Lindsey, Kendra and Dani were childhood friends who married around the same time and settled down in the same neighborhood. The families had 7 children between them with each having teen-age boys who were best friends and were on the high school soccer team. One night after crashing a sorority party and getting drunk, when back home a gun is fired and one boy is dead, another one is in a coma and the third one is in a catatonic state and cannot speak. The story is focused on trying to find out what exactly happened that night that destroyed these three families. This was a very good story line although sad one. I did not like any of the characters as the women all seemed rather shallow and somewhat catty and the men were not much better.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC of this very interesting but sad book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this book! I was hooked from a few pages in and I struggled to put it down. Heart breaking and intriguing, I couldn't wait to delve deeper into the story. The twists and turns at the end had me shedding a few tears but I would recommend this book to anyone.

Lucinda Berry is fast becoming one of my favourite authors to turn to when I’m looking for a quick read. She writes the most amazing stories about everyday people thrust into the most awful situations. Her career as a leading researcher in childhood trauma allows her to create disturbing psychological thrillers that blur the line between fiction and non-fiction. The author’s latest offering The Best Of Friends is heart wrenching, poignant, and tragic read that will have you reaching for a box of tissues.

Three childhood best friends Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani endure every parent’s worse nightmare when a tragic accident shatters their life’s into a million pieces. Three teenage boys, one dead, another in a coma, and a third too traumatised to speak. As each woman struggles with their own loss, they face a whirlpool of emotions, guilt, anger, and heartbreak, which make for an intense and disquieting read. The realistic and sometimes upsetting portrayal of three women in crisis make this book such an emotional roller coaster of a read, I felt overwhelmed by the tragic circumstances and the emotions that radiate from the pages. As the story progresses old jealousies, rivalries and insecurities bubble away below the surface, which threaten to shatter their families, and their friendships.

The story is told from the POV of Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani, and to begin with I found I had a hard time keeping up with whom was who, even though the chapters are clearly labelled, but that’s the only slightly negative thing I have to say about this book. One thing I loved about this book is the way the author presents each of the three women with moral dilemmas. You may not agree with their choices, you may end up disliking some or all of the characters, but ultimately it makes you think “what would I do?” if faced with a similar situation. There were so many threads to this story, but the author tied them together perfectly, holding my attention throughout. What a gripping tale!

Solid 3.5
I went back and forth on a 4 because the ending made me sob like a baby but 3.5 is most accurate.

The Best of Friends follows two sets of best friends. The first generation: 3 women who grew up together, got pregnant at the same time, and gave birth to the next generation of best friends in their sons. One night, the unthinkable happens when one son is killed, one is in a coma, and another is silent in his trauma. The three mothers are forced to dig through their lives to try to figure out what really happened that night. The more they dig, the more they have to question exactly how much they want to know- and can their lifelong friendship survive it?

I went into this thinking it was going to be a thriller but it’s definitely more of a mystery drama. Think Big Little Liar vibes. I loved my reading experience but if you’re a thriller lover, it’s important to know that going in. This book was definitely a slow burn because the story is about people seeking truth so we don’t get the perspective of victims. I took about a week reading this book which is a long time for me but it wasn’t because I disliked the book. I really enjoyed the slow burn and I loved reading a few chapters at a time to uncover just a bit more truth with each reading. The last 25% of the book gripped my heart hard. The ending made me sob and the epilogue made me wonder if there could be a follow up to this book down the road!


This was my first Lucinda Berry book but I purchased another in the middle of reading this one because I enjoyed her writing style so much!

Thank you Net Galley and Thomas & Mercer for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
**
I devoured this book!! Lucinda Berry could not have grasped my attention more if she tried.
*
Every girls grows up with their best friend talking about how they will marry men who will be friends; how their kids will grow up to be best friends. I know I've had this dream with many of my childhood friends growing up.
For Kendra, Dani, and Lindsey those childhood dreams were made reality. Each of their husbands were great friends; and even better their three oldest children : Sawyer, Caleb, and Jacob were each other's best friends. Everyone's life was picture perfect it seemed until one night left 1 boy dead, another in a coma, and the third so traumatized he stopped speaking.

