Title: The Dare

Author: Lesley Kara

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Bantam Press

Publication Date: 4th March 2021

Rating: 4/5

Cover:

Summary:

As a child, it was just a game. As an adult, it was a living nightmare.

‘This time it’s different. She’s gone too far now.
She really has.’

When teenage friends Lizzie and Alice decide to head off for a walk in the countryside, they are blissfully unaware that this will be their final day together – and that only Lizzie will come back alive.

Lizzie has no memory of what happened in the moments before Alice died, she only knows that it must have been a tragic accident. But as she tries to cope with her grief, she is shocked to find herself alienated from Alice’s friends and relatives. They are convinced she somehow had a part to play in her friend’s death.

Twelve years later, unpacking boxes in the new home she shares with her fiancé, Lizzie is horrified to find long-buried memories suddenly surfacing. Is the trauma of the accident finally catching up with her, or could someone be trying to threaten her new-found happiness?

Twelve years is a long time to wait, when you’re planning the perfect revenge . . .

Review:

I love books that play with the concept of memory and how complex and powerful the mind is and The Dare did just that. The story follows Lizzie – a young woman who, twelve years ago, lost her best friend Alice in what was presumably a tragic accident. Lizzie was present at her friend’s death but has no memory of the crucial moments due to her having an epileptic seizure. Whilst Lizzie is in the process of moving into her new home with her fiancé, events conspire to bring up the trauma of Alice’s death and put Lizzie in serious danger.

I really enjoyed The Dare, it is easily the kind of book you end up reading in one sitting as it pulls you into the mystery and makes you want to find out the truth. I found Lizzie an incredibly compelling character, the life-altering issue of her serious epilepsy plays such a huge part in the events of the past and the present. I have never considered how jarring and terrifying it must feel to know you could lose control and pockets of your memory at any moment. I really felt for her and wanted her to get some answers on the subject of Alice’s death which has overshadowed her young adulthood entirely. The constant threat of seizures that Lizzie has to live with creates a real sense of suspense throughout the whole book. The story moves along at a cracking pace and there are a couple of twists and turns that genuinely took me by surprise and left me even more compelled to keep turning the pages frantically. There is also a brilliant atmosphere of tension running all the way through which makes every interaction and plot twist feel loaded. Overall The Dare is an intriguing, original and gripping read that I would definitely recommend to psychological thriller fans!

Thank you so much to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for inviting me on this tour and organising it. I kindly received a copy of the book from the publisher. My review is entirely my own honest opinion.