By: Rebecca Drake

ISBN:  9781250167200

Publisher: St.  Martin's Press

Publication Date: 1/9/2018

Format: Paperback

My Rating: 5 Stars 

 

Rebecca Drake returns following Only Ever You with her latest twisty and intense domestic suspense/psychological thriller JUST BETWEEN US. In the theme of Big Little Lies, a story of four suburban mothers who become immersed in a deadly crime. 

Friends and bystanders get more than they bargained for by helping out a friend in need. 

“You never really know what happens in someone else’s marriage.” 

Set in suburban, Pittsburgh, PA readers are introduced to four women: Alison, Julie, Sarah, and Heather. Between their children and husbands, and their busy lives, they love their favorite coffee shop on Friday mornings. Told from four different POVs.

Julie is a multi-million dollar producer–a successful real estate agent married to Brian a VP of business development for a significant medical device firm. She believes in staying positive. Very social, an extrovert and a great organizer. Red-hair and energic. Obsessed with fitness, yoga, and healthy diet.

Sarah is little harder to like (by Alison). A former lawyer, with other hidden issues. Prickly at times. Alison envied the relationship between Julie and Sarah. They had a friendship before she came along. Sarah is beautiful, biracial and wears lots of brightly colored scarves and jewelry. Sarah did not have the patience for whining. She is very can-do and opinionated. She is married to Eric, a teacher and they pinch pennies with a family of five. 

Heather, a former model married to a famous plastic surgeon Viktor. Son Daniel. They have the glamorous life and a large home and staff. She now is a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom), like Sarah, with of course— a much more substantial household income. 

Alison is an IT consultant, and the women think she has an overactive imagination. She is tall and introverted. (She is the most intriguing). My pick. She had little interest in the country-club life or team sports. She comes across a little desperate, lonely, and needy to the others. She and Michael had moved to Pittsburgh because of Michael’s job transfer. No one knew her unfortunate past. The women think she is negative at times. Often her personality rubs Sarah the wrong way. 

Julie and Alison had kept their careers. Sarah and Heather had not. There was a big difference between the disposal income of course between Heather and Sarah. 

Each of the women has their juicy dark secrets. (Heather, in particular). 

Alison is the first to be suspicious of Heather and her bruises. When comforted, she brushes it off. The other women do not seem to suspect a problem with the handsome and charming doctor. Even the broken dishes in the house. Could it have been something sexual she does not want to discuss? 

Should they mind their own business or try and help? Julie thought Alison was wrong. Is Alison too overly cautious due to her family history? 

Even though Heather denies it at first; however, she ultimately confesses. (think Big Little Lies Celeste and Perry Wright). (things do not play out the same.) She pretends all is ok in their household. From the exterior, they looked like the perfect family. 

The friends begin their own sleuthing and investigating into Viktor’s past. His former wife died. However, was it accidental? They slowly discover secrets Heather has not shared until it is too late. Things get complicated. The women fear for her safety and her young son. 

“The strange thing about a secret is it longs to be told.” Suddenly that is all you can think about.

Then the call comes. Someone is dead. 

Self-defense? A crime scene. How involved will they become? There are secrets in every marriage. This is "only" the beginning of the unraveling. 

Nothing, or no one is as they appear. 

“There are no monsters, just deeply flawed people, all of us given that power to choose, some of us making choices to damaging that they ruin the lives of those they claim to love.” 

Drake cranks up the intensity and the adrenaline. She expertly weaves a web of deceit and lies and keeps the reader guessing what will come next. 

You feel the fear and hysteria from each of the women. The mistrust. In the blink of an eye, things change, and everyone is making impulsive decisions which lead to consequences.

At 40-45% into the book, you wonder what could be coming next? Plenty! It is just getting started. 

 

Someone is watching. Were they not careful enough? A letter. Photos. Blackmail. Video Things get very complicated. 

Action-packed, the hidden secrets behind the façade of ordinary women, across social classes and moral lines. How far would you go to protect a friend? Friendships tested. Betrayal. 

Had they been duped? Will they turn on one another? Who can be trusted? Excusing behaviors. 

“Brushing way the inconsistencies in character. Finding plausibility in the implausible because we want to believe the person we love is incapable of ugliness.” 

The lies we tell ourselves and others. Lines are not always clear between good and evil. Perpetrator and victim. 

On a serious note, a peek inside of domestic abuse and violence. It is not always wrapped, in a clear package. 

“We hurt those that we love; we make choices that we can’t undo, we throw ourselves headlong into battles in the name of rescuing people who never asked to be saved.”

