What You Did

Written by Claire McGowan

Narrated by Pearl Hewitt and Karen Cass

“A brilliant, breathless thriller that kept me guessing to the last shocking page.” —Erin Kelly, Sunday Times bestselling author of He Said/She Said

An Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller.

It was supposed to be the perfect reunion: six university friends together again after twenty years. Host Ali finally has the life she always wanted, a career she can be proud of and a wonderful family with her college boyfriend, now husband. But that night her best friend makes an accusation so shocking that nothing will ever be the same again.

When Karen staggers in from the garden, bleeding and traumatised, she claims that she has been assaulted—by Ali’s husband, Mike. Ali must make a split-second decision: who should she believe? Her horrified husband, or her best friend? With Mike offering a very different version of events, Ali knows one of them is lying—but which? And why?

When the ensuing chaos forces her to re-examine the golden era the group shared at university, Ali realises there are darker memories too. Memories that have lain dormant for decades. Memories someone would kill to protect.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Aug 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781721386925

Claire McGowan

Claire McGowan was born in 1981 in a small Irish village where the most exciting thing that ever happened was some cows getting loose on the road. She is the author of The Fall, What You Did, The Other Wife and the acclaimed Paula Maguire crime series. She also writes women’s fiction under the name Eva Woods.

Reviews for What You Did

[MaryJane Kramer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was like a labyrinth, so many twists and turns. It kept me engaged and guessing until the end !

[Rachael Benson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good book with a good storyline however it dragged a bit at times and I figured out the truth long before the end

[Rose Lang · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Narration was meh, not good but not bad either. Story itself was very good, very good ideas, very poor execution. Even though it's a short-ish book it felt like forever between chapters and it really didn't have any suspense at all, why even call it a suspense thriller?

[melfisher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really suspenseful. Enjoyed it a lot.
Didn’t see the end coming until the final few chapters

[Lucía García · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Domestic thriller with #metoo plotline. Shocking story with realistic and engaging characters. I just wish at least one of them had been likeable. It left me feeling a bit discouraged...

[Lolsen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kept me listening and took me through unexpected turns and swings. The end was surprising.

[Frances watson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good book. Juicy with alot of drama. Nice work companion

[Dedria Blunt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The plot twist was amazing… I kept waking up to her what was gonna happen next. Great read!!

[Zoe Leyh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed this book! Kept you guessing, started out with lots of action

[Sarita Kolhatkar · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Very boring and predictable. Characters weren’t fleshed out well. Not so great.

[Nina Davis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I can honestly say that I did not see the ending coming. I thought I had it all worked out in my head, but I was so wrong. I completely enjoyed this book and look forward to others by this author.

[Kandace Simpson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just when I thought I had it all figured out. The book flowed well and narration was good.

[Tracy Wisneski · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Outstanding story! Intriguing, suspenseful, rich characters and delicious a wrap-up.

[Cara Geneau · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it!! Finished in two days while cleaning!!!!!!! Great job!

[eadieb-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After twenty years, six university friends have a reunion. They met at Ali's house where shocking events mar the event forever. Karen accuses Mike of assaulting her and Ali has to decide if her best friend or her husband is lying. The book switches timelines from the present back to 1993 where darker memories from the university days are brought to mind. Would someone be willing to kill in order to protect those memories? I found this book unputdownable as the plot moved quickly and kept me guessing until the very shocking ending. McGowan is an excellent writer and her characters are well-drawn. I have read most of her Paula Maguire series except for The Killing House and have enjoyed that series immensely. I look forward to reading the rest of her novels and I would highly recommend this book to those who love psychological thrillers. I would like to thank NetGalley and Amazon Publishers UK for a copy of this book for an honest review.

[Natshedge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ok. Not as great as the last book of this authors I listened to. But enjoyable enough.

[Kelly Bennett Hemmer · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I was happily listening and suddenly, hours in there is a graphic sex scene. I gave it a chance after that and it wasn't getting any better so I stopped listening. Not my kind of story

[moukayedr · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The book was okay, it kept me turning the pages to try to find out what happened, but I dislike this type of narrative, that has everyone flawed. I think I read a couple of British thrillers where the characters were mostly flaky, even the successful ones.

