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Lauren does the one thing she never, ever wanted to do. She responds to her father’s plea to visit him. Lauren had left her home in Hitchin years ago after her best friend Hannah committed suicide. When Lauren left, her friend’s loss was only one of the bad memories that she was escaping.

It is the tenth anniversary of Hannah’s death and Lauren is reluctantly reunited with her friends from school. Not only are they all hiding secrets, they begin receding terrifying and threatening text messages. Shockingly, Lauren unearths a diary that Hannah had hidden. This diary, coupled with the messages, are certain to topple over the careful world Lauren has built. She really thought her carefully constructed life could erase the tragic memories of her past.

The Diary is delivered from Lauren’s first person point of view and is told in both the present and the past. Her story reveals how she and Hannah got to know on another and in so doing details much about the angst-ridden young life that she and Hannah experienced. The tragic reasons and result of this teen suicide is sadly recounted. While Lauren’s past is replayed, the circumstances involving her high school friends and their lives then and now are presented and is more than often quite tragic.

I found The Diary to be a compelling read. Not only is the story very tragic, it is rather thrilling with a definite edge of danger to Lauren and her former friends. It was very sad to see that Lauren’s memories of Hannah were even more dismal than she ever had imagined. It was also rather shocking to see the secrets and lies this group of young people shared while growing up, all while presently trying to bury such an awful past.

It was indeed quite a mystery to imagine whoever could have been sending the horrible text messages and I was on the edge of my seat truly wondering if Lauren or any of the other characters that made up part of the group of people would experience even more tragedy.

To discover that the author, Vikki Patis, is a debut writer was a true delight. She has a very persuasive manner of writing that kept me riveted to this story. It was well-paced, well-written. It is of interest to note that the author explains at the end of the book that she herself dealt with some similar experiences while she was growing up. Of course, this adds a touching sense of realism for her own life’s experiences to be fictionalized as she has done here. Vikki Patis is definitely an author to watch.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion. ( )

Who can resist a book about a diary? Not me!

Lauren is a 25 year old young woman, living in Cornwall. She fled years ago after her best friend (they called each other sisters), Hannah, died. But now there is to be a memorial for Hannah, ten years after her death, and Lauren feels compelled to return to her old hometown. It's one of those towns where just walking down the street finds you bumping into several people that you know.

Lauren ends up seeing lots of her old friends and they all, including Lauren, seem to be getting sinister messages on their phones. On top of that, Lauren finds Hannah's old diary which contains secrets that nobody wants to get out.

This is a twisty book, full of revelations. I couldn't help but like the 25 year old Lauren as she's grounded, more confident and likeable. The 15 year old Lauren was a little less likeable but that's teenagers for you, isn't it? The story is set 'now' with some 'then' chapters to show us what happened with all the characters ten years ago. I preferred the 'now' sections as I enjoyed following Lauren and her old pals as they tried to work out who was sending them messages, but the 'then' sections were crucial for me to understand what had led to Hannah's death.

I raced through the first half of The Diary and couldn't put it down, although I did find that once I picked it up again it was that little bit harder to get back into. I think it's a book that works well if you keep up the pace and stay within the action.

I thought the dynamics between the friends, both in the past and the present, was fascinating, no more so than between Lauren and Hannah, who had a turbulent relationship at times. I also really liked Lauren's rapport with her dad.

Overall, this is a tense psychological thriller, well-written and I thought it was well plotted which kept me interested. I did guess who was sending the messages but this didn't in any way spoil it for me. It's a great, twisty story. ( )