Jessica Hamilton’s Don’t You Dare is a fast-paced psychological thriller set around a game of dare between three university friends where challenges are taken to extremes and eventually the game goes horribly wrong. Sixteen years later, two of the trio reunite but the reverberations from the fateful night that broke them apart continue to impact the friends. 

The story is intense and unputdownable and is filled with unreliable and unlikeable characters. Unhealthy and questionable relationships abound within an intense story that includes a surprising amount of ‘spicy’ scenes. Filled with nosy neighbours, a creepy lurker and many secrets, readers will question the motives and intentions of this cast of morally questionable characters. And while I (an avid thriller lover) guessed the identity of the culprit midway, Hamilton keeps the tension high and kept me madly turning the pages. 

This psychological thriller has a Desperate Housewives vibe with its setting, secrets and dysfunctional relationships that will cause readers to question who is telling the truth. It is a story that will have you reading well past your bedtime.