The Night She Died

by Jenny Blackhurst

[zooloo1983]

Woweeeee I have had this on my kindle for a while and after making the girls pick random numbers for me, we landed on this. I cracked it opened and before I knew it I was 20% of the way through and I was hooked lined and sinkered with this!

Opening up to a story of a woman jumping off the cliffs on her wedding day. The happiest day of her life…..so why jump? So many questions I had running through my mind when reading this and I can safely say I did NOT see these plot twists coming! It was epic!

The Night She Died is generally told through the point of view of Rebecca, the best friend, in the present day and Evie, the bride, in the past until the everything collides in such a fantastic explosion! Rebecca is hiding a secret from us and Richard the grieving widow. We know more than he does and with flashbacks to Evie’s life we know more than Rebecca, and doesn’t she just hate that! These two ladies met at university, both slightly obsessed with each other and both letting each other into their lives like no one else before. A true friendship, or so they both think, it is, however, a flawed one and one where there are just too many secrets. They are addicted to each other and do everything with each other, well until Richard comes along. Richard turns up in Rebeccas’ life but only because Evie went home one weekend, and this weekend becomes the catalyst for the catastrophic events to follow.

I was hooked on this book, I don’t know why it took me so long to pick up, I mean I do but why!!! I devoured this book, not literally, and I was constantly looking forward to my next fix of reading it. The writing is exquisite, the chapters are short to entice you to keep reading and with all the too-ing and froing between past, present and other characters it is a recipe for disaster if you think sleep is on the cards.

I seriously could not guess why the events in the past happened. When I got there, my jaw dropped and it really was the biggest game changer I’ve read in such a while. It floored me, the rug was pulled out from under me so far it hurt my head! Kudos to Blackhurst, she created such a tightly woven story that just gave nothing away. A feuding family, star crossed lovers, obsessive friends and death. So much is packed into this book it’s unreal. But if you think it ends there you would be sorely mistaken! Just when you think nothing else could happen, when you think right the dust has finally settled…hello!! Blackhurst has decided she’s not done toying with us and hits out with another blow which I kind of guessed was coming, but at the same time just left it wide open and left me chomping at the bit for more! When I got to the end, I was like ‘Nah this can’t be it, there has to be more’ but reading the acknowledgements I knew it was the end! Dammit! I want more! I would love to see a follow up to this! It was pure ecstasy of escapism, indulging completely into the worlds of money, love and betrayal by these women.

I can not wait to read more by Ms Blackhurst, I have a taste for her writing! She absorbs you into her books and she knows how to play it so you stay hooked onto the book. I mean seriously work should take into account not only a lunch break but also a reading break. It was a pain to have to keep putting it down urgh!

So did I love the book? What do you think? This for me is a contender for my book of the year for sure! It was riveting, everything worked for me and the twists were so clever and enjoyable I just want more!