Review: You Can Trust Me

Book Title: You Can Trust Me

Book Author: Sophie McKenzie

Book Rating: ☆☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)

Synopsis: “The suspicious circumstances of her best friend’s suicide drive a woman to the possibility that it was murder—a murder which might involve the same man who killed her sister eighteen years ago

On a quiet, gray, Saturday morning, Livy arrives at her best friend Julia’s flat for a lunch date only to find her dead. Though all the evidence supports it, Livy cannot accept the official ruling of suicide; the Julia she remembers was loud, inappropriate, joyful, outrageous and loving, not depressed. The suspicious circumstances cause Livy to dig further, and she is suddenly forced to confront a horrifying possibility: that Julia was murdered, by the same man who killed Livy’s sister, Kara, eighteen years ago.

Desperate to understand the tragedies of her past and hold her unraveling life together, Livy throws herself into the search for Kara and Julia’s killer, who she now believes is someone close to her family. But if that is true, who can she still trust? Damien, the man Julia was secretly dating? Leo, her husband’s boss and a close family friend? His son Paul, her husband’s best mate since college? Or Will, her own dear husband, who has betrayed her perhaps one time too many?

When Livy finally faces her sister’s killer, and he tries to force her to destroy her family with one horrible, impossible choice, she must finally decide: is she strong enough to trust herself?”

I’ve been going back and forth for a while now about whether I should give this book a two star review or three star review.  The book was well-written overall, but I struggled to finish the book as I just did not connect with the characters or the story at all.  It started out as a promising enough mystery/thriller. The main character, Livy, walks into her best friend’s home one Saturday afternoon only to find her dead.  The police determine it was a suicide, but Livy doesn’t believe that her best friend could have been depressed enough to kill herself without ever mentioning her feelings.  Livy’s younger sister was murdered many years before, and Livy becomes convinced that her sister’s killer is responsible for the death of her friend.  Is Livy just a bored housewife chasing imaginary leads, or is she the only person who can see the truth?

This novel is told from the dual perspectives of the Livy and the killer.  I did not at all care for the chapters told from the killer’s perspective.  Maybe I’m just too sensitive, but I found them over-the-top dark…and reading detailed accounts of about him killing animals and assaulting women were just completely unsettling.  On the other hand, while Livy was likable enough, her story at times seemed to drag.  What I did like is that the story kept me guessing throughout the book, and there were some interesting twists sprinkled throughout.  I’ve read quite a few psychological thrillers recently, and this one just didn’t quite live up to the others.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley.