A new author for me and although i liked the storyline which had a few good twists and turns it was also quite predictable in places. The characters were likeable but i thought i would enjoy the book a bit more. I will still look to read more by this author.

A fairly well written, if predictable, thriller. Lots of twists along the way, but the ending was no real surprise. It just felt a bit slow for me in parts. A bit disappointing.

This book is set in a small village ,Anna and Grace were best friends as children until Grace and her Family move to Australia, fast forward many years on and both have now got husbands and children when Grace returns to the village and expects to pick up her friendship with Anna but she has moved on with a new set of friends .People move on but both Anna and Grace have a terrible secret from their childhood and Anna is afraid she will lose everything ,then she disappears ! This story is very fast paced and gripping everything I love in a book ,the ending a little predictable but a very enjoyable story .Heidi Perks does it again !!! Many thanks to the Publisher the Author and NetGalley for my copy in reurn for an honest review .

A book that had many twists and turns some more predictable than others! Overall a good read, believable characters and a storyline that kept me wanting to read more! I would try this author again and would recommend.

The dual perspective storyline worked well but ultimately I didn't really like the characters, found it a bit slow going and ultimately predictable. I thought I was going to like it more than I did

This book started well but then deteriorated into the unbelievable. Grace has returned to her childhood home town, Clearwater, where she hopes to reunite her close relationship with childhood and teenage friend, Anna. This all sounded good until Anna disappears after a girls boozy night in the local pub. Lurking underneath their friendship is a mystery surrounding the death of Heather Kerr, a one time friend of Anna’s. I did feel that the whole situation about what happened to Heather and the possible involvement of both Grace and Anna was thrashed continuously through the second half of the book. It became much more than it was, after all it wasn’t really Anna’s fault.. Nevertheless she is emotionally blackmailed by Grace over an alibi that was given to the police. As much as it is sad that a teenage girl lost her life, this doesn’t warrant the going round in continual circles that this event takes after more than twenty two years later. Once we find out what actually happened when Anna disappeared we are taken into the realms of lack of reality. I don’t want to spoil it for other readers so I won’t say where she went but it did seem to be totally irrational from every practical point of view. Sadly the book went downhill at this point although we learn a lot more about Grace’s motives, however the last line was unnecessary. Having raised some critical points I did actually quite enjoy reading it.

Grace has just returned to her childhood town, as an adult and mother, and is excited to pick up on the special friendship she had with Anna, which started on their first day at primary school and lasted until the teens were separated at the airport, when Grace left with her parents to live in Australia. Grace is unhappy though that Anna has three new close friends and she is suspicious that Anna is being controlled by them and they are not allowing her to see Grace.
I loved this book. As we gradually find out more about Grace and Anna, as well as what happened the night that they ended up with a secret that bound them together forever. An easy 5 stars.

Anna and Grace were inseparable as children, more like sisters than friends. But when Grace's parents decided to relocate to Australia, the girls' friendship was severed. Now they are women in their thirties with families of their own - and Grace is back, and wanting to pick up their intense friendship where it left off. Anna doesn't seem too keen - she has other friends now, and is keeping Grace at arm's length.

Grace is determined to win her best friend back, whatever it takes. But when Anna goes missing after a night out, Grace will need to use every tool at her disposal to find her friend...even if Anna doesn't want to be found.

I loved this multi-layered novel which started off as one story and then cleverly flipped - as a reader, I like to be wrong-footed by unreliable characters and misplaced assumptions, and that was certainly the case with this book. I also liked how the narrative split between past and present so that we got to see Grace and Anna's relationship then and now.

A well plotted novel with great twists and turns - I will definitely be reading more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher who provided me with a free ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book that will make you forget what you are supposed to be doing until you turn the final page. It’s a story of two perspectives, and I found myself thinking about it long after I had finished the last chapter.

The key characters are Grace and Anna, inseparable as girls - each with a parental hole in their lives - Grace who’s father barely noticed her existence and Anna who’s mother left the family when she was small. Grace and her family reluctantly moved to Australia when the girls were in their late teens - tearing the girls when they needed each other the most. As they shared a shocking secret about what really happened to a mutual friend.

The first part of the book is seen from Grace’s perspective - she’s returned to England with her daughter and is desperate to pick up her close friendship with Anna where they left off. Surprising Anna by appearing in her drive after not speaking for years. Grace is upset and confused when after a promising start the relationship falters, Anna is distant and keeps her at arms length. Tight with a her group of school mums and unwilling to bring Grace into the fold leaving Grace feeling vulnerable and left out. Everything comes to a head when Grace invites herself to the Christmas women’s drink - she tries to reason with Anna and is told bluntly that Anna has no place for her in her life now. The next morning Anna has gone missing, she never went home! Her husband and friends are reluctant to go to the police. Grace is frantic, visits whoever she can to try and find what has happened - reports Anna’s disappearance to the police and repeatedly pesters friends and family trying to find the answer. This is where Heidi turns the table and shows us the story from Anna’s perspective and here is where it gets very dark!

In a story that reminded me of how years ago reading “The Bell Jar” I came to realise that the narrator had slipped into insanity - you are gently shown the justifications an unstable person will give themselves for their actions and how given perspective you have a very different opinion of what is really going on.

