Two girls, one murder and a secret that binds them together. Sylvie and Victoria were best friends but tragically Victoria is murdered and the killer has never been caught. Sylvie hasn’t spoken about that night in over two decades but then her mother dies. After returning to her mum’s house along with her baby daughter, Sylvie must start to confront the secrets of her past.

This book is a brilliant thriller with a shocking end. It’s set between the past leading up to Victoria’s death and present day and will bleep you gripped to the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

Good thriller, with a strong storyline. I would recommend this book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Sarah Wray for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

When Sylvie Armstrong was a teenager her best friend, Victoria Bland, was found murdered and things have not been the same for Sylvie since that day. After Victoria’s body was found and her funeral took place Sylvie’s parents sent Sylvie away to school thinking that it would be too hard on their daughter. Shortly after Sylvie’s father also died and Sylvie relationship with her mother became non-existent leaving her to not return to her hometown.

Now, twenty years after Victoria’s death Sylvie finds herself returning to her childhood home after her mother’s passing when her home is left to Sylvie in the will. Returning with her baby Sylvie finds all those memories of her best friend returning to the surface and now with the killer never being found there is a reporter looking into the long buried secrets of the past.

Her Best Friend by Sarah Wray to me was an extremely slow build mystery/thriller read. While I’d like to say I loved this one the pacing really had it a struggle to become engaged as it slowly unfolded. There was a decent story within the pages but not one that truly gripped me to rate this one any higher.

I think also that for myself with as many books that I read this one was also a tad predictable. It seemed to lack the twists and red herrings that I normally love and in my mind seemed to be taking me on a journey to a certain outcome which in the end was pretty spot on. So while the writing is nice enough and the story will be one that engages a lot of readers in the end this one turned out to just be one of those OK reads in my opinion.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Having not previously read any books by author Sarah Wray, I was drawn to this book by the description which left me wanting to know more. I found this book an excellent read and fully intend to read more of this author in the future.
Two 15 year old girls Sylvie and Victoria were the very best of friends but when Victoria was murdered the killer was never found. Sylvie went to live at her aunt's and never returned to her parents house. Now 20 years later she has returned following the death of her mother and to the secrets she has hidden from surrounding Victoria''s death.
As Sylvie struggles to discover the truth she finds herself in increasing danger from those who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets.
I would like to thank Net Galley and Bookouture for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book that I have read by this author. The story line did grab me from the start and kept me guessing till the end. I had a lot of questions through out the book. Why did the parents not stay up and wait for their daughter to come home late at night as they usually did? Why had Sylvie left home and never returned until her mother died? Who was Michelle, her story did not make sense? Where is Sylvie's husband? Who killed Victoria? I kept reading this book as I needed to know the answers to these questions. But at the same time, I never really liked the characters

An excellent read with a twists and turns throughout and a surprising conclusion. Sarah painted a very bleak picture of the setting and the amenities within it and wasn'that complimetary towards the characters either. The story was well set out alternating between past and present but linking the two together expertly. I look forward to reading more of Sarah's work.

Sylvie Armstrong returns to Conley, her childhood town, with her daughter Victoria after her mother passing away. To sort out the house ready to sell. She left twenty years previously, after the murder of her best friend Victoria, to go and live with her aunty. Feelings are still raw in the town as they never found out who killed Victoria and Sylvie coming back stirs feelings for someone of the residents of Conley.
The story is mostly written in Sylvie’s point of view. It goes back twenty years and tells us of the relationship she had Victoria. The nights out, the drinking, the laughs they used to have and relationships they used to have with other people in the same age in the town, like Michelle that used to hang around with them, but not part of the group. Also the night of Victoria’s death, why was she all on her own if she was that popular and who was she seeing that night?
The story also tells of present day. Sylvie is a nervous character, after leaving Nathan to come to Conley. She meets Victoria parents after all this time. But we also learn of Sam who is making a documentary of what happened to Victoria twenty years ago and he doesn’t leave any stone unturned to find the truth.
My favourite genre is psychological thrillers and I really enjoyed this. This book was well written and it gripped me in parts. But, I didn’t like any of the characters and so I couldn’t relate to them as I normally would.
Thank you Bookouture and Netgalley for and ARC of this book.

I really enjoyed this book. Excellent storyline and great main characters. I would recommend this book.

Victoria and Sylive are best friends and neighbors. They grew up together and became as close as sisters. Then when Sylive's family has a party for her father, who is dying, Victoria sneaks away to go see her boyfriend whom her father has forbid her to see. They find her body in the lake. That was many years ago. Now Sylive is back to get her mother's house ready to sell after her death. She has a baby who she named Victoria after her friend. There is a man who is in town also, who is looking into Victoria's death. He wants to do a documentary on it. This brings out all kinds of things from the past. The story goes from present to past throughout the story. Then Victoria remembers something very important that could re-open the case. What was it? You will have to read the book to find out. I received a copy of this book from Net Galley. The review is voluntarily done. By the way, you won't believe the truth as to what happened to her best friend.

I was really looking forward to reading this book but I was really disappointed. The book is about a girl who goes missing the book started really well but as I kept on reading it was very slow and very boring.
I could not get into any of the characters and all I wanted was for the story to move on. I did not finish the book because it was so slow and the characters were unrealistic a big let down.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the Publishers for this review copy. Also thank you to Noelle for organising the blog tour.

My first Sarah Wray book. The blurb sounded so intriguing that it just had to be read! We meet Sylvie Armstrong. She has just returned to her mother’s house to sort it out following her mother’s sudden death. She hasn’t been back to her home town, or to see her mother in nearly 20 years. Sylvie returns now with her new-born daughter, Victoria. Twenty years ago, Sylvia’s best friend, also called Victoria, was found murdered in a nearby lake. The person responsible still hasn’t been found. After bumping into Victoria’s parents, Sylvia is told that there is a journalist who wants to make a documentary about Victoria’s death, to see if any new light could be shone on the case. What really happened to Victoria all those years ago?

This book was different to what I expected. I expected a fast paced thriller but found it began at a much slower pace, although the suspense did build up nicely as the book went on. The story is told from two points of view – Sylvie now and then 20 years earlier. The time jumps weren’t confusing, like some can be, and gave a good build up as to what happened all those years before. It had me hooked from the first page and all throughout the book my opinions changed as to who had killed Victoria. There are quite a few characters in the book, and to be honest I did get a bit confused with them though. Sylvie’s old school ‘friend’, Michelle, was definitely someone who would drive me crazy, even though her heart seemed to be in the right place. I jumped from one theory to the other, pinning the blame on almost everyone in the book and the plot was cleverly thought out not to have the big reveal too early.

This book is definitely one where you really need to stay reading right till the end. The ending was something I just wasn’t expecting….at all! The twist was one I didn’t see coming. If you love a tense thriller then this is definitely the one for you!

Four Stars!

SThe best of friends. Then it all goes wrong. Feel for Sylvie all the way through. Didn’t expect it to have happened the way it did which I love. Well done again sarah Wray another page turner

Having read and reviewed Sarah Wray’s debut novel, I was hesitant to read this book. But I requested for this based purely on the blurb which said two best friends, Victoria and Sylvie, one dies and the other moves far away for twenty years till she comes back, a journalist trying to find the truth and make a documentary twenty years hence.

I did start the book with great trepidation and I was pleasantly surprised. The book does rather stand as a mystery suspense novel. The author, Sarah Wray, has done a far better job of writing this book as compared to her debut. Throughout the story, Sarah made my head pop with questions, they appeared like blinking light bulbs in my mind, as I turned the pages.

Why was Victoria alone on the night the two girls were supposed to be together? Why didn’t the parents wait up for Victoria as they normally did? Who was Victoria’s boyfriend? Why do the parents pretend not knowing him even twenty years later? Why did Sylvie the best friend come back after twenty years? Why were Sylvie and her mother estranged? And the final question —What exactly did Sylvie know? Did she see the killer that night? Or did she kill Victoria?

As I read through the chapters, there was a lot of added information, new information which comes to light after twenty years, which is kind of surprising. Though the book has a journalist trying to find the truth, but it is ultimately someone else who really does force out the truth into the open.

Sarah Wray has well thought out the plot line, and she seemed focused in her writing this time round. The pace of the book is rather okay, sometimes fast, sometimes it does drag on. Her characters appear strong yet very flawed. But they are not whom I could root for. Victoria’s mother is the only one who appeared genuine, appear being the key word. She also knew things which she didn’t report to the police.

Sylvie, the main character is rather odd, she is a new mother with sleep deprived issues, there is another girl on the sidelines, Michelle who calls herself their friend but is never really acknowledged. She appeared like a stalker in the book.

Inspite of all these niggles, the book does work for a simple reason that once the brain is latched on to the question—who killed Victoria—it does not make sense to leave the book halfway. The fingers turn the pages automatically. I do not think any reader would be able to stop reading this book till the truth is revealed.

