Kim Stewart

Spoiler alert but also major plot problem that warrants calling out the issue. One of the central characters, Meredith, is receiving threatening texts for days and tells no one, for fear her husband will make her quit her job which she loves. The plot indicates that she’s never hurt anyone and is a good person. Meredith arranges a dinner date with her husband and decides that she will tell him about the threatening texts from a mystery number to explain why she has been so anxious and jumpy. During dinner and some drinks, their lesbian couple neighbors show up (because so many books these days have to have “diverse” characters, even if they aren’t well-developed or necessary to the plot). Meredith stays late with Bea, one of her neighbors because it’s Bea’s birthday and she wants to celebrate longer than her partner. Meredith’s husband takes Bea’s partner home and Meredith and Bea are meant to return home after their fun night out. Both Meredith and Bea have too much to drink and Bea hits and then runs over a woman (apparently runs over her intentionally after first hitting her by accident). Bea convinces Meredith to help her hide the woman’s body and cover up the accident. Meredith spends the next few days plagued with guilt and decides she must confess what happened. Bea then kills Meredith to keep her from confessing. There’s so much additional nonsense going on the book and so many plot twists to give the impression it’s worth reading. It’s not. I believe the reader is meant to conclude that Bea was sending the threatening texts to Meredith to ensure her silence, but the mysterious texts were being sent before the accident occurred and were never explained at the conclusion of the book. I am all for a good thriller/mystery/suspense novel. They are hard to find. This one was terrible.