What You Did

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This follows 43-year Ali, who is the quintessential suburban housewife. She's married to her university boyfriend, Mike, who is a corporate lawyer, and they are parents to 15-year old Cassie and 10-year Benji. One night they are hosting a celebration dinner with their Oxford University friends to mark their 25th anniversary. We meet Callum and Jodi, who are trying for IVF are finally having their first baby; Benji, who's broken up with his Swedish girlfriend and still holds a soft spot for Ali; and Karen, who didn't graduate and is mother to 18-year old Jake. Their friends are staying over for the weekend. It was supposed to be the perfect get-together. Until Ali wakes up in the middle of the night and comes downstairs to find Karen bleeding and covered in bruises. She's been raped...by Ali's husband, Mike. Who will Ali believe?... Through questioning the society and circumstances that allowed eight young women to vanish without a trace―no conclusion or conviction, no resolution for their loved ones―bestselling crime novelist Claire McGowan delivers a candid investigation into the culture of secrecy, victim-blaming and shame that left these women’s bodies unfound, their fates unknown, their assailants unpunished. BBC Unveils Xmas Schedule Including 'Peaky Blinders' Dance Performance & Rebecca Ferguson Series; Netflix UK Docs Commissioner Moves To Raw; Leonard Cohen Drama Sales; Sarah Pinborough Adaptation; UKTV Drama Boss - Global Briefs I also find it hard to believe that a main character so in tune with her inner feminist could be so naive at her husband’s indiscretions. What it's about: Ali decides to put together a reunion with her friends from university after twenty years. The six of them meet at Ali's home where she lives with her college boyfriend turned husband, and their two kids - Cassie and Benjamin. But what is supposed to be a fun reunion turns into a nightmare when Ali's best friend Karen stumbles inside from the garden saying Ali's husband Mike just sexually assaulted her. Mike claims it didn't happen, but Karen is sure it did. Ali doesn't know who to believe, and after things from their past start coming to light, things will never be the same again.

Ali is pulled in both directions, wanting to believe both her husband and her best friend. She is at crossroads with herself especially when she is the one dealing with such cases daily at her workplace. What is exhilarating about this novel, is that it takes place during a time when the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are working hand in hand so as to find out what happened to the missing people such as Paula’s mother, who had mysteriously disappeared during the Troubles. Some of the missing people were believed to have been captured by the paramilitaries, while other people believed that the missing people had decided to run away. In this installment, Paula’s family is not the only family that has lost a loved one. Apart from Paula, we are also introduced to other pivotal characters such as Paula’s boyfriend, Aiden who is in charge of the local newspaper. Aiden’s father who was the editor and the owner of the newspaper was murdered because the IRA were not happy with the stories that he wrote. A college reunion doesn't go exactly as planned. One attendee staggers into the host's house, bleeding, clothes torn, with an accusation that she was assaulted .... by the host's husband. When Karen staggers in from the garden, bleeding and traumatised, she claims that she has been assaulted—by Ali’s husband, Mike. Ali must make a split-second decision: who should she believe? Her horrified husband, or her best friend? With Mike offering a very different version of events, Ali knows one of them is lying—but which? And why? Meet Ali & Mike, college sweethearts that seem to have it all...the million-dollar home, a boy & girl, genuine love for one another and while her husband is a prestigious lawyer Ali works to make female empowerment more prevalent in today’s world. She is a hardcore feminist who believes that women need to be heard, especially in cases of domestic violence and sexual misconduct.Cassie, her brother Benji and Jake, Karen’s son, were the only characters I really liked. They were the only ones who could see how tragic the events of the night and the few days after were and they were not thinking about the consequences for themselves.

