If someone wants to be seen - and oh, how they want to be seen - then someone has to watch.

Ruth is alone, unnoticed and at a loss: her marriage has ended, her daughter is leaving home and her job is leading nowhere.

But luckily Sookie is back in her life - vivid, self-assured Sookie, who never spared the time for Ruth when they were teenagers, but who now seems to want to be friends. What could possibly go wrong?

As Ruth becomes caught up in Sookie's life, she sees that everything is not as simple and Instagrammable as Sookie would have you believe. But what has that got to do with Ruth - and what can she do about it?

Other People's Fun is a novel about modern life and the lies we tell our neighbours, friends, families and selves through the hall of mirrors that is social media. Filled with Harriet Lane's trademark creeping unease and forensic observation, this marks the long-awaited return of the mistress of literary suspense.

"It's the kind of fiction that Patricia Highsmith excelled at, or Zoë Heller in Notes on a Scandal . . . Flint-sharp . . . You will howl with satisfaction" - Guardian

"My greatest cause for rejoicing was a new novel from Harriet Lane . . . Funny, creepy and unputdownable" - Spectator, Books of the Year

"Lane's novel leans on its writing and characterisation, which are tight, precise, well observed" - Telegraph

"Clever and compelling" - Daily Mail

"Sharp and observant . . . The ending is so perfectly taut that I read the last few pages through my fingers" - Good Housekeeping

"Lane is able to summon a character or relationship with impressive brevity . . . I can think of few final scenes as barbaric as that of Other People's Fun, and not a drop of blood is spilled" - New York Times

"Lane gives us a vivid portrait of the narcissistic faux friend: one who shows no interest in the hopes or anxieties of others but regales them instead with the minutiae of their own life; who takes, materially and emotionally, whenever they feel the urge. The denouement is delicious" - Spectator

"Lane returns with a tense, sharply observed novel of class, social media and manipulation, simmering with quiet dread" - i Paper

"A perceptive and addictive tale from the always brilliant Harriet Lane" - Stylist

"Waspishly funny, acutely perceptive . . . A brilliant novel you'll want to pass to all your friends" - Woman's Weekly

"I routinely check some authors to see if they have a new book out - and Harriet Lane is one of them . . . If you loved Notes on a Scandal, then this is for you" - Prima

"This deliciously twisted tale is a one-sitting read steeped in tension and unease" - Red

"Oozing with creeping unease and tremendously honest observations, this is a clever commentary on friendship, families and affairs" - Platinum Magazine

"Funny literary suspense" - Grazia

"Unputdownable . . . Builds to an explosive finale" - The Bookseller