Best Friends Forever by Shannon Hollinger
Published: January 12, 2023
Bookouture
Pages: 352
Genre: Psychological Thriller
KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.
Shannon Hollinger has 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.
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…?
“There are ghosts everywhere, here.”
Kate left home shortly after she graduated high school. The incident has haunted her for years. When she gets a call from her sister, she knows she has to go back. She isn’t prepared for the past to come crashing down on her, though. As both bodies and the secrets of the past start to pile up, Kate is suddenly very aware that she may not get the chance to run away again.
HOLY BUCKETS. For a debut novel, this was excellent. The build-up was intense, the reveal was bananas, and the twists and turns will give you whiplash.
The characters in the book were fantastic. I loved the darkness and mystery in Kate. You like her instantly, but something makes you want to know what is in her head. Lily was such a shadow of a character, which was portrayed beautifully. Every character had a part to play, and they were well done.
There is such an intense pace to this novel. I enjoyed that it kept me on the edge of my seat. Every time I thought I had figured out what was happening and who was guilty- another layer would be revealed, and I’d be back to square one.
I love when a plot is complicated and twisted, which was brilliant. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and things move quickly. The way the pieces fell into place was so insane I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.
I will read the next thriller Shannon writes. This was a scary, twisted, dark thrill ride from start to finish!