With all this sleuthing, not sure how they could find the time for their families. However, I was dying to know what happens. Hooked from page one to the grand finale. 

JUST BETWEEN US, will keep you reading past your bedtime to learn the secrets held close. I enjoyed the different POVs from the women. The drama was balanced nicely with suspense and humor. Some clever twists and turns you are not expecting. Unpredictable. 

I am glad the author chose to end the book with Alison speaking. Very fitting. Underneath the drama, a cautionary tale. The novel is an ideal choice for book clubs and further discussions. 

For fans of Desperate Housewives, and twisty domestic suspense thrillers. A few come to mind:

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, The Perfect Neighbors by Sarah Pekkanen, Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris, The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White, The Good Girl by Mary Kubica, and The Drowning Girls by Paula Treick DeBoard. Looking forward to seeing what comes next!

A special thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and #NetGalley for an advanced reading copy. 

JDCMustReadBooks

 

 

Advance Praise

 

A twisty, domestic thriller [...] tense, bombshell-laden, and action-packed." ― Publisher's Weekly

 

"Female friendships flourish, then falter, under the weight of chance events underlaid by secrecy and deceit [...] Drake shows a sure hand in spinning suburban thrillers." ―Booklist

 

"Rebecca Drake's Just Between Us is suspense at its best--a riveting, fast-paced psychological thriller that brilliantly explores the limits of friendship and the secrets we keep from one another." ― New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline

 

"Fans of Liane Moriarty and B.A. Paris are going to love this twisty, diabolical suburban thriller. Clear your evening, you won't be able to put it down." ― J.T. Ellison, New York Times bestselling author of Lie to Me

 

"Rebecca Drake's Just Between Us is a stunner - a tense, twisty thriller about four ordinary women that begs the question: When a friend is in trouble, and all you want to do is help, how can everything go so terribly wrong?" ― Karen Dionne, author The Marsh King's Daughter

 

"Rebecca Drake's Just Between Us is a riveting thriller that reveals the dark heart beating in the middle of American suburbia. Every character in this rich novel has a secret, and the secrets get deeper and darker as the pitch-perfect plot unfolds. This is a stunning story of friendship and the tangled lies that bind four women together. Don't miss it!" ― David Bell, author of Bring Her Home

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Photo Credit: Joseph Mertz

 

REBECCA DRAKE is the author of the novels Don’t Be Afraid, The Next Killing, The Dead Place, which was an IMBA bestseller, and Only Ever You, as well as the short story “Loaded,” which was featured in Pittsburgh Noir.

 

A graduate of Penn State University and former journalist, she is currently an instructor in Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction M.F.A. program.

 

Rebecca lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with her husband and two children. Read More  

 

 

I guess you should probably get to know your friends better...

This was a wholly entertaining read, if you can suspend your disbelief just a tad and get into it. I'm not quite sure that a group of friends would get themselves in THIS much hot water for one other friend, but maybe I'm just missing friends like this.
BUT the friendships in this book - let's be HONEST - are built on lies and a lot of superficiality, and that's the point. In a tiny town where appearances matter, four friends start to have concern that one of them is being physically abused. Their natural tendency to gossip and gather around the friend with all the drama going on, ends up leading this little foursome into a very tense and complicated tangle of lies and deceit on behalf of their battered friend, and in the end, they're left wondering if it was worth it. And to a very unexpected ending.
Domestic and physical abuse isn't a subject to be trifled with, and in this novel in particular, the plot actually may make some readers who are extremely sensitive to how the topic is used in writing, a little unnerved and upset, so I just want to point that out. Other subjects that may be difficult to come across in this novel are sexual abuse and miscarriage, but these are not addressed in detail and are not the focus of the book.
The author Rebecca Drake cleverly uses the different characters' voices and perspectives for the chapters, alternating the viewpoints of the narrative for the reader. And then just when you think these girls are going to be able to roll out one more 'great idea', something else goes disastrously badly. One quote in the book is quite perfect, and they should have kept it in mind, 'But life so rarely goes according to plan.' You've got that right.
Overall, solid, nerve-wracking thriller!

*I was able to read an early digital copy of this, thanks to NetGalley. Thank you!

Quick review for a quick read. "Only Ever You" by Rebecca Drake is the first novel I've read in this author's bibliography. It was definitely a page turner. I found it difficult to tear myself away from this book wanting to know what happened next in the overarching mystery. The story centers around the disappearance of a girl named Sophia, causing a downward spiral on an already testy household for her parents Jill and David.

Jill is one of the narrators in this novel, and one can tell how flawed her character is from the beginning of the book. She has a hectic time as a mother and trying to make ends meet in the career she's set for herself while her husband's job keeps him away for long stretches of time and social engagements. She's at her wits end in some respects. A near miss kidnapping involving Sophia has Jill and David on high alert, but there are other secrets that keep their tentative relationship on its ends.

It's when Sophia disappears that everything falls apart. The second perspective in the novel is Bea, a woman whose identity isn't clear from the beginning, but the reader can tell she's the one who abducted Sophia. The question remains as to why. Combine that with confessional letters that are interspersed through the narrative from an unknown source, and you have the three perspectives that compose this novel. It flows very smoothly, and the tension between the characters is very palpable. There were quite a few times when I found it hard to suspend my disbelief in the way certain things happened (not so much in that they might occur as it was the WAY they occurred in succession). I suspected that someone close to Jill's family had something to do with Sophia's disappearance, but the narrative threw a number of curveball revelations, some of which did quite well in the context of the novel. But I think the number curveballs were one too many in the end, to the point where the story somewhat suffered under the weight/mass of them.

I did like the novel on the whole though, and it makes me curious to read more of Rebecca Drake's work.

Overall score: 3/5 stars.

Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley from the publisher.

*I requested a copy of this book from the author or publisher for an honest review.

I'm not going to summarize the story as the book description is perfect. I'm also going to try very hard to not spoil the story with a few great details. Without them, you will enjoy the story as you read it.

The story caught me in the heart. As a parent we all fear that one moment out of sight and gone. That's all it takes, and kids move so fast! I can feel for Jill through the book. I remember having an active three year old. Ugh. Things could be seen by others differently.

The story is told from Jill Lassiter's POV along with a woman by the name of Bea. These two views help draw the full picture for us. We also get journal entries of a young woman, a mistress. When it all comes together, ooooh it will click all that has happened in these lives to bring us to where we are.

Things we learn grow the plot, deepening all as we go. There is a secret that's revealed about 90 pages in. With the journal pages and what we learn, I started to draw my own conclusions of who people are and how they all relate. By then I needed to know if Sophia would be found, how all the truths come out, and if I was right in my thinking.

I was surprised at the ending when it all comes out!

Rebecca crafts a story that many can relate to with the normalcy of life and fears that parents hold close to their hearts. Then the fear becomes a heart breaking reality. Rebecca uses the short time lapses with perfection, we get a strong feel for daily activities and the characters while each scene has a powerful impact in the story, now and later, leaving hints along with drawing the characters and their actions for us. There is no down time in this novel.

The ending! Oh my! Never saw that all coming. Definitely a page turner to the end! And it all fits.

This is not my normal genre read. But I am glad I read the book. I didn't want to stop when I started. I found time was lost to me and I'd just spent an hour in the anxiety with Jill. I found I was so drawn into the story that I didn't even feel droggy with the late hour of reading.

By: Rebecca Drake 

ISBN:  9781250068910

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication Date:  3/22/2016 

Format:  Hardcover 

My Rating: 4 Stars

 

A special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

ONLY EVER YOU by Rebecca Drake is a compelling domestic suspense psychological thriller--an emotional saga of a mother’s strong love for her daughter. A search for answers and a lovable dog, named Cosmo.

The book opens three months prior, July 2013, in Pittsburgh, PA---Jill Lassiter (professional photographer), with her three-year-old daughter, Sophia at the park. A distraction. Her daughter is gone.

The police are called. Jill is frantic. Forty minutes pass, and Sophia suddenly appears. Her husband, David arrives. She found a doggie. She loves dogs. What the heck happened?

A mark. A tiny red pinprick with a slight swelling of the skin around it. Did someone inject her? Was she drugged? A bug bite? All Sophia says is that she found the doggie. They go to the hospital. No answers.

Nothing would ever happen to Sophia again—the worst was over. However, Jill may be wrong. Strange things start happening.

Three months later Sophia goes missing again. The suspicion turns to the parents.

Jill thinks her daughter is still alive. Now she is the number one suspect. However, she knows she is innocent-- the real killer is still out there. A motive?

Does Jill really know David?

Jill is tenacious. How could she have missed the signs?

An accident. Payback. Motivation. A journal. A connection. A past. Twenty- three days. Who can she trust? A monster. A surprise twisted ending.

Throughout the novel, the author flashes back and forth to journal entries (identity not revealed). A man and woman. An affair. A breakup. How do the pieces fit together?

While none of the characters are particularly likable, the author keeps you reading the complex suburban domestic suspense to the final conclusion. My first book by the author and look forward to reading more!