Title: The Diary by Vikki Patis
Date Published: 26th November 2018
Publisher: Bookouture
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Description:
'I know all your secrets, Lauren.'
Lauren has spent years running away from her home town, her childhood and the memories of her best friend, Hannah.
Until the tenth anniversary of Hannah's death forces her to return home and to the group of friends she abandoned there. It should be a quick visit, just so Lauren can pay her respects.
At home, Lauren finds Hannah's old diary. A diary full of secrets. The terrible things Lauren did, the lies she's told, the reason she ran away. And she receives a message:
'I don't know why you're back, but I know why you left.'
But no-one else has seen the diary, and Hannah's dead, isn't she?
A suspenseful psychological thriller full of twists and turns – you won't be able to stop turning the pages of The Diary. Perfect for fans of The Sister, The Girl on the Train and We Were Liars.
Review:
I received an ARC copy of this from Bookouture via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Another book that has been on my TBR for too long!
The Diary is a slow burn psychological thriller, all about secrets and how they can eat away at you if you hang onto them for too long.
The story goes back and forth between the present and ten years in the past following Lauren facing up to things that happened in the past and secrets which have been kept bottled up for the last ten years.
The characters really made this story. Realistic yet extremely flawed and mostly unlikeable.
I really felt for Lauren throughout the story and enjoyed seeing her journey from guilt-ridden and ashamed to the strong person she really is.
The past storyline took me back to my own teen years, reminding me how horrible people can be at that age. Hannah was an especially hard to like character and through most of the story, I really didn't understand Lauren's affection for her. One minute she'd be loving, the next cruel. When Hannah's entire backstory comes out, it makes her actions a lot more understandable.
The book tackles tough subjects like bullying, suicide and sexual assault, so if these are triggers for you, I'd be careful going into this book even though the author handles them with care.
As I said earlier, it was slow burn, at times a little too slow burn for my liking, but of course, that's just my opinion.
The Diary is a thought-provoking debut that was both realistic and compelling.
About The Author:
This author is also published under the pen name Victoria Hawthorne.
Vikki Patis is the bestselling author of psychological thrillers In the Dark (2021), The Wake (2020), Girl, Lost (2020), The Girl Across the Street (2019), and The Diary (2018). Girl, Lost, a top 100 bestseller on Amazon, was later longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize 2020. Her latest psychological suspense novel, Return to Blackwater House, will be published in March 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton.
She is represented by Emily Glenister at DHH Literary Agency and also writes historical fiction as Victoria Hawthorne. Her first historical suspense novel, The House at Helygen, will be published in April 2022 by Quercus.
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