There are few relationships in this world more important than the ones women have with our female friends. After all, it’s our friends that walk with us through the most important moments in life, and it’s our friends who we lean on during the darkest times. But how well can we ever really know them? Could they be hiding secrets darker than we ever imagined? For many women, the bonds that tie us to each other are as complex as they are comforting, especially in a world that pits women against one another and asks us to define ourselves against those we’re closest to.
My new thriller Burn It All explores the darkest facets of a lifelong friendship between two women. When Marley hears the news that her estranged best friend Thea has been found dead inside a burned-out house – the latest in a string of vicious arsons ripping through their small hometown – she sets out to discover the truth about the woman she thought she knew. What she discovers instead is a viper’s nest of secrets that threatens everything she holds dear.
I wanted to shine a spotlight on the vital, fraught, and complex friendships that can define a woman’s emotional world. And so do these six compelling thrillers that explore female friendships gone wrong…
We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz – Would you bury a body for your friend? That’s the timeless question at the center of We Were Never Here, a lush, emotionally complex thriller about the dark intricacies of female friendship. While on an annual vacation abroad, childhood best friends Emily and Kristen find themselves at the center of an international crime when Kristen kills a man in self-defense and needs Emily’s help getting rid of the body. The catch? This isn’t the pair’s first time disposing of a dead man. As the story skips between international locals, the central mystery deepens, and the tension between Emily and Kristen ratchets up, all leading to a heart-stopping conclusion.
You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard – Small-time con artists Leo and Summer have built a small but beautiful life for themselves on the open road. But when Leo stumbles across a big score in the form of billionaire Michael Forrester, she follows him to his private island, where she quickly disappears. Desperate to rescue her friend, Summer cons her way onto the island too. But she has to confront the darkest pieces of Leo and her past to find the truth. This twisty, intelligent thriller asks how far you’d go for the only person that makes you feel free.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang – Though not a thriller in the traditional sense, I’d classify Yellowface as an emotional thriller. When her debut novel flops, June Hayword would give anything to swap careers with her much more famous friend, Athena Liu, a rising star of the literary world. So, when Athena dies in a freak accident, she seizes the opportunity to steal her friend’s manuscript and publish it as her own. What follows is part thriller, part ghost story, chronicling June’s meteoric rise and fall. Kuang uses the scandal at the center of Yellowface to explore what happens when professional jealousy between friends drives one to extreme action, and how guilt can unravel even the most carefully protected ruse.
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera – An engrossing thriller that isn’t afraid to go there. Everyone thinks Lucy murdered her best friend Savvy eight years ago – even Lucy. After all, she was found wandering in the street covered in Savvy’s blood with no memory of what happened. In the years since Savvy’s death, Lucy’s done her best to put the past behind her, but when wildly popular true crime podcast Listen for the Lie comes to town to dig into the case, she’s forced to relive the events leading up to the night of Savvy’s death, and to confront the truth once and for all. Listen for the Lie explores the ways friendship can bring out the most destructive and violent impulses in each of us, but also the very best. An unexpectedly moving story about friendship and women’s rage, set against the backdrop of a small, Texas town.
Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham – This delicious thriller is one-part dark academia, one-part Southern whodunit. It follows Margot, a cautious college-freshman lured into friendship with a group of mysterious cohorts led by the bold, charismatic Lucy. But when a frat boy is brutally murdered and Lucy goes missing, Margot finds herself at the center of a rapidly unraveling criminal investigation that will test the limits of her loyalty. Exploring themes of love, betrayal, belonging, and jealousy, this one will have you at the edge of your seat!
How To Kill Your Best Friend by Lexie Elliott – A friendship thriller set in a fabulous tropical local? Sign me up! Georgie, Lissa, and Bronwyn have been each other’s closest friends since their days on the swim team, which is why Georgie and Bronwyn are horrified to learn that Lissa, the strongest swimmer of them all, drowned off the coast of the ocean resort she owned with her husband. As the friends gather to honor Lissa’s life, long-held secrets come to life, and the murky waters of their friendship turn deadly. This book is the ideal beach read, and will have you questioning everything you thought you knew.
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