Lucinda takes her readers on a journey of the three mothers trying to figure out what's happened. If they thought their lives couldn't get any more twisted they were wrong. Secrets come out and truths are told.
This is one book you don't want to skip on reading!

Wow! What a thriller and edge of seat this book is! I wanted to hurry and read it, but I also wanted to savor it. This kind of book has suspense, but it also has sadness. Three boys. One dies. Three Mom's who are also best friends with secrets. I really loved this book. It was heartbreaking, but with suspense. I'm really at a loss on how to really describe this book. Amazing, well written, and truly a wonderful book. This book is now my number 1 book!!! Read it.....NOW! If I could, it would be a THOUSAND stars!!

This is another good suspense/mystery book by Lucinda Barry.

Three lifelong best friends -- Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani -- now each have a son -- Jacob, Sawyer, and Caleb -- who are also lifelong best friends. But at a sleepover one night, something happens that leaves Sawyer dead of a gunshot wound, Jacob in a coma, and Caleb in such extreme shock that he's barely functioning or taking. As the parents desperately try to find out what really happened, they end up learning about many more secrets than they bargained for.

The premise started off horribly sad, so pack the tissues for this one (and keep them close.) The author did a really good job capturing the raw emotion of the three women. Some of the depictions of the teenage boys left me nervous for my own children as they get closer to that age, but I'd like to hope (albeit potentially naively) that I wouldn't be quite as blind -- or quite as forgiving -- as these parents were when it came to their children's underage drinking.

I did figure out one of the big twists pretty early on, and while it was a good twist, it was almost like the author didn't quite go far enough with it. The stakes didn't quite seem high enough for this outcome.

My other complaint -- hopefully without giving away too much but SPOILER ALERT here just in case-- was the Dani-Bryan relationship. There was a lot of build up and then the whole thing fizzled without really going anywhere.

All in all, though, this was a quick read -- more sad than fun, but still an enjoyable read in this genre -- and a good book to spend a day or two with.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the arc of this book. It has not influenced my opinion.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for allowing me to read this wonderful ARC. I am a huge fan of all Lucinda Berry books. This one was no disappointment. I found it very hard to put down,

"The Best of friends" The book centers around Dani, Lindsey and Kendra, the three of been friends since childhood. Their three sons Caleb, Sawyer and Jacob have grown up together as well. One night a shooting happens which leaves 1 son dead, 1 son in a coma and 1 son traumatized.
From the outside, they all had perfect lives. During the investigation new things as well as secrets emerge . They will each learn secrets about theirs sons. This book focuses on trauma, grief, suicide, loss, guilt, betrayal, and so many other things all rolled into one story.

The Best of Friends kept me guessing till the end. I couldn't wait to find out what actually happened on that tragic night. I highly recommend this book.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW: The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry is a mystery/thriller novel that reads more like a women's fiction book; there is an element of whodunit, as I'll discuss below, but it's not an action-packed suspense novel.

PLOT RUNDOWN/BASICS: Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani are three best friends living in an upper middle-class neighborhood. They've known each other since they were in elementary school, and their three teenage sons - Jacob (Lindsey's son), Sawyer (Kendra's son), and Caleb (Dani's son) are also friends. The three boys play soccer together on their high school football team, and they are having a sleepover at Dani's house when the novel begins.

Kendra and her husband Paul are trying to have a date night with Sawyer out of the house (although their 14-year-old son, Reese, is upstairs), when they hear gunshots in their neighborhood. Kendra runs outside to check and make sure that Sawyer and his friends are okay, and she realizes that the police and ambulance are at Dani's house. She screams to be let inside, but the police officers deny her entry, letting her know that no one can go in until the coroner arrives.

We soon learn that one of the boys died before medical help arrived, another is brain-dead and on life-support, and the third is now mute and has debilitating breakdowns that landed him on the psychiatric ward for several days. As the three women deal with the devastating fallout of this shooting incident, they are left with only questions and no answers about what happened that night. Who pulled the trigger and why? Was there one shooter, or was this a murder-suicide or a gruesome accident? The only witness can't (or won't) speak, and the detectives are only at the beginning of their intense investigation.

The survivor isn't the only person with secrets in this group; one of the women is being physically and mentally abused, and wishes she had the strength to leave her controlling partner. One of the women is about to find out that her own husband has been building a relationship with someone else online for two years, and has fallen in love with a faceless woman who is hiding behind a pseudonym. The last woman has been secretly medicating her teenage son for over a year without her husband's knowledge, and worries that this is what is causing her family's downfall.

As these secrets unravel, and the investigation turns up even more surprises for the grieving families, we see what happens when childhood friendships face the ultimate test of betrayal, passion, and murder. The truths finally reveal themselves in the end, and the women and their families are left to pick up the pieces and determine how to move forward into new and completely different lives.

WHAT THE AUTHOR DOES RIGHT: Lucinda Berry is actually a doctor - a former clinical psychologist and leading researcher in childhood trauma, according to her Goodreads & Amazon biographies - and she uses her background to write novels that delve into the many facets of the human psyche. Her portrait of the struggles that led to what happened to these three boys is intriguing; we see the closeness of their relationships and the raw emotions they were experiencing right up until the explosive shooting incident, which helps the reader to understand their motivations regarding what happened.

MY THOUGHTS: Okay, I have a lot to unpack about this book, so bear with me.

This is a novel about three upper-middle and upper-class families, living in a very nice neighborhood, raising three white boys who are star athletes at their local high school. Two of them - Jacob and Sawyer - have been featured in local news articles, and they've won athletic scholarships to college. When asked by police what they think of their sons' demeanors prior to the shooting, they are all quick to deny any arguments, any depression, and - in the case of Caleb's parents, when directly confronted with school reports - any anger issues and outbursts.

However, we're told that the boys have gotten in trouble before with police for public drinking, which the parents literally all brushed off as being par for the course in raising a teenage boy: "All of it sounded like completely normal teenage behavior to me - exactly the kinds of things that happened when we were in high school and were probably happening tonight." (loc 2260, 52%) One of the parents says, in regards to the deadly shooting, "Our boys were screwing around. Being drunk and stupid with a gun. That's all" (in Chapter One). Another of the women says that her son wasn't known for getting good grades, and she was terrified he was going to screw up his future and lose his athletic scholarship by getting a girl pregnant before college: "Girls have been after [him] since ninth grade," she says.

Please excuse me if I'm wrong for thinking so, but these sentiments all seem tone-deaf and reek of white, moneyed privilege. The parents seem COMPLETELY clueless as to what is going on with their own children, and they were all utterly shocked at what happened to their teenage boys...but they all admitted that they allowed their boys to drink, they never punished them, and they never held them responsible for their bad decisions. They really seemed as if they had no idea what their children did during the day (and at night), and they didn't care to know more - they just wanted their all-star athletes to make it to college. Two of the parents learn that their younger son is supplying drugs to kids in his high school when they sit down for an interview with the head detective, but they never punish him or even bring the topic up again - the mother even says later that they unconsciously decided not to pursue the topic again and disturb their delicate balance of peace at home.

The women are constantly ready to rip each other apart, and even have a screaming match at the end when one of them can no longer hold back her vitriol in regards to her friends' selfishness and denial. None of them can see their own weaknesses, but they are quick to point out the weakness in each other...and their "friendships" are never shown in a deep or meaningful way. They seem like shallow friends, with no real or deep bonding moments - perhaps this is just a lack of character development due to book spacing.

All in all, the book was a quick read, and an enjoyable one if you're able to turn your mind off and not think too deeply about how clueless and pointedly blind these parents choose to be. The "boys will be boys" mindsets are what turned me off about this read...and that could have been changed if there was a more redemptive arc, or a realization that this chosen ignorance is what led to the downfall of the three boys and their whole families - but there wasn't. The characters all finished in what is arguably a poorer position than the ones in which they started, and while the reader would like to believe that things will get better, it's really near impossible to see how that could be true.

