Just Between Us
by Barbara Copperthwaite
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We arrived at the beautiful, sprawling Spanish villa ready to celebrate – over twenty years of friendship, and of course, Alexis’s big birthday. It’s paradise. Alexis has pulled out all the stops, and like always, I know we’re meant to be grateful…
But the tensions begin on the very first night.
The workaholic slipping off to take mysterious calls.
The people pleaser afraid to speak out.
The quiet observer snidely analysing every move we make.
The former life of the party knocking back wine to forget it all.
Even I, the peacekeeper, have secrets…
And of course, Alexis, the Queen Bee – furious that, as a summer storm descends, her perfect trip isn’t working out like she planned… Her fury makes it feel like she’s hiding something. Like her schemes are unravelling…
I thought our secrets finally emerging might be the biggest threat on this trip. But on the last night, I wake up on the cold floor of the locked wine cellar, a knife clutched in my hand and Alexis’s body unmoving beside me.
I want to scream, to cry, to run, but with the floodwater rising, we’re trapped. My friends all think I killed her. But I know I didn’t, which means someone else here did…
An addictive, deliciously juicy and twisty psychological thriller that will have you turning the pages late into the night. Perfect for fans of The Wives, The Holiday and One of the Girls.
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My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
The problem with everyone thinking she was always strong was that it got harder and harder to show weakness. To show anything less than her battle-ready self and instead display who she really was. And so, Alexis had become, without ever realising it until this moment, a cliché of herself.
She’s always a super-confident drunk, her arguments ranging from panacea being the right word for dried, cured ham, and that the Scarlet Pimpernel was a real historical character. The other night we’d been talking about favourite dances on Strictly Come Dancing, and she’d waxed lyrical about how elegant the Vietnamese Waltz is. Whatever her take, she is always immovable… until the next morning when she can’t believe what she’s been saying.
I loved her for bringing something unexpected to my life, and she felt the same. If we’d been slightly more similar the friendship might not have worked so well, but as it was, we were so different that we slotted together like the teeth of cogs in a machine.
My Review:
This lively, action-packed tale kept me guessing while I developed and discarded multiple theories that were all off the mark. I didn’t actually care for most of these women and wanted to give several a good smack with my shoe. Despite her vile cast of characters, Ms. Chopperthwaite’s storylines were well-plotted and deviously detailed, with lots of colorful drama and lush descriptions of her “luxurious villa of death.”
About the Author
Barbara Copperthwaite is an international bestselling author. She has hit the number one spot on both Amazon and Kobo, and she is also a USA Today bestseller. Her writing career started in journalism. For over twenty years, Barbara worked for national magazines and newspapers, talking to the real victims of crime – and also to those who carried out crimes. Her fiction reflects this: she creates realistic, complex characters and explores the emotional impact of difficult situations. She is currently writing her seventh psychological thriller for Bookouture. When not writing feverishly at her home in Birmingham, UK, Barbara loves walking her two dogs, Scamp and Buddy, or taking wildlife photographs, which she then uses as inspiration for drawings.
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