*Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* The perfect friend... a perfect friend... is there really such a thing? This is just one of the questions that Copperthwaite throws at readers in her fast-paced and fascinating thriller. This is the third book of hers that I have read and whilst I have loved them all, this has been a stand-out. The book focusses on two women, Alex and Carrie, who are in very different stages of their lives, but have nevertheless created a strong bond. A perfect friendship, that is in some ways, more like a mother and daughter relationship than a friendship on equal footings. However, nothing last forever and Carrie is dying of cancer. Thus far, the book sounds like so many others, right? Wrong. This is a novel where nothing is quite as it seems and surprises and twists are around every corner. Well, every page. I tore through this book and loved its final conclusion. This book did not disappoint.

Love love love this book, lots of twists and so so gripping . Kept having to force myself to put it down so I could sleep. Well done Barbara another huge hit

This was a thoroughly enjoyable psychological thriller full of twists and turns. It was very easy to read and it had me hooked from about half way through and I couldn’t put It down. My only slight grumble of why I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 was it was a bit slow to get started and I found it hard to get into. Nevertheless a great book in the end.

Lots of plot twists and the characters were difficult for me to figure out. I usually enjoy suspense novels, but this one was difficult for me to get into. The beginning was slow, and it did pick up substantially, still, I wasn't a huge fan.

Just fantastic. Sharp intakes of breath all the way through. It covers so much it’s like getting 4 books for the price of one. Lies, deceit such sadness just brilliant

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Friend-gripping-psychological-thriller-ebook/product-reviews/B07DKJ4265/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_srvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&sortBy=recent#R1OSJ98Z63QP9RTwo women meet in a support group .. Carrie, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has been dumped for another woman, Alex, a self confessed compulsive liar, is anorexic, is estranged from her husband and beloved twins and is mortified to discover that she is the reason for Carrie's heartbreak .... she vows to do her utmost to make Carrie's last months the very best they can be.

A tale full of lies and manipulation, insights to the struggles of an anorexic and the devastating impact of guilt and grief. For me this was a bit of a slow burner and it took me a little time to fully invest in the characters and story line, the counselling sessions and drip feeding of Alex's back story was what got me hooked .. from around 40% I was thankful I hadn't given up - as the mysteries of these women unfold there are twists galore and I was totally absorbed in the mysteries of both women in this tense and uncomfortable tale.

3.5 - 4 stars

Many thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book -Myy honest thoughts and opinion are expressed in this review

Alex & Carrie meet at a Support group. Alex is suffering from adult onset anorexia after the break up with her husband & her children staying with their father. Carrie has terminal cancer & in spite of everything tries to be positive. Although Alex is old enough to be Carrie's mother, the pair form a strong friendship.

I found Alex somewhat overbearing & I was somewhat concerned for Carrie as I felt she was being taken over, however I soon began to wonder if all was as it seemed- & in true psychological thriller fashion- it wasn't! There were lots of things I didn't see coming and I kept reading because I really wanted to know what the truth was.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for this great read!

Omg what an addictive thriller The Perfect Friend was, it had me hooked, fabulous read. This is definitely a recommend read!

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture and the author, Barbara Copperthwaitefor my free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a tricky one to review as I don’t want to give anything away as the book is full of twists and turns. This is a great book and it was my first book by Copperthwaite, but several reviewers who’ve read her other work say that readers should always expect twists and secrets and lies. And boy, were they right!!!

I was hooked from the beginning and could wait to see what was going to happen. There were times that I was reading this before I went to bed and I kept telling myself you must go to sleep you have work in the morning, but I just kept reading.

I will be looking for more from this author.

Happy Reading every one

Alex and Carrie meet in a support group and strike a deep friendship.Alex’s husband has left her and her kids don’t talk to her due to which she suffers from eating disorder while Carrie has been battling with cancer all alone. Alex automatically takes over the role of a mother to Carrie and tries to make her last days as happy as possible.

The Perfect Friend by Barbara Copperwhite is a psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns . It is very difficult to say much more about the story without giving everything away expect to say its a well written entertaining read.

I would like to thank Bookouture & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

I really struggled with The Perfect Friend, it was tedious in parts and I lost interest and did not finish it. Not to my liking.

This book proves you never truly know your friends! This book kept me engaged from start to finish, through every twist and turn. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Another cracker from Barbara Copperthwaite. One of those books where I have to read and reread several sections to make sure I had read it right! I can’t wait for the next one.

I loved this book!!! Really makes you wonder about the people you think you know!!! I have found another author to follow!!

Excellent story. Wonderful characters and plot line. I really enjoyed it. I would recommend this book.

I am a huge fan of Barbara Copperthwaite’s books. I have read nearly all of them (except one, Invisible) and every single book I have read has been a five-star read. Here are the reviews to prove it; Flowers for the Dead, The Darkest Lies and Her Last Secret. The other notable thing this author tends to do, more often than not, is to make this tough, ‘ard as nails crime reader bawl like a baby (she also made me fall in love with a serial killer but we won’t mention that 😉)! In essence, when Barbara Copperthwaite writes a book, I jump through hoops to read it.

