To make a comparison, The Things We Do to Our Friends is like The Secret History meets Bunny. I was so surprised that this was a debut!

I requested an ARC of this book due to the premise and that the story was centred around students at The University of Edinburgh. Having been a postgrad student at UoE myself, I was really excited to get into this and it didn’t disappoint!

Edinburgh is a beautifully bleak city, history towers over you wherever you go. It’s gothic and spooky with a whimsical charm - the perfect place to set a slow-burn thriller.

The Things We Do to Our Friends is toxic, vile, and manipulative. It has you convinced you know what is happening only to throw something new at you.

Not only was the novel a thriller around the toxic female friends trope, but it delved into class, privilege and obsession.

I can’t wait to see what else Heather Darwent writes in the future and everyone should add this to their tbr list.

A superbly dark and foreboding read, one of the best novels I've read this year. Filled with sinister undercurrents and menace. The pacing and story development are done incredibly well but the highlight for me was the characters, beautifully drawn and complex it makes for a very compelling read. I really enjoyed this, it will stay with me for a long time.

My thanks to everyone for an advanced copy of this! The book cover pulled me straight in with this one. I love books like this, where a girl gets sucked into a toxic friendship group that slowly turns more sinister, and this book had what I was looking for. I felt like it was a good length and wasn’t lacking a story anywhere, and particularly loved the story and getting to know these characters.

I liked the premise for this novel, it reminded me a little of The It Girl by Ruth Ware, however the story is very different.

Clare moves to Edinburgh to go to uni. Clare like most needs a job to stay afloat and while at that job she meets two customers, women from her course who are very privileged and intoxicating.

The book continues on to describe the friendship that blooms and the darkness hidden under the shiny gold fascia.

This book is dark and it’s full of toxicity, a lot of it is very well written but by the end very few questions are answered and that is hugely frustrating. It’s very hard to feel the book was finished when you don’t know why all of it happened or how.

I think this could have been a 5 star book with a little bit more care taken for the denouement.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

3.5 stars

At the time I read this, it was all over my twitter feed, and I wonder if that gave me unrealistic expectations.
I thought I was going to be blown away by it, and I wasn't.
It's good though, tense when it needs to be, pacing is spot on, the revealing of things that happened in past,, all good.
Clare is an interesting character, and I feel like this book covers all sides of her.
Very enjoyable