Originally published: 21 January 2021

Author: Kate Bradley

Published by: Zaffre

Genre: Fiction

Length: 400 pages

Dates read: 10-13 January 2021

Lisa is running.
She has taken her child, Jack, and she has run from his father.

Lisa thinks she’s safe.
She’s found a remote house where no one will be able to find them.

Lisa is about to wake up in her worst nightmare.
And now she must face what she’s tried to escape.

Risking everything to protect her little boy, Lisa knows that in order to survive she will have to fight, but it’s hard to face someone you loved, especially someone you still love, who knows who you really are – and what you are really capable of.

Family is everything. What would you do to protect it?

I’m finding thrillers are the best thing to get me through this second lockdown here in the UK. And What I Did captured my attention from the beginning and held it right until the exciting final pages. The book starts in the thick of the action as Lisa wakes up after being unconscious on the kitchen floor, hurt and tied up.

As the book begins, we discover Lisa is suffering from abuse as her friends tell her they’ve noticed her bruises and encourage her to leave her husband. The story is told in several timelines looking at Lisa’s life with her husband Nick and their son Jack, the injuries she suffered as well as her escape. She has moved to a remote cottage in Hertfordshire in order to hide and keep Jack safe. But it is in this cottage she is attacked and realises her and Jack are in danger again.

There are so many twists and turns in this book I almost ended up with whiplash! Some of them literally left me with my mouth hanging open and made me want to start the book again so I could look for clues to events I may of missed the first time. I really like Lisa as a character – she has not had an easy life. Her mother is in prison for the murder of Lisa’s father who abused her. She has struggled with Jack as a baby after a frankly horrific birth. I had sympathy for her but also admired her pluckiness and determination, especially as she has to contend with the intruder in her house and her mission to keep Jack safe at all costs.

I really enjoyed this book. I read quite a lot of thrillers and sometimes they don’t quite hit the mark but this one did. Revelations aplenty and some great characters, there are some shocking scenes and this is a very clever book.

Many thanks to Jenna for inviting me on the tour and sending me a copy of the book. Be sure to checkout the other stops below:

About the author:

Kate Bradley worked for many years managing services for people who are marginalised by society; her work has taken her into prisons, mental health hospitals and alongside the homeless. She currently works in education. She holds a first-class degree in English Literature, in addition to qualifications in creative writing, children’s mental health and teaching. Kate lives in a small coastal town just outside of Brighton with her husband and sons.

Website: https://www.katebradley.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kate__bradley