Ruth O'Neill

Befriended begins at a Gemma Peacock’s husband, Ritchie's, funeral.

After the funeral, I was surprised how easily Gemma strayed from her friend Maria to spending much of her time with Indiana Manors, whom she knew very little about.

This was a quick read and I really enjoyed the way the plot traveled. We started off in the present tense and then slowly moved back and forth so readers got a good sense of the characters past to combine with the present day.

It was one of those reads where I show more did not care for many of the characters individual personalities but felt much empathy for a few, and all characters were well written and drew my curiosity.

I wasn't quite prepared for the volume of scheming and manipulation involved. And it wasn't just one or two people being manipulated but it seemed there was someone falling prey to manipulation at every turn.

My questioning, what is going to happen next, definitely kept me turning the pages, making it a read I could not put down.

I received this contemporary thriller from the author for an honest review. show less