Best Friends Forever by Shannon Hollinger / #Review #BooksOnTour @bookouture @thiswritersays

On 12 januari 20236 januari 2023 door elsinHollinger Shannon - Best Friends Forever

I emerge from the trees, drenched in sweat, my voice lost as I take in the scene in front of me. The blood. The body. Emma’s eyes meet mine for a second. “It was an accident,” she whispers.Emma and I were childhood best friends. We did everything together. Until that terrible night in the woods.I couldn’t tell anyone what I’d seen. We never discussed it, but our bond was too strong; I could never betray my best friend. Even if she had killed someone.But I also couldn’t stay in town and watch her live a normal life, knowing what she’d done. So I left.Now, ten years later, I’m back. The guilt and the fear have stayed with me. And I have realized I need to reveal the truth if I’m ever going to move on.But I never get the chance. Because the day I turn up, Emma is found dead, and the way she died means I start to doubt everything I thought I knew about that night all those years ago.As my grief turns to anger at all those lost years of friendship, I realise with horror that Emma might not have been the only killer. Someone else is out there. Someone who was close to us both, someone who knew the smallest details of what had happened back then. Who from our small town could have murdered not once, but twice? And who’s next…?

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Review

If you like authors messing with your head, then psychological thrillers are the thing for you. I
I had the pleasure meeting this author and the title intrigued me. Why? Well, best friends forever is something you often say when you are in school. The friendships that are formed there are deep and through those years you really mean that. Those people are going to be in your life forever and ever.
I am guilty too. I thought I had some very profound friendships too, but then, once you leave school, people often take different directions and even if you swore you would stay in contact, more than once, you just don’t. Or maybe you do, but only in the beginning.

It’s of course also possible something life shattering happens and you feel te need to leave your hometown. That’s the best thing for you, but don’t you wonder whether it’s the best thing for those you stay behind?

That’s what is happening here with Kate. She leaves her friends and her family behind, but when she is forced to come back home, everything comes back and this time she will not run anymore. This time she will get to the bottom of this. Let me tell you, she gets a lot more than she bargained for…

I love books messing with my head and not seeing where they are going to take me. The author did exactly that although I have to say it took me a while before I really was swept away by this story. I am not a quitter though and the more I read the more I was taken by it.
I enjoyed it a lot. Loved the bombshells that were being dropped left, right and center. 4 stars

Thank you

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About the author

With degrees in Crime Scene Technology & Physical Anthropology, Florida author Shannon Hollinger hasn’t just seen the dark side of humanity – she’s been elbow deep inside of it! She finds writing to be a much cleaner way to spend her time than the autopsy suite. Most days it smells better, too.

Her debut novel, the psychological thriller Best Friends Forever, will be released in January 2023 and is the first of a five-book deal with publisher Bookouture.

Her short fiction has appeared in Suspense Magazine, Mystery Weekly, and The Saturday Evening Post, among a number of other magazines and anthologies, and her story Lady Killer was a finalist for the 2021 Al Blanchard Award sponsored by the New England Crime Bake.

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Author Links

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Website: www.ShannonHollinger.com

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