Sophie has a small little boy named Ben and her new neighbor Emma also has a little boy named Theo. The boys become playmates just as Sophie and Emma become good friends. In fact, they become such good friends so quickly that Sophie entrusts Ben to Emma’s care while she and her husband go away for a long weekend. Enroute, on a train, Sophie receives a horrible phone call that there was an awful accident, but no one can tell her if Ben or Theo was the child so badly injured. What folllows is a series of vignettes with Sophie thinking about her friendship with Emma, how it developed and whether she should have trusted Emma or not with her most treasured possession. This part of the book kind of dragged for me. I just wanted her to get to the hospital and talk to the police so that she (and I) could find out what was going on. Although the suspense is somewhat lacking, the characters are realistic with a conflict that could happen to any of us at any time. So, that is what will keep you reading into the night, the desire to know who was hurt and how and if Emma is trustworthy or a total fraud at friendship.

A really chilling psychological thriller. Sophie hears that her little boy has had an accident whilst her friend is looking after him. Her friend and her sons friend are all having surgery and they are not sure which boy is her son. She is miles away on a train with her husband and you can feel the tension as she is desperate to reach him .
She’s wondering what secrets her friend was keeping from her and whether her little boy is going to be ok. Emma was new to their village and Sophie had fallen under her spell finding a friendship that helps her through troubled days.
We learn about her marriage and their early days as parents and her burning desire to have another baby. Her husband is having to juggle his successful city company alongside weekending in the country. They have different visions about their future.
At times you are left how many skeletons are going to fall out of the cupboard and whether her friendship with Emma is going to cause problems. I was gripped to every page as the threads of the story unravel and you try to s cond guess the story. I figured out one part of the story but was still eager to see how that happened and where the story would take us next.

Published by: Thomas & Mercer (22nd March 2018)



ISBN: 978-1542046664



Rating: 5*



Source: Netgalley



Synopsis:

On a train with her husband, miles from home and their four-year-old son, Ben, Sophie receives a chilling phone call. Two boys are in hospital after a tragic accident. One of them is Ben.

She thought she could trust Emma, her new friend, to look after her little boy. After all, Emma’s a kindred spirit—someone Sophie was sure she could bare her soul to, despite the village rumours. But Sophie can’t shake the feeling that she’s made an unforgivable mistake and now her whole family is in danger.

Because how well does she know Emma, really? Should she have trusted her at all?

Time is running out. Powerless to help her child, still hours from home, Sophie is about to discover the truth. And her life will never be the same.



Review:

Wow! Teresa Driscoll must have magic fingers to weave such an enticing, gripping tale. It is obvious that the story has been clearly and precisely thought out, and the book is intelligently written, with more twists and turns than your average rollercoaster. I read it in one sitting, furiously devouring each page, unable to rest until I'd reached the end and discovered the fate of the boys in the hospital.



The story alternates between the present day Sophie, on the train, rushing towards the hospital, and the Sophie from the past, recounting the day she met Emma and how their friendship grew. I didn't find this, or the switch between narratives, distracting, I notice other reviewers have mentioned there being a lot of back story, but I feel that is the main part of this chilling tale, after all it's about The Friend.



I think immediately after reading this, everyone is likely to be rather less trusting of people they meet and seem to have an affinity with! I do wonder where the author got the idea...

I can't wait to see what Teresa Driscoll comes up with next!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is my unbiased review.

I really enjoyed every minute of the friend, it was such an addictive read.

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy.

Sophie receives a phone call whilst on a train to say her son Ben is in hospital and could have serious injuries. She had left him in the care of her friend Emma whose son is also injured, what could have happened?

This story is told in flashbacks to the beginning of the friendship between Sophie and Emma and their two four year old boys. This is a taut psychological thriller which is fast paced and gripping.

This was another great psychological thriller and one which kept me guessing right until the end. Sophie is on a train coming back from London after being told that her 5year old son Ben and his friend are critically ill in hospital after an accident. She had left Ben with her friend Emma and her son, who she had befriended. We then start to find out the full story of how all this happened and the events that have led up to this accident. Sophie then discovers that Emma is not the friend she thought she was. I found this book really gripping and quite creepy and had a twist that I didn't see coming. Highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

You never truly know the people we let into our lives. Unfortunately,that's what Sophie finds out when she meets Emma. After meeting in the street, the two women quickly form an attachment to each other. Sophie's husband,Mark, doesn't like Emma and tries to tell Sophie to stay away from her. After a murder happens in their quiet town of Tedbury, things quickly start coming to light. Told through past and present, we see Sophie's and Emma's relationship. In the present we follow Sophie's distress as she's trapped on a train en route to the hospital where her son is possibly hurt. This book kept me riveted throughout the novel. I had trouble even putting the book down last night to go to bed. An excellent thriller to read if you're looking for one!

*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Following my gush about I am Watching You , I quickly turned to this ‘The Friend,’ which was again being lauded all over the place. Unfortunately it didn’t make the same impression, although I most definitely will look out the author again. This is the story of Sophie, who has moved to Tedbury with her husband and her son. Sophie has befriended Emma and her son and Emma’s son are close in age. We meet Sophie on a train, inconsolable after hearing that the two boys are in hospital, with one in a very serious condition, except they can’t tell Sophie which is hers and which is Emma’s. From the start I was excited and thrilled. We were brought back to how Sophie and Emma met and walked through their friendship, with some mysteries appearing that made us see that maybe Emma wasn’t the trustworthy friend Sophie thought she was. While I enjoyed the narration of the story, I’m afraid the I found the ‘aha’ moments to be slightly over dramatic and not quite as worthy of mistrust as the reader was told to believe. There were a few parts where I thought we were being led to something and then not enough materialised. All in all it was enjoyable but didn’t quite live up to either the description or the previous book. Saying that as I said before I would look out the author’s next offering. Thanks so much to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the book in return for an honest review

Rating: Unfortunatley a 3/5

I didn’t take to the characters as neither seemed very convincing and whilst the idea of going from present to past to present etc was clever I found I was only interested in the present and the past chapters dragged.

It took a little time for me to get into this book, but wow am I glad I persevered!! Sophie and her family live in a quaint little village, and she is really happy when Emma and little Theo move in, with them fast becoming friends!
Told in past and present and from multiple perspectives, it was a really good, solid read. Minor criticism would be I would have liked a bit more of sinister Emma, as it felt a bit rushed at times,
It had all the ingredients for a really good read - and I absolutely loved it.

I was hooked from the start of this book and a great twist at the end. Too good to miss

Be careful. Sometimes when we read back what we have written, we read what we intended to write not what is on the page. And sometimes when we listen, we hear what we expected to hear and not what’s being said…”
On a train with her husband, miles from home and their four-year-old son, Ben, Sophie receives a chilling phone call. Two boys are in hospital after a tragic accident. One of them is Ben.
She thought she could trust Emma, her new friend, to look after her little boy. After all, Emma’s a kindred spirit—someone Sophie was sure she could bare her soul to, despite the village rumours. But Sophie can’t shake the feeling that she’s made an unforgivable mistake and now her whole family is in danger.
Because how well does she know Emma, really? Should she have trusted her at all?
Time is running out. Powerless to help her child, still hours from home, Sophie is about to discover the truth. And her life will never be the same.

You never know when the moment you meet one person will change your life forever. Some people make their way into our lives and we wonder how we ever lived without them.
And some…. well some people are like a toxic gas that strangles us a little bit at a time with every breath we take.
So… Emma and Sophie… After Sophie convinces her husband to move to Devon, far from city life, she quickly realizes that small town life means everybody knows everybody else’s business. Good friends are hard to come by and Sophie is cautious based on some of the sketchy and unfortunate choices she’s made in the past.
When a Lorry accident brings Emma and her little boy Theo into Sophie and Ben’s lives, it seems like the perfect friendship. But nothing is ever as good as it seems! What can Emma be hiding? Does Emma’s roots grow deeper in Devon than Sophie thinks? What does everyone else know about Emma that Sophie does not?
Teresa Driscoll’s book, “The Friend”, will definitely keep you reading furiously as Sophie’s story unravels along with the stories of almost everyone in her life that ever meant anything!
When your whole world comes crumbling down around you, and you find out that you can’t trust anyone, what lengths would you go to in order to protect what and who you love the most in your life?
Well, don’t judge Sophie. Don’t assume you know Emma. And definitely don’t even begin thinking you’ve figured out how this story ends because you didn’t! We LOVED this book! It has climbed to the top of our favorite list!

