31 May 2026

Don't let the school-gate gossip and pastel cover fool you — this is a sharp, occasionally devastating look at what people hide behind nice houses and nicer manners. Liane Moriarty sets her story among the parents of a small-town elementary school, opens with the aftermath of a death at a fundraiser, and then spends the rest of the book rewinding to show you exactly how a group of ordinary women got there. It's funny in places, genuinely funny, which makes the darker threads about domestic abuse and bullying land even harder when they surface. Read this when you want a thriller that doesn't feel like a thriller until you're deep into it; the tone is closer to social comedy for the first stretch, and Moriarty uses that to lull you before tightening the screws. I'd recommend this to readers who love an ensemble cast, because the alternating perspectives of the three central women are where the book really earns its keep, each one revealing something the others can't see about themselves or each other. It's also a good option if you want something with real emotional weight but not the bleakness of a grittier crime novel; there's warmth here, and real friendship, alongside the tension. Read it poolside or on a long flight — the chapters are short and the pages move fast once the momentum builds. