“Twisty and compelling […] a terrific read.” — Associated Press “Compulsively readable… Just Between Us winds its roller-coaster plot around our tendency to see exactly what we are looking for–while our little lies take on dangerous lives of their own.” — O, The Oprah Magazine “A twisty, domestic thriller […] tense, bombshell-laden, and action-packed.” — Publishers Weekly “Female … action-packed.” — Publishers 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
Four suburban mothers conspire to cover up a deadly crime in Just Between Us, a heart-stopping novel of suspense by Rebecca Drake.
Alison, Julie, Sarah, Heather. Four friends living the suburban ideal. Their jobs are steady, their kids are healthy. They’re as beautiful as their houses. But each of them has a dirty little secret, and hidden behind the veneer of their perfect lives is a crime and a mystery that will consume them all.
Everything starts to unravel when Alison spots a nasty bruise on Heather’s wrist. She shares her suspicions with Julie and Sarah, compelling all three to investigate what looks like an increasingly violent marriage. As mysterious injuries and erratic behavior mount, Heather can no longer deny the abuse, but she refuses to leave her husband. Desperate to save her, Alison and the others dread the phone call telling them that she’s been killed. But when that call finally comes, it’s not Heather who’s dead. In a moment they’ll come to regret, the women must decide what lengths they’ll go to in order to help a friend.
Just Between Us is a thrilling glimpse into the underbelly of suburbia, where not all neighbors can be trusted, and even the closest friends keep dangerous secrets. You never really know what goes on in another person’s mind, or in their marriage.
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Allison’s husband receives a job transfer to a new town which requires the family to move. Allison watches other moms at school drop-off talking and some going off for coffee. Allison, who works from home wishes her husband never took transfer until Julie, who she has noticed with another mom walks up and introduces herself and then her friend Sarah. They start going for coffee after child drop-off and become friends. Julie, is always upbeat and sells real estate, Sarah wishes she was back at work as a lawyer instead of home with the kids pinching pennies and Allison who works from home wishes she could have as close of friendship as her two new friends have. Then Julie introduces herself to Heather and the threesome become four only Heather is not as close to them as Allison would like. Then one morning when the four are having coffee Allison notices a bruise on Heather. This begins the twisted story of four friends and how they each get caught up in Heather’s life to her rich well renowned surgeon and most likely domestic abuse. While Allison, Sarah and Julie become more and more involved in Heather and her husband’s life you will learn that each woman has a secret of her own. Then the four of them cover-up a crime and things become twisted. Some of the twists and actions are far-fetched but the book was a good read.
Overall a thrilling read. At times I found myself wondering which characters thoughts I was reading, but it didn’t take away from the storyline too much. The things that were accomplished in the book seemed a little overboard and at times unrealistic , but I read for that enjoyment and escape and this one didn’t disappoint on that.
I just got around to reading it and to say I couldn’t put it down is no joke. It was so drama filled and always had something going on. It was a murder mystery, but just had so many flips and turns that you couldn’t stop reading! I HIGHLY recommend this book!
Just how far would you go for a friend? How well do you really know people? I could feel there was something not quite right about the main characters, but I did not see it coming. We judge people and make conclusions without all of the facts. I thought this was a fantastic read. Our book club had a lot to say also.
What a complete shenanigan. Off-the-wall action! I loved it! Oh, these ladies, and their secrets, and the digging they just keep doing, getting deeper and deeper. Such calamity. I loved it. I saw some of it coming, but some of it completely waylaid me, and wow, nope, some I just gasped about, shrugged, and kept reading, because I just had to get there, just had to know, had to keep reading without stopping! What a great caper! Thanks so much. I think it would make a great movie!
Good book. Interesting plot with great twists. Each friend was distinctly different. Loved the surprise near the end and where false assumptions led the story.
I couldn’t put this one down and even re-read certain passages once I finished. Rebecca Drake has weaved a compelling tale of four friends weighed down by secrets, lies, and their extremely complicated lives.
Just Between Us by Rebecca Drake
I saw the blurb for this book and thought it sounded worth reading so “wished” for it through NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press-Griffin bequeathed me a copy. I wish I had known in advance the book was told in first person from the viewpoint of four women…that got confusing at times and I found I really could not connect with any of the women telling the story. I am not sure if it is because of their stories and how dissimilar they are to my own or if it is their age – much younger than my own – or if it is something else but I ended up skimming rather than reading in depth, got the gist of the story and had no desire to go deeper. It could be that this book is just one that does not appeal to me at this moment in time and perhaps it would at some point in the future BUT I doubt I will pick it up in the future to find out. I am sure that it will appeal to others and there are reviews that indicate that is so…just not for me.
This is my honest review.
2-3 Stars
Quick read. Liked how each chapter was narrated by different characters. But I figured most of it out halfway through. Still, this was an enjoyable book.
I have to admit I quit reading this book because of the violence.
A fascinating mystery centered around domestic violence. The friendships of the four main characters are extremely realistic and thought provoking, though the promised “reveals” into the pasts of a few seem forced. Would recommend for lovers of strong female characters, but wish it was a touch more developed, as I often wish with the mystery genre. I would give this 3.5 if I could.
Favorite Quotes:
The strange thing about a secret is it longs to be told. Someone can confide personal news —a terminal illness, having lied on a job application, even an indiscretion with a stranger— and you might simply focus on the story itself, the details and the implications, but if they add that caveat—“ don’t tell”— then suddenly that’s all you can think about doing.
…her small, probably fixed, ferrety nose sniffing the air while she darted beady-eyed looks about the room. I doubted she’d ever been in Heather’s house before—she was an acquaintance rather than a friend, one of those women who believed that personal power came from the collection, and distribution, of gossip.
The coffin was a huge, satin-padded mahogany box, Viktor tucked into its folds like a piece of expensive mail-order fruit that got delayed somewhere in transit, polished and presentable, hiding a rotting core.
It was the sort of death he might have appreciated, high-intensity and cinematic, crashing through a guardrail and plunging thirty feet into the river. A swift end to a short life, but people like that seem destined to die young.
My Review:
I seem to have been a suspense junket lately, and I’ve surprised myself with how much I’ve enjoyed them, but it has also cost me greatly as I am now sleep deprived. My lack of somnolence came not only from being enthralled and unable to put my Kindle down but from also ruminating about the characters and storylines once I finally closed my eyes. Just Between Us presented such a conundrum. It was well plotted, full of creative and unimagined twists and turns, and terribly hard to put down. The primary and as well as many secondary characters were well fleshed out and knowable, but not all at once, as shocking surprises were in store from each household.
The four women were uniquely unsuited to be friends. This wily author presented them in a cunning and intriguing manner, tantalizing me with unpredictable and questionable behaviors and thoughts, as well as making them annoyingly realistic and significantly flawed once the layers of civility were removed. Not a one of them were as I had expected or as they had presented themselves, to anyone. Each had dark and shameful secrets hidden in their histories, which were compounded by the new clandestine activities they had been caught up with. They had pulled together with the united purpose of assisting one of their own then became ensnared and saw no choice but to press forward with riskier and outright illicit behaviors. It is so true to form that when in the midst of a crisis options appear limited or nonexistent, but a day or so later all the alternatives of should have and could have, will flood the mind. The storylines heated up and boiled over as the four ladies began to unravel from the guilt and stress with panic attacks, paranoia, resentments, distrust, and destructive bad habits that frayed and fractures their ties. But I never saw this ending coming, it was cleverly devised and craftily enacted, yet oddly disquieting as well.