Told through different points of view, and shifting between different time periods, Friends Like These is the story of five friends from college, now ten years later, traveling to the Catskills because they are worried that one member of their group may be in trouble. It does not take long, however, to begin to wonder if these friends are bonded together because they actually care about and love each other, or if it is really a more sinister, secretive reason that they still see themselves as bound together.

Tragedy strikes, which brings in a local detective (who happened to be my favourite character) and she will need to untangle the secrets and the bonds between these friends in order to figure out what exactly happened. Detective Julia Scutt is an excellent surrogate for the reader, often asking the very question that I was thinking at the time. She is a good detective who has been put in a difficult position.

While there are only five friends at the heart of the story, I still found the cast of characters a bit too large to keep up with, and I think that is what weakened my investment in the story. In addition to the five friends, there are spouses and other mutual friends of the group who are frequently mentioned, though they may not actually appear. There are townspeople from the local area that fit into the story, as well as some of the detective’s co-workers. More than once I found myself asking, “now, which one is he?” as I was reading.

McCreight, of course, still gives the reader an incredible thriller in the end. Like puzzle pieces, her shocking twists are jaw-dropping, but fit right into the story, leaving the reader wondering how they never saw that coming!

Friends Like These is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up Friends Like These? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Everyone has those friends. Doesn’t matter how long it’s been, or how badly they’ve occasionally behaved, or how late it is when that call finally comes—you show up. No questions asked.

Honestly, that’s how the five of us ended up here in the Catskills. We did have the best of intentions. Especially after what happened to Alice all those years ago, we can’t bear to think of losing anyone else. In fact, we’ll do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen. We’ll go so much farther than we ever thought we would.

In the end, maybe that’s what caught up with us. That, and the fact that we’re such a complicated group—so much history and so many big personalities. Secrets, too, that can slip out at the most inopportune moments. Of course, we love each other despite all of those things. We love each other no matter what.

There’s something so beautiful about that kind of unconditional love. It can turn ugly, though. Or maybe that’s just us. After all, we’ve already been through so much together. And we have so very much to hide.

The post Review: Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

We first meet Lizzie, who works long hours as a new attorney at an elite law firm. She is struggling to deal with an alcoholic husband as their life, collectively and individually, seems to be falling apart. Lizzie also has secrets she is keeping.

Out of the blue, Lizzie receives a call from Zach, an old law school acquaintance, who has been arrested for the murder of his wife, Amanda. He needs an attorney and remembers Lizzie’s skills from law school. Zach and Amanda both had secrets they were keeping as well.

In spite of her best efforts to decline, Lizzie ends up taking Zach’s case and following the information she is given ends up examining a very dark side of a very fancy neighbourhood. Zach and Amanda’s friends and their spouses also have secrets to keep.

McCreight includes several different types of marriages in this story, but all of them at some point will make the reader think about just what an actual good marriage really is, and what it might look like from the outside as well as the inside.

As the reader, we have Lizzie telling the story as it happens, but we also have Amanda telling the story of the last few days of her life, though she is of course unaware that that is what they are. We also get part of the story through grand jury testimony and though emails. Collectively, we get a fascinating, suspenseful tale that weaves together multiple events and storylines.

This is definitely a book that is almost impossible to put down once you have picked it up. You’ll gasp, you may blush, you may cry, and you may cheer, but you will still not be able to stop reading!

A Good Marriage is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of May 5th 2020.

Will you be picking up A Good Marriage? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Big Little Lies meets Presumed Innocent in this riveting novel from the New York Times best-selling author of Reconstructing Amelia, in which a woman’s brutal murder reveals the perilous compromises some couples make – and the secrets they keep – in order to stay together.

Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call.  Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily.  Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor.  That job and her brilliant, devoted husband Sam – she had everything she ever wanted.  And then, suddenly, it all fell apart.

No.  That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden, was it?  Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s marriage had started to show.  She was just good at averting her eyes.

The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Riker’s asking for help – even if Zach Grayson is an old friend.  But Zach is desperate: his wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone.  And Zach is the primary suspect.

As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed – and their friends, a close-knit group of fellow parents at the exclusive Grace Hall private school, might be protecting troubling secrets of their own.  In the end, she is left wondering not only whether her own marriage can be saved, but what it means to have a good marriage in the first place.

The post Review: A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight appeared first on The Nerd Daily.