📖 Book Review ~ I know What You've Done by Dorothy Koomson

 

Headline
December 2021

My thanks to the publisher and ed pr for my copy of this book

What if all your neighbours’ secrets landed in a diary on your doorstep?

What if the woman who gave it to you was murdered by one of the people in the diary?

What if the police asked if you knew anything?

Would you hand over the book of secrets?

Or … would you try to find out what everyone had done?

📖 My Review...

Oh, what a tangled web we weave springs to mind about the people who call Acacia Villas in Brighton their home and with this talented author in charge of the comings and goings of their lives, well nothing is ever going to be as it seems. What we have in I Know What You've Done is an intricately woven piece of literary tapestry in which all the residents of Acacia Villas have a role to play and no stone is left unturned in the quest to pore over the minutiae of everyone's lives.

Priscilla is the one to watch as she can see the whole of the street from her house and boy, does she observe what everyone is up to, so much so that she writes it all down in her diary, and that's when things start to get interesting especially when someone tries to kill her.  Leaving one of the residents in possession of this infamous diary only serves to put everyone under the spotlight and heightens the tension in this classy mystery. Once I got used to the moving around in time I was absolutely glued to the page and couldn't wait to find out exactly what was going on and who was really out to get Priscilla. There are so many dirty little secrets waiting to be discovered and the excitement of finding out just how many neighbours would be exposed is what makes the story so deliciously readable.

Clever, sophisticated and with all the trademark brilliance which this author brings to her stories I Know What You've Done is my favourite of her stories to date... but then all of Dorothy Koomson's stories are my favourites 😉

Best Read with... a chilled glass of Prosecco and a few crackers..

About the Author

Dorothy Koomson is the award-winning author of fifteen novels including the Sunday Times bestsellers My Best Friend’s Girl, The Ice Cream Girls and Goodnight, Beautiful. Dorothy’s novels have been translated into over 30 languages, and a TV adaptation based on The Ice Cream Girls was shown on ITV1 in 2013. After briefly living in Australia, Dorothy now lives in Brighton.

Twitter @DorothyKoomson  #IKnowWhatYouveDone

Website

@headlinepg

@ed_pr

📖 Publication Day Review ~ All My Lies are True by Dorothy Koomson

 

📖 Happy Paperback Publication Day 📖

 

Headline
21 January 2021

My thanks to the publishers and to EDPR for my copy of this book

Verity is telling lies... and that’s why she’s about to be arrested for attempted murder.

Serena has been lying for years... and that may have driven her daughter Verity, to do something unthinkable. 

Poppy’s lies have come back to haunt her... so will her quest for the truth hurt everyone she loves?

30 years ago, teenagers Poppy Carlisle and Serena Gorringe were put on trial for the murder of their teacher. Poppy was convicted. Serena walked free. 10 years after Poppy’s release from prison, and now with families of their own, both women have spent a lifetime trying to forget. But time is no healer. The story is not theirs alone; their families have lived it too. Will the truth of what happened that night ever come to light, or will the abuses of the past destroy everyone they love? A story about family, obsession and psychological abuse, it seems that everyone lies... but whose lies are going to end in tragedy?

📖 My thoughts..

Anyone who has read The Ice Cream Girls will wonder what happened to Poppy and Serena in the years following their dramatic arrest and court appearance. Thankfully the author felt that it was now time to write a sequel, even though initially she said she wouldn't, and I'm really pleased that we have in All My Lies are True a worthy continuation of this compelling story.

All my Lies are True picks up the story several years after the first story finished. Poppy is out of prison and Serena has been living her life seemingly unscathed in the intervening years. However, scars run deep, and although neither women have much contact with the other they remain ever present in each other's thoughts. The passage of time doesn't dim the connection but there is now a new generation for whom the troubles of the past are about to threaten the future. When the events of the present, and I'm not going to say what they are as that would spoil everything, start to spiral out of control then the whole sad and sorry cycle is about to start all over again.

The story is beautifully told, with a scarily realistic edge, and with central characters who get right inside your head and who you invest in from the first page. Some I liked more than others and there's one in particular I was wary of from the start but that's what makes the story so compelling, characters who you believe one minute, and then start to doubt at other times. The story is told from different timelines and several points of view, that of Verity, Serena's grown up daughter, Serena herself, and also Poppy, each of them have a story to tell and each is as compelling as the others.

All My Lies are True has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and because nothing is ever as it seems, I think, that's what makes this book such a riveting and engrossing read. My opinion is that you don't need to re-read the first book in order to get the most out of this follow up as the author gives enough back story for it all to make sense. However, if you've not done, then I do think that you would get more enjoyment if you first read The Ice Cream Girls. 

 📖  All My Lies are True by Dorothy Koomson is out in paperback today 📖 

📖About the Author 📖

Dorothy Koomson is an award-winning, global bestselling author whose novels include the Sunday Times bestsellers The Friend, That Girl from Nowhere, The Ice Cream Girls, The Woman He Loved Before, The Chocolate Run and My Best Friend’s Girl. Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages with sales that exceed 2 million copies in the UK alone. Dorothy’s books are powerful, thought-provoking and compelling ‘emotional thrillers’ where moral dilemmas are central and where the complex emotions of family and friendships are explored. 

Her third book, My Best Friend’s Girl, was selected for the Richard & Judy Summer Reads of 2006, and her novels The Ice Cream Girls and The Rose Petal Beach were both shortlisted for the British Book Awards in 2010 and 2013, respectively. A TV adaptation loosely based on The Ice Cream Girls was first shown on ITV1 in 2013. Her novels have all been Sunday Times Top 10 bestsellers including That Girl from Nowhere, When I Was Invisible, The Friend and Tell Me Your Secret. Dorothy was a 2018 Quick Reads author with The Beach Wedding which was also selected as a World Book Night giveaway title in the same year, with The Ice Cream Girls a 2019 World Book Night title.

Passionate about the importance of reading and literacy, Dorothy is a regular speaker in libraries and at festivals and supports the work of the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity that transforms lives through literacy www.literacytrust.org.uk and Little Green Pig www.littlegreenpig.org.uk, a Brighton and Hove based charity that offers free writing workshops for young people in need. Dorothy lives in Brighton (well, Hove, actually) and the city is an ever-present character in her novels.

Twitter @DorothyKoomson #AllMyLiesAreTrue

@headlinepg

@ed_pr

Amazon UK

Publication Day Review ~ Tell Me Your Secret by Dorothy Koomson

Headline
9 January 2020

My thanks to the publishers and Annabelle at edpr for my copy of this book

Pieta has a secret . . . Ten years ago, Pieta was kidnapped by ‘The Blindfolder’; a man who said he wouldn’t kill her if she kept her eyes closed for 48 hours. She never told anyone what happened to her, vowing to move on with her life. But when her attacker starts hunting down his past victims, Pieta realises she may finally be forced to tell her deepest secrets to stay alive..

Jody has a secret . . . Fifteen years ago, policewoman Jody made a terrible mistake that resulted in a serial killer known as ‘The Blindfolder’ escaping justice. When Jody discovers journalist Pieta survived his attack, she realises she may finally have found a way to catch him. But that would mean endangering innocent people..

What did I think about it..

Tell Me Your Secret is a truly sinister story which pulls at your imagination right from the beginning, and I think, and I've read lots of this author's work over the last few years, that this one really is one of her best.

Two fascinating women take the lead role, Pieta, is a damaged survivor of the man who has been nicknamed The Blindfolder, a kidnapper who threatens his victims with death if they open their eyes during the 48 hours of their dreadful ordeal. Jody is the police officer who is racing against time to bring this deadly perpetrator to justice before he strikes again. That Pieta is a survivor is obvious from the start, she's a feisty young woman who is doing the best she can to keep herself and her child safe but when The Blindfolder starts to resurface she is truly terrified of reliving her past experiences.

The story moves along at a cracking pace and the individual chapters from both Pieta and Jody give a real insight into the damage which has been done to both of these women. The reasons for both of their interest in this case becomes deadly apparent as the story progresses, and as the web gets tighter and tighter, so the story gets more and more convoluted.

I raced thorough Tell Me Your Secret in a matter of hours as I really couldn't put the book down until I had discovered the whole of the story in all of its fascinating detail.

About the Author

Dorothy Koomson is an award-winning, global bestselling author whose novels include the Sunday Times bestsellers The Friend, That Girl from Nowhere, The Ice Cream Girls, The Woman He Loved Before, The Chocolate Run and My Best Friend’s Girl. Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages with sales that exceed 2 million copies in the UK alone. Dorothy’s books are powerful, thought-provoking and compelling ‘emotional thrillers’ where moral dilemmas are central and where the complex emotions of family and friendships are explored. Her third book, My Best Friend’s Girl, was selected for the Richard & Judy Summer Reads of 2006, and her novels The Ice Cream Girls and The Rose Petal Beach were both shortlisted for the British Book Awards in 2010 and 2013, respectively. 

A TV adaptation loosely based on The Ice Cream Girls was first shown on ITV1 in 2013. Her novels have all been Sunday Times Top 10 bestsellers including That Girl from Nowhere, When I Was Invisible, The Friend and Tell Me Your Secret. Dorothy was a 2018 Quick Reads author with The Beach Wedding which was also selected as a World Book Night giveaway title in the same year, with The Ice Cream Girls a 2019 World Book Night title. 

Passionate about the importance of reading and literacy, Dorothy is a regular speaker in libraries and at festivals and supports the work of the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity that transforms lives through literacy www.literacytrust.org.uk and Little Green Pig www.littlegreenpig.org.uk, a Brighton and Hove based charity that offers free writing workshops for young people in need. Dorothy lives in Brighton (well, Hove, actually) and the city is an ever-present character in her novels.

Twitter @DorothyKoomson #TellMeYourSecret

@Headline

@ed_pr

Review ~ The Brighton Mermaid by Dorothy Koomson

Century
17 May 2018

My thanks to the publishers and edpr for my copy of this book

What's it all about..

Brighton Beach, 1993: Teenagers Nell and Jude find the body of a young woman and when no one comes to claim her, she becomes known as the Brighton Mermaid. Nell is still struggling to move on when, three weeks later, Jude disappears.

Twenty-five years on, Nell quits her job to find out who the Brighton Mermaid really was – and what happened to her best friend that summer.

But as Nell edges closer to the truth, dangerous things start to happen. Someone seems to be watching her every move, and soon she starts to wonder who in her life she can actually trust.

My thoughts about it..

When teenagers, Nell and Jude, discover the body of a young woman washed up on a Brighton beach in 1993, it sets into motion a chain of events which will have repercussions for the next twenty five years, when life, for both Nell, Jude and their families, is changed forever. As an adult, Nell finds it difficult to let go of the events of 1993, and in using her commentary, and that of her younger sister, Macy, we get a multifaceted and suspenseful story which looks into the very heart of a dark and tragic mystery. 

Throughout the story the many layers of The Brighton Mermaid are stripped bare and the complex twists and turns in the story certainly kept me guessing. Many times I thought I knew which way the story was going, only for it to veer off in a completely different direction, with the last third of the book being particularly tense, when my anxiety levels shot up another notch or two.

The characterisation is particularly well done and Nell comes across as a scarily, realistic person who is just as flawed as the rest of us but she has an amazing strength of character which is so believable that you can't help but be her champion. However, it it is in the intricate details of the other characters who flit into and out of the story where the strength of the story lies, and yet, to disclose anything about them would be to reveal too much, so I won't divulge anything at all, as this is one of those cleverly put together stories which is better if it’s read with no spoilers from me.

The Brighton Mermaid is a complex and intricate story which grabs your attention from the very beginning and takes you on a shadowy journey which is layered with details of systemic racial abuse, overt sexism and a blatant disregard for truth and justice. 

I have read all of Dorothy Koomson's stories to date and I think her writing just gets better and better and with The Brighton Mermaid I really do think that she has surpassed herself.

About the Author

Dorothy Koomson is the author of thirteen bestselling novels. Books and reading have always played a pivotal role in Dorothy's life and she fell in love with drama and fantasy of fictional worlds at an early age and has been making up stories since she was thirteen. Passionate about the importance of reading and literacy, Dorothy is a regular speaker in libraries and festivals and supports the work of the National Literacy Trust and Little Green Pig, a charity based in Brighton and Hove.

Twitter @DorothyKoomson #TheBrightonMermaid

@edpr

@penguinrandom


Amazon UK


The Brighton Mermaid is published by Century today

Summer Read 2017 ~ The Friend by Dorothy Koomson

It's that time of year when suitcases are being packed for holidays and along with the sun cream and the extra bikini thoughts must surely turn to what's good to read.

Over the next few weeks I will be adding my Summer Reads Collection for 2017

Century
2017

What's it all about ..

After her husband’s big promotion, Cece Solarin arrives in Brighton with their three children, ready to start afresh. But their new neighbourhood has a deadly secret.

Three weeks earlier, Yvonne, a very popular parent, was almost murdered in the grounds of the local school – the same school where Cece has unwittingly enrolled her children.

Already anxious about making friends when the parents seem so cliquey, Cece is now also worried about her children’s safety. By chance she meets Maxie, Anaya and Hazel, three very different school mothers who make her feel welcome and reassure her about her new life.

That is until Cece discovers the police believe one of her new friends tried to kill Yvonne. Reluctant to spy on her friends but determined to discover the truth, Cece must uncover the potential murderer before they strike again . .

What did I think about it..

What can be guaranteed with a Dorothy Koomson story is that as soon as you begin to read the opening chapter you can just sense that the story will take you to a wonderfully creative place.

The Friend is a little bit different from some of her previous books as this is more of a psychological roller coaster but, as always, it is full of the characteristic good writing and fine attention to detail which we have come to expect from this author.

The story is complex from the outset and requires a little concentration in order to get everyone in context but once the characters start to sit comfortably then the story really starts to take off. I had lots of questions in my mind as I continued to read and what I enjoyed the most was that I was constantly surprised by how certain characters behaved.

I'm deliberately not saying anything about the plot as to reveal anything would be to spoil this excellent story. However, what I will say, is that it's a  perfect summer read, either curled up in your favourite garden chair or lounging by a swimming pool, preferably somewhere hot and sunny...

More about the Author can by found on her website by clicking here

Follow on Twitter @DorothyKoomson

My thanks to Annabelle at edpr and also to the publishers for my copy of The Friend

~***~

Review ~ When I was Invisible by Dorothy Koomson

**Out 23rd March in Paperback**

Arrow
23 March 2017

What's it all about..

In 1988, two eight-year-old girls with almost identical names and the same love of ballet meet for the first time. They seem destined to be best friends forever and to become professional dancers. Years later, however, they have both been dealt so many cruel blows that they walk away from each other into very different futures – one enters a convent, the other becomes a minor celebrity. Will these new, ‘invisible’ lives be the ones they were meant to live, or will they only find that kind of salvation when they are reunited twenty years later?

What did I think about it..

Two girls both called Veronica/Veronika find that their lives are irrevocably bound together in story which flits forwards and backwards in time, and which reveals the very sad circumstances of two lives shattered by life experiences.

Written with all the trademark flair of this talented contemporary author When I was Invisible sheds light on the invisible bonds of friendship which, although bind people together, can also tear people apart. The girls renamed as Nika and Roni find that their live in adulthood have veered off in very different directions, one as a minor celebrity, and the other as a nun and yet, their combined secrets threaten both of their sanity and well-being.

The author writes very well and weaves a story that takes in different time frames and circumstances and does so with assurance and confidence, and, even though the story evolves quite slowly, there is always something to capture the reader's attention and which makes you sit up and take notice.

I've now read several books by this author and I have never been disappointed either by her stories, or of her clever storytelling ability. I think that When I was Invisible is one of her strongest and saddest books to date.

Best Read with...A noodle stir fry and several glugs of white wine..

About the Author

Dorothy Koomson is the author of eleven novels and has been making up stories since she was thirteen. For more information about Dorothy and her writing visit her website  or follow her on Twitter @DorothyKoomson

My thanks to the publishers and also to Darran at edpr for my review copy of this book.

**When I was Invisible is out in paperback today and published by Arrow**
#WhenIWasInvisible

Arrow

23 March 2017

~***~