Little Friends

By: Jane Shemilt

Narrated by: Imogen Church

Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

The stunning new psychological suspense from the best-selling author of Richard & Judy book club sensation Daughter, brought to you by Penguin.

Their children are friends first. They hit it off immediately, as kids do.

So the parents are forced to get to know each other. But as they get closer, they start to take their eyes off their children.

And while they have been looking the other way, evil has crept in.

Every parent's biggest nightmare is about to come true....

Narrated by Imogen Church, Little Friends is an electrifying suspense about friendship, family and fear.

©2020 Jane Shemilt (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"Extremely clever, readable and elegant...perfect for fans of Big Little Lies. Domestic noir at its best." (Suzy K Quinn, best-selling author of Don't Tell Teacher)  

"Intelligent, compelling and deeply unsettling. My kind of book!!" (Ali Land, best-selling author of Good Me Bad Me)

"Such a clever, beautifully written read that was tense and thrilling throughout with an ending that gave me goosebumps." (Claire Douglas, author of Then She Vanishes)

Be Careful!

Do not open or switch on this book.....if you have somewhere to go or things to do! Because you won’t get there or get them done!. The book grabbed me at the first page and wouldn’t let go. It is better than brilliant and Imogen Church’s narrative made it wonderful. Enjoy! But don’t say you haven’t been warned!

I didn’t enjoy this.

I would have returned this but I don’t like doing that.

I didn’t like it. I didn’t really like anyone apart from Grace, I should have liked “mellie “ but the simpering woman narration drove me mad.

It was horrid and so obvious and I’m not being mean, I think the point was it was supposed to be horrid and we were supposed to see what was so obviously happening.

I think it may have been quite a good book had I read it but the narration was really hard work, distracting and obviously controlled how I felt about the characters.

For me, the best books are when you don’t notice the story or narration as being separate parts. But that’s just me, and I couldn’t be a narrator so who am I to comment?!

Just could not get into it ...

I have a love/hate thing going on with Imogen Church - yes she is a very intelligent, talented and enthusiastic narrator and as such is more or less unavoidable as she gets a lot of the best gigs.... but oh my goodness, she overeggs the performance to the point of hamming it up on occasions.
To counteract this I find listening to her on 1.25 speed makes for a much lighter, less OTT and more listener friendly read.
.......... but OMG this time, the accents - was it Caribbean or South African or Nigerian .... I did not hang about to find out as I could just not take it at any speed.

I did try but I could not engage with the characters of story, though the premise was good.

Basically all I remember from it was freshly baked croissants, a mutilated rabbit and a bonkers accent.
'Nuff said back it goes.

The narrator ruined this book

I struggled so much with the narrator but I’m glad I persevered as I did enjoy the story. What ever made the narrator and production team believe that having ‘Grace’ speak like a Lenny Henry’ spoof ‘black’ character was in line with the story was beyond me!

If you can, read the book! The story is interesting and covers some interesting subjects.

Oh my GOD it’s so BORING!

Even the narrator sounds bored (and Imogen Church is one of my favourite narrators). I barely made it through the first hour, the writing was just so tedious that I didn’t care enough about what might or might not happen to go on listening.

Wow - just wow

Wow, what a book! I absolutely loved this story. There were times when I didn’t. There were times when it was hard to read, emotionally, and the characters’ grief was so well written and narrated that it felt uncomfortable to listen. The story starts off quite slowly. It’s still gripping, and there’s still plenty happening, but you’re constantly waiting for the big THING to happen. And then so many big things happen all of a sudden and the rest of the story seems to rush at you. It’s heart wrenching and thought provoking, desperately sad, but with an undercurrent of friendship and strength. It touches on so many issues and will stay with you long after you’ve listen to it. The narrator is also excellent, really pulling you into the story and creating several very distinctive characters. I was a little hesitant about this book. I’d bought a few at the same time and left this one til last, having kept putting it off. But I will definitely be looking for this author again.

Very good, but quite intense!

This is a well written book, full of well drawn characters. I did however, find it to be rather intense. I found it compelling, so I kept going, but at times, I wasn’t really enjoying it. The early and late chapters are the best. Sadly, the ending was rather abrupt. A point seemed to be made just before the end, that I didn’t really understand and then it was over!

really good

a really good read. I would definitely recommend this book. kept me thinking from the beginning.

Story with a difference

Kept me engrossed right to the end , and really good narration . Thoroughly recommend.

Good listen

I quickly figured out "who dun it" but that didn't put me off. This is an easy listen and I really enjoyed it. Definitely would recommend.