I’d like to thank Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Friends Like These’ by Sarah Alderson in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Lizzie and Becca are colleagues at PKW, an entertainment company who’re throwing a party to celebrate opening their new offices, but during the party Becca has a catastrophic accident and is lucky to be alive. No one sees or hears from her again until a couple of years later when Lizzie discovers she’s calling herself Becca Bridges and has a husband and baby. Lizzie sends an email to her friend Flora making derogatory comments about Becca but mistakenly sends it to Becca instead. That’s when things start to go wrong for Lizzie …

‘Friends Like These’ is a tense psychological thriller written from the perspective of Lizzie and Becca. It’s been cleverly written with a complex plot and twists and turns that had me gripped from the start. Maybe it’s me, but I became confused with the double-twist at the end which is why I haven’t given it five stars, but it is nonetheless an enjoyable read.

Wow, what a brilliant book, I loved every page (if you can say that on a Kindle). I was hooked from the very beginning, a great psychological thriller and page turner with unexpected twists and turns along the way, I just couldn't put it down.

This makes me look at Facebook etc in a very different way, well done Sarah Alderson and I look forward to reading more from you.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton Mullholland Books for giving me the opportunity to read this fantastic book.

This is the first book I have read by Sarah Alderson but it will not be my last. Why have I not heard of this author before!!

Sarah, you had me at the first page!

Lizzie and Becca used to work together until Becca had a bad accident and since then no one has seen or heard from her.

A couple of years on Lizzie (who has gone through a complete body transformation) is on Tinder when she sees Becca's (ex?) boyfriend and swipes right - then starts to wonder if he is actually still with Becca, so she logs on to Facebook to try and find out. She then sends an uncomplimentary text to her friend Flora about Becca...... but slowly begins to realise that she actually sent the text to Becca. And that is when Lizzie life starts to unravel.

With Friends Like These you do not need enemies.

Sarah weaves a story of jealousy, intrigue and ultimately revenge. You will not know who to believe or who to trust.

This plot is fast paced and mesmerising but very cleverly put together, so much so that everything you think you know will be turned on its head. Well done!

Ever sent a ‘bitchy’ message to the wrong person on Facebook?
This book will make sure you NEVER do again!
After a slightly confusing start, that all makes sense once you’re into the book this story becomes deliciously clever and breathtaking
I am going to say nothing about the plot or the slightest hint at well anything as I would want anyone who reads this book to be as outraged and as uncomfortably outfoxed as I was throughout, time after time 😃😃
I will say the descriptions of Facebook are 100% spot on and I found myself ( somewhat shamefacedly) nodding and saying yep ‘thought that’ and ‘done that’!
The book is genius as its as psychological thriller as you can get yet had me laughing out loud one minute........then scowling in shock and unbelief the next
Characters are written about wonderfully and Ive already used this word but cleverly as thats the only way to describe it
And thats it,no more needs to be said except if I was in marketing I would be offering a money back guarantee if you didn’t thoroughly enjoy every word
10/10 ( surprised?) 5 Stars

How dangerous can it be to send a message on Facebook to the wrong person?

Becca has it all; she is blond and beautiful, has a fantastic figure and a boyfriend who is gorgeous as well as romantic. And she constantly posts gushing updates about what they are up to on Facebook. But at the office Christmas cocktail party she falls down the stairs and cracks her skull and face on the marble floor. She is in a coma for months and when she recovers, she takes the compensation pay-out from work, disappears and wipes out all traces of herself online.

Lizzie is one of her co-workers, not as blond and not as beautiful but since Becca’s accident Lizzie has undergone a transformation thanks to a very nasty comment that she overheard someone say. One evening she is on Tinder and comes across Becca’s old boyfriend and he swipes right on her. They chat and arrange to go on a date. She also looks to see if she can find Becca online but finds no trace, just an article on the BBC London website about the accident at the party. So, she takes Becca’s photo from the BBC and does a reverse image search and bingo – she finds that Becca is now Becca Bridges, married, has a baby daughter and an Interior Design business. She has had a bit much to drink by now and it’s late and when she sends a Facebook message to her friend, Flora, about going on a date with James and finding Becca and Becca’s baby that looks like Gollum she sends the message to the wrong person – she sends it to Becca. That’s when things go spiralling out of control.

If you feel there is something “off” about someone like they are wearing a disguise all the time should you follow your gut instinct and know to treat them with caution! How do you know when someone is lying? Can you believe everything that people post about their lives online? Should you be putting your entire life out there for everyone to see? Social media has made us all much more vulnerable to stalking and having our identities stolen. And there are a lot of psychopaths out there who are capable of things that I have never even dreamed of! The book has an ending that I never in my wildest dreams imagined and the ending is scary, to say the least. A recommended read that will make you think about what you are putting out into the social media.