The motivation of some is very thin, and in the end it is so less cleverly done than Murder on the Orient Express or whatever that book was where everyone is guilty. I do not mean this literally, because this book clearly has one guilty party, but by the end of reading the story you will find that everyone is flawed and following their selfish motivation.

But it was a couple of hours of entertainment.

[paulagalvan-323293 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This phycological thriller is loaded with rancid relationships between people who are supposed to be friends, once again reinforcing the fact you never really know anyone, no matter how close you are. It also deals with the subject of rape and a woman's right to say no. All sides are presented without fluff. The characters are appallingly despicable in a lot of ways, yet still human. I can't decide who's worse, Ali, Kar, or Jodi. And then there are the guys, Mike and Callum, who are both drunks and worse—Bill is the exception, the one shining star. The story starts with a gathering of old college friends, then proceeds down the rabbit hole into an abyss of relationships gone horribly wrong. There are many plot twists, some obvious and other complete surprises, but the book is not dull and held my attention until the end.

[gpangel_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

What you Did by Claire McGowan is a 2019 Thomas & Mercer publication. Ali is hosting a reunion party for a group of old Oxford College friends. They haven’t all been together in the same place at the same time in twenty-five years. Ali is both nervous and excited. Things so horribly awry after a night of heavy drinking. Karen, Ali’s best friend, is assaulted and blames Ali’s husband, Mike.Unable to wrap her head around the possibility that her husband could be a murderous rapist, Ali discovers layers of lies and secrets about her husband and her best friend. Which one is telling the truth? Karen or Mike? This book was an Amazon Prime first selection … from nearly two years ago. Oy! Better late than never, right? I would like to say this one was worth the wait- but there were a few issues. I thought the premise was very intriguing- and I was highly invested, at first. Unfortunately, there were too many side stories, too much implausibility, and Ali’s gullibility irritated me. The characters are very shallow people, and there is no promise of character growth once all their secrets are laid bare. There were some thought provoking topics, but they got lost in a muddle of unnecessary drama and uneven pacing. Overall, this one was a miss for me- but you can’t win ‘em all. 2 stars

[cjordan916 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was supposed to be the perfect reunion: six university friends together again after twenty years. Host Ali finally has the life she always wanted, a career she can be proud of and a wonderful family with her college boyfriend, now husband. But that night her best friend makes an accusation so shocking that nothing will ever be the same again.

[edwardsgt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very different story following the lives of six Oxford University students from 1996 and twenty-five years later at a reunion party. Two interlinked events from 1996 and at the party shatter all their lives and force them to re-evaluate their relationships. Very well drawn characters and their individual relationships set mainly in contemporary times.

[johnfishlock · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice job, amazed at how smart and self-aware Ali was at the beginning, then falls into a typical stereotype of what dumb-dumbs think and act like. Great twist. It really is hard to know who did it. But it all makes sense in the end. Great book of typical really shitty people doing horrible shitty things to each other. Kind of like real life..:-)

[ninieb-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's both a contemporary thriller (emphasis on contemporary) and a novel about any number of things: how we construct the world we want, oblivious to those things that don't match our specs; about the meaning of consent; and about all the things we do that change both our and others' lives.The setup is six college friends gathering to celebrate knowing each other for 25 years. Their intense friendship has been bolstered over the year by two marriages within the group. After an evening of drinking and smoking weed, however, everything goes wildly awry, and the police are called.There are twists and turns, yes, but really that's just window dressing for a deep, intense, novel. By far more interesting to me was the effect of the intense college friendships on subsequent lives.

