Necessary People

I did like the fact this was set in a workplace - in my view, more writers should use the place we spend 40+ hours of our life weekly as a setting. And it did keep me reading. But sorry to say, these women aren't anyone I'd want to know or interact with and from what I know of human psychology, no one behaves like this in real life. I know psychological suspense is a heightened reality but the underlying motivations still have to ring true.

I didn't really want to put this down for things like working and driving and sleeping, but alas. It was a quick and engaging read, though I think it might have been mismarketed to call it a thriller, as I wouldn't say there were many twists or turns. It was a quiet simmer of resentment over a toxic friendship that inevitably boiled over. I actually finished it on Friday and sat with it for a few days, turning it over in my mind, wondering if I wished it had ended differently or taken a different turn. The one big twist kind of felt like it came out of nowhere, since the beginning part of the book was so mellow. But after a few days of contemplation, I'm deciding to shrug it off, declare I'm cool with it because this was really good anyway, and besides, there was a lot that was left unsaid, so who's to say the beginning parts in Violet's head are actually trustworthy? I realize that makes this sound more sinister than I mean it to be, but Violet recognizes this, which was pretty terrifying in and of itself; that you never know what's going to make someone snap until they do.

(I picked this from Book of the Month solely because that cover is so prettyyyyyyy.)