A girl. A boy. His mother. And the lie she’ll wish she’d never told.

The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances is a gripping and chilling debut psychological thriller, based on the fall-out following an unforgiveable lie. It looks at the potentially charged relationship between girlfriend, boyfriend and his mother, which most women can identify with, and locates it in an extreme but believable setting.

Laura has it all. A successful career, a long marriage to a rich husband, and a twenty-three year-old son, Daniel, who is kind, handsome, and talented. Then Daniel meets Cherry. Cherry is young, beautiful and smart but she hasn’t had the same opportunities as Daniel. And she wants Laura’s life.

Cherry comes to the family wide-eyed and wants to be welcomed with open arms, but Laura suspects she’s not all that she seems.

When tragedy strikes, an unforgivable lie is told. It is an act of desperation, but the fall-out will change their lives forever.

This book left me speechless. Cherry is a gold digging unstable woman with a background of being poor is absolutely determined to  get more at any cost. It was however Laura who really shocked me. At first I’d seen where she was coming from, her attachment to her son and even her paranoia of Cherry made some sense. Then the accident and the lie…..just wow. I felt so bad for Daniel in this book. He was manipulated by not only his girlfriend to fall in love with him but his own mother to unbelievable extents. Daniel was really put through hell in this book by the two women in his life to a devastating end.  This was a great and twisted Thriller that was made even more so by the fact that its not impossible.

A 5star read that I finished in no time. I just didn’t want to stop reading, like watching a disaster you can’t look away. Must read for anyone who enjoys twisted thrillers

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Michelle Frances graduated from Bournemouth Film School in 1996 and then from the Masters programme at the American Film Institute, Los Angeles, in 1998. Returning to London, she has worked for several years in film and TV as a script editor and producer for both the independent sector and the BBC.

The Girlfriend, her debut psychological thriller, has been optioned by Imaginarium Studios for film adaptation.  Translation rights have sold in fifteen foreign territories.

Michelle is currently working on her second novel.  She lives in East Surrey.