A Version Of The Truth By BP Walter

”A Version Of The Truth’ is BP Walter’s first book.

2019: Julianne is preparing a family dinner when her son comes to her and says he’s found something on his iPad. Something so terrible, it will turn Julianne’s world into a nightmare and make her question everything about her marriage and what type of man her husband is or is pretending to be. 1990: Holly is a fresher student at Oxford University. Out of her depth and nervous about her surroundings, she falls into an uneasy friendship with a group of older students from the upper echelons of society and begins to develop feelings for one in particular. He’s confident, quiet, attractive and seems to like her too. But as the year progresses, her friends’ behaviour grows steadily more disconcerting and Holly begins to realise she might just be a disposable pawn in a very sinister game.

This story is a thrilling tale of deceit and suspense that made for thrilling reading.

The story spans over many three decades and in the present tense, follows the story of happily married Julianne who is looking forward to Christmas with her husband and son, until her son discovers something that makes Julianne wonder if the life that she has been happily leading with husband, has all been a lie.

Meanwhile, flashing back to past tense, Holly has just started university and is keen to make new friends and falls into the popular crowd, with new friends who are wiser and more experienced than her. She’s in awe of Ally and her handsome brother Ernest, but she’s particularly enthralled with James, the charming man that Holly finds herself falling in love with. With this new crowd, she get’s to enjoy new parties, friends and experiences but sadly not everything works in her favour, when she discovers a darker side to the friendship.

I really enjoyed this book, particularly the narrative from both women, who both had strong voices and interesting personalities. The synopsis of the story is quite disturbing in parts and does occasionally make for unsettling reading, as Julianne begins to delve deeper into her husband’s life.

As a debut, I thought it was cleverly written and each chapter left the reader bursting for more. With flawed characters and a compelling story, ‘A Version Of The Story’ is a story of innocence and shows that hidden secrets and ghosts can easily reappear.

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