Book Review: The Note by Alafair Burke

 Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor via Edelweissplus, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it. All opinions are my own.

A vacation in the Hamptons goes terribly wrong for three friends with a complicated history.

Synopsis:

It was meant to be a harmless prank.

Growing up, May Hanover was a good girl, always. Well-behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule-follower. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn’t have room to slip up, let alone fail. Her friends didn’t call her the Little Sheriff for nothing.

But even good girls have secrets. And regrets. When it comes to her friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she's had her fair share of both. Their bond—forged when May was just twelve years old—has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. Now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun in the Hamptons. But a chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank that goes horribly awry. 

When she finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation, May begins to wonder whether Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends.

What had they gone and done?

Review:

What happens when 4 old friends get together, after each has been 'cancelled' in the press and all have a past secret they are keeping that has split them apart? A whole lot of stress and underlying drama, then add a lot of alcohol and a stupid decision, and suddenly it seems like everything they knew about each other was a lie, and nothing is as it seems. As May tries to work a way to keep them all out of a police investigation, while trying to keep her new job intact, she soon realizes there are multiple mysteries that have to be solved, as they each are only a few steps away from being a suspect in a murder case, as their secrets all cross over each other. A page turner, this one is sure to become a movie series! Love the take on cancel culture that wasn't trite or woke, but honest and true!

About the Author:

ALAFAIR BURKE is the Edgar-nominated, New York Times best-selling author of fourteen novels of suspense, including The Ex, The Wife, The Better Sister, and Find Me, and coauthor of the best-selling Under Suspicion series. A former prosecutor, she is now a professor of criminal law. She recently served as president of the Mystery Writers of America and was the first woman of color to be elected to that position. She lives in New York.