Clare is an outsider desperate to belong. She’s arrived in a new city to reinvent herself as an art history student. It’s a fresh start, the beginning of Clare’s new life and her chance to become the person she was meant to be. However, Clare arrives at the University of Edinburgh with a dark secret.
Soon after her arrival, she secures a part-time job in a local bar. On the job, Clare connects with her classmate Tabitha who is charismatic, glamorous and intimidatingly rich. Soon, she is cleverly drawn into Tabitha’s circle of dangerously ambitious friends and their world of privilege. It’s a clique based on manipulation and poisonous secrets.
Just as Clare realises she may be in too deep, Tabitha reveals details of a special project they’re working on. It’s a project they need Clare to help with and she can’t refuse because they know what she did…
Will Tabitha use Clare’s secrets as leverage? The Things We Do To Our Friends is a seductive thriller about the toxic battle between those who have and those who covet. An obsessive friendship, a dark past and an unrelenting desire for revenge make this an entirely gripping novel.
Compelling, twisty and sinister. The Things We Do To Our Friends will leave you questioning the desire to belong and the danger of being truly known. I also relished the slow reveal of secrets.
Author Heather Darwent is based near Edinburgh, and this is her debut novel. Follow Heather Darwent online.
Reviewer: Andrea Molloy Viking, RRP $37.00