I picked this novella-length Audible Original up because it was free and because I'd heard of but not read "The Wife Between Us" from these two writers and I thought this might be a quick way of seeing if I'd like them.

I'm a third of the way in. So far, the storytelling is competent and the tone is creepy, laced with latent threat but I'm struggling to believe in or care about the main character.

She's too conveniently tragic. She's also incredibly trusting. She's supposed to bright (straight-A-student, political activist) but she's remarkably open to psychobabble be-the-best-teapot-you-can-be stuff and sees charisma where I see predatory charm.

I may simply be too old and cranky for this stuff. 

Still, I can manage another hour and a half. Maybe I'll discover a hidden affinity for our heroine if she snaps out of naive victim mode and gives this guy the beating he deserves.

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen show that you are not alone when you're surrounded by "friends":

Shay sees a tragedy happen right in front of her, a woman commits suicide. Shay cannot understand what happened and why this woman would do this. Shay finds herself thinking about it all the time and this leads her to attending the victims funeral. What Shay was not expecting was to meet her friends and for them to want to get to know her. Shay is a bit of a loner and has a hard time making friends, but it seems this tragedy has lead her to a new type of life. However, the friends have a different idea of what they would like to do with Shay's life.

This is the second book that I have read by this duo and I am extremely impressed. Although they are both in the psychological thrill genre, they had a completely different plot and story line compared (The other book I have read by them is Anonymous Girl). They do a have a bit of a formula surrounding the psychological aspects and manipulation of one of the characters, but this is achieved in different ways was still very interesting the second time around. I will also say that I wasn't sure which avenue Hendrick and Pekkanen were going to take at the beginning of the book when Shay first meets the Moore sisters. Honestly in a way Shay would have been an asset to their team, with all her data searching knowledge and abilities, if they did not need her for other reasons.

Shay is a puzzle of a character to me. There were times where I just could not follow her thought process at all, but I guess that is why she was so easy to manipulate throughout the book as all Shay really wants is to be accepted. You realize this through the continued stats that she writes in her notebook about what she is thinking about and more than one are about friends. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to reach through the book and shake her, tell her to think straight and to think her plans out. She truly was a perfect mark for the Moore sisters. She is a likeable character, just a frustrating one.

I liked how Hendricks and Pekkanen took the time to explain how each individual came to be a part of the Moore sisters team and how they would do anything at all to protect each other. It was also interesting to see how far back Moore sisters began their manipulation of everything around them. The whole team is pretty amazing and scary at the same time, when they set their mind to something, well when the Moore sisters set their minds to it, as they manipulate everyone.

There was a little bit of a twist at the end, but it was not Earth shattering or anything like that. I actually wished the book had ended differently, not so clean cut and predictable. 

I really enjoyed this book by Hendricks and Pekkanen and I recommend I would recommend it to people who like psychological thrillers books that are not police or courtroom related. The storyline was interesting and it was interesting to watch all the manipulations play out. I look forward to see what they come up with next.

Enjoy!!!

   

The Getaway; or, How Many Red Flags Do You Need Before You Realize You Have to Get Out of There ASAP. A little ridiculous, but luckily it's short.

Shay Miller walks through life alone. She is in love with a man who doesn't love her back, the people in her life are acquaintances at best and her job is unfulfilling. All that ends when she witnesses an apparent suicide in a New York subway station.

The synopsis of this book was compelling. I don't usually share synopses my reviews because I assume you want to read my thoughts on the book rather than someone else's description but in this case, I'm going to make an exception because it is what drew me to the book and ultimately, it steered me wrong:

You probably know someone like Shay Miller.
She wants to find love, but it eludes her.
She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end.
She wants to belong, but her life is so isolated.

You probably don’t know anyone like the Moore sisters.
They have an unbreakable circle of friends.
They live the most glamorous life.
They always get what they desire.

Shay thinks she wants their life.
But what they really want is hers!

Holy crap! Sounds ominous and creepy.......sadly, it's not. This isn't a bad book. The pages turn but at the end, I realized that I just didn't care enough about the characters to feel indignant on their behalf when they tripped through plot holes as large as an ocean (or at least as large as a really big lake).

I'm okay with the occasional "convenient coincidence" that helps move a plot forward but this story was based almost exclusively on convenient coincidences, to the point where it took me out of the story. I also wanted the Moore sisters to either be (a) super scary and smart murder-bots or (b) women doing bad things but who are doing them for a noble cause (the whole anti-hero concept). I got neither of these things. They weren't scary, they weren't smart and their cause was at best, meh.

By the time a few of the interesting twists were revealed (and there are a few good ones that I did not predict), I no longer cared.

This is my first book by this author duo and now I'm a bit nervous to try any of their other books. Anyone have any thoughts? Should I try something else from these authors? They seem to be well-loved by many but maybe their books are just not for me.