Review: The Friend by Charlie Gallagher

  

Print Length: 400 pages

Publisher: Avon (April 1, 2021)

From Goodreads.com:  Danny and Sharon Evans are desperate for answers. Why did their seemingly happy daughter try to take her own life?  

   
When a stranger approaches Danny, saying he knows who’s to blame, Danny is tempted, despite Sharon’s reservations. And when his new friend offers them revenge, how can he walk away?  
    
But little does Danny know he is being invited to play a terrible game. A game that won't just change lives – it will end them.   
   
DI Joel Norris knows this is no ordinary case when two seemingly unconnected murders hit his desk within a matter of days. But how far is he willing to go to solve the puzzle?  

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

For the record, I didn't hate this book. Nor did I love it. Honestly? I was kind of "meh" about the majority of it. But I will say that for all the reasons I didn't enjoy it? Someone else definitely will, because this was not a badly written story by any means. It just... took too long getting to the point for me to be able to thoroughly enjoy it. 

For one thing the bouncing POV made it difficult for me to stay invested because I was always having to go back and either figure out who was speaking, or exactly who they were to the overall plot. Honestly? I feel like it would have been more enjoyable if it was broken up into sections. Focus on one character and their arc, then another character and their arc, and then finally bring it all back together from the POV of the police officers trying to solve the case.

Perhaps if the author had chosen this way to go about it, I would have connected more with the cast of characters. As it was I felt they were very one-dimensional, lacking not only in depth, but anything that would really make me care about them (which considering the subject matter, the fact that I didn't care about any of them was really upsetting to me as a reader). 

Don't get me wrong, the plot does pick up towards the last half of the book, but by then it was too little too late for me. I will however say that everything was wrapped up in a way that was satisfying (even if parts of it were a bit obvious). I would read more from this author. 

DISCLAIMER:  I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

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                                                                             The Friend is available from Amazon.com