Best Friends Gone Wrong
The saying goes “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”, but what if your friends turn out to be your enemies? In these novels, the line between friend and enemy is blurred. Friendships are tested and pushed towards their breaking point, forcing these characters to wonder whether they can really trust anyone else besides themselves.
In this Gone Girl meets The Girl on the Train thriller, a single mother’s life changes after the disappearance of her best friend. It begins with a simple favor to pick up Emily’s son Nicky, who is classmates and best friends with Stephanie’s son, Miles. The five-year-olds’ friendship develops after Stephanie, a lonely widow and stay-at-home mommy blogger, meets Emily, a sophisticated PR executive whose demanding job in Manhattan takes up her time. But Emily doesn’t come back or respond to calls and texts. Terrified, Stephanie reaches out to her blog readers and Emily’s husband, Sean, for help. Then she and Sean receive news that Emily is dead, but the mystery is not quite over yet. Stephanie begins to see that everything isn’t as simple as it seems, even an ordinary favor. Catch the movie featuring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick after.
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During a rare night out, Louise meets a man she finally connects with. But when she arrives at work on Monday, finds out this man is David, her new, married boss who still can’t keep his eyes off her. She bumps into Adele, who is in need of a friend and David’s wife. David and Adele seem to have the perfect marriage, but as Louise is drawn into their orbit, it becomes clear something about them is very wrong. Why is David so controlling? Why is Adele so scared of him? Just how far will a person go to protect their marriage’s secrets?
Wendy has always been the dependable friend to catch Daphne whenever a catastrophe strikes. But when Daphne is suddenly engaged, pregnant, and decorating a townhouse, Wendy is not happy for her. Wanting to be supportive, but also feeling jealous, she wages a full-scale attack on Daphne that ends up way in over her head. What will become of their friendship?
The Nash Family is close-knit and seemingly picture-perfect. Tom is a popular teacher and father of two teens. Eli is a hockey star and girl magnet, and Deenie is a diligent student. But when Deenie’s best friend is struck by an unexpected seizure during class, a hazardous outbreak spreads through the family and community. As the contagion and hysteria reach a climax, secrets are revealed that threaten the town’s fragile sense of security.
A group friends from Oxford meet to welcome the new year together, a tradition that started ten years ago as students. This year, they’ve chosen an isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands as their escape. With champagne in front of a fire and reminiscences of the past, they’re off to a great start for their trip. But the weight of their secret resentments for one another has grown too heavy to bear. A blizzard shuts them off from the outside world and two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead. Keep your friends close, but how close?
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Emily Hoang is a writer and editor who is obsessed with haunted houses, ghosts, and dreams. More info can be found on her website.