Best friend or boyfriend, who would you believe?
Zara has always felt a little ordinary next to her spirited best friend Ivy. Even her dreams seem mundane: a boyfriend, marriage, children... Besides, who would pick her when they could choose Ivy?
So when Zara meets Henry and there's an instant spark, she can't believe her luck. A wealthy CEO who wants to settle down? He's perfect... until Ivy insists he's too good to be true.
As Henry and Ivy repeatedly clash, doubts creep into Zara's mind. Could it be that Ivy just doesn't want to share her best friend with anyone else? Or does Henry have a hidden agenda? Zara is caught in the middle, constantly trying to prove who she loves more.
Then someone winds up dead, and Zara realises there's more to this than jealousy...
I need to start today's post with a sincere apology to Dandy Smith, Embla Books and Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers. I somehow managed to schedule my review for The Perfect Match for February and was mortified when Tracy messaged me. In addition to apologising I'd also like to thank the above for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and for my advance digital copy of the novel.
I do love a psychological thriller which manages to keep me guessing from start to finish and The Perfect Match did just that! The book opens in the present day and it quickly becomes apparent that the first-person narrator is in rather a lot of trouble. There are chapters set in the present interspersed throughout the novel but most chapters take place in the recent past, and it's here we learn more about the toxic entanglement which develops between Zara, Ivy and Henry.
The story is narrated through Zara's perspective and although she has her flaws, she is one of the few consistently likeable characters in the book. She is rather a passive person and it would be easy enough to criticise the choices she makes as the plot progresses but Dandy Smith ensures her actions, while not necessarily the most rational, do make sense given what we discover about her formative years. It soon becomes abundantly clear that Zara is desperate to feel loved – and more than that, to feel as though she is wanted. Her desire to achieve a sense of belonging underpins almost everything she does in The Perfect Match and while the actions of both Ivy and Henry undoubtedly cause her much turmoil, Philip Larkin's This Be The Verse would perhaps be the easiest way to describe her parents and what they have done to her.
It's no wonder that she and Ivy cling to one another; Ivy appears to be the epitome of the spoiled, shallow rich girl but she has endured more than her share of difficulties too. Nevertheless, she is a demanding, narcissistic character who constantly manipulates Zara. However, this is where Dandy Smith is particularly astute because for all Ivy's faults, there is often something vulnerable and even kind about her. For The Perfect Match to work, it's important to be able to believe in the enduring bond between Zara and Ivy – and I did.
Meanwhile, Henry's introduction explains why Zara should fall for him, he's thoughtful, patient and doesn't seem bothered by their contrasting lives; his background is one of wealth and privilege, while she was raised as a child from a broken home, in a two-bedroom terrace in Trowbridge. Even after the scale of animosity between him and Ivy becomes evident, his explanations for any questions about him raised mean it's almost impossible to figure out where the truth actually lies.
There are scenes where I really wasn't sure who to believe and as the plot twists and turns, there's a terrible sense of foreboding, which is heightened by the chapters set in the present day. Each new revelation or shocking development means it's a very difficult book to put down and I raced through the pages, desperate to find out what leads Zara to the predicament we know she finds herself in. I'm determined not to give anything away about the ending but I can say it is very clever and will surely leave people wondering what they would do in a similar situation...
The sense of place is excellent throughout, particularly the descriptions of Bath and the pacing is superb too. The Perfect Match is a riveting read; a compulsively plotted, dark psychological thriller which explores some difficult topics with real insight. Highly recommended.
The Perfect Match is published by Embla Books, a digital-first imprint of Bonnier Books. It can be purchased from Amazon UK and Amazon US, and can be read on Kindle Unlimited.
Follow the blog tour, details are below.
About the Author
Comments
Post a Comment