For my first John Marrs book, I chose You Killed Me First.
It’s 5 November, and a woman awakens to a nightmare. Bound and gagged, she lies trapped in the heart of a towering bonfire. As the smoke thickens, panic sets in – she’s moments away from being engulfed in flames. How did it come to this?
Rewind eleven months: Margot, a faded TV star, and her long-suffering friend Anna watch as glamorous Liv and her flawless family move into their street. The three women soon fabricate the perfect pretence of friendship, but each harbours her own deadly secret – and newcomer Liv senses something is terribly wrong beneath the polished exteriors.
As cracks widen in the veneer of perfection and lies escalate out of control, tension ignites. Bonfire Night is approaching, and someone is set to burn…But who will it be?
Wow, wow, wow. What can I say? This book is long, and it took me a while to get into it. Besides life throwing things at me, I also found myself struggling at the beginning to get into it. That was on me, though, not the book. There were various perspectives, and I found myself not paying attention as much as I should. But I am so glad I stuck with it.
This book was enthralling. I spent evenings staying up way too late just to consume as much of it as possible.
And I struggled with the characters, in a good way. I hated Margot. She was so superficial. I felt for Anna, who seemed to only get run over by other people. And Liv seemed to be a rich snob who always got her way.
But those perceptions slowly changed. I began to feel for Margot, especially after helping Anna. Liv was using people for funding for her studio and home renovations. And Anna wasn’t the skittish person I thought she was.
Then those perceptions changed again! I was so conflicted, which is actually a wonderful feeling. I finished the book awestruck. But I also don’t think anyone won in this situation. All of them seemed to be bad people. Did they all get what they deserved? You’ll need to read to find out!!