Book Review: He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

He Said/She Said is a gripping, twisty, psychological thriller that just begs for you to keep reading.

Laura and Kit are solar eclipse enthusiasts and are at a festival in Cornwall to witness the eclipse in 1999 and after the light returns, Laura is the sole eye-witness of the end of an attack on Beth, by a rich young man named Jamie. Laura helps a shocked Beth out, and calls the police and herself and Kit end up as witnesses in a rape trial. The case is basically he said/she said, and as Jamie is from a wealthy family, the chances are looking slim for the consent case to go Beth's way. After the trial Beth befriends Laura and she is very intense, putting pressure on her relationship with Kit. The friendship hits a crazy turn and ends up with a house on fire and Laura and Kit on the run with new names to try and escape the aftermath of the festival events. There always seems to be a piece or two missing, or something someone isn't saying.

15 years later, Laura is pregnant and Kit is off to the North Sea to view another eclipse. Since the eclipses are predicted years in advance, they worry Beth may show her face again and find their new identities as they still live in fear and crippling anxiety. The rest is a crazy mix of twists and turns and Kelly goes into depth with both Laura and Kit's emotional states. There is a psychotic climax and an ending you wont see coming. It kept me on the edge of my seat for sure. It has also stayed with me a couple of days after finishing it, a little haunting, but mostly leaving me thinking about how little white lies can cause so much turmoil.

The book is written by both Kit and Laura's perspectives, and flicks between both a 'then' timeline which is the series of events in 1999, and a 'now' timeline in 2015. This is handled pretty well but a few times I had to flick to the start of the chapter to see who the focus was on and when. I think Kelly did well dealing with the brutal subject of rape, the act itself was not discussed in depth or dwelled upon which I was glad of. There are a lot of facts about solar eclipses and they sound so magical that I spent some time on YouTube watching a couple of different videos and I can see why they make a good backdrop for the story.

I could keep going but really, if you like psychological thrillers then this is a great example of one and you should read it. Any book that stays with me this long after finishing is a good one in my opinion.

Thanks to Hachette for the review copy of this book