For me, the unbelievable parts really took away from what could have been an insightful and groundbreaking novel. I think the author took on a very difficult subject (domestic violence and sexual abuse) and did a fantastic job in showing how such a relationship might be instigated and maintained. I think the relationship she portrayed was realistic and heartbreaking. Hard to read in some places because it was so heinous. I also really liked the premise, that one of the girls had been imprisoned for murdering her abuser while the other one got away -- and yet, not really because the trauma poisoned her life. This part of the story was very good.

BUT -- there were so many aspects that were just unbelievable to me. How can total strangers recognize Serena from the twenty-year-old case but not her husband or any of her husband's family? How can her husband not see how Serena's strange actions (hiding the knives) and paranoia are a result of some past trauma? Plus, she must have scars from stitches and a medical history of extensive injuries, including broken bones and hospitalization. How does he not notice? He's a doctor for Pete's sake! How could both girls' families -- parents, siblings, grandparents -- not have seen the extensive injuries their abuser inflicted? We're talking broken bones, gashes that need stitches, black eyes and bruises and cuts. And what about their teachers? How could the girls be spending all this time with their abuser, days and nights for years and no one noticed anything wrong or strange? Especially because their families were basically loving and supportive?

Also, there were aspects to both women's relationships with men that really bothered me. Serena's husband Evan is described by the author as 'an almost perfect' man. But he routinely makes big decisions without consulting her, uses their children to manipulate her, and his sudden reversal from being hurt and angry and convinced of her guilt when he discovers her secret, to suddenly being convinced of her innocence when she gets hurt did not make sense to me. And Poppy falls for someone who first deceived her and repeatedly crossed the boundaries which she set, but he was so 'nice and gentle' and treated her well that she ended up falling for him. Ugh. I guess I just wanted Serena and Poppy to be more empowered, especially Poppy after her time in prison. It would have been understandable if their trauma made them choose poor partners, but the men are presented as being these great guys, even though their actions show them to be otherwise. It would have been more interesting to see Poppy become independent as she healed her relationships with her parents, and Serena work to heal the relationship with her husband. As it was, their relationships with men were very one-dimensional.

Lastly, the crime. I figured out who the murderer must be pretty early on. But as presented, it was not believable. Marcus doesn't realize he's stabbing himself multiple times? No way. Marlene comes to his house even though she has a restraining order out against him, and knows how violent he is? No way. Marlene wipes her fingerprints off the knife but misses the place where Poppy's fingerprints are? No way. Too many implausible things. It would have been more interesting if one of the girls HAD been guilty. ( )

Terribly predictable. Good for a mindless read to pass time.
( )

Ack!  No!  I read another Koomson that was light and wholesome and sweet... like ice cream... and saw the pastel cover (the default) and title, and added this to my list.  Then I saw this cover, the red and dark, more dramatic, and I thought, well, ok....  But no.  It is a murder mystery, and the reviews on goodreads spoil that there's some very dark stuff happening.  I really don't like yuck factor or mysteries, so, nope, returning after reading about 30 pp.

I could not put this book down! A great psychological thriller! ( )

Serena’s husband gets down on one knee and proposes to her. This, it seems, is something she has dreamed about for years. Their original marriage was something of a shotgun affair, rapidly followed by their first child, and now, at last, her wonderful husband Evan would like to do the things properly.

The scene shifts to Poppy, who has just been released from prison, where she has spent the last twenty years.

Snapshot newspaper-style cuttings tell us about the ‘ice cream girls’ Serena and Poppy who, in their mid-teens, had apparently murdered one of their school teachers. Poppy insists she is innocent... which means that Serena must have been the guilty one. And Poppy is resentful that Serena has what seems like a perfect wife, with a lovable husband and two delightful children...

The story continues switching between these two women who never much liked each other, but had a shared and horrific connection twenty years previously. There are flashbacks too, where they first meet Marcus, the history teacher who singles them out for extra tuition... Marcus is not just a seducer of teenage girls. He is an evil person without a single redeeming feature, as far as I could see, and it’s hard to imagine how anyone could be attracted to his lies. As the story unfolds, I began to feel that either of the two girls would have been totally justified if they had, in fact, killed him.

I was afraid at one point that this novel was going to be sordid, but it never quite crossed that line. The details of the past were sparse, the descriptions left up to the imagination. The story moves slowly at first but becomes quite gripping - will Poppy and Serena meet at last as adults? Will Poppy ever be able to trust anyone? Why has Serena never told her husband about her past, and will he find out...? And who did kill Marcus - or was it a joint effort?

As with Koomson’s other novels the writing is excellent, the characterisation three-dimensional and believable, the bedroom scenes minimal and non-explicit, and the bad language not too frequent.

There’s an afterword which explains that the author wrote this in the hope of encouraging girls caught in a similar situation to speak up, to say anything that might help them out of an abusive or otherwise toxic relationship. I don’t know if girls in such a situation would read a book like this - but I hope they might.

Definitely recommended. ( )