So did The Perfect Friend live up to my very high expectations? Of course it did. It’s a Barbara Copperthwaite novel, duh! We meet Alex who immediately confesses to the reader that she is a liar. I don’t know about you but as an avid reader of crime and psychological thrillers, I’m always on the lookout for lies and half-truths from the characters I share my time with. I guess what I’m saying is that I’m overly suspicious and trust no-one who lives their life between the covers of a book. So knowing full well that Alex is a self-confessed liar I was immediately on my guard. But, with this at the forefront of my mind, I couldn’t help but like her. She is hiding some absolutely massive porkies and I did gasp when I discovered what they were, crikey! Amongst the inner turmoil, the secrets and the deceit, Alex is trying to make amends for something terrible she did; another secret she needs to keep at all costs! This particular secret involves her new best friend, Carrie who is terminally ill and who she met at the local support group. When anonymous threatening parcels start to arrive at Carrie’s house, Alex steps in and does everything she can to protect her best friend. But instead of helping, Alex starts to become suspicious. Something just don’t add up….

Copperthwaite has created a wonderful sense of unease in The Perfect Friend. It’s difficult to put your finger on why you feel so uncomfortable whilst reading but it’s there, peering over your shoulder making you feel twitchy. This is another brilliant, twisty read and I just knew something big was going to happen but couldn’t for the life of me work out where the author was going to take the story. I have to confess that I found some parts of the book a little difficult to believe but I was enjoying it so much that I just shrugged and threw myself straight back into the story. After all, it IS fiction. And yes, you may be wondering if the author managed to make me cry this time. She did, but only a little. I managed to keep the big ugly sobbing inside cos I’m ‘ard. 😬

Would I recommend this book? I would, but I would recommend all of Copperthwaite’s books because you can easily get lost in her stories. The Perfect Friend is a highly entertaining read which kept me turning the pages, desperate to find out what was going to happen to these two women. Full of twists, you never really know what to believe and Copperthwaite has surpassed herself in keeping her readers firmly on their toes. Highly recommended.

Five out of five stars.

I chose to read and review an eARC of The Perfect Friend. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

"We all have locked boxes inside us that only certain people get the keys to."

A dark and twisty psychological drama that starts slow and builds to a suspenseful climax.

Alex Appleby is 44-years-old. She lives alone, works as a dressmaker, and attends a support group for all sorts of trauma victims. She's a recovering anorexic, and she admits that she is a great liar. Alex used to be married and she had twins -- a girl and a boy -- but no one knows exactly what happened though she admits that she is at fault for them being out of her life now. Alex has a lot of love with no place to express it, so she befriends a fellow group member, 24-year-old Carrie. Carrie is there because she just got a terminal diagnosis as her cancer has come back. Though there is a 20 year age gap, they become friends outside the group. Alex wants to "mother" and Carrie needs one. And that's when the trouble begins... NO SPOILERS.

The narrative, told from different points of view and a THEN and NOW as well, starts to build in the middle of the book. Little by little you learn the secrets that Alex and Carrie are hiding and start to see the nature of their bond. Although neither character really resonated with me, or compelled my sympathy and understanding, I must admit that I was not sure what was truth and what was a lie as both were unreliable. I stayed up well past my bedtime frantically turning the pages as fast as I could read in order to get to the end! I enjoyed the surprise of the unanticipated turns as Alex and Carrie are fully revealed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review.

I didn’t seem to find this book as gripping as most other reviewers, and I think this is for a number of reasons. Firstly, while I usually like flawed characters, I didn’t find Alex or Carrie to have any particularly redeeming qualities to make me care about what happened to them. I think the story took a long time to get going, and it was confusing in parts as the chapters seem to alternate sometimes but not others, with ‘now’ and ‘then’ labels, but not specifying whose perspective the chapter was from, so I’d sometimes read a page then realise it was actually the other character speaking and need to read it again.

Granted, there are a lot of twists and turns to keep the story moving, however I started to feel like there were too many to keep up with, and I was able to predict a few of them. Overall, I don’t think this book was really one for me, although it gets many other great reviews so is a clear example of how readers’ tastes vary.

This review is based on an advance copy received from Netgalley.

Wow! All the twists and turns were crazy. This was a great book! The characters had so much depth to them and the story drew me in. I could never have guessed where the story was heading.

A thriller that’s full of twist and turns that I honestly didn’t see coming.
The plot is about friendship, love, lies and secrets, showing how far people will go to get what they want and need.
I loved the way the story line brought in a complex illness, such as anorexia, and mixed it in with a strong gritty thriller. The characters were very well written and had me having a love hate relationship with them through our the whole book. Overall a brilliant read form a fantastic author.