Alafair Burke has become one of my favorite mystery writers! The Note did not disappoint! We can all relate to old friendships that move in different directions but when we are together it was as if we just saw each other yesterday. Covid had an impact and brought people together again from distances. This was a great story of 3 old friends who re-connected during Covid and the pieces of their lives that they didn't always talk about. I highly recommend!

Many thanks to Netgalley for this arc. I received this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts are entirely my own.

In this book we are following May, Jessica, and Kelsey. They became friend through an arts summer camp where Jessica was a counselor and May and Kelsey were both campers until they became counselors themselves until a death of a fellow counselor. May is now a lawyer who is now a professor after she was cancelled after freaking out in the Subway of New York. Jessica and Kelsey were also canceled: Jessica for sleeping with their former camp founder and Kelsey for her husbands death that people are convinced that she was responsible for. The girls go to the Hamptons and start to talk and go drinking and things quickly take a turn when they write a note to a guy and his girlfriend who stole their spot. Turns out the guy was named David Smith and he was Marnie’s boyfriend who was the counselor who died the last year they were all at camp. Kelsey had been having a relationship with him and they were planning on getting back together until he is found murdered. The girls lie to the police about the note that was a harmless prank until Kelsey admits to her relationship with him. May leaves and goes back to apartment and fiancé. She contacts the police and tells them that she suspected that Kelsey had killed her husband and possibly her boyfriend for breaking up with her. After Kelsey is arrested May learns that Kelsey was innocent and that her dad may have done it since he apparently had mob ties thanks to his father. May tells the police officer and they start looking into things and when May goes to Nate’s apartment and sees him with a police officer uniform she realizes that Nate is the murderer. Nate killed Marnie, David, and Liam (Kelsey’s husband) for Kelsey: Marnie heard Nate confess his love for Kelsey and she hit her head and he drowned her believing her to be dead; David broke up with Kelsey; and Liam was planning to divorce Kelsey and make it impossible for her to use her eggs to get pregnant since they did a fertilization treatment for later use. May and Josh end their engagement and Nate is arrested. May, Jessica, and Kelsey take a trip to St. Bart’s to celebrate starting over and Kelsey’s pregnant with twins.

This was such a great book. I wasn’t sure how it would end at first. I enjoyed the plot line & the back & forth between the characters

Another great one By this author! Well told story about a group of friends having a girls trip and one note opens up so many secrets. There were so many twists and turns, I just couldn't put it down.i read this in a day and a half at the beach! So good!!

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for an early copy of The Note. This was a fast reading thriller. The friendship between the women made you feel like you were part of them. I did like Josh and felt bad for him throughout the book. May was a great and smart character, I liked her the best. Good, good, good read!

Sadly a two star read for me, and I'm not sure if it's because I just came off reading several amazing thriller stories. I personally found there to be too much backstory that made me slightly glaze over. Also what adult act like this? I do not want toxic friends that are selfish entitled and just overall petty women. No thank you.

Set in 2023, most of us have returned to normal and the struggle of returning to post-pandemic life just fell a bit flat.

A new book by Alafair Burke is always a special treat. Whether she is writing solo or co-authoring I know it's going to be a great book and The Note was an amazing page turner.

Three friends, May, Kelsey, and Lauren reunite for a weekend in the Hamptons, each carrying the baggage of some type of scandal from their past. A night on the town with heavy drinking involved leads to the poor decision of leaving a note on the car of someone who took "their" parking spot. From there things escalate way out of their control. When someone goes missing and a body is found the three women start turning on each other. Knowing someone's future is at stake they must put aside their finger pointing and blaming and work together to figure out the answers.

This book was well written and flowed seamlessly. There were plenty of lies, secrets, and deception worthy of a good suspense novel. The twist at the end was the perfect ending. I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf publishing for the advanced copy

DNF at 44% -- I kept reading, waiting to see what would happen next, and the story was falling short for me. I put the book down one day and did not care to pick it up to see how it ends. I may give it another chance in the future.

Many thanks for the advance electronic copy from Netgalley and the publisher.

Other reviewers have given fairly detailed plot synopses, and I will not try to duplicate their efforts. Suffice it to say the author has mixed the pandemic with today's cancel culture, a prank gone horribly wrong, and the history of how three women became close friends some years earlier. All three have become notorious, infamous, scandalous, and canceled. And there are murders to go along with everything else.

I have never been the kind of reader that guesses whodunit before the author reveals the killer. This book is no exception. I will leave it at that because to reveal more would constitute spoilers. The story does contain plenty of red herrings and twists, and moves at a fast pace.

Alafair Burke is one of the best suspense plotters out there and I love her writing style. It fades into the background so I feel like I'm watching the story take place instead of reading it. (I totally guessed the ending, too, which was fun.)

📖📖 Book Review 📖📖 A girls’ weekend away in the Hamptons, what could go wrong? Alafair Burke perfectly narrates the feelings so many of us had had coming out of the hibernation of the pandemic, reemerging into the social scene and reconnecting with our friends. The premise of a psychological thriller juxtaposed with flailing friendships results in an intensely gripping novel that builds at just the right pace with so many glorious layers added that just keeps you guessing until the very end.

Review is on Goodreads and will be on instagram closer to publication date and on Amazon when published!

I DNF'd this book at around 35%. This book is about three old friends that take a weekend trip to the Hamptons. They seem to have nothing in common anymore except that they have all been "cancelled" in the recent past. They go out drinking and put a note of someone's car. That person later turns up missing. I didn't like any of the three main characters and they seemed really childish. I have read other books by this author and have really liked them. Not sure why I did not connect with the one.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for a copy of this book for review.

You’ll be forgiven for thinking this is yet another book where old school chums get together on a vacation and secrets and lies are spilled. I mean…it is one of those books, but it’s better than most.

Some of the secrets are really, really big. And one is the biggest of all.

I liked our women and appreciated the way the author put racism in the story without making it all about that.

I did find that our MC was remarkably naïve for her age/experience and felt really, really sorry for her boyfriend.

This is an enjoyable, entertaining, and very quick read!

• ARC via Publisher

I love these characters, the way their histories and present interweave to create fully real, complicated dynamics.

Another great book by Alafair Burke. I wasn't in love with May's fiancé. I had an idea as to who was guilty before they started speculating. Glad to know I was right. All in all this book kept my attention and I enjoyed it

Honestly, I would read a toothbrush description if it was written by #alafairburke because these books get me every time. #thenote is basically like a crime scene in itself. You see things all around you but it takes time and working through all the points to figure out what matters and what you're missing even though it's right in front of your eyes. I REALLY enjoyed reading the saga of May, Lauren, and Kelsey and the troubles that follow them. And even all wrapped up and closed out the end, I'm still left wondering... will I be seeing those character again?

#netgalley #arc

This was the first I have read by Alafair Burke. I loved reading about the friendship of the three main women. I definitely did not expect the outcome of this novel or how everything was tied together. Would recommend for fans of summer camp fiction, dysfunctional friendships and suspense.

In short: Toxic female friendship + a prank gone horribly wrong + a side of cancel culture

Three friends, all of whom were involved in very public scandals, spend a weekend at a fancy house in the Hamptons. They drunkenly leave a note on the car that stole their parking space, which sets off a series of events that causes all three women to question their friendship and wonder who they can trust.

Loved the idea of a dumb prank that goes very wrong, but still don't understand why any of these ladies still talk to each other - they are all various levels of terrible and annoying. I almost gave up halfway through because I hated all of them so much, but I'm glad I stuck it out to the end because there were some fun twists.

Was this the best book I've ever read? No. Would I still recommend this as an easy beach/vacation read? Yes.

A total page turner from one of today's masters of suspense. Trust no one in this thrilling ride. So much tension your eyes will be glued to the page!

Fast page turner! Gripping Thriller! Couldn't put it down, would highly recommend! Thanks NetGalley for the ARC copy!