The Things We Do To Our Friends
Heather Darwent

Sorry to say this book just wasn’t for me. Maybe I’m just the wrong demographic but I was turned off by the beginning of the book and although I tried to become invested in the story of Clare, Tabitha & the others, I just couldn’t. I didn’t like or care about any of them.

I think I might be in the minority however and I’m pretty sure this tale of toxic friendships and unhappy people will be enjoyed by many others.

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read & review this title.

This title is not my usual cup of tea but ended up being a pleasant surprise. It reminded me a lot of dark academia titles such as 'Bunny' and 'Ninth House' with its unlikeable characters and atmospheric setting; however, the horror lied less in the supernatural or unbelievable here than in those novels. Here, the horror lied in the unpredictability a mysteriousness of the narrator and the group of friends, the clique, she joins when she starts attending Edinburgh University. I felt that especially the final act of this novel was handled very well and made the suspense and slower pace of the earlier parts well worth the wait.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House-Ballantine, and Heather Darwent for an ARC of this book.

A great read, full of thrills, twists and suspense and the devastation of toxic relationships. Recommended.

A dark, twisty, psychological story set in Edinburgh. Five university friends....but such a toxic twisted friendship.
A great story, but characters you may never warm to, and you shouldn't!

I absolutely LOVE dark academia and so I was excited to read this one. Edinburgh is the perfect setting, where Clare is reinventing herself after a mistake in her past. She gets involved with a rich, strange, mysterious group of friends and things soon take a turn to the darkness…

Overall, I enjoyed this and read it super quickly. Clare was a great character and there were plenty of twists and turns along the way to keep me guessing. What wasn’t as convincing was Tabitha, I just didn’t get the allure of her at all 🤷🏻‍♀️ that being said, the reveal of what happened to her wasn’t what I expected!

It’s always unfair to compare any dark academia to The Secret History, but this felt like its more unhinged British cousin!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Competent writing but this one was simply not for me. Loved the depiction of Edinburgh, though! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy!

A well written and well developed novel. The characters were complex, unlikeable and complicated. There is a feeling throughout that not everything is as it seems which keeps you gripped till the end wanting to learn what it is.

Many thanks for Netgalley for this arc of 'The things we do to our friends'

Initially I was interested in this book, the writing was slightly average and didn't give my imagination too much to play with (as a literary fiction lover I am all about that writing quality) but I was interested enough to see where it was going.

I felt some similarities to Bunny, which is a novel a loved. I saw similarities in the story of a girl at university, who didn't fit in or have any friends. As the book went on, I didn't feel very inclined to keep picking it up, In the end I found it quite tedious and I didn't care for the characters. For some reason I just disliked this story more and more, and my hopes of the potential it may have seeped away. I disappointment to me, but good effort from the author.

The Things We Do To Our Friends is an intense and strange novel centring a cast of secretive characters, all of whom are caught in a web of toxic friendships, sinister obsessions and violent tendencies. With its vivid Edinburgh setting, a curiously unreliable narrator and the main character’s university lifestyle, this novel has frequently been labelled a new and exciting addition to the ‘Dark Academia’ literary trope.

And yet, from very early on I found myself disappointed with the characters and progression of the plot, and although the author’s writing style is undoubtedly sharp and engaging, the psychological thriller/mystery elements fell flat for me and were not as shocking or hard-hitting as I expected them to be. I think if you enjoy fiction such as ‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad and ‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation’ by Otessa Moshfegh, both of which feature similar, almost surreal explorations of obsessive and violent characters, you’ll be interested in this novel— but unfortunately it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

I was intrigued by The Things We Do To Our Friends by Heather Darwent from the moment I first heard about it. The book introduces us to Clare who has arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland to go to university.

When she meets Tabitha, a charismatic, beautiful, and intimidatingly rich girl from her art history class, she knows she’s destined to become friends with her and her exclusive circle: raffish Samuel, shrewd Ava, and pragmatic Imogen. Clare is immediately drawn into their libertine world of sophisticated dinner parties and summers in France. The new life she always envisioned for herself has seemingly begun.

Then Tabitha reveals a little project she’s been working on, one that she needs Clare’s help with. Even though it goes against everything Clare has tried to repent for. Even though their intimacy begins to darken into codependence. But as Clare starts to realize just what her friends are capable of, it’s already too late. Because they’ve taken the plunge. They’re so close to attaining everything they want. And there’s no going back.

I’ve been to Edinburgh multiple times, and Darwent describes the sometimes gloomy dark days of the city perfectly. She also creates intriguing characters with Tabitha and her circle of friends. However, maybe it was the post Christmas Day fatigue but I just couldn’t get my head around the story. The plot seemed all over the place to me, and as someone who loves a good flashback, I found I was losing interest in learning more about Clare’s past. I’m not someone who craves or needs a plot heavy book but a more coherent story would have helped. There’s definitely an interesting story in there but I just couldn’t find it. Not for me, unfortunately.

