We’ve all heard about the notorious midlife crisis, and seen it memorialized in pop culture, from Steve Martin’s new sports car and dye job in the film Father of the Bride to Bill Murray’s listless wanderings through Tokyo in Lost in Translation. I, personally, have always associated the midlife crisis with a drastic reevaluation of career and marriage. And maybe a crazy purchase? However, none of this (I was sure) would ever happen to me (hah).
To my surprise, when I hit my midlife crisis at the age of thirty-nine in the wake of a tragic death, family drama, and my looming 40th birthday, what I found myself reevaluating the most were my relationships with family, extended family, and friends.
This came as a shock to me. I hadn’t planned on taking inventory of my cornucopia of relationships–or making cuts. But the reality is, at almost forty then (forty-two now), I had reached some kind of limit I didn’t realize I had.
Through some combination of walking through the death of a loved one, reckoning with my own limits in the wake of that difficult season, and coming out of a series of family dramas feeling pretty wounded, when repeat offenders came knocking with fresh hurts in store, I started to have a physical response. Heart palpitations, stress, sleeplessness.
My body was trying to tell me something about these people. My body was telling my mind, Hey, uh….I don’t want to do this anymore.
So, as one does, I took all my pain, discomfort and processing, and wrote a book about it–a locked-room murder mystery, The New Year’s Party. Ten friends get together after a few off-years, and over the course of the party, old hurts, secrets and lies bubble up, resulting in a bloody night (*evil cackle*).
The characters are mostly mid-thirties, and I wanted to capture them at this moment where they’re teetering toward this drastic friendship reevaluation: rewriting the story of what their friendship has been; naming the problems; facing the fact that a relationship that once felt good, even great, is no longer serving them.
Some of them are more than ready to toss each other out. Others are having a hard time letting go of the history, the familiar story, the illusion of closeness. But they will all be forced to take a close look at themselves–and each other–when one of them ends up dead.
It’s hard to break up with friends. It’s hard to set boundaries, and say “no,” and step back in relationships where previously you might have stepped forward. But there is certainly a time in life when this work cries out to be done. If you’re in the middle of that process too, the only thing I don’t recommend is murder. Unfortunately, my characters didn’t get that particular memo….
Without further ado, here are five books that deal with friend groups, toxic friendships, family and friend breakups–and of course, murder.
*
Penny Zang, Doll Parts
This debut hit shelves in August and is already finding tons of love. Described as The Virgin Suicides meets I Have Some Questions For You, this dual timeline suspense follows Sadie as she begins to uncover the truth behind the death of her estranged best friend Nikki. A book that’s a poignant picture of female friendship, as well as an ode to nostalgia, Sylvia Plath, and sad girls.
Lucy Foley, The Hunting Party
This one is an “oldie by a goodie”—and the second book I ever read by The Queen of multi-POV suspense (since then, I’ve obviously read them all!). A friend group takes a vacation in a luxurious hunting cabin in the Scottish Highlands, gets snowed in, and while they’re trapped without transportation or communication, murder ensues.
With the weight of ten years of friendship behind them, the group is full of secrets, lies and resentments—and Foley is a master at revealing just the right tidbit at the right moment.
Phoebe Morgan, The Wild Girls
I devoured this book cover to cover on a three-hour flight. It kept me turning pages until the bitter end. Four friends with a long history reunite in Botswana for a birthday bash, with teasers along the way hinting at a friendship fallout years prior, the details of which are only revealed later in the book.
As the story escalates the stakes while teasing out bits of the women’s past, it also propels you forward through a series of sharp, twisty turns—until the ending left me covered in chills.
Amber Brown, Danielle Brown, Zetas Till We Die
I love a good sorority thriller. There’s just something tantalizing about seeing how the culty bonds formed in college play forward into the characters’ futures–and this book is no different.
In Zetas, ten years post college, Priscilla is planning an epic reunion, just after the killer of one of the sorority sisters ten years ago has been released. An examination of loyalty (and its limits) ensues, plus plenty of secrets and betrayals.
Emy McGuire, No One Aboard
This book is coming out in December, and it’s a debut with absolutely tip-top writing and plotting. A wealthy family (and friends) set off on a private sailboat. Three weeks later, the boat is found empty, with no one aboard and no sign of what may have happened to them.
Using multiple timelines and some mixed media, the author does an incredible job weaving together the story of the complex relationships between family and friends, and creating a feeling of suspense and dread throughout that will propel you forward to the final twist that I did not see coming.
***
