Review: Don’t Ever Tell by Lucy Dawson

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Never make a promise you can’t afford to keep…
This is a story about Charlotte – a mother and a wife with the perfect job, the perfect life… at least, that’s how it looks from the outside.
But behind closed doors, the marriage is breaking, and Charlotte’s husband Tris doesn’t even know how much. He has no idea what Charlotte has planned for him, who she has found. But he doesn’t have long to wait to find out…
 
Don’t Ever Tell will keep you gripped from the very first page and have you guessing until the very last. From the bestselling author of The Daughter and White Lies comes an unputdownable psychological thriller unlike anything you’ve read before!
 
Readers are obsessed with Lucy Dawson:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, what a book!… grabs you from the very beginning and doesn't let you go until the very last page… An absolutely fabulous, nail-biting thriller!!' Stardust Book Reviews
 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘WOW.... I LOVED IT, best book this year, if you read one book this decade read this!!’ Goodreads reviewer
 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I read this in a series of gulps, unable to stop turning the pages… Stunning.’ Cass Green
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Gut-wrenchingly brilliant and addictive.’ Roz Watkins
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Absolutely BRILLIANT. Twisty and compelling, guaranteed to make the reader question who is telling the truth. I devoured it in one sitting.’ Lisa Hall, author of Between You and Me
 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Omg this book was soooo good. I couldn't put it down… It was such a shocking twist at the end. All the revelations that came to light at the end were fantastic. This book had everything. Great characters, content and a shocking ending. What more do you want from a book?’ Goodreads reviewer
 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A tense, emotional read with brilliant twists. I absolutely loved it.' Susi Holliday
 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘There were so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming at all... just when you thought you had it figured out... you didn’t!!’ Goodreads reviewer
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A scary psychological novel with an exceptionally well-written plot… the end was completely unexpected and left me open-mouthed.’ Goodreads reviewer

My goodness this was scarily real and relatable I just Couldn’t stop reading. If you seriously only read one book the rest of the year, do yourself and favour and make it this one! It really is a story of you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. Charlotte appears to have the perfect life, a loving husband, two gorgeous children, a job that she loves albeit struggling with the balance of it, the nice house and car. Life couldn’t be better, or could it? Under the surface, Charlotte and Tris’ marriage is struggling , it’s just a rough patch, isn’t it?

Charlotte – under pressure but rational??

Charlotte truly loves working from home. She’s a good writer but struggling juggling family life and her professional life – squeezing in time to write in between cooking teas, school runs and illness. Tris, is often working away from home, could he do more to ease her strain? Does he do more to cause strain? Absolutely.

One day at a book signing in Edinburgh, Charlotte is a approached by a young fan who hauntingly looks like a younger Charlotte. It is so striking that it stops Charlotte in her tracks…Apparently it hasn’t gone unnoticed by her husband either. The young fan called Mia is a struggling actress , struggling to make ends meet and has a disturbed past. She’s vulnerable and haunted.

The two women’s paths cross again when Charlotte’s sister, Flo reveals a secret about her husband, she really didn’t see coming. Charlotte turns up at a performance Mia is starring in and gives her a proposition she really can’t turn down. This reveals Charlotte’s darker side and her tenacity for her end game.

Mia is caught in the crossfire

Mia is the character I felt more empathy for. She had come out the other side after some extremely dark moments in her life. She worked to get herself into a healthy place and yet, the events that transpired in this book could have quite easily unravelled all her hard work. She was definitively a vulnerable character that in the end got played by them both.

Nothing breaks like a heart.

Plot – blown out the park

I haven’t read anything by Lucy Dawson before but by god this won’t be the last book I pick up from her. Outstanding, Psychological thriller at it’s best! This was by far the best take on the revenge thriller that I have come across so far. The plot is dark and twisted and executed oh so amazingly well! The main character was unreliable and darkly motivated herself and although you could surmise the way the plot was developing the ending was a surprise and it blew me away. Bravo Lucy Dawson, Bravo.