Sarah Simpson

Andi and Camilla meet at university and become tight friends, despite their different upbringings and family lives. However, tragedy strikes their group of mates when two girls go missing and are presumed dead after an accident at their beach side graduation party. Within a week, another friend will commit suicide. The survivors are left haunted by the memories of that night and the secrets they can never share. When Andi believes she is being targeted by a stalker who knows too much, events are set in motion that will once again change their lives forever.

Who I Am is a wonderfully atmospheric suspense novel set between Edinburgh and Cornwall in years spanning the two decades after the tragedy. The setting is nicely described with Cornwall being the main focus. The characters are well developed and feel realistic. I loved the suspense building up to the twists and turns of the book. I definitely didn't guess the ending. However, the book was LONG, with sections that felt like the same things were being stated over and over without any progression of the plot. I would have loved to have seen a little more action in those parts or them trimmed completely since the story didn't advance in those sections. This kept me from giving it a higher rating. Overall, it's a great premise and a nice suspenseful novel that would make a great travel read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Aria, for the advanced copy of the book given in exchange for an honest review.… (mere)

I Know You're There is a story laced with secrets and deceit. Centered around Natalie and three other characters, this is a story about trust. Natalie doesn't trust anyone because of a bad childhood. Good! This story gives insight and details about the four people who live in four flats as neighbors. Each one is hiding something, whether big or small, from the others. When things start to get creppy and weird, who can be trusted? Does Natalie know anything true about anyone? It's a gripping and thought provoking read. My thought is just never trust anyone, and you'll be okay. This is good advice for you because I always tell the truth. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.… (mere)

Who I Am is the twisted story of Andi and Camilla. They met at university but were from different sides of the tracks. Andi came from a moneyed family, with a huge house in Oxfordshire and a holiday home in Cornwall. Camilla's parents were alcoholics and had no money at all. From the beginning we know that one of them is playing a game, trying to be something they are not.

As the book progresses, it jumps around in time between those university years and the current day, and tells the story from different viewpoints. Andi now lives in Cornwall but she's troubled by something from the past. It's not until almost at the end of the story that we learn what it is.

First of all, I'd like to say that the author's familiarity with Cornwall really comes through and it wasn't hard to imagine the setting there. But part of the book is also set in Edinburgh and again, I could put myself there. There's a fairly strong sense of place in this book and Simpson does a great job at evoking that.

The dynamic between Andi and Camilla is fascinating, but there are also others in their group of friends and they play their own, more minor, part in the story. It's actually quite hard, knowing what I now know from the end of the book, to write much about the story itself. Suffice to say, there is an amazing twist coming your way if you read this book.

I did find it a bit confusing to keep up with at times. I think the author was trying to make it very twisty and certainly succeeded with that, but it also made it a bit tricky to follow (for me, at least), especially when you add in the different time periods as well. I do love a book that challenges me in this way, but I must admit it took a bit of concentration.

Having said that, I can see that Sarah Simpson is good at plotting and bringing all the threads together and I honestly never saw what was coming at the end. Andi's current day story, in particular, was the most interesting for me and I was eager to find out what it was that she was hiding.

This is most definitely a psychological thriller as it's all about the characters playing mind games with others and manipulating them. If you like this genre then you'll enjoy this book as long as you make sure you pay attention!… (mere)