The Things We Do To Our Friends is out on 12 January, 2023. My thanks to NetGalley & Viking Books for my copy. This is, as always, an honest review.

This is a dark and engrossing psychological drama about twisted, toxic 'friendships', set in a University in Edinburgh. Most of the characters are pretty unlikable and some of the things they get up to are unpleasant to say the least. A great debut novel and I will certainly be looking out for more from this author in the future.

I was drawn to this book by the premise and the rave reviews. The Secret History is one of my favourite novels and I'm always interested to read novels that are compared to it.
Edinburgh University in 2005, Clare is running from a past full of secrets when she becomes a student of Art History and meets the wealthy and entitled Tabitha and her group of friends. She is mesmerised by them and drawn into their circle and their manipulative plans.
This started off well. I was intrigued by the character of Clare and repelled by Tabitha and her friends. There were Secret History vibes as Clare is struggling financially and working in a bar when she meets the wealthy group of students and is let in to their exclusive circle. However for me the comparison ends there. Although this was an atmospheric read I did find it tedious and repetitive at times, the characters are all unlikable and I found the plotline forced and it didn't flow for me. An interesting and well written debut and I'll look out for more from the author but this one didn't quite work for me.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

At times a difficult read about toxic friendships and the difficult changes you go through when starting again in a new place. This resonated with me, recognising myself in some of the thoughts and actions, remembering how hard it was to be that age and not yet knowing yourself.

Clare goes to university in Scotland and takes the opportunity to fully reinvent herself. Whilst she likes her roommates they're pretty boring so when she falls in with a new and exciting group of friends life seems to take on a new shine. But we soon learn they're not actually good people, and neither is Clare! I have mixed feelings overall about the book, 3.5 stars.

A well paced juicy thriller. I love the focus on female friendships and dynamics.
Gave me strong Gillian Flynn vibes with the sharp writing and keen observations

What a gripping read. We closely follow Clare as she starts her degree at Edinburgh knowing she is looking for a fresh start after something happened to her at school in her native France. The tension is there all the time but definitely increases in the second half of the book It is impossible to foretell the ending. A definite page-turner

The paedophile sits entranced by the three underage girls dancing. He has no choice because he’s tied to the chair. He thinks it’s a game. It isn’t! That happened in France, around 2003, but we must wait to find out why and how it relates to the body of the book. The story is told exclusively from the POV of Clare, writing around 2022, but starts in September 2005,as the academic year is about to start at Edinburgh University. Clare, narrator and sole POV, has arrived to study History of Art (possibly channelling Kate Middleton). She is not very well off and is rather reserved, wanting desperately to acquire some finesse, some sophistication, some personality – some friends! All of these characteristic are displayed by three girls on her course: Tabitha, wild, imaginative, persuasive; Ava, cool, controlled, logistical; Imogen, calm, organised, pacific. After a few weeks (terms only last 8 weeks), Clare is delighted to be drawn into their group; not close enough to share in Tabitha’s palatial flat but to hang out together. Although on the face of it Tabitha is affluent, her father has made it clear he will remove all of her funding once she graduates so she comes up with a “project”, a way of making lots of money for them all. Not exactly illegal but definitely unsavoury, it requires Clare’s insouciant but seductive beauty. It is not without risk, however.
The story overall is one of toxic friendship, of manipulation, of entitlement. Clare is probably an unreliable narrator, bluntly stating that it has been written ‘for my own purposes’. The characters are clearly differentiated and act according to their natures, although none of them is particularly likeable. The period between Clare’s arrival and the implementing of the “project” seems over long, mostly because of over dissected establishment of characters and their relationships. The plot is contorted and highly unlikely, but that is partly due to a lack of coherence rather than great skill. There are also some surprises, not really twists just slightly unanticipated events. The ending brings us up to date, which is interesting but probably over sold. Overall, it’s an interesting premise but the exposition could have been tighter. 3.5 rounded up to 4 is a bit generous but it’s more than a 3.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I love the premise and the potential but struggled to get into it. I will try to give it another try in the future since most seem to have enjoyed it and I'm possibly just in a slump.

This was a well written and well developed novel. The characters were complex and very, very complicated. There is a very eerie feel to this novel and not everything is as it seems. There is manipulation, greed, vanity, and lust all gathered into characters that simply want to cause a little chaos in the world just because they can. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved the subtle twists and turns that happened along the way. Highly recommend.

a rather predictable and boring take on toxic female friendships. i wanted to like this but i found the writing overdramatic and pretty cringe. same goes for the characters.

Unfortunately I really did not like any of the characters in this book and maybe that’s the point since this book does focus on toxic relationships but it was really hard to get invested in the plot when I couldn’t root for even one of the characters. The last ten percent of the book was probably the most interesting to me but it was a little rough getting to that point. I really wanted to like the book after reading some really great reviews but unfortunately this book didn’t hit the mark for me. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC