What You Did

Product Information

This story hinges upon the three Ss: secrets, surprises and suspense. It is a well-written multi-POV and well-paced story that had me questioning who I could trust and what was reliable enough to believe. I kept really wanting something exciting and gripping to happen, but it didn’t; it was very disappointing. But the police are going door-to-door asking questions and trying to locate witnesses. Rachel lies like her hair is on fire. But eventually, the truth always floats to the surface. There are two main narrators of this story: Tim and Mary. As the story starts they are complete strangers, but soon they will be united by their present circumstances. The story is set mainly in the outskirts of London during a boiling hot summer. A local nineteen-year-old girl called Samantha has been abducted in the dead of night, walking home from her shift as a care assistant in the Care Home. The local police have been overwhelmed by sightings.

Her unease only deepens after renovations begin, when the builders find sinister dolls hidden in the walls. As Helen digs into the house’s past, she discovers that the previous owner was not only rumoured to be a witch; she was also imprisoned for a brutal triple murder thirty years earlier. This is a very interesting psychological thriller. I had read one book by this author before, so I generally knew what to expect. And I was not disappointed. All the remarks about the middle east. Yes there are war zones in some places in the middle east, but it is not all that it is. And this book is full of micro-aggressions that I felt personally as an Arab.But, when the wife of her lover is murdered and her belongings are found near the crime scene, Rachel realizes she is being framed. and future forensic psychologist Paula Maguire is still in school, being taunted by bullies. In particular one girl, whose family has paramilitary links, is calling her a rat. Even though Paula might not know why her mother went missing five years before, she's sure she's no traitor's daughter. Rachel spends most of her time wondering why her lover hasn't called; playing Miss Marple, talking about how annoying Jeremy is and the reasons she left him.

Coincidentally, there is a missing 19-year old woman from their town, and they can’t help but wonder if that’s who they saw in the window of the house. The police aren’t making time for Mary and Tim, so they decide to take matters into their own hands and try to solve a crime. I liked the whole idea and the execution. The author has done a great job of building an atmosphere of danger and confusion in the current part of the plot. You really feel that Rachel is being hounded and that she is alone in this situation. The police suspect her more and more and can arrest her at any time, accusing her of a crime she did not commit. Or did she?In ‘Mum of the Year’ fashion, Mary occasionally brings her nursing three-month old son and her continually screaming two-year-old daughter who either speaks Caveman “HOT, MUMMY!” or beyond her years sentences “WHO IS THIS MAN, MUMMY?” along on her potentially dangerous snooping. When they aren’t with her, she’s shuffled them off to her friends to continue investigating the disappearance of a girl she doesn’t know with her neighbor she’s just met, while continually whining about her mom guilt. I have heard great things about this author’s work, so I will have to give her another try-but this one unfortunately, was a MISS for me! In this tense thriller from the bestselling author of What You Did and The Other Wife, a woman finds a dead body. Will she make the same mistake as last time? Though Mary's occupation as a lawyer isn't convincing enough to add depth, it did not really matter to me as the story is super good. If you seek a clever and atmospheric thriller to curl up with, make it this one.

Excellent stuff and I’ve just added another book by McGowan to my TBR list, if it’s half as good as this one, it’ll be enjoyable.

Publication Order of Anthologies

What happens when people aren’t what they seem? Well, I’ll tell you, you put on your big girl panties and you handle it. Mary is a mother of two who is on maternity leave and is in desperate need of some sleep. Her children keep her up at night. Tim, her neighbour is a former journalist who suffers from PTSD and can't sleep at night. These two are separately looking out the window one night and think they see something sinister occurring in one of the (abandoned) homes across the street. There is also a girl missing from the neighbourhood. Mary and Tim later bond and try to piece together what they saw that night and begin to connect it to the missing girl. I read this book in one sitting . Im ashamed to admit it but I’ll own it, i didnt even shower today! I just couldn’t spare 5 minutes away from this book. I was completely consumed and nothing was going to get in my way. That was actually really, really good. The book grabs you right from the start and doesn’t let you go until the very end. Poor Casey never had a chance with her useless mother, Jenna, filling her head with rubbish. It’s 2000 as she heads off to LA at the tender age of 19 to be a nanny to a ‘Hollywood couple’ with the hope of breaking into the industry at some point. So she ended up, little more than a child herself, looking after 5 year old Madison and 6 month old Carson.

The second, tells the story of Rachel, in present day England. Rachel works at a dog shelter; she lives on her own and is having an affair with a married man called Alex. Their relationship is full of passion and she is madly in love with him. Alex has not divorced his wife Anna at this stage, and Anna is not happy Rachel is seeing her husband. Again, things go pear-shaped. Enough said.

This was a great premise, interesting and suspenseful, and very well-executed by McGowan. Speaking of executions, one thing I really appreciated about this novel is the way it took a look at America’s barbarous (in comparison to England) justice system and the experiences of women on death row. This was really thoughtfully done and had an impact that I wasn’t expecting from what I thought was the usual fast-paced psychological thriller. The author did great research on capital punishment in America and the scenes on death row were touching and thought-provoking. (The only note I would give her is that most executions in California are done at midnight.) Rachel lives a quiet life in the peaceful countryside, content with her perfect man and her lovely dog. But when she stumbles upon a body in the woods one day, all that shatters. She knows what she has to do: run. Don’t get accused of murder. But when this victim is identified as her boyfriend’s estranged wife, Rachel realises she’s already the prime suspect. This isn't your usual mystery read, as you will know quiet early on who did what, but it is all about characters and their motives. It is a sharp observation of the dangers of social media and true crime sleuths and the deceit of trial by media in general. It is also a harsh condemnation of the horrendous death sentences and the hypocrisy driving it. Present day: In London, the main character Rachel has been seeing a married man, Alex. While walking in the park, she comes across a body and realizes it is Alex's estranged wife, Anna. Instead of calling the police, she runs from the scene and vows to tell no one. Rachel is running from her past.