The reunion party is told from different people’s prospectives and you come to realise their friendship is woven together with lies and secrets, just like Pandora’s box being opened, once these secrets are revealed the consequence can be fatal!! This psychological thriller wasn't really a thriller. The suspense never reached a level of ... I have GOT to find out what happens next. It started with a bang and then fizzled a bit. None of the characters have any redeeming qualities. The premise of this novel was promising enough that I gave it a try. It started off as promised, a reunion 20 years after graduating from Oxford amongst six friends. One was assaulted by the end of the night, with the shadow of a dark secret that happened on graduation night 20 years ago hanging over them, who dunnit? The story was told mainly from the point of view of Ali, the wife of the alleged perpetrator and then intertwined with all the other players as the story slowly unfolds. This means, besides Ali, all the other characters did not really have a chance to develop or their sides of the story told properly. But despite having the main focus, Ali felt two dimensional and the reasons given why she did what she did just felt unbelievable and bland. The big reveal was quite predictable and the ending was hasty.

The author then proceeds to lead her readers on a rather clever, merry dance into the past as we see how the relationships between these 6 ‘friends’ actually started and evolved into what exists today. Between groups of people, especially when men and women are involved, the balance is never equal. There’s always someone who’s weaker and someone else who holds the power – who these people are might differ over time as circumstances change, but it all boils down to who needs something from the others. It’s intriguing to delve into this tangled web and discover where the power lies.

What You Did felt like it had a little bit of everything and wasn't strictly just about sexual assault even though that was definitely a main theme. There is also a murder mystery aspect, and I really had no idea what was going to happen. McGowan manages to make you doubt every person in the book, and completely kept me guessing. I felt like there was something going on throughout the entire book which also made it a fast read for me. The end managed to give me chills because it was so unexpected and that is something I love in a book. Claire McGowan is a well-established author who penned her first book in her native, Rostrevor when she was only nine years old. When penning her first novel, McGowan was still in primary school, and she admits that the novel was not interesting at all. 19 years later, McGowan wrote her first novel, The Fall, which ensured that she made a name for herself in the Northern Ireland’s list of top notch writers. According to McGowan, her first novel, The Fall was completely a surprise to her because when penning it down, she completely had no idea that she was working on a crime fiction novel. This is mainly because Claire McGowan believed that crime novels were mainly whodunits and detective novels. However, later on, Claire McGowan discovered that there were so much involved in the crime fiction genre. Tiny Synopsis: Ali Morris has her friends from her Oxford Uni days visit for the weekend to catch up after for a reunion. It seems Ali has the most charmed life with the amazing successful husband, 2 great kids, beautiful home, and a respectable job helping women in need. However it all comes crumbling down when her best friend, Karen, accuses Ali's husband Mike of the most unthinkable crime: rape. It all spirals down from there as Ali has to grapple with trusting the word of her husband or her own best friend. This also brings up other aspects of their past at Oxford and the mysterious death of their friend whilst in college.And that is only the start. Brilliantly written, this book will have you up all night!!! Every time you think you have everything all figured out, in comes another surprise. Dark, at times, but a solid MUST read. McGowan delivers a hugely relevant novel for the post #MeToo era and a searing indictment of how far we still have to go. A story that is like a fine wine laced with poison—it’ll slay you." - L V Hay We all claim to know what to do when it comes to giving support to those who need it, but do we really when your family and reputation are on the line? With Mike and Ali hosting the weekend reunion, soon arrives Karen, Bill, and married and a couple soon to have a baby, Jodi and her husband. I really enjoyed this book. It was clever without being hard work. As with most psychological thrillers the truth is not what it first appears to be, in fact there are multiple truths uncovered as the story unfolds, some of which are life ruining and others life changing.

I had originally liked Ali, or at least felt a sort of understanding for the position she was put in, but as the story moves forward and she begins to make certain choices, I really soured on her and her self-serving motives.From the bestselling author of What You Did comes a true-crime investigation that cast a dark shadow over the Ireland of her childhood. Secrets start to unravel and the reader is forced to think what kind of a friendship did the six share as everybody is hiding something or the other from everybody else. The rape accusation also reveals a murder of a common friend Martha while they were still in college. The plot becomes more and more complex as the story progresses.