Book Summary and Reviews of The Note by Alafair Burke

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Cathryn Conroy

A Delicious and Totally Riveting Mystery/Thriller: It's the Equivalent of Literary Dessert
This is one of those delicious mystery/thrillers that is unputdownable while you're reading it (or more likely devouring it), but chances are you won't remember it weeks or months later. It's the equivalent of literary dessert. Oh, so tasty!

Written by Alafair Burke, this is the story of three best friends, the secrets they closely guard and the lies they tell each other and themselves until their lives implode after a murder and they are forced to face the truth—no matter how difficult that truth may be.

It's summer and rich girl Kelsey Ellis invites her besties Lauren Berry and May Hanover to join her for a week in the Hamptons in a home she has rented on the bay. Kelsey works for her very controlling father in the sprawling and highly successful family real estate business in Boston. Lauren is a classical musician and the director of the Houston Symphony. May is a new professor of law at Fordham University, having just left the Manhattan district attorney's office. All three have endured being socially "canceled" after three completely unrelated, embarrassing, and highly public events that diminished their professional and personal lives. Now they are off for a bit of R&R in the tony Hamptons.

The first night together, they go to Sag Harbor for drinks with Lauren driving. She spots a primo parking space and patiently waits while the driver in the huge pickup holding the space takes his sweet time pulling out. Just as he does and before Lauren can scoot into the space, it is taken by another couple. When they get out of their car, they turn to the three women and gloat. Seriously gloat. Well, that's maddening! This becomes the main topic of conversation over drinks, and they decide to write notes to the driver. It's fun. It's harmless. And the notes get stuffed into a purse. The note Kelsey writes says, "He's cheating. He always does." Unbeknownst to Lauren and May, Kelsey goes one step further, tucking the note under the wipers of the car. It's just a harmless prank that is payback for stealing the parking space!

The weekend is fun and relaxing until the driver of that car turns up missing, and Kelsey, Lauren, and May are targeted as suspects by the police. What started as a silly joke quickly spirals out of their control. They spin elaborate lies—so many lies. They guard deeply-held secrets—so many secrets. And the plot twists and turns, keeping the reader guessing until the end.

This is an ideal vacation book—fast and easy to read and totally riveting.

Trisha

a good mystery with a fast pace
"He's cheating. He always does."

Out on a week long trip, three adult friends come together for vacation and get irritated by a couple that takes their parking space. As they drink and have dinner, they bemoan how rude the couple was and laugh as one of them writes a note - "He's cheating, He always does." They laugh, they think they toss the note.

Little do they know, the man in the couple will go missing. What is going on?

I really liked that we got multiple POV. It was good to know what was happening and what Lauren thought along with May. I did figure out some of the twists but after a bit of a slow start, I did feel the tension of the story and want to know what would happen next. It was interesting, I liked it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Other books by Alafair Burke at BookBrowse

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