P. S. Reading the last chapter directly does not help as the truth is unveiled somewhere in the last few chapters

I will admit I had many struggles trying to finish this book, and there were many sections I just wanted to flip the pages on, but I stuck with it until the end.
While the story itself is intriguing, the main character of Sylvie wasn't very sympathetic to me and the secondary characters, mostly Michelle, were just downright creepy. There was no one in the story I wanted to root for, including the dead girl, Victoria.
Having said that, the way the book was constructed - a mix of voices with past and present time frames, was sound and the story unraveled well. I have to admit, I figured out the ending about 2/3 thru after a pivotal and telling scene, so I wasn't "gobsmacked" to use one reviewer's description, when the ending came.

Her best friend died when they were 15. Sylvie returns to her childhood home when her mother passes away. A podcast is digging into the story.. will the truth finally come out?

This is a great book.. jumping between current day and 1995 telling the story of 2 best friends. I read this in one day... it really sucked me in. Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for a copy of this book to read and review

Clever, dark, twisted and with a very unexpected conclusion. Thoroughly enjoyable read

I enjoyed this book, it ticked all the boxes for a good mystery thriller in which I enjoy. It did lack in character likeness for me, I didn't really warm to any of them.
The story is told from the character, Sylvie's, point of view, in the now and the past. At 15 Victoria is murdered and this still haunts Sylvie today. She moves back to the little town it happened now with her own child after the news of her mothers death. Secrets and lies are uncovered on her return.
The plot is clever and keeps the reader engaged with the story. Some parts are narrated by Karen who is a journalist, who through her show likes to help solve unsolved mysteries.

Oh, Sylvie, just what did you let yourself in for coming back home to where it all happened! The hairs on the back of my neck were up all the way through this read! You know that way you feel as though someone is watching you? Well, that’s how "Her Best Friend" made me feel, my spidey senses were on alert throughout!

I loved the premise of this novel, tying in our fascination with true-life crime and online communications. There were a few parts in the novel that I felt could have been fleshed out a little further and characters that could have been further developed but it worked well as an exploration of lies, secrets and mistrust and the devastating impact when they all come tumbling down.

Sylvie has returned home following the death of her mother. Her past is waiting in the shadows at her every turn ready to pounce out and grab her! With her newborn daughter with her, it becomes clear that Sylvie is hiding something about her life but the secrets from the past are about to come tumbling out too as it becomes clear that someone out there knows more about her best friends murder all those years ago. There was just something about Sylvie that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I couldn’t quite work her out at all, a strange kettle of fish she was!

When Sylvie bumps into Judith, Victoria's mum, she is insistent that Sylvie comes to visit them at home. Now here’s a couple who are most definitely not united in grief, the tension between them is so thick that you could cut it with a knife! Peter, Judith’s husband is a grade A creep - he made my skin crawl and there was just that sense of unease about the couple and their actions.

Judith is determined not to let her daughter's murderer evade justice and has become involved with a documentary maker, Sam, who is putting together a film looking into the death of her daughter. But he too has his own demons to contend with as he becomes embroiled in a seething mass of lies and cover-ups.

Michelle ingratiates herself into Sylvie's life but you need to question her motivation for the friendship; as a child Sylvie and Victoria often left Michelle out as she wasn't one of the "cool kids", is this new friendship a quest for revenge and is Sylvie putting herself and her daughter at risk? I really enjoyed Michelle's character and the way she challenged Sylvie's thinking of her actions in the past.

Each character could easily be described as an unreliable narrator which provides a tense and chilling backdrop to the book, encasing the reader in a sense of fear and mistrust. Nobody seems to be telling the truth, everyone seems to have secrets that they want to stay dead and buried. I read it feeling as though I was looking down into the town watching all the main players scurry about trying to protect their secrets and lies while maintaining a veneer of normality in a community that is anything but normal.

Everyone is a suspect and "Her Best Friend" provides twists, turns and a lake full of red herrings as it expertly teases out the answers for the reader as the book reaches a dramatic climax.

I enjoyed Her Best Friend quite a bit.
Sarah Wray has a keen way of keeping you enthralled even during the dull times for me.
I never saw the correct ending coming until it was revealed!
Excellent!

I liked this book a lot , I really enjoyed the extracts from the podcast that unfurled along with the story . I did sort of guess the twist in the tale but I really did enjoy getting there . When Sylvia goes back home after a long absence to sell her mothers house after a death , she finds out that someone is investigating her teenage best friends death and is turning up new information as the story progresses . Fairly fast paced and a good twist I would recommend