This is one of the most heart-wrenching books I've read in a while. I loved The Perfect Child and knew this one would be good as well. It's a Recipe For Disaster: start with three drunk teens, add alcohol, adderall, love and jealousy, a gun, and a fraternity party! You see where this is going? So now we have three best friend moms--one of whom has a dead son, one has a son in a coma, and the other a terrified wreck who is too damaged to speak. We watch as their marriages splinter and crack, their friendships teeter on the edge, and their remaining children lost and afraid. Secrets kept soon come to light and nothing in their lives will ever be the same. Be prepared to do some ugly crying and witness some domestic abuse, but Berry surely knows how to keep us on the edge of our seats! Crazy good!

Heartbreaking story, good characters, detailed plotline. Twists and turns, well done psychological thriller.

A great read that grabbed my attention right from the beginning and didn’t let up. A book you don’t want to put down. A heartbreaking story of friendship and motherhood.

Lucinda Berry does it again! The Best of Friends takes friendships formed in high school and shows how characters change over time. This book focuses on an accident that happens to 3 teenage boys, and the repercussions of the accident for their families (who have known each other since high school). It allows you to feel for the accident victims, while questioning their reasoning and leads you through many twists, that will have you second guessing whether you have figured it out. Definitely worth the read!

This is a heartbreaking story of friendship and motherhood and I would be lying if I said that it didn't bring me to tears. As a mother of a teenage boy, well, this just really hit close to home.

Lindsey, Dani, and Kendra have been life long best friends. They used to fantasize at sleepovers about how they would all live nearby one another, get married, and have children. They would have family vacations, backyard barbecues, holidays, and basically all the milestones that life brings you they would share together. As luck would have it their dreams came true.

Sawyer (Kendra's son), Jacob (Lindsey's son), and Caleb (Dani's son) have grown just as close as their mothers. They are your typical teenage boys that enjoy playing soccer, video games, and partying however one night proves fatal. Sawyer lays dead, Jacob is in a coma, and Caleb won't speak.

Questions and blame threaten everything these women hold dear including their friendship.

For the first 30% of this book I was so confused. The mothers and sons were interchangeable and I had a hard time keeping up with who was who but I did eventually settle in okay and once I was in I couldn't stop turning the pages. The ending I began to see coming and it is just heartbreaking. I had to tissue up for those last few chapters. I do have a small gripe with the epilogue - it seemed a bit too contrived of a twist.

Tragedy can strike anyone in an instant so all I can say after reading this is go home, hug your kids, and tell them how much you love them. 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer fro providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lucinda Berry always kills it with her thrillers. The more I read from her, the more I love. I absolutely recommend you grab this one! Stunning and intriguing.

3.5 Stars

This book walks through a tragedy that affects three families who have known each other most of their lives. It is told through three different POV's and how each of the tragedies affected them and their families. It reminded me a little bit of Big Little Lies as each character seemed to have underlying secrets along with the main mystery of how the incident unfolded. The only issue I had with the book was it was really hard to differentiate between Dani, Kendra and Lindsey. They seemed to be very similar in their mannerisms and there wasn't a distinct quality each possessed until later in the book. They each had a husband and had roughly 2-3 children so it just seemed hard for me to distinguish which chapter belonged to who and which children went with each family. I did really like the final reveal at the end, that did surprise me! I overall found the book a good read and would read more from this author.

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book

This novel is full of emotion that i can't handle it right now, i can't describe what i will fell if something happen to my daughter.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Thomas &Mercer for providing me with an ARC.
#TheBestOfFriends #NetGalley

From the first few pages, you are drawn into this story of three childhood friends and their current day lives - which you find out includes secrets they don't share outside their own families. With the mystery, throughout the book I thought I knew what had happened and in the final pages, all that was dashed. I would have liked to know a little more about the relationship between Lindsey, Dani, and Kendra at the end of the book. Overall a wonderful, quick read.

Definitely not your typical family/friendship drama. While it initially took me a few chapters to keep the characters straight, once I did I was hooked! Don't want to give anything away, but it explores several timely themes.

WOW. This is an intense book! This novel is about three mothers who are all friends, and their sons, who are also friends. After a tragedy leaves one boy dead, one in a coma, and one mute, the mothers have to figure out how this could happen in their nice suburb. How well do they know their children? How well do they know each other? I cannot imagine going through this kind of trauma with my child, and this is a deep, sad book, but very good and keeps you reading!