Saphira

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Full of surprises, a roller coaster of a story, twisting and turning, keeping me guessing right until the end.
Two girls, very similar in so many ways....in more ways than we realise at the beginning....
A fast, exciting story, I was on the edge of my seat, and when I got near the end I put it down, so I’d have it to look forward to the following day! The very best kind of book. I loved it.

Intriguing with twists & turns. I'm not sure whether the author cheated a bit with the major twist or if I just missed the clues.

It's been a while since I read a psychological thriller that really grabbed me, but Friends Like These certainly did. The frantic start instantly sucked me in, and I loved the way the author changed the pace of the story, telling it from multiple points of view, and interspersing the action with the emergency call, police interview transcript, flashbacks, and social media posts.

Although I had niggling suspicions about the reliability of each of the narrators that we hear from in the book, it still kept me guessing, and it wasn't until I was a significant way through the book that I worked out what was going on - this is unusual for me because normally when reading books like this, I try my best to think ahead and guess what is going to happen (I am the same with crime dramas on TV). It always makes me smile when I find a book that I can't guess too early in, and that I have sudden, "Oh, now I get it!" moment with.

I would thoroughly recommend this book for thriller fans.

One of my favorite thrillers I read this year. More than a 5 star, completely original, scary, tense, thrilling, and chilling. Loved, loved, loved, loved. Who needs any friends, with these type of friends.
Will let Chapter Chatter Pub know how absolutely amazing it was.

What a roller-coaster of a book! Full of so many twists and turns - I literally read it in a day as I could not put it down. A tense psychological thriller with all of the suspense of Single White Female - and then some! You are swept along on a ride of conflicting emotions for the two main characters whose lives are inescapabky intertwined after a tragic event. One has the best of everything and one wants the best of everything. But who ends up with it all? And what lengths will they go to to keep it or to get it? A brilliant clever read that will keep you at the edge of your sofa until the end!

Fast paced roller coaster of a ride. Once I'd started this I was gripped and couldn't put it down. Beware of social media where nothing is real and nightmares are created. Enjoyed the way it was written from each characters point of view and it kept me me guessing.
Really good read and I shall be looking out for more by this author.

Friends Like These really reminded me of the film Single White Female.
Lizzie works for a company where Becca used to work up until three years ago, when she suffered a terrible accident. After a huge payout, Becca disappeared without a trace.
Lizzie is no longer the shrinking violet she used to be. She is now skinny and blonde, and gunning for Becca's handsome ex-boyfriend. The part of the book told from Lizzie’s point of view reveals no love lost for Becca. For Lizzie, Becca was unkind and selfish. Becca didn't deserve her perfect life. When Becca has her accident, it is karmic retribution. Now Becca has moved on.
When we first meet Becca she confirms Lizzie's view of her. She is both deluded and vindictive. But in this deliciously suspenseful thriller nothing is that straightforward.

This novel is set in a modern, social media dominated reality, the characters are credible, their motivations believable. However, I didn’t really enjoy reading it - both main characters are deeply unlikeable and the cast of side characters doesn’t come off much better. There’s a sense of foreboding from the start, and as the story gets more unpleasant, the tension builds well towards the finale. I can’t fault the writing nor the plotting, I just didn’t want anything to do with any of these people and couldn’t wait to finish the book to move on to something more enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am in two minds about this book. I was quite enjoying it but I feel the ending was a let down it seemed quite weak when compared to the first half of the book I am not sure it was really that believable too mnay holes and potential for the truth to come out (I really hope police are a little more thorough in the investigations). That said it was an easy and interesting read so I will still give it 4stars

Whilst this was gripping and definitely a page turner, the plot was incredibly predictable and in some parts, didn't make an awful lot of sense. The characters lacked depth and felt rather simple which sadly made the book feel rather empty.

Alderson is clearly very good at capturing her readers and setting up the perfect thriller but unfortunately, this one fell rather flat.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Hodder and Stoughton, Mulholland Books and the author, Sarah Alderson, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Friends Like These in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
I thought the storyline was well written. The characters draw you in to a rollercoaster plot and with remarkable settings, I stayed up into the early hours just to finish.
Well worth a read for fans of the genre.

This was a book in three parts for me - the first a tad confusing before settling down into an enjoyable narrative. However, the final part with the highly contrived 'twist' was a disappointing finale and I am sure that more could have been made of the story's potential.

A fast paced, easily read suspense/thriller, I can recommend for the fans of Kathryn Croft as this reminded me of her work. There were some unrealistic moments in this book but overall it is a satisfactory book in this genre and I would recommend this to people who like domestic suspense told multiple point of views.

A fast paced thriller, the story is told by the two main characters which gives it an interesting perspective. Throw in the social media side and it is quite different from the norm. The characters well well drawn although none of them were very likeable. An enjoyable read With lots of twists that I didn’t see coming.

Friends like These by author Sarah Alderson is an awesome suspense thriller! It holds all aspects of a domestic thriller as well, loaded with unexpected turns and twists. A book you won't want to miss.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC copy of Friends Like These in exchange for an honest review.