“Hi, Moms!”

From Darcey Bell’s A Simple Favor.

Widowed mother Stephanie spends all of her free time caring for her son Miles, volunteering with his class, and blogging tips and recipes for other moms.  When Miles insists that he wants a play date with classmate Nicky, Stephanie is introduced to his elusive, corporate mother Emily.  As their children become closer friends, so do the mothers who have a chance to form a friendship of total opposites.  So when Emily asks Stephanie to pick up both boys from school, nothing seems out of the ordinary until after several days, Emily has neither come to pick up her son nor made contact with anyone else in her life.  Using the influence of the followers of her blog, Stephanie tries help determine what happened to her friend and while she is unable to find any clues to Emily’s disappearance, she quickly learns that Emily’s life (much like her own life) was shrouded in secrets.  Stuck between her desire to help Nicky and Stephanie’s husband Sean deal with the horrors of the situation and her desire to find out the truth about Emily, Stephanie discovers a dark truth that challenges everything she knows about her missing best friend.

This book is a constant display of plot twists and shocking revelations.  The intricacies of the three narrating characters (Stephanie, Emily, and Sean) are all brought to life uniquely in style and tone.  It brings to light the power that certain people are willing to sacrifice for friendships or relationships.  While very close to the movie adaptation, the book differs slightly, especially towards the end, which may leave some readers feeling unsatisfied with how everything plays out.  However, A Simple Favor uses surprising, quick twists to create a story that will keep readers engaged and guessing until the very last moment.