I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley to read and review.

“ The Perfect Friend” but J. V Cardy has garnered 1000 plus reviews on Amazon , most of them ranging from five stars down to three stars, so this negative review can be looked on as outlier if you wish, mHowever, I think the story lacked credibility and the characters were unlikeable and just plain dumb.
The plot is that one that appears often in crime thriller novels these days: a long ago is covered up and then, years later, come back to haunt those whose lives will be forever affected.. Something must be done, often against all reason. Somebody, usually the best pal will turn vindictive and look out for number one.
I simply could not believe that someone would drop everything to help a not particularly close old friend hide the body of a man she hit with a car. The reasons given for not notifying the police were unconvincing. Their dialog was unreal. Even in thriller- world, the dumbest perp knowns that something bad will happen and the truth will come out .After about a quarter of through the book, I gave up trying to read it, because I was getting dizzy shaking my head in disbelief.
Remember that this is just one person’s opinion. Read it for yourself.

When Anna is contacted by her best friend from 20 years ago, saying "I want to confess", it sets off a chain of events that nearly destroy her life. This fast paced book was easy to read and I devoured it in just two days. I liked how the story was written from the viewpoint of several different characters, as I think that fleshed them out much more. This exciting and suspenseful story shows us that, often, the past should stay in the past.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Inkubator Books, and J.V. Cardy for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for my opinion.

Lou has finally found a friend. Now she’ll do anything to keep her.

Anna is in a good place in her life – a husband she loves, a great job, a lovely home. Everything is perfect.

But then she gets a call from an old girlfriend, Lou, whom she hasn’t seen for twenty years. Lou, now seeming troubled and off kilter, wants to confess to a fatal hit-and-run from back in the day – an accident which Anna helped cover up. If Lou goes to the police, Anna’s life is over, she’ll lose everything she has worked so hard to build.

Anna can see that Lou is not in a great place, and hopes that if she can help her old friend get back on her feet, she’ll forget about confessing. So Anna invites Lou to move into her home.

Lou is delighted and sees this as a sign that Anna still loves her, that they really are best friends forever.

But Lou isn’t easy to live with. At first, she’s demanding, then openly menacing – using her desire to confess as a weapon to get what she wants.

Anna realizes she needs to get free of Lou no matter what it takes. But when she finally acts decisively, she opens the gates to hell. Because Lou is far more disturbed than Anna realizes, and enraged by her rejection, she plans a revenge beyond Anna’s wildest nightmares.

An amazing read from start to finish. The plot twists and turns are perfectly executed. Cannot wait to read more. Will recommend to others.

I really enjoyed this book, I enjoyed the story being told from the different characters perspectives and the overall pace of the story was very fast but easy to follow

Thank you to Net Galley and Inkubator Publishing for allowing me to read and review a good book by J.V. Cardy - The Perfect Friend. It's a story of two friends with a dark past that bound them and tried their friendship until the end. It was a mixed bag - some parts were fun, but I craved more depth overall. I would have loved to see it delve deeper into certain aspects like the character building. While some sections were a bit slow, the strong suits of this book are the dual timeline that is not excessive and confusing, and its differing POV.

If you're a reader who is not triggered by anything at all like me, this is for you, otherwise, you have to watch out for some TWs like domestic violence, sexual abuse, pedophilia, gaslighting, substance abuse, manipulation, and the R-word. Overall, I was saddened by how the story ended but I guess and agree with the author on the way he concluded everything.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5/5

Anna receives a phone call out of the blue from an old girlfriend who she hasn’t seen in 20 years. The girlfriend says these four words “ I want to confess”. Anna has long forgotten that fateful night a fatal hit and run that resulted in someone dying. Now her friend Lou wants to disrupt the life that Anna has built for herself and her husband. Anna makes the decision to befriend Lou once more, but Lou wants more than Anna’s friendship, she wants revenge.

Toxic friendship, secrets from the past, a confession that could change lives ....

Anna and Lou are estranged besties who share a dangerous secret. When Lou re-enters Anna's perfect life, everything and everyone is at risk. How far will they go to protect themselves from the past and each other?

With a familiar plot, The Perfect Friend is a debut thriller that's a quick read and has some tricks up its sleeve. I love multiple POVs, but at times I struggled distinguishing between Anna and Lou's voices. You'll need to suspend belief for a good chunk of the book and especially the epilogue. Overall it's a quick read and has a satisfying (pre-epilogue) conclusion that brings the story back to the power and meaning of friendship.

Which woman is the perfect friend? You'll need to read to find out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for the gifted e-arc.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of The Perfect Friend. This book was a rollercoaster of twist and turns. Anne hasn't heard from her childhood friend in decades, only to get a message stating, " I want to confess."

I received a copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review as part of the book tour hosted by Zooloos Book Tours.

The Perfect Friend is a debut novel by J. V. Cardy and was a great thriller debut.
We follow Anna, who's happy and contented in her life. When she received a phone call from her old friend Lou, who she's not seen for two decades, Anna's life begins to crumble because Lou has decided she wants to confess to a hit-and-run which Anna played a part in by helping to cover it up. To try and avoid her life being ripped apart, Anna invites Lou to come and stay with her and her husband in the hopes that she can help her get back on her feet and also persuade her to not confess to this crime. But Lou turns the tables again and uses this as a weapon over Anna to get what she wants and control her.
This book was certainly a fast-paced hand over your mouth read both chilling and unnerving from start to finish. I didn't particularly like either of the main characters but this added an edge to the story. A great debut - I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book ahead of time in exchange for a review. You should read it!

