This book grabbed me right off the bat, I love when that happens! Mary is separated from her very rich and powerful husband, George. They have a two year old son and George is threatening to go for full custody saying he wants her back. But Mary has realized that she has no say in their marriage and when George chooses to help his brother over following what Mary wanted, that started their downfall.

The story is told in two voices, Mary and Willa, a young woman Mary meets at the park with her child. Mary and Willa become fast friends and Mary feels that she really needs a person she can feel close to during this rough time. During a alcohol fueled evening, Mary confides some of her biggest secrets to Willa. Soon after, Willa disappears from Mary's life and she fears that she scared Willa off.

During a visit to Woodstock, NY to see if she can make a life there, Mary sees Willa. Only she has a new man and child with her and her hair is a new color. She also won't answer to Willa. What's goin on? Then George shows up in town and Mary's world is truly turned upside down. A who-done-it begins.

I really liked these characters, they are fully developed, albeit slowly with Willa. Mary needed to grow a backbone and I think she has by the end. All the questions were answered. I didn't want to put the book down!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I now need to go back and read more books by Leah Konen.

What a thrill. They say keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but boy did this book take us for a ride. What if you don't realize they are your enemy until it's too late? A nice, quick read.

Keep Your Friends Close by Leah Konen is a compelling thriller.
I loved the writing style and the twists just kept coming. I honestly found it hard to put down.
Such a great story line with interesting characters.

Thank You NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I enjoyed this book. There was a lot of twists and turns and I like how it turned out in the end. I would recommend this book.

This is a fantastic thriller! I loved the dual POVs of Mary and WIlla. Willa's character is reminiscent of Bea in Rachel Koller Croft's 'Stone Cold Fox' in all the right ways. I didn't expect some of the twists, but you never know how small of a town a big city actually is!

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the ARC

Unfortunately my ARC was messed up. I tried but it’s impossible to read when words are cut off mid page and mid sentence. Too bad too since this seemed perfect for me.

For you who check reviews for objectionable language, etc, before downloading a new book, I wish I had found a warning for this one. So here's MY warning! I would have enjoyed the book SO much had i not been offended by so much profanity, very frequent use of the "f word", the taking of the Lord's name in vain, etc.

The gist of the story is wondering whom you can or can't trust, including spouses, friends and family. You, as a reader, will find yourself wondering, right along with the main character and may even be surprised.

A thank you to NetGalley and Putnam books for a free and early read.

I anticipated a lot from this book, as I really enjoyed The Perfect Escape, so I was excited to be granted a widget to read an early copy. But I don't really know how to rate this one. Points for urging me to keep reading, but there wasn't much else I'd recommend here. And if Willa said the phrase "mental load" (please, you're a mid 30s single, childless gold-digger) one more time, I would have thrown my kindle.

I like my thrillers fast-paced and, well, thrilling. But at the 50% mark, it felt like it was dragging and there was so much more to go. I realize that in traditional publishing, one must make a certain word count, but this felt like a short story that was trying to hard to get there. The jewelry plot was a bit...uninspiring and it was repetitive here (I finally googled the referenced Cartier pieces and was less than impressed). Coupled with bland characters and a let down of a villain, I'm afraid this was a miss. Also way too heavy handed with the Men Ruin Everything and Rich People Are Awful (except the Marxist ones!) messages.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for a review through NetGalley.

This was a bit of a slow burn for me, but I did ultimately enjoy it. The story unfolds in a way to draw your attention in more and more and by the end, I was so curious to see how it would be resolved. Recommended!

Lovers of domestic thrillers will love this one, about complicated female friendships. Lovely character development and emotions. Psychological and intriguing!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an early copy of Keep Your Friends Close. WOW JUST WOW about the who was sleeping with whom!!! SHOCKED ME and I’m pretty good at figuring out the plot. After that was revealed, the book took on a new spin and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. This was a Fantastic read and the ending for all three of the women couldn’t have ended better. LOVED IT!!!!

This book had me really sucked in from the beginning. The middle does kind of lag but I feel that is to be expected. But the ending is what kind of confused me. The killer really came out of nowhere, it seemed to be a random way to wrap up the book. I would have made it more climactic with a more well known character.

This was a fun and twisty read! I enjoyed the story and read it in less than a day--loved the concept of friends being just as dangerous as enemies 🤪

4.5/5

Another great read from Leah Konen! I look forward to reading her books whenever they come out because I can’t get enough of the upstate NY settings! This book features rich people behaving badly, which is a trope I just love 😜 thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an early review copy!

eh, this one wasn't it for me. the same old story of a con-artist marrying for money... blah blah. it was fine, i probably should have DNF

The start was slow for me but around mid point I felt it really started to pick up & I enjoyed it overall.

DNF @28%

I gave this the benefit of the doubt; from the summary I knew this was going to be a story that has been told a ton before. A woman marrying for money befriending a con woman isn't a groundbreaking plot point. I was hoping for a twist on it or super interesting characters. . But Mary as a main character really fell flat for me and I was just bored. 2024 is the year of not forcing myself to finish books that aren't doing anything for me.

Thank you Netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing this ARC to me.

This took me at least to get to 40% before I started to like it. It was a VERY SLOW start for me but once it got going, it got pretty good. I'm giving it 3 stars. I didn't love any of the characters - they were just okay for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review.

Well, this is one of those books that makes you question who you can trust. Mary is going through a divorce from her rich, privileged husband George. She longs for a friend; someone she can share her struggles with. Then she meets Willa and the 2 become quick friends. Is it too good to be true? Since this is a psychological thriller.... probably. At some point Mary and Willa stop being friends. Then as Mary is starting a new life in Woodstock, NY, she runs into a woman that looks like Willa, but when she stops her, the woman says her name is Annie. Is Mary going crazy because she swears it's Willa?

The story unfolds through alternating chapters of the past and present. We get to see how Mary's friendship with Willa starts, and how things stand now. I like all the references to Patricia Highsmith and Agatha Christie throughout the book. There were definitely a few twists that make it a fun, compelling read.

I was not familiar with Leah Konen so I was not sure what to expect from Keep your Friends Close.

Mary is in the middle of a heated custody battle for her young son and is in need of a friend. Willa and Mary meet at the playground and an immediate friendship is formed. Many things are not as they appear and Konen keeps you guessing until the very end.

Leah Konen has written a book that is a great escape thriller. It is one of those books that you can't let yourself question if it is plausible. Just read it and have fun.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.