What Stays Unsaid

Publication date: May 23rd, 2024
Page count: 348
Genre: thriller
Setting: Lock-in in house in the Moors
POV: multiple


Surprise bachelorette party= lots of opportunities for drama, deceitfulness and disaster!

Alternates between 10 years ago and now. Very slow burn, sets the groundwork for the second half with more activity. Lots of pieces of the jigsaw puzzle come together in a clever fashion.

Thank you to author, publisher, NetGalley for advanced copy. This is an honest voluntary review.

Wow!
Where do I start with this book?!
It had me hooked from the very beginning. The setting, the characters and the plot twists throughout that had me questioning everything I thought I knew about them.
When Georgia and Jen surprise best friends Millie and Alex with a joint hen do at a country house on the Dartmoor moors, the brides to be are less than thrilled. They are forced to face recent tensions and conversations they would rather avoid, and now there is no escaping each other for an entire weekend.
Now they understand why Georgia and Jen didn’t tell them about the hen do, there’s no way Alex and Millie would have agreed to this!
The late arrival of an old friend to the party stirs mixed emotions among the group and things start to take a sinister turn.
Secrets from the girls past are bubbling under the surface and someone here, in this house, is determined to uncover them.
One of them knows something about what happened to a school friend that died all those years ago, but who? And what do they know that they aren’t prepared to share with one another?
This book had me fully invested in each character and their individual stories, but as soon as I thought I understood them, Sophie Flynn managed to pull the rug from underneath me and make me question myself.
The plot twists hit you when you least expected them and alongside the eerie setting of the book, I found myself on the edge of my seat frantically turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next!
This was a brilliant suspense thriller that dared to delve deeper into friendships and the things we would rather leave unsaid. It makes you question how well you really know those around you, and what people will do to protect the ones they love.
The perfect novel for fans of Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard & Claire Douglas.

"What Stays Unsaid" by Sophie Flynn is a twisty psychological thriller revolving around a joint hen-do, secrets, and toxic friendships. I'm drawn to the getaway-gone-wrong trope, so the blurb immediately appealed to me.

The novel opens with a death and then shifts to the present. Four friends gather for a hen weekend to celebrate the impending marriages of two brides, Alex and Millie. Organized by their best friends, Georgia and Jenny, the getaway quickly goes awry. A tragic event from their shared past — the loss of childhood friend Becca — still haunts them. Someone is determined to expose the truth of what happened and will go to any length to do so. An unexpected guest adds to the mystery, and it becomes clear that some secrets can't stay buried for long. Sometimes, what remains unsaid should stay that way, or there's no turning back.

Keep your wits about you because this is a twisty story where everyone has secrets. Told from multiple points of view in the first person, the narrative flows back and forth through time, tracking the tangled chain of the narrators' relationships. The characters are the heart of the story, their intertwining dynamics driving the plot forward.

Initially, I found the protagonists likable. They are morally gray characters with complex motivations and distinct personalities. Becca was the bold leader, Alex the clever one, Millie the naive, and Georgia the shy girl turned sharp-tongued. Jenny, a later addition to the group, remained true to her sweet nature. However, as the story progressed and their layers were peeled back, they became less relatable to me. Jenny and maybe Millie were the only ones I liked. I appreciated Jenny's interactions with her female partner and the discussion of motherhood in the tale.

I loved how the layers built upon secrets slowly unraveled until the truth was revealed. The curiosity sparked in the opening scenes gradually escalated into nerve-wracking tension. The Dartmoor setting and stormy weather enhanced the chilling atmosphere. The writing effortlessly transitioned between timelines and narrators.

This is a thought-provoking thriller that delves into themes of trust, deception, and the lengths we go to protect our friends. While I disliked seeing characters evade consequences, it's a minor criticism. With its exploration of toxic friendships, lies, abuse, and human fallibility, the author crafts a gripping tale that kept me engrossed.

The plot was original, and while I anticipated some twists, others caught me off guard. The author skillfully weaves an engaging, unique narrative filled with enough twists and turns to captivate any reader. Despite my qualms about characters escaping accountability, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend it to fans of the genre who appreciate stories exploring the darker aspects of human nature.

* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc. All opinions are my own.

Sophie Flynn's books are so compelling and thrilling and I was so excited to read this one. It was such a gripping read, it was full of secrets, lies, twists and turns and just so full of suspense

Two new brides to are taken away by their two best friends for a hen’s weekend with neither knowing what they will be attending. Each bride thinks she is just going away with one friend but then the surprise group weekend is revealed, and neither is very happy.

The girls have known each other since their school days but events happened back then that have never diminished the tensions between them, especially for Alex and Millie. The thing with teenage girls is that they can be selfish, cruel, and self-absorbed, and unfortunately this is what is happening here. This will now have huge repercussions for all involved.

The story is told from different perspectives and slowly we are drip fed information regarding secrets and lies which occurred in the past as the weekend progresses. These girls have been harboring resentments for over 15 years and soon it is all about to explode. The plot is clever and engaging as tensions rise and home truths are revealed.

I had not read this author before and will now be looking out for more of her books. If you are looking for a twisty thriller that keeps you turning the pages late into the night then this is the book for you, highly enjoyable.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy, all opinions expressed are my own.

This was a really enjoyable thriller going on, it was suspenseful and thought the overall concept was great. The characters were what I was looking for and thought they worked in this setting. Sophie Flynn has a great writing style and I enjoyed the overall feel of this. I thought the elements of friendship worked wonders and enjoyed the overall feel of this. It had that twist that I was looking for and left me guessing until the end,

Hooked right from the first page! I love a good book with twists I don't see coming, and this book hits all the right notes. Told in multiple perspectives and timelines, it doesn't go the way you expect.

I like how the book shows that each person has layers to them and there are no boxes to categorise them and what they are capable of. It has the themes of loss, friendship, sacrifice and love. The twists were never what I expected them to be, a result of clever narrative. I could feel the confusion of the characters as they try to figure out what's going on. You feel the questions come in on what happened, why the tension, what are the secrets, how does the death in the past impact them now and what happened then.

The book uses the remote location to its advantage as I could feel the visualization. At no point does it get over the top and rather becomes a part of the story. The location add to the mystery and fear.

All the characters seem layered and sketched out. Yet they all have secrets and tension. The ending was literally goosebumps! This one is a 5 star read for me!

Thank you Hera and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

my first read from this Author it was an amazing. Addictive read. Millie Georgia Alex Jenny. have been the best of friends since primary school. Sadley one of their friends died. Millie has got engaged. But it has caused a rift between. Her and Alex. Georgia has done a Suprise weekend getaway. When Millie gets there, she has a shock seeing Alex there. And the bigger Suprise is seeing her sister-in-law to be there. this story is about the past. The secrets and lies that someone wants to stop anything coming out a very twisty read. so recommend.