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A review by lucyp21
The Friend by Dorothy Koomson
4.0
I read an interview with Dorothy Koomson recently and when I saw some of the summaries of the books she'd written, I knew I had to add her to my author to-be-read list. This is the first book of hers that I have read and it was a great start.
Cece moves down to Brighton to be closer to her husband and makes friends with a group of women at her sons' school. Then she finds out she is taking the place of Yvonne, a woman who was attacked at the school and is now in a coma, and her new friends are the prime suspects. This story is told from four different points of view, Cece and each of the three women, Hazel, Maxie and Anaya, all of which have their own complicated lives. These women are united by the fact their children all go to the same school but the book is really about the women themselves as they try to hide the secrets they are so ashamed of as well as trying to find a way to live with the lives they created.
This book started off a little slow but when it got going, it really got going. I raced through the second half of the book as things got more and more interesting and secrets are revealed along the way. This is a thriller which deserves the name as I wondered who it could be and then was completely surprised at the end by who it did turn out to be. Cece was a main character I adored, especially as she talked about her past (with Gareth), Harmony's father and her old job she had before she moved to Brighton. I loved how she dealt with her husband's insulting remarks about her being a stay-at-home mum and how she reacted to her new friends' pasts.
Koomson is a black woman as well, which makes this book own voices for Cece, and it was really interesting to see how Koomson made it obvious that racism was still a part of this world, even if it wasn't the main storyline. My heart broke at Cece's backstory and it made me really dislike Gareth as well.
I recently got another book of Koomson's out of the library and after this book, I can't wait to get around to it. The Friend blew me away and I hope the rest of her books live up to expectations. 4.5 stars!
Cece moves down to Brighton to be closer to her husband and makes friends with a group of women at her sons' school. Then she finds out she is taking the place of Yvonne, a woman who was attacked at the school and is now in a coma, and her new friends are the prime suspects. This story is told from four different points of view, Cece and each of the three women, Hazel, Maxie and Anaya, all of which have their own complicated lives. These women are united by the fact their children all go to the same school but the book is really about the women themselves as they try to hide the secrets they are so ashamed of as well as trying to find a way to live with the lives they created.
This book started off a little slow but when it got going, it really got going. I raced through the second half of the book as things got more and more interesting and secrets are revealed along the way. This is a thriller which deserves the name as I wondered who it could be and then was completely surprised at the end by who it did turn out to be. Cece was a main character I adored, especially as she talked about her past (with Gareth), Harmony's father and her old job she had before she moved to Brighton. I loved how she dealt with her husband's insulting remarks about her being a stay-at-home mum and how she reacted to her new friends' pasts.
Koomson is a black woman as well, which makes this book own voices for Cece, and it was really interesting to see how Koomson made it obvious that racism was still a part of this world, even if it wasn't the main storyline. My heart broke at Cece's backstory and it made me really dislike Gareth as well.
I recently got another book of Koomson's out of the library and after this book, I can't wait to get around to it. The Friend blew me away and I hope the rest of her books live up to expectations. 4.5 stars!