We get by with a little help from our friends—right?
But what if those friends don’t really have our best interests at heart? What happens when a friendship veers into enemy—or frenemy—territory, leading to secrets, betrayals, maybe even murder?
My upcoming novel, Keep Your Friends Close, follows Mary and Willa, two moms who meet at a Brooklyn playground and become fast friends … for awhile, at least. Only then, Willa ghosts Mary, disappearing from her life without so much as a trace. It all comes to a head later that summer when Mary sees Willa up in the Catskills. Or she thinks she does: Willa is calling herself Annie now, and she’s got an entirely different family in tow.
When Mary’s ex, George, turns up dead just a few days later and Mary becomes the prime suspect, she has no choice to turn to her former friend for help. But is Willa-slash-Annie friend or foe, confidant or just con? Mary must figure it out before she loses everything.
Here are six slick thrillers that also portray the friends-to-frenemies relationship.
Toiling away in the predominantly white publishing industry, of course twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is relieved to see another Black girl, Hazel, start at Wagner Books. But their friendship has hardly begun when Hazel becomes the office favorite and Nella is passed over—yet again. As Nella and Hazel grow closer, Nella begins to wonder if a series of threatening notes might be Hazel’s doing. Harris’s propulsive thriller, which reads as Get Out meets The Stepford Wives, examines themes of friendship, identity, community and white fragility like no other.
Six college friends. One reunion weekend at a house in the Catskills. What could go wrong? When one friend goes missing and another turns up dead, the ties that bind these friends together are truly tested. Is it possible that one of them is responsible, or is someone outside of their group out to get them? McCreight’s twisty tome is an exploration of lifelong friendship and the love, history—and secrets—that holds a tight-knit group together.
Imagine your favorite writer on earth, the famous and notoriously reclusive Roza Vallo, is hosting an exclusive month-long writer’s retreat at her sprawling estate. Now imagine that your former BFF and current rival, Wren, is going to be in attendance, too. Will the chance at winning a massive book contract make it worth it? Alex tells herself yes, but when one of the writers disappears in a snowstorm, she begins to realize something very evil is afoot. Is her former friend someone she can turn to as she tries to uncover the mystery, or is Wren a part of the evil at the center of this stunning tale of fame and desire?
Perhaps no modern book illustrates the danger of friends who don’t have our best interests at heart quite like R.F. Kuang’s captivating exploration of diversity, racism and cultural appropriation. June Hayward can’t get her writing career off the ground, but her pal, Athena Liu, is a literary darling. But when Athena dies choking on not-quite-cooked pancakes, June jumps at an opportunity to steal Athena’s next book and pass it off as her own. June’s every action—and excuse—will make readers gasp and cringe in equal measure, and waiting for her comeuppance keeps the pages turning in this fresh literary thriller.
Deepti Kapoor’s crime thriller-meets-family saga set in contemporary India is lush, glamorous, corrupt and inherently readable. The main story focuses around a speeding Mercedes that jumps a curb in New Delhi leaving five people dead—and the coverup that serves to protect the rich men, and their corrupt families, at fault. But the most captivating elements of the novel are the relationships surrounding the enigmatic playboy Sunny Wadia and their descent into betrayal, from his friendship-slash-romance with journalist Neda, to his shifting loyalties to his servant Ajay, to the friends in his own social circle who he’ll happily sell out in the name of preserving his family.
A body-horror masterpiece and a much-needed update to Rosemary’s Baby, Delicate Condition follows Anna Alcott, an indie actress desperate to start a family. But her IVF journey is marred by strange happenings—swapped appointments and misplaced medicines, cryptic warnings and figures in the shadows. After a heartbreaking miscarriage, Anna becomes convinced that she’s actually still pregnant—but even as she feels the baby growing inside her, she begins to believe that someone is playing games with her, trying to prevent her from ever having a child—and that person might just be someone she once thought was the most trusted of friends.
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Featured image: From Rubens’ The Three Graces
