A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell….Review Tour Stop

About A Simple Favor

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper (March 21, 2017)

“Riveting and brilliantly structured, A Simple Favor is an edge-of-your seat domestic thriller about a missing wife and mother that relies on a rotating cast of unreliable narrators to ingeniously examine the cost of competitive mom-friends, the toll of ordinary marital discontent and the fallacy of the picture-perfect, suburban family.”—Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author

She’s your best friend.

She knows all your secrets.

That’s why she’s so dangerous.

A single mother’s life is turned upside down when her best friend vanishes in this chilling debut thriller in the vein of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.

It starts with a simple favor—an ordinary kindness mothers do for one another. When her best friend, Emily, asks Stephanie to pick up her son Nicky after school, she happily says yes. Nicky and her son, Miles, are classmates and best friends, and the five-year-olds love being together—just like she and Emily. A widow and stay-at-home mommy blogger living in woodsy suburban Connecticut, Stephanie was lonely until she met Emily, a sophisticated PR executive whose job in Manhattan demands so much of her time.

But Emily doesn’t come back. She doesn’t answer calls or return texts. Stephanie knows something is terribly wrong—Emily would never leave Nicky, no matter what the police say. Terrified, she reaches out to her blog readers for help. She also reaches out to Emily’s husband, the handsome, reticent Sean, offering emotional support. It’s the least she can do for her best friend. Then, she and Sean receive shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over.

Or is it? Because soon, Stephanie will begin to see that nothing—not friendship, love, or even an ordinary favor—is as simple as it seems.

A Simple Favor is a remarkable tale of psychological suspense—a clever and twisting free-fall of a ride filled with betrayals and reversals, twists and turns, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty, murder and revenge. Darcey Bell masterfully ratchets up the tension in a taut, unsettling, and completely absorbing story that holds you in its grip until the final page.

My Review:

A Simple Favor is the freshman work from author Darcey Bell, and after reading this book, I have no doubt we will see great things from this author as this was one of the most chilling and incredible thrillers I have read to date. I loved every twist and every turn!

It’s always a little difficult for me to write reviews in this genre. I never want to give anything away but I also want to make sure to get my thoughts across…so here goes!

From the very beginning of this book I just knew it was going to be intense, and I was not disappointed. A theme repeated within the story is that everyone has secrets. We never truly know a person. Boy oh boy, was that ever true when it came to both of the women in this story. These two characters both have dark moments in their pasts and when a tragedy strikes, the layers of those dark moments begin to be revealed. Layers peppered with adultery, lies, murder, suicide, and so much more. Making situations even more intense is that all of these layers are being revealed while a mystery is building. I know all of that probably sounds vague, but you’ll have to trust me when I tell you it was all deliciously dark and wonderfully well written.

The author did s fabulous job in leaving clues along the way, never fully revealing a character’s true nature until the very end. Oh, and speaking of the end? Holy moly, it was AMAZING with a twist I never saw coming.

My mind is still running in circles after finishing this book! If you’re looking for a mind-bending read, packed wth twists and turns, you must pick up a copy of A Simple Favor!