Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing this book, with my honest review below.

I found Plays Well with Others to be the most surprising book I’ve picked up yet in 2025, and I do mean that in the sense that it went far wider and deeper than I expected - the best way possible.

Jake has gone infamously viral after saying the worst things possible about babies with cleft lips and palates in an email to her best friend - seemingly caught up in her fury at said friend after Jake discovered her affair with her husband. In reality, Jake’s email was doctored by said supposed friend, and Jake was also mourning the death of her unborn baby with said husband. The cards fell where they will, though, and the world thinks of Jake as a monster with no input from her exposing what’s occurred, Jake quietly retreating to a new home post divorce to watch a bit too closely as her husband and her ex best friend play house.

I was sure from this opening that the mystery and thriller element would be Jake joining forces with another women to take her exes down, going too far. And I wasn’t wrong in some ways, but this is so much more. We learn about Jake’s upbringing and why she’s not advocated for herself through this trauma and how that’s colored by her experience with past trauma. We also learn about her friend, Mabel’s, own skeletons. And finally, at times sweetly but unexpectedly, we have a third mystery with the kids in Jake’s new neighborhood, all having dealt with or dealing with their own forms of trauma. All of these plot lines marry together well, never getting to be too much but all making sense in the broader scheme. And for those that expect it given how Jake’s been wronged, there’s also some healthy and unhealthy revenge at play, though it’s secondary to the larger drivers in the story.

As mentioned, I was incredibly surprised by the robust story I ended up completely absorbed in. This is more than a mystery thriller, with plenty of heart and anger but, really, all the emotions across the spectrum. Recommended for all, this book has something for everyone.