Her monumental failure of judgment undermined everything that had gone before.

But the police had shown her the evidence and it was compelling. When she picked over their friendship, searching for a damning clue or a sign that would have pointed her toward this, she couldn’t find a single one. She could recover from her physical injuries but the knowledge that it was someone she’d trusted corroded her insides like acid. The attack left an indelible imprint on every aspect of her life: No longer a high-powered PR executive, she’s now a virtual recluse in the Surrey home she shares with new fiancé, Sam. Fast forward six years to David’s release-remember, this isn’t America-and Melody’s life is nearly unrecognizable. Since Melody isn’t dead-remember, she’s the nearly dead woman, not the dead one-David is convicted of GBH (grievous bodily harm for those of you not up to speed on UK legal lingo) and sent off to prison. Though she has no memory of the attack, the police, thanks in part to the UK’s ubiquitous CCTV system, build a case against David Alden, an up-and-coming DJ who happens to be Melody’s friend and next-door neighbor. It’s only the chance sighting by a man out walking his dog that saves her life. Six years before The Life I Left Behind begins, Melody Pieterson was attacked and left for dead in a London park after a night out drinking with friends. Though is that really what you call a group of people who may or may not have killed a mutual acquaintance? What’s the proper collective noun in this instance? Aren’t the latter infinitely more interesting, anyway? Especially when the suspect pool becomes whittled down to-you guessed it-a close-knit group of friends.

Told in alternating perspectives-a dead woman, a nearly dead woman, and the cop who’s trying to piece it all together-the novel is both a whodunit and a why-dunit. If you’re thinking, “no thanks, I prefer my chums to be of the everlasting BFF variety,” this isn’t the book for you (and neither is McBeth’s debut, Precious Thing, where a childhood friendship is put under the microscope and its grimy, murderous underbelly is exposed). These are the kind of so-called “friends” that populate Colette McBeth’s second novel, The Life I Left Behind. Especially when that sweet guy next door, the one who introduced you to new music and drank wine with you on long summer nights in London, tried to kill you. The Life I Left Behind by Colette McBeth is a standalone thriller narrated by three women: one who is dead, one who nearly died, and one who is the cop trying to solve it all (available February 24, 2015).įriendships are a tricky business.

Precious Thing by Colette McBeth