Wow! This was a page turner and I started and finished it on the same day.

Natty and Sean seem like the perfect couple. They have been together since they were teenagers and despite parental pressure to break up they are still together 16 years later. Eve, Natty's friend from university, turns up one day just as Natty gets a call that her youngest daughter has taken ill on a school trip in France. Natty rushes off to France leaving Eve to look after her eldest daughter and her husband.

Eve's destruction of Natty's life had me reeling - I was disappointed at how easily Sean was taken in by her and was cheering Natty on when the red mist descended. Natty was like a lioness defending her cubs and willing to do anything to keep them safe. When she started to investigate Eve's life, you just know she'd going to overturn a stone with lots of nasty little secrets under it. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough in anticipation of the final showdown.

The Lake District setting was sublime and sometimes I felt like I was driving down the winding roads and gazing across Lake Windermere. The blossoming love between Natty's Dad and his home help was a really nice part of the story and had its own twists and turns. I even laughed out loud at the mention of Sean's parents' breakup and his Mum's explanation for why his Dad left her.

A fantastic psychological thriller - prepare to lose a day when reading this book!

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Absolutely brilliant, really enjoyed this book ( )

Natty and Sean are a happily married couple. On the surface. In reality they may have the nice house, the expensive cars and a successful business but in her single minded pursuit of acceptance Natty is losing touch with her family.
The situation comes to a head when her youngest daughter falls ill on a school trip and Natty must rush to her side in France leaving her oldest and dearest friend Eve holding the fort at home. This was the weak link in the story for me, I found it very difficult to believe that even a marriage in trouble could fall apart so quickly but an explanation does come later from Sean so go with the story at this point.
There follows a great psychological thriller as Natty desperately tries to uncover the enigma that is Eve. Did she ever really know her friend at all and how far will Eve go to hang on to Natty’s family? Secrets come out of the closet so fast it leaves you breathless and the pressure builds into a fantastic showdown. I particularly loved the ending but I won’t give anything away here.
This is a great read and I look forward to more of the same from this author.
(Not very keen on the cover though) ( )

This is a well-written, creepy take on the story of a woman scorned. Semi-happily married Natty is called away from her family and her family's business (a boutique hotel that she and her husband own and operate) when one of her teenage daughters has a medical emergency while on a class trip out of the country. Luckily, Natty's best friend, Eve, is visiting and promises to watch after Natty's husband and other daughter. Unfortunately while Natty is away, Eve moves in Natty's husband and takes advantage of her best-friend insider information to steal him away. When Natty returns home she realizes what has happened and her nightmare begins. Originally feeling betrayed, sad and angry, Natty quickly moves into investigation mode when she gets an anonymous note that this isn't the first time Eve has stolen a husband. When Eve finds out Natty is getting close to discovering her deep secrets, Eve lashes out to make Natty even more miserable. I won this book via First Reads and I found it to be a quick read because I didn't want to put it down. Although the idea isn't an original one, the way this tale was told unfolds well and keeps the reader guessing. And the ending certainly did not disappoint. ( )

Keep Your Friends Close – Seriously Twisted Seriously Brilliant

Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly is one seriously twisted seriously brilliant psychological thriller that hits all the right buttons so close to the real world it is frightening. There are more twists and turns than on your average mountain path with just as much danger that keeps you on edge throughout the book. Paula Daly hits a nerve early in the book with an seriously ill child on a school trip, every parents nightmare, from there the darkness continues a pace even at the end.

Natty Wainwright and her husband have very busy lives running a popular hotel on the banks of Lake Windermere, in the Lake District along with bringing up their two children, Alice and Felicity both teenagers. Natty loves and devotes every waking hour to the girls and when they are at school every other hour to helping in the running of the hotel.

Natty is looking forward to the arrival of her friend from University now working over in America, Dr Eve Dalladay and catch up with all the gossip. After she arrives Natty receives a call that all parents dread, Felicity, on a school trip in France is in hospital and she is seriously ill, it is decided Natty will go out to France. Eve volunteers to help Sean out with Alice while she is away, as it ill not be too long before she is home.

While Natty is with Felicity, Eve makes a move on Sean all part of a plan to have some fun and she sets about snaring Sean, and she knows no boundaries. When Natty gets back she finds she is now relegated to being the ex-wife and Natty cannot believe how her world is falling apart. Whereas Eve sets about her plan to make Natty look like a parnoid ex-wife who will go to any lengths to be a danger to herself and others.

Natty is alone bewildered and angry while being psychologically tortured by someone who she thought of as a friend she feels as if she is having a break down. Natty is determined to find the truth about Eve but what she does not realise is there may be collateral damage along the way.

The reader is taken along with Natty on her fight for her family and her future and the way it is written you feel what Natty feels and the anger that Eve can stir within the reader is unbelievable. This psychological thriller will make you seriously worried for Natty and willing for the best for her but you cannot help yourself.

Paul Daly really knows how to write a psychological thriller and how to Keep Your Friends Close and she knows how to speak that fear all parents have about their families. What stands out for me is that not only is this book seriously twisted at times it is also seriously brilliant to read that will envelop the reader. Some how Paula Daly knows how to get under the skin of the reader, she is uttlery twisted and does psychological torture well, I like her! ( )