This is a story of control and of the things that can happen when a person’s damaged.

I really enjoyed it and am so grateful to Net Galley for having the chance to read before publication. Can’t wait for the next Heidi Perks book!

Love books like this. What is the truth. What is a lie. Who can you trust. Who do you really know. Absolutely great!

Anna and Grace were inseparable as kids, they were like sisters. Grace and her family moved to Australia when she was 17. They didn't see each other again until many years later when Grace turns up outside Anna's house. She has moved back to their hometown in the hope of resurrecting their friendship. Anna has a group of school mums that she is very close to. Grace finds it hard to be an 'outsider'. Their past comes back to haunt them, particularly the night that Heather, another girl from school died. what exactly did happen and who is to blame?? The reader is taken through the events by both perspectives until the dramatic climax.
A fast paced book that is compelling and hard to put down.

I enjoyed this book. Anna and Grace were really close friends from a very young age until Grace moved to Australia when she was 17. Now both have become wives and mothers, and Grace is back, hoping to pick up from where they left off. But Anna has moved on and has a new set of friends. When Anna disappears after a night out, Grace is convinced something bad has happened. It then becomes apparent that Anna has been struggling with a secret that she and Grace have kept for years, one that Grace has no compunction in holding over her to get what she wants. This is a real page turner which will keep you guessing to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

A well paced and engaging thriller. Well worth a read.

Rating: 3.3/5

"An event, seen from one point of view, gives one impression. Seen from another point of view, it gives much a different impression. But it's only when you get the whole picture, you can fully understand, what's going on." This quote, borrowed from a brilliant television advert for "The Guardian" back in the 1980s, applies equally well to this thriller from Heidi Perks.

After emigrating to Australia with her family, Grace has returned to the English coastal town where she grew up. In her youth she had an incredibly close friendship with Anna, who still lives in the town. Many years have passed since they last saw each other and their lives have followed different paths. Now that Grace has returned, will they be able to pick up where they left off, or have they grown too far apart in the interim?

The events are told alternately from the perspectives of the two main protagonists, Grace and Anna, and the story is divided into three parts. In each of the first two parts we are given contrasting views of events, both present and past, but we will not have a complete picture until we are presented with the third and final part of the story.

Heidi Perks has delivered a well paced and engaging novel, with characters that are well drawn, if not always likeable. Well worth a read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

What is the difference between control and watching out for a friend. That is the conundrum for Anna as she meets up again with her very close childhood friend. She is now married, has a son and is one of a group of four friends, all mothers using the same school. She is happy with her friends but the return of troubled Grace from her past leads to difficult relationships and the recall of buried memories. This book is perceptive and very carefully constructed. The reader is kept on edge as new memories emerge. The story builds up to a dramatic ending in which justice seems to be served. The location is Clearwater near Weymouth and its closeness to the sea is significant to the story. I recommend the book.

Anna and Grace are more than childhood friends, their relationship goes much deeper. Anna is welcomed into Grace’s home like another daughter and the girls do everything together, everyone else is excluded. Events happen during their years together that makes their closeness uncomfortable for some, and the secret they share pulls them even closer together, but they are separated when one goes off to Australia with her parents. Fast forward through the years and they are reunited, will the closeness resume where it left off? Who depends on who? This story keeps you guessing right to the end.
Once again Heidi Perks has come up with a book full of secrets, tension and intrigue, she really is a master storyteller. I read this in two sittings, couldn’t put it down, it is so good. Thank you NetGalley.

I loved this book. The plot is clever and the themes of friendship and betrayal really appealed to me. I haven't read any of Heidi's books before, but I definitely will again. Her characters jump off the page and sing and I was really disappointed when I had to say goodbye to them at the end of the book!

Twisty, sad, poignant, funny, uplifting are all words I would use to describe this great book!

Can highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the early arc.

I really enjoyed reading this fast-paced thriller and finished it within a few hours!

I was gripped right from the start and my opinions of the characters changed as the story progressed, as more secrets and relationship dynamics were revealed.

Anna Robinson has disappeared after a night out with friends. No one seems worried, apart from Grace, her childhood friend who has recently returned from Australia, where she’s lived since she was 17. Grace is positive something must have happened to Anna as she knows she would never leave her son Ethan. But no one will listen to her. Gossip runs rife amongst the mums at the school gates, excitement rippling through them, desperate for more information. Grace is determined to find her, whatever the others might think.

This shows the dynamics between groups of friends, old and new, and how sometimes they just don’t mesh. Jealousy and insecurities seem to be pulling them apart and add nicely to the tension running through this book. Although you think you know what’s going to happen, the story takes some interesting and unexpected turns. How far would you go to keep your friendship? The characters of both Grace and Ann are very complex, their childhoods memories make for interesting reading as the story develops, with both of them having different perspectives on their friendship and the dynamic between them. A worthwhile read..

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was the first novel that I've read by Heidi Perks.
I liked the setting and the two times frames. It was definitely full of mystery and intrigue.
The story was a little slow for me and I think the ending was very predictable.
Having said that I did overall enjoy it and would like to thank Netgalley uk and Random House, Cornerstone for an arc of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I'm on the fence with this one. I feel like the ending was way too predictable. Some secrets were shocking to me and there was some good suspense leading up to the end, but just predictable.