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Ali and her husband, Mike, are hosting four friends from college at the beautiful home they’ve recently bought. Ali is living the kind of life she had dreamed of when she was young, with two kids and satisfying writing and volunteer work. Their old group is enjoying a long-overdue reunion when their lives are upended: Ali’s best friend, Karen, comes stumbling in to the kitchen late the first night they’re all together saying she’s been raped. And she’s sure it was Mike.
Ali knows, especially given the volunteer work she does, that she should absolutely believe the word of the victim — her friend — but she also cannot believe her husband could have done such a horrendous thing. So begins the unraveling of relationships.
The rape and ensuing events start bringing to light past events that had been kept under the radar, including a troubling situation they all brushed aside at university, and it becomes even more difficult to know whom to believe or if they can even feel safe.
What You Did is a thriller/mystery but in part an examination of the effects of rape and how difficult it can be to deal with legally while respecting the victim and her experience. I found the book hard to put down.
Rated: High, for around 20 instances of strong language, plus more uses of milder language. There’s a rape, which is obviously at the center of the plot, and some details associated with that are related from some various viewpoints throughout the book. Violence includes the rapist choking the victim. Sexual content includes references to some consensual sex, without many details.