This was definitely a slow burner of a book that didn't seem to catch my attention as much as I'd hoped based on the premise. I had very high expectations and they just weren't fulfilled. Not saying this wasn't a decent book, but it didn't live up the the hype that came from not only other reviews, but the premise itself. I did thoroughly enjoy the multiple POVs, as that is something I truly love in thrillers, and the faster pace as the action ramped up towards the end. The author did do a fantastic job of causing Lou to get on every last nerve of mine and that's always something I look forward to in books like this. If the author can bring out emotions from me towards a character then I know I did enjoy the writing. Overall, it was a good read, but just couldn't make it to being great.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest rate and review.

The perfect friend by JV Cardy.
Lou has finally found a friend. Now she’ll do anything to keep her. Anna is in a good place in her life – a husband she loves, a great job, a lovely home. Everything is perfect. But then she gets a call from an old girlfriend, Lou, whom she hasn’t seen for twenty years. Lou, now seeming troubled and off kilter, wants to confess to a fatal hit-and-run from back in the day – an accident which Anna helped cover up. If Lou goes to the police, Anna’s life is over, she’ll lose everything she has worked so hard to build. Anna can see that Lou is not in a great place, and hopes that if she can help her old friend get back on her feet, she’ll forget about confessing. So Anna invites Lou to move into her home. Lou is delighted and sees this as a sign that Anna still loves her, that they really are best friends forever. But Lou isn’t easy to live with. At first, she’s demanding, then openly menacing – using her desire to confess as a weapon to get what she wants. Anna realizes she needs to get free of Lou no matter what it takes. But when she finally acts decisively, she opens the gates to hell. Because Lou is far more disturbed than Anna realizes, and enraged by her rejection, she plans a revenge beyond Anna’s wildest nightmares.
A good read. I did find this slow but readable. I wasn't sure how I felt about the characters. I didn't like them but I didn't hate them. I did like the story and plot. I liked the cover. Anna and Lou were both as bad as each other in my eyes. I didn't see that coming. Twisty. I was sort of surprised by the ending. It feels like there is more to tell of the story.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat with its chilling storyline, making me grateful it was pure fiction!


"The Perfect Friend" explores the complexities of trust and friendship, showing how secrets can unravel even the strongest bonds. Despite the familiar plot, JV Cardy keeps the suspense alive with unexpected twists and turns, making it hard to put the book down. While I appreciated the character development and the author's creativity in keeping the story engaging,

Although I preferred a more apparent resolution for the end, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and its gripping narrative.

I loved this book. It had me hooked from the start. A tale of best friends who drifted apart only to come back together because of a shared secret.
The characters were fantastic. At times I hated them and at times I wanted each of them to succeed in having a normal life. The whole book was filled with twists and turns. Everytime I thought I knew how it was going to turn out, something completely unexpected happened. And then the end I did not expect! I definitely recommend this book.

What happens when two former BFFs with a dark buried secret reconnect after 25 years?
After college they made a bad decision and covered up their crime. After that, their friendship drifted apart and they have both lived very different lives. Were that secret to be uncovered, it could very well destroy their lives as they know it, and suddenly, the stakes are high.
I flew through this tightly plotted psychological thriller. While I didn't like the last two chapters and epilogue too much, I really really enjoyed this insanely twisty book. It often went directions that had me literally gasping out loud. Secrets, obsession, toxic friendships, abuse, abduction, rage, revenge, lies, sex, deception, murder – The Perfect Friend has it all!

Thank you, NetGalley and Inkubator Books, for the ARC in exchange for my honest review! All viewpoints are entirely my own.

Lou and Anna used to be best friends, but after university they slowly grew apart. Suddenly Lou reappears, and says she needs to confess to a crime she committed 25 years ago that Anna helped cover up. Anna knows she has to do whatever she can to change Lou’s mind, or her life as she knows it will be over.
We follow Lou and Anna as they try to rekindle their friendship. A lot can change in 25 years, and we quickly find out it’s not always for the better. Lou dwells in the past while Anna has her focus set steadily on the future, and they seem unable to see things from each others perspective.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It’s one of those morally gray stories where you can’t decide whose side you’re on, or if you even should pick a side, and just when you feel like you’ve figured it out the author throws in a twist that changes everything. On top of it all we have multiple POVs from unreliable narrators, making everything that much more messy.

I actually read this book in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down! It was fast paced, well-written and had a great plot. The story flowed nicely and while the characters weren’t super fleshed out, their motivations were clear.


Thank you to the author and Inkubator Books for the ARC!

This is a great psychological suspense/thriller that’s a page turner. There were several twists that made me finish in almost one sitting. I like how the pacing is medium to fast, with the conflict introduced almost immediately. I would recommend this to lovers of suspense or psychological thrillers with themes of obsession and friendship.

Thank you to Netgalley and Inkubator Books for this ARC of ‘The Perfect Friend’ by J.V. Cardy.
It was a slower / medium paced book.
A twisty, suspensful, psychological thriller that kept you guessing and wanting to keep reading to find out the next twist. I am not sure how to feel about the ending. I enjoyed the multiple point of views from the main characters.
3.5⭐️
Content Warnings: Murder, Child abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Domestic abuse

This story takes you through the friendship of Anna and Lou, they haven't spoken in years due to a deadly secret. Anna has seemingly moved forward, while Louise has struggled throughout the years. I thought this was going to be a “single white female” type tale by the synopsis, but I was wrong. The pace was a little slow to me, it was a slow burn and it took quite a while for me to really get into the story and feel like anything was really happening. It's well written though and had a few unexpected twists. I wasn't really a fan of the overall ending.

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller. I read it so fast I couldn’t put it down.. what a page turner!
There’s plenty of twists and turns throughout that leave you on the edge of your seat, and the ending was great. The characters were good, the story itself was suspenseful and the style of writing was perfect. This is the first book I have read by this author, looking forward to the next one that comes out. I would highly recommend this book and the author to anyone who likes reading this genre.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.