A new flatmate that just doesn’t feel right…

Synopsis

Always trust your very basic instincts or prepare for the consequences…

It was surreal returning to work after a five-month enforced sabbatical following the suspicious death of my best friend Livvy at a work event. I was grateful for the time away to grieve and had slotted straight back in work But a surprise awaited my return. Amanda Dowd, Livvy’s replacement, was firmly entrenched as my new flatmate in the company apartment. Something didn’t feel right, I felt on edge. But everyone seemed to love Amanda.

Even my ex-Jayden was blinded by her outgoing personality and model looks. Yet her desperation to become friends felt unnatural. When I began to receive calls, photos and presents supposedly from Livvy, I became spooked… someone was targeting me, watching me. With my job, home and life on the line, I had to find out who was doing this to me. I knew I hadn’t caused Livvy’s death; I still believed it was no accident. Someone else was guilty and I had to find out who before I was next…

Bestseller Gemma Rogers is back with another page-turning thriller.

And how far would they go to keep their secret?

My review

Ria needed a sabbatical after the suspicious death of her best friend Livvy. Suspicious, as Livvy died on an overdose, but was not doing drugs at all.
When Ria returns to the company apartment, she discovers she has a new flatmate, Amanda. And Amanda apparently has replaced Livvy in other ways too, as everyone at the office loves her and her ideas, even Ria’s ex Jayden. Yet despite Amanda’s open personality and amazing looks, Ria cannot shake off the feeling that something isn’t right.
And then Ria starts to receive calls and presents from ‘Livvy’. It’s clear that someone is watching Ria and wants Ria to pay…
Ria knows that Livvy’s death has more to it, and wants to figure out who is the culprit, before she becomes the next victim. 

There is something about this book that gave me goosebumps from the start until the end. Of course I sympathized with Ria, losing her best friend like that. And I could also understand that Ria believed that it wasn’t just an accident. Yet it could also comprehend how frustrating it was for Ria, as nobody took her serious and disregarded Livvy’s death rather easily. 

It’s hard to pick up your life after a loss, especially a loss like Livvy’s. And seeing how everyone, all the colleagues, friends, even bosses have moved on without a second breath, well, it’s hard…
But not only reading how Ria is trying to grasp the fact that life goes on, but also how easily Livvy has been replaced was terrible. 

From the start, it’s clear that there is something odd about Amanda. She truly wriggled herself in everyone’s lives, being the life of the party, making the world turn around her.
And while she doesn’t to anything really wrong, she is just trying too much and that was for me a clear signal already.
Also the fact how she had so easily wrapped Jayden around her finger, and not only him, just made things even worse. Whatever she did or does, no matter how friendly she appears to be, I never warmed towards her, even not a little bit. And not even in the end, when all the truths came out. 

There is so much going on this book, while of course Ria trying to uncover Amanda takes centre stage. There is how to cope with a loss, the guilty feelings, but also attempts of fixing broken relationships, having second chances or not and also, despite the many attempts, not losing your minds. 

Those bits where Ria gets calls and presents from ‘Livvy’, gave me even bigger goosebumps. You know that someone is dead, can you imagine the shock when you get those calls and presents? I for sure would be screaming like a madwoman! 

I have to say though, while initially I thought I already knew where this book would take me, the author added so many twists and turns, that in the end, I was left a bit flabbergasted. All loose ends got perfectly tied up, but absolutely not in the way I expected them to!
And I have to say, that towards those finals chapters, there were several characters that disappointed me… their behaviour was not in sync with how I (and Ria of course too) would think. That made me realize that no matter how good we think we know people, in the end we sometimes have too high expectations of them, which will only make us feel disappointed in them, and even in ourselves. Made me also wonder if we can truly know someone inside and outside? 

This book took me, like I am accustomed from this author, on a trip filled with doubts, suspicion, wariness and even fear. Again a thriller that had me sitting on the edge of my seat, not wanting to continue reading, out of fear for the next revelation, but also needing to continue reading, wanting to find out the truth, nothing but the truth and the whole truth…