What You Did

Product Information

I don’t believe that the current ( not past) romance between Ali & Bill was necessary, nor did it add anything of value to the plot. What is exhilarating about this novel, is that it takes place during a time when the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are working hand in hand so as to find out what happened to the missing people such as Paula’s mother, who had mysteriously disappeared during the Troubles. Some of the missing people were believed to have been captured by the paramilitaries, while other people believed that the missing people had decided to run away. In this installment, Paula’s family is not the only family that has lost a loved one. Apart from Paula, we are also introduced to other pivotal characters such as Paula’s boyfriend, Aiden who is in charge of the local newspaper. Aiden’s father who was the editor and the owner of the newspaper was murdered because the IRA were not happy with the stories that he wrote. When old college friends get together for a night of dinner and reminiscing, it was supposed to be a reunion, to catch up and relive old memories. The fact is... some of these people KNOW what happened, but are they brave enough to tell? Ali faced with the battle between believing her best friend or her husband, you’ll be surprised which side she chooses.

While most of the story centres around the reunion and it’s outcome, the story of their college years is mixed in along with some teenage angst. Ali, being a crisis and rape victim activist has some very set beliefs in rape that are challenged when her husband is the one accused of rape.This is the sort of book you wont want to put down even to write a few words for a review. I found most of the characters unreliable, couldnt warm to any of them and even felt annoyed by one or two. Far from putting me off it just seemed to add to my enjoyment. I guess there isn’t any rule to say we HAVE to live the characters and I suspected this might have been a deliberate act by the writer. Also at times I could feel the emotional undercurrents between them. It also made me think how tragedy can draw people closer or fracture their relationships forever.

I didn’t know what to say, and so I left, feeling deeply ashamed of the person I’d become. Or maybe it was even worse than that. Maybe I’d been like this all along.”

Customer reviews

We all claim to know what to do when it comes to giving support to those who need it, but do we really when your family and reputation are on the line? I am familiar with Claire McGowan’s books having read a few from her Paula Maguire series. This is a stand-alone novel and she has proved that she can do both perfectly well. I really enjoyed this book. It was clever without being hard work. As with most psychological thrillers the truth is not what it first appears to be, in fact there are multiple truths uncovered as the story unfolds, some of which are life ruining and others life changing. The Dead Ground is the second installment in the Paula McGuire book series. It begins from where, The Lost, the first installment had left off from. The protagonist, Paula McGuire is still a forensic psychologist who resides in the small town of Ballyterrin, North Ireland. Paula lives with her father, who is a former policeman, while at the same time she is still chasing the ghost of her mother that has constantly been haunting her. With that said, Paula is an exceedingly likable character, who made lots of mistakes, with Aiden O’Hara, the newspaper owner, and DI-Guy, her boss. However, despite the number of mistakes that Paula has done, she still has work to do, considering the fact that a baby has been snatched from the hospital and everyone is racing against time to locate the missing baby. Apart from having the theme of pregnancy, this book also has the theme of missing babies, which proved to be both compelling and disturbing at the same time.