[maggie1961-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. But what if you can’t tell which is which? What if you don’t know who you can trust?It’s the 25th anniversary reunion for the group of 6 that created a bond while in university, a bond that is still strong today. But is it?Mike and Ali seem to have it all. They’ve been together since university and have the perfect marriage. Two kids. A beautiful house. And money. Ali feels like she has it all and is content being an activist for rape victims. She has the life she has always wanted and naively believes that nothing could shatter that. With Mike and Ali hosting the weekend reunion, soon arrives Karen, Bill, and married and a couple soon to have a baby, Jodi and her husband. But the exciting and anticipated reunion would not end well as one guest in a drunken stupor, bloody and hysterical, runs in with a claim of rape. By Ali’s husband. But that can’t be. It couldn’t possibly be true. But who is lying? Her husband or her best friend?As the mystery unravels there are many more surprises and twists to come. Can you really trust your friends? Are your friends who they pretend to be?I read some negative reviews for this book and I am quite surprised as I really liked this book. I hadn’t read any by this author before, but I liked it so much that I downloaded more by her. People have stated that the characters were not likeable and they couldn’t connect with them. Sometimes for me that makes a difference but in this book, I did dislike pretty much every one of the six with one exception. Although I would not want any of them as friends, it didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment of the book and without the characters as they are, it would be a totally different story.While most of the story centres around the reunion and it’s outcome, the story of their college years is mixed in along with some teenage angst. Ali, being a crisis and rape victim activist has some very set beliefs in rape that are challenged when her husband is the one accused of rape. I went through a bit of a reading slump for a couple of months prior to reading this, but this novel whipped me back into my love of reading. It is entertaining, gripping and full of twists and turns you don’t suspect. 4 1/2 stars for me! And my next read will be “The Other Wife”Thanks to net galley and the publisher for allowing me the privilege of reading “What You Did” by giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[bookczuk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lots of Quid Pro Quo and screwed up friendships.

[susan.h.schofield · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars - This was a solid suspenseful domestic thriller. It definitely kept me guessing until the end. The characters were interesting although I found Ali a little too naïve to be believable. And I would have liked to know more about the relationship between Cassie and Jake. I felt like the side story of Cassie and her boyfriend, Aaron was not really necessary to the plot. But overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a quick and fast paced read. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

[carol420 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

First of all the book is advertised as a “psychological thriller” ... however it is not a thriller. Those expecting it to be may be disappointed. The focus of the story is on three forty-three year old women, detailing how each of their lives are upended after a reunion weekend. I couldn't empathize with any of the characters. Their entire lives are built on lies and cheating. They are certainly old enough now to see where they were wrong back in the day...but they see nothing wrong with this. It's not often that I can't find something good to say about a book...even one that I didn't care much for... but not this time. I found the entire book boring and tedious.

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of What You Did by Claire McGowan. This thriller kept me guessing, although I did have my suspicions. I just couldn't reconcile the scene with my suspicions, but then it all came together in the end. The last line was particularly chilling!Six friends attended Oxford together, and 25 years later, they have a mini-reunion. Alison and Mike, Jodi and Callum, Karen, and Bill. Two couples are married, Karen, Alison's best friend, is unmarried and flirty. Alison works on the board of a refuge for women attacked by men. Alison and Mike are married, but Ali has always wondered what would have happened if she had gotten together with Bill and not stood up for Mike all those years earlier. Jodi and Callum are expecting their first child at age 43. The friends gather at Ali and Mike's home and proceed to get drunk and some even get high. Ali is awakened at 3 am, and is stunned when her best friend, Karen, comes in the house screaming that she was raped. Ali's life is turned upside down when secrets about all of the friendships come to light. I was interested in finding out who raped Karen, and was shocked to read of all the indiscretions and hurt the friends caused each other over the years. I thought the author did a nice job keeping the reader guessing and tied it up nicely at the end, with a surprising chill to the bones about what some people will do to cover for others to get what they want. #WhatYouDid #ClaireMcGowan #NetGalley

[lauranthalas-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Trigger warning - rapeTwenty years after graduating from university, 6 friends get together for the weekend. The fun and games stop when a vicious attack occurs and one of the guys is accused of rape. I pretty much hated every single character but yet I still wanted to know what happened.