What My Best Friend Did
Lucy Dawson

HarperCollins Publishers
November 2010 / ISBN 978-0-06-196443-5
Chick Lit
Amazon

Reviewed by Cyndi Wright

Lucy Dawson is masterful at immediately creating tension and suspense in What My Best Friend Did. Readers will be drawn in at once to the story of Alice, who similarly to another famous Alice, innocently falls, not into a hole, but into a ‘best friends’ relationship with another woman, Gretchen, who whisks her out of her seemingly routine and predictable life into a whirlwind of emotional ups and downs, wild parties, and as a bonus, an incredibly hunky brother.

Just like the other Alice, this one finds herself abandoning her safe and cozy world for reasons she is not entirely sure of and giving in to what seems at first to be an exciting new life. But after leaving her safety ropes behind, Alice finds herself tossed and turned in Gretchen’s whirlwind of dark and tortured secrets that threaten to overwhelm and change her forever. Soon, she finds herself wistfully remembering her comfortable life as it was before Gretchen and learns the hard lesson that one cannot go back.

Dawson’s characters are full of life. Her scenes are well written and will have the reader picturing the story as it unfolds. Whether in the flat Alice and former boyfriend/fiancé Tom share at the beginning, or at a private members-only club that Alice feels privileged to visit when first being drawn in to Gretchen’s special – and heretofore unattainable - world.

Toward the end of the novel, Dawson seems to lose interest a little and hurries the story to an end that is not entirely satisfying. The reader is left with the picture of the malevolent puppet master, Gretchen, who is still despite a core that can only be called corrupt, managing to call the shots. As in the real world, there is no conclusive ‘good triumphs over evil’ ending.

Reviewer's Note: