ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this story and the premise seemed incredibly relevant to what’s going on today with social media dares! There were so many good twists and turns that I didn’t see coming! It felt real getting all the friends sides of the story from their point of views and really shocked me with the ending! I would recommend to anyone who likes psychological thrillers, mysteries, and female friendships!

A small prank turns deadly…
It sounded so promising but it ended up being slightly disappointing
I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to like or hate the main characters and ended up feeling very indifferent about them
The plot really spiraled and I didn’t love it

I'll start by saying, the premise of The Note sounded great. Three friends on a girls weekend, a drunken encounter and a harmless prank, and someone from the encounter ends up missing. As the story moves along, more secrets from the three friends begin to emerge weaving a tangled web. The twists were good, although, a bit predictable, and the ending was fine. It kept my attention and I wanted to find out what was going to happen. However, I wouldn't say it was the most page-turning, pulse-pounding of thrillers.

All in all, a good read.

Thank you Knopf Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
3.5 stars/5

This book was incredible! I couldn't stop reading. I have recommended the crap out of this book to everyone in my reading groups online. I will be buying this for my trophy shelf for sure! Can't be hyped enough for this amazing read!

I love books about childhood friends reuniting, and this is a good one! There are secrets and twists and surprises. Alafair Burke is a very good writer so I expected well written characters and a riveting plot and she delivered. Any lover of suspense thrillers should enjoy this book.

#thenote is one of alafair burkes best yet.if your into reading thrillers. This book is for you. Its a very compelling read that will leave you guessing to the end.

2025 got off to a great start, definitely. All these new thriller books are killers.

I went into this one completely blind, and oh God, what a great read.

I love it when I cannot figure out a book, meaning knowing who did it from the beginning. I like the book to keep me going until it can no more.

The Note is a fast-paced, twisty, well-written story. With a brilliant plot and well-crafted characters. And a very unexpected ending. I seriously could not put it down.

TW: Suicide. Murder, Fertility Issues, not allowed relationships, complicated family relationships, COVID-19

Thank you, Knopf and Netgalley, for the Free Advanced Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading my first book by Alafair Burke. The Note is about a quirky group of friends each with their own issues and flaws they are trying to work through. An innocent little vacation turns into a lot of big drama. Shameful public moments and past secrets are brought to light. The words flowed nicely and I was done before I knew it. Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC and for introducing me to this author. It is much appreciated.
#NetGalley
#TheNote
#Mystery
#Fiction

May is looking forward to her reunion with longtime friends Lauren and Kelsey. She's known them for decades but hadn't kept in close contact with Kelsey for several years. But Kelsey has rented a fabulous house in the Hamptons for a week, and May joins her two friends for the weekend. A drunken night out and seemingly harmless prank have unexpected consequences, though, when a man goes missing. All three women--for their own reasons--are eager to avoid police scrutiny and make the always bad decision to tell a few white lies early on to avoid suspicion. Only to invite more.

May, the perennial goody-goody and amateur detective, can't help getting them more involved. The more the women try to divert suspicion, the more they invite, and May begins worrying about Kelsey's involvement. At the same time, May's fiance, Josh, is questioning her involvement, particularly as her ex (and Kelsey's stepbrother), Nate, is also involved.

Filled with twists and turns, this suspense novel is riveting. Once I got past my initial dismay at the women's heavy drinking (how can anyone drink that much? May clearly couldn't), I really enjoyed this story. And it managed to fool me, so there's that. #TheNote #NetGalley

The Note by Alafair Burke is a story of three childhood friends navigating friendship as adults and trying to stay connected. They plan a weekend trip where chaos ensues and accusations of murder result.

There are many twists and turns in this book that keep you guessing until the end as to who committed the murder.

Definitely a page turner!

Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy. This review is my honest opinion.

The Note by Alafair Burke was a good story of three women trying to stay connected as they moved on with their lives. There were shades of mystery yet was very much a thriller. I enjoyed the fact that these women were close friends with a strong bond. This bond was what kept them together when tragedy struck.

The Note kept my interest with the strong characterization of the women, good writing, and enough intrigue. I will continue to read this author.

There was too much going on in this muddled little mystery. And I felt no sympathy for any of them, which surprised me. I did not want to finish the story, because I had nothing but apathy for the whole unfortunate affair. Disappointing.

May, Lauren and Kelsey are in the Hamptons on a friend’s trip after years of on and off friendship. One a trip out to shop and eat, a couple cuts them off and steals their parking spot that they patiently waited for. Annoyed by this, what do they do? They get a little intoxicated and one of them decides to leave a harmless prank note on the windshield “He’s cheating on you. He always does”.
Harmless, right??? Until the man suddenly show’s up missing (then dead) and suddenly these three women are involved in a murder mystery.
The Note is a suspense novel with lots of secrets, distrust and lies. It guides us through the years of friendship between May, Lauren and Kelsey as well as how rifts formed in the friendships, and how each woman was traumatized by her own scandal.
This was my first novel by this author, and I felt she did a good job keeping you guessing on what happened to the victim, how these women were possibly tied to his murder through the investigation and displaying the doubts that can set in amongst friends when put in a situation like this.
If you’re expecting something super-fast paced, this isn’t it. There’s a lot of buildup and investigation happening and that does make some things feel a bit repetitive, but overall, it’s an enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Alfred A. Knofp publisher for providing me a copy of the note by Alafair Burke. This is my first time reading this author. I love Netgalley for providing me with the chance to read authors that are new to me. The Note was a book a little over 300 pages classified as a mystery/thriller. This book was ok the concept was not new I thought it could be classified as ya. I found this book very repetitive.

The Note follows three friends (May, Kelsey, and Lauren) who travel to the Hamptons for a vacation after several years of disconnection. Soon, the vacation turns from a fun weekend together to a missing person investigation. The book revolves around May, who is labeled "the good girl", she has always been the responsible one and the rule follower when it comes to her other two friends. The three friends have a long, complicated shared history with many unspoken secrets that soon begin to surface and take a dark turn. While on their vacation, a harmless prank goes horrible wrong and leads the police to their doorstep. May has a hard time with being the good girl that she's always been or to be loyal to the friendship she is trying to rebuild. Tension continue to build as May starts to uncover several hidden truths of her friends and whether they are hiding something that could change everything. As you delve deeper into the past and present of these three friends, a pattern begins to show on just what might have happened to bring these three to the attention of the police. This book will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat and keep you wondering if friendship is worth keeping with all the dark secrets.

Three friends go on vacation and chaos erupts. Mays friend Kelsey has dark secrets that come to light and a prank goes horribly wrong. This was a great story with interesting characters. Thanks NetGalley and Knoph for this eARC that will be released January 2025!

Currently Reading

Pre-Read notes

I dont have any expectationsfor this one. Going in almost blind. Hope I love it!

"The idea behind the meme is that the whole internet might fall in love with something fabulous like an adorable baby duck who loves to drink milkshakes, but then once the milkshake-loving duck comes under scrutiny, it turns out the duck’s just another piece of crap." p112

Review summary and recommendations

I don't have very much to say about this one. It's an okay read with which I found all these quibbles. I think readers of suspense will enjoy this one. Women's fiction fans may find something to enjoy here as well.

Reading Notes

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. Very interesting characters here and intriguing character development. "As close as May had once been to Kelsey, being part of her life could be a major commitment. Kelsey checked in constantly on the people she loved. It came naturally to her to follow up on every event a friend may have mentioned to her in passing. Waking up to a Kelsey good luck with xyz today message was a reminder that she was in your corner 24/ 7, despite the physical distance. But May remembered the way she had felt obliged to do the same, even when it felt like work." p34

2. The plot unfolds very slowly, but pay attention, and it'll snag your interest at about p80.

3. I'm 58 pages in and I'm still not sure what this book's about. Picked out some of the subplots though, like the challenges inherent to interracial friendships, marrying strangers, and fluxes in our friendships. These subplots are doing all right bearing the weight of the story...for now.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. So much ageism in this. It's not done well as a matter of character development, even, since the main characters are calling walk-ons "Boomers" for things that aren't really related to generational differences. Boomer is still a generational insult, right? There is also stigmatizing of weight and chronic illness, so...yay.

2. Just to make it clear: this is a suspense novel and not a thriller.

3. Attempts to raise the narrative stakes at the 1/4 point are...underwhelming...since the stakes are still too low to bear on the story, and the content makes the fmc and her friends look like criminals because of the actions they are taking trying to avoid looking like criminals. It's weak internal logic.

4. I like this book's politics, but it borders on didactic.

5. Once the note is in play, story action takes place almost completely through hearsay. I always find story constructed of a lot of dialogue to be difficult to follow.

6. This book goes over and over the same material. I get it too, it's a mystery, but this one gets repetitive.

Rating: 🏖🏖.5 /5 girls' weekends
for the right reader
Finished: Jan 4 '25
Format: digital arc, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
🔎 mystery or suspense stories
🙄 unlikable leads
🔥 slow burn plot
↪️ plot twists

Thank you to the author Alafair Burke, publishers Knopf, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of THE NOTE. All views are mine.
---------------

First and foremost, I would like the thank NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor Publishing for granting me this ARC of Alafair Burke’s entertaining novel “The Note.”

Stepping outside of my customary genres, I was pleasantly surprised with the book’s ability to capture and maintain my attention. The characters were believable and unique. We almost all know our own versions of May, Lauren and Kelsey, so found the characters ones easily imaginable.

The plot itself was a bit far fetched in the sense that none of these friends seemed to actually be friends and I found their inter-group relations hard to believe. Each girl was tenuously connected to another, yet put their livelihoods and reputations on the line for someone they seemingly didn’t like or know all too well.

Again, the storyline makes the reader curious enough to get to the ending, but the conclusion left me wanting more or perhaps less.

Love Alafair Burke and was really looking forward to reading this. 3 childhood friends who all went through scandal decide to take a weekend trip to the Hamptons. After not seeing each other for a while, it's a chance to catch up. But all 3 women have secrets that they are doing their best to mask from themselves and each other. After a drunken day out leads to a harmless prank, they all feel closer than ever. Except that little prank leads to the police knocking on their door. How did an innocent note turn into a missing person's case?

Fantastic pacing but the main characters left a lot to be desired. May is a great MC but Kelsey and Lauren have no personality besides shallow. The twist was well done.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ARC.

May Hanover was raised by first generation Chinese single mother with high expectations and ended up becoming a lawyer.
Kelsey comes from a wealthy family. Her father is always involved in her life.
Lauren is the musical prodigy involved with her married older billionaire lover.
The 3 women meet up in the Hamptons where Kelsey rents a house. While at a restaurant in Sag Harbor, a couple take a parking spot the women were waiting for. While the women had too much to drink one of them wrote a note saying the guy is cheating. The note was supposed to be thrown out. The guy ends up missing and all three could be possible suspects.

I didn’t care too much for the story. I didn’t care for the characters. There were too many issues thrown into the story. The twist in the end was ok

Thank you #netgalley, #knopf, #pantheon, vintage and anchor