An absolutely gripping book. Genuine twists and turns which one doesn’t see coming.Not to be missed.
I loved the way the time jumps between the present day and back to several periods, the start of the friendship and other times which I can’t say much about without giving the story away. Sometimes an author can get this badly wrong, and the time jumps can break the fluidity of the story. With Teresa she has got this spot on, it increases the tension, and although I desperately wanted to find out what was happening in present time, the bits in the past are so interesting, they had me riveted too.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this psychological thriller and struggled to put it down, I was hooked from the first few pages.
Great twist at the end.
Well worth reading.

This book was a great read. A well paced, engaging story with interesting characters.
The title will make you be weary of "The Friend" from the first page, but the way the story is told, it will keep you guessing. What is the secret this friend is hiding? Don't think that because you know where to look you will guess what is happening. This book will keep your interest until the end and it will surprise you.
The only thing that distracted me personally was the change of narrator chosen to tell the story. It changes from a first-person pov to an omniscient narrator. I can tell why the author chose to do this, but it still feels a bit odd to me. This didn't take away anything from the story though, I think it might have even made it more enjoyable since seeing part of the environment that knows more than one of the characters gives a sense of complicity that increases the engagement.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good psychollogical thriller. You will not be disappointed by this one!

This is a definite must read. The book was well written, fast paced, characters were likable and a great story line to follow. There were a lot of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. It kept me on my feet the whole time. What more do you want from a book. This author did a great job.

Dnf this one it just wasn’t for me thank you to Netgalley and the author for the arc

EXCERPT: I had seen the worst of what two people can do to each other. My neighbours and friends. How could I be all right?

I had walked into a room, happy and relaxed, with my son waiting for me on the doorstep.

Unknowing. Innocent. Me. Sophie. The woman who allegedly had this chocolate box life.

I had walked in smiling and been met with a scene which I never, ever want anyone to imagine.

Not my son. Not my husband. Not even the police Inspector with the wrong notebook and all the wrong ideas about all of us.

It was unreal. That is what it was. Shocking and unreal.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: On a train with her husband, miles from home and their four-year-old son, Ben, Sophie receives a chilling phone call. Two boys are in hospital after a tragic accident. One of them is Ben.

She thought she could trust Emma, her new friend, to look after her little boy. After all, Emma’s a kindred spirit—someone Sophie was sure she could bare her soul to, despite the village rumours. But Sophie can’t shake the feeling that she’s made an unforgivable mistake and now her whole family is in danger.

Because how well does she know Emma, really? Should she have trusted her at all?

Time is running out. Powerless to help her child, still hours from home, Sophie is about to discover the truth. And her life will never be the same.

MY THOUGHTS: Now that I am breathing normally again, am I going to be able to write a review that does The Friend by Teresa Driscoll justice? I read this book overnight, unable to put it down, consumed by the need to know what happens.

It starts off light-heartedly, two women with children of a similar age meeting over a crashed furniture truck and a burst bag of parsnips. Well, it could happen to anyone. Great friendships have been struck in stranger situations. But this friendship quickly spirals into a series of dramatic, suspenseful occurrences where you are never quite sure who is reliable, and who is playing games. Manipulative games. Dangerous games that had me forgetting to breathe.

The final few chapters had me crying like a baby. Teresa Driscoll had me running through the whole gamut of my emotions. I have not read her previous psychological thriller, I am Watching You, but I intend remedying that. Soon. There is not one word that I would change in this superb read.

And after reading The Friend, I will be seriously questioning my own judgement next time I feel an instant affinity with someone.

Thank you to Thomas and Mercer via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of The Friend by Teresa Driscoll for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.

This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

Brilliant, well written and thought out,. Completely absorbing! This is a thriller you will not put down!

This book is a tingling thriller which makes you hold your breath knowing that somehow something is going to happen; something bad. Sophie has an immediate affinity with Emma Carter who moves to the village Tedbury with her son Leo. But is Emma worthy of her friendship? I couldn't decide if Sophie and Emma were entrepreneurs or whimsical risk-takers when they set up a Deli. I wasn't too fussed with the format of Now and Before or the switch between 1st and 3rd person so it was a frustrating read in that sense. There seemed to be extraneous dialogue and anecdotes which made the start painfully slow and disjointed; too many diversions from the plot to make it compelling. The theme was neat nonetheless and I enjoyed reading it. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer.