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The Birthday Girl: The gripping new psychological thriller full of shocking twists and lies
Sue Fortin
USA Today bestselling authorDear Carys, Zoe and AndreaCome and join me for my fortieth birthday adventure weekend, full of mysteries and surprisesthe like of which you can’t imagine.When Joanne’s friends reluctantly accept an invitation to her birthday party, it quickly becomes clear that there is more to this weekend than they are expecting.One of them is hiding a secret.And Joanne is planning to reveal it…A weekend away in a cottage in the woods sounds like fun – until no one can hear your cries for help.Four friends.A party to die for. Who will survive?
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Copyright (#u1e228bbe-8a17-5e1d-acfe-557b143364c0)
HarperImpulse
an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2017
Copyright © Sue Fortin 2017
Cover images © Shutterstock.com (http://Shutterstock.com)
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017
Sue Fortin asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780008222161
Ebook Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 9780008275495
Version: 2018-09-24
Dedication (#u1e228bbe-8a17-5e1d-acfe-557b143364c0)
To my lovely friends, Laura, Catherine and Lucie who, without hesitation, accepted my invitation of a weekend away all in the name of research
friend
1. countable noun
A friend is someone who you know well and like, but who is not related to you.
2. plural noun
If you are friends with someone, you are their friend and they are yours.
Table of Contents
Cover (#u3949881b-c6d2-5fac-a7fa-4698596d59ec)
Title Page (#u3f4ec515-589c-5406-a08e-f4c706f8fc15)
Copyright (#u34ec5915-d805-53d2-859d-042d77d3ff15)
Dedication (#u24faa4da-9955-5e2a-8c2d-9fcd4105c8f4)
Epigraph (#u21fd9b4e-95fd-5bec-bc27-e11042b5f502)
Chapter 1 (#ud442d2a6-9d0d-5447-9c64-95e784426508)
FRIDAY (#ua7f791d1-378f-563d-9c53-552f3cfcb1ad)
Chapter 2 (#u25e17ca2-7a52-5359-a54e-ac0f65278cf8)
Chapter 3 (#ubdbe7dfa-efa8-51d0-98b2-6c989155bca4)
Chapter 4 (#u0405e27a-0339-58e3-879a-b9f3d46ab524)
Chapter 5 (#ufb12edb6-964e-573e-93d6-8fa8e53b80bb)
Chapter 6 (#uc039b136-0afb-5207-9317-8b2d934f0010)
Chapter 7 (#u4430a157-98de-5108-83eb-55e5cbab566b)
Chapter 8 (#udb62b8e7-fa95-5323-b2ca-ee6738d7929d)
Chapter 9 (#u0a6440e0-88da-5cd7-b393-da56df60de04)
SATURDAY (#u8cd4ee63-9917-56cc-9cfe-b8fb0538e728)
Chapter 10 (#u71d9a40b-5857-5d1f-82f7-12f10615a8a2)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
SUNDAY (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 25 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 26 (#litres_trial_promo)
MONDAY (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 27 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 28 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 29 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 30 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 31 (#litres_trial_promo)
TUESDAY (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 32 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 33 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 34 (#litres_trial_promo)
WEDNESDAY (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 35 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 36 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 37 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 38 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 39 (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by Sue Fortin (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1 (#u1e228bbe-8a17-5e1d-acfe-557b143364c0)
Friendships are made up of all the little things that matter, the common ground of lives, shared interests, loves, dislikes, the highs and the lows. They matter and they are matter. Like stars in the night sky, friends can light up the darkness. Sometimes we might forget they are there and yet know they will always be there. Others can come in a burst, dazzling us with the excitement of newness, seducing us with promises of adventure. Some will deliver on this promise, others will fizzle away while some will shoot across the night sky in one last hurrah before they dis-appear from our lives.
I think of my best friends, I can count them on one hand with digits to spare. Joanne, Andrea and Zoe are the stars in my night sky. Together, we make a good constellation. We stick by each other. We look out for each other. We forgive each other.
I remind myself of the last fact as I hold the invitation in my hand, knowing that I should accept, with grace and maturity, the olive branch it represents.
Dear Carys, Zoe and Andrea
My Fortieth Birthday Celebrations
Come and join me for an adventure weekend, full of
mysteries and surprises, the like of which you can’t imagine.
With the grand reveal on Sunday evening.
Friday 8 September – Monday 11 September
Meet at Chichester Cathedral 09.00 Friday morning
Love Joanne
P.S. As it’s also Carys’s birthday on the Monday,
I thought we could celebrate that as well.
Two months ago, Joanne had told us to save the date, or rather the weekend, and said she’d let us know nearer the time what was happening. I could have quite happily ignored my thirty-ninth birthday, but Joanne had been insistent the weekend was to be a double celebration. She also insisted that, despite it being her birthday, the whole weekend was to be a surprise for me too. I had hoped we’d find out the details sooner and, I have to admit, leaving it until the night before is cutting it fine but she has steadfastly refused to give us any more details until now.
I flip the card over and see there is a handwritten message, the tall spiky writing unmistakably Joanne’s.
I sit down at the kitchen table and read the invitation again. I’m not sure what it is about the PPS on the reverse, but it sounds … odd. I think that’s the best way I can describe it. I mull over the significance but before I can settle on anything meaningful, my mobile rings.
