author of My Sister’s Child. Fans of Claire Amarti and Nicole Trope will love My Best Friend’s Secret!
MY THOUGHTS:
I know her...but can I trust her...?
Rose and Elise haven't seen each other in years. Not after something happened to drive them apart. But now Elise is back, having just arrived on Rose's doorstep after escaping her marriage to a controlling man and his equally controlling family, and Rose offers her a place to stay. But Elise wants more than a roof over her head. She wants Rose to help her get her daughter back and away from her controlling husband...after all, Rose owes her.
So Rose approaches Isaac outside the school one afternoon and before long, she's been offered the job of home schooling five year old Daisy. Her mission is simple. Return Daisy to her mother. While she sympathises with Elise's distressing story, evoking some equally emotional memories of her own past, the more Rose spends at Isaac's house with Daisy the more she begins to question the validity of Elise's story. Added to that, Elise's behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic. Is she really being a honest as she made out? Or is there more to the story than Elise is saying?
This tale is filled with secrets, lies and a load of deceit. Who is really lying? The deception is next level. Nothing and no one is as innocent as they seem and everyone is suspect. And the holes in Elise's tale that Rose began to unravel create even more misconception. A twisty narrative, this made for uncomfortable reading much of the time. I didn't know who to trust. Everyone had their own version of Daisy's mother - but which of them is the truth? And yet in the middle of this nightmare is Daisy who is blissfully (and thankfully) unaware of all these events happening around her.
With so many layers to this tale, the author keeps readers guessing right up to the end as she peels back each layer to reveal a little more. This is my first read by Clarke on her own, having read a few she has penned alongside Amanda Brittany. A well-plotted psychological thriller.
I would like to thank #KarenClarke, #Netgalley and #HQDigital for an ARC of #MyBestFriendsSecret in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHORS:
She lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and three grown-up children and when she’s not writing, she reads (a lot), loves walking and taking pictures — the birds in her garden are probably the most photographed in the country.
Social Media links:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads
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