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L. Smyth

Stranger. Friend. Enemy.Which version do you believe?A taut, page-turning psychological thriller from a brilliant new voice. The perfect read for fans of HE SAID/SHE SAID and GOOD ME BAD ME.When socially awkward Eva arrives at university, she’s ready to leave the past behind. But old behaviours creep in and she finds herself ostracized, spending more and more time alone, living vicariously through social media.She develops an unhealthy fixation with her glamorous and beguiling classmate Marina – whose sparkly façade hides a thousand lies – and follows her obsessively. When Marina is found dead, and Eva is to found to have been impersonating her online, people have a lot of questions to ask.And Eva’s reliability – and innocence – is cast into dark shadow…

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L. SMYTH

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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

Copyright © Lucinda Smyth 2019

Cover design by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com (https://www.shutterstock.com/discover/stock-image-v2?kw=shutterstock&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6rKryO6r4AIVTbftCh3Z8ABWEAAYASAAEgKIofD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)

Lucinda Smyth asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Extracts of the poem ‘Marina’ are reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber Ltd from The Ariel Poems by T.S. Eliot.

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.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © March 2019 ISBN: 9780008314101

Version: 2019-03-12

For my grandparents – Mary, George, Nick and Bill; and for Great Uncle Bob

Table of Contents

Cover (#u595d4fbb-4588-523d-8c7e-10618fbe50dc)

Title Page (#ua5585a27-72b1-5d66-ae7a-af2a241aa11a)

Copyright (#u52121fa1-e48f-5d4c-b6e1-10a790ef2a62)

Dedication (#uf71b628a-99ce-5873-8847-330ec1ab5b4a)

Prologue (#ue4b07ec6-6dde-5acd-93e5-4b356ce55762)

Part I (#u4e6113f2-22a6-53fd-a737-30e8075c4102)

Chapter One (#ub5fa2a79-02fa-50a3-a517-af12211b9897)

Chapter Two (#u10b06c25-fd39-5179-8168-9fbf5e0eb826)

Chapter Three (#u6f10ed46-d379-5d47-b7eb-fac8346bcd97)

Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Part II (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Part III (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Author’s Note (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

PROLOGUE (#ubfd08a83-9e47-57d6-b602-66ee5faf003f)

May 2017

The first time I saw Marina was in October 2013. The last time I saw her was three months later.

It seems strange to put it like that. It still surprises me – despite having had years to think about it – how short that time frame is. Sometimes it is assumed that the oldest relationships are the most influential, and that those who know us for the longest periods are those who shape us most significantly. But often the opposite is true. It is the short, intense relationships which have the strongest impacts on us, and only those who flit in and out of our lives who have the power to make us profoundly different. The time spent with them is so brief that each moment in their company becomes effortlessly memorable. The feelings and smells and images that they evoke worm into our brains and we find ourselves returning to them compulsively – trying to pin them down, trying to understand their effects.