Another great book by McCreight. Lots of unreliable characters with dark secrets, with some knowing more than others think they do. Will be recommending it to others!

I have read a few of McCreight's other novels and I enjoyed them so I wanted to give this one a try. Honestly, I thought it was well-written and I enjoyed the story. I didn't figure out who it was. I wasn't even close. There were a lot of misdirection and flashbacks. I wasn't able to pinpoint the killer but I had fun trying. My only issue was it was difficult to distinguish who was narrating without having to flip back to the start of each of the chapters. I understand that sometimes this is used to confuse the reader of the plot but it made it hard to follow sometimes. There wasn't enough emphasis on an individual character to know who was who. I can usually follow a multiple-character novel with no issues but I would still recommend this book because it was a great story.

Kimberly McCreight is a must read author in the mystery genre. In this convoluted, multi-perspective story, McCreight keeps readers guessing until the very end. A group of college friends are meeting up for a reunion at their friend’s bachelor party which is actually a front for another’s intervention. But these friends are drawn together by more than just time; they have secrets, secrets involving death, suicide, drugs, and money. Through each friend’s perspective and the point of a view of a local detective investigating a murder, readers learn what really happened on this reunion weekend. This book was so good, and readers won’t want to put it down until they can fit all of the pieces together.

I love Kimberly McCreight’s books and Friends Like These was no exception. The multiple POVs were a great choice for this story and I did not guess the twist - another winner!

I really enjoyed A Good Marriage and Reconstructing Amelia. I was excited to get this ARC but this book did not live up to expectations. This book was too all over the place with too many unlikeable characters and I just couldn't get invested in the story. I would still read another book by this author.

Everyone has those friends. The ones who you call in a pinch, and they show up, no questions asked. That’s how five college friends end up in the Catskills- a last attempt at an intervention for one of the group. Theirs is a friendship marred with secrets, lies, and murder. While their reunion was planned with the best intentions, their pasts quickly catch up to them, and the weekend quickly turns deadly.

I was a huge fan of The Good Marriage, so I was psyched to dive into this one! There was a LOT going on in this book. I loved the premise, and there were elements that unraveled brilliantly. However, other plot points got a little muddled to me at times, and it distracted me from some major reveals. I think eliminating some minor characters and storylines, or taking more time to more fully flesh them out, would have been really helpful! Overall, it was a suspenseful, quick read filled with plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes!

A trip to the Catskills reuniting old school friends takes a sinister turn in Kimberly McCreight’s Friends Like These. As soon as the group arrives, they start discussing the real reason for their gathering: convincing one member to enter Rehab. Being in each other’s orbit brings back fond memories and the intimation of a tragedy that binds them all. Old dynamics, roles, and emotions are resurfaced-each of them carrying a burden of guilt in different ways. When two of the friends end up missing, the investigation unmasks a connection between the shared secret from long ago and the events unfolding at their reunion. McCreight ambitiously attempts to provide depth and histories for each of her many characters. What results is a novel that fails to be truly engaging. Friends Like These confuses the reader with its implausible revelations and concurrent plotlines, scaffolded on a plot that is neither strong nor interesting enough to overcome its deep flaws.

Thanks to the author, Harper and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I probably made a mistake by alternating between this book and In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, both featuring college friend groups with a ton of secrets that reunite. It became difficult to keep track of the various characters, but it was still enjoyable to see the big reveal.

A group of friends are off to spend the weekend in the country. They are going under the guise of getting away from the city and seeing Jonathan's recently renovated country home. Really, the friends are gathering to convince their friend Kieth that he needs to go to rehab. The friends have been through a lot since college. They saw a kid go over the edge of their roof. Then a friend of theirs died by suicide. When they gather at the house on the edge of the Catskills, they realize that they are still keeping secrets and when the weekend turns deadly; they realize that one of their group may not be the friend they all thought. With friends like these, who needs enemies.

With a title like Friends Like These you know you are going to run into some pretty horrible people. And you wouldn't be wrong. The friends in this group are entitled, if nothing else. And they did some pretty dumb things as kids. There are a lot of different narrators in this book, the "friends" as well as Detective Julia Scutt. It makes things a little difficult to follow, especially if you have to stop reading in the middle of a chapter. The timeline jumping around doesn't make it any easier. However, the ending is pretty explosive as past and present collide. CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS


Bottom Line - My advice, read Friends Like These in as few sittings as possible. You will enjoy it more and be able to keep track of things a lot better. But either way, you will enjoy it. The end was definitely not what I expected.

Details:
Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight
On Instagram
Pages: 320
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: 9/7/2021
Buy it Here!
Thanks to NetGalley for the book in exchange for a review.

Kimberly McCreight has done it again! Friends Like These is a brilliant thriller about a group of five college friends who reunite after ten years for an intervention under the guise of a bachelor party. Prepare for plenty of secrets, lies, and twists. McCreight is quickly becoming a must-read author. Be sure not to miss out and check out Friends Like These today!

A group of friends gather in the Hudson Valley on the premise of a "bachelor party" but is really an intervention. Although these are not the most sympathetic or likeable characters, the twists and turns in the story kept me reading until the surprising end.

I really liked the premise of Friends Like These and I REALLY liked Reconstructing Amelia by McCreight, so I was excited to get an advanced copy of this book. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I really liked the beginning, but the circumstances surrounding the characters just seemed too unbelievable. And that ending! Just too unreal (and not really in a good way!). I thought there was just too much going on in this book, between the multiple POVs and timelines and the far-fetched situations these friends found themselves in.

There was a lot going on, but also not a lot going on. Lots of PoVs. I do recommend if you are a fan of her precious works! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

Loved this book! A great mystery/thriller that kept me guessing the whole time. Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is my fourth book by this author and she hasn't disappointed me yet. An enjoyable who done it with many interlocking pieces. I will definitely recommend it to other readers. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars. I usually enjoy a mystery with a slow unraveling of events, but this one was a little hard to get through. Aside from the police detective, the characters were just awful people. The twisty ending was a good one and did redeem the book a little for me.

I have read and enjoyed all of Kimberly McCreight's books so I was eagerly awaiting this one. However this one just didn't hit the mark for me. I really didn't love the plot or the characters and thought there was a little too much background stuff happening to make it a cohesive story. I generally like stories that are told in multiple perspectives like this one but I found in this case that it made it confusing to follow. It also felt pretty predictable and not very suspenseful. Hoping the next book is more in line with McCreight's other books!

There were a lot of different characters and each character had their own secret, plus the timeline jumped around a lot, so there was so much to keep track of. I know it was meant to be confusing and keep the reader guessing, but I felt that it detracted from the story. Also the characters were not likeable and ridiculous and frustrating with their constant lies. This sounds like I hated it which is not really the case 🤣 Overall it was a quick, thrilling read, and worth it if you like a slightly complicated mystery/"whodunit."

I didn't love McCreight's story of a coed group of college friends who carry a long buried secret gathering in a house in the Catskills to celebrate one of their bachelor parties quite as much as A Good Marriage, but it was still a solid thriller that I flew through in 2 days. I love that she wrote about a group of coed friends (rare in fiction) and I loved that this was the kind of story where everyone arrived at the Catskills house harboring their own secrets...leaving the reader as the only person who has all the pieces. This is also a story about what friends will do for each other and how much unconditional love is too much.

Although I've liked other books by this author, this one was not my favorite. A group of college friends, all hiding a secret and all seeming like a bunch of jerks, come together to try have an intervention to convince one of the group to go into drug rehab. Too many characters for me to keep straight, a dead body and jumps back and forth in time make for confusing reading. The ending was good but not enough to give this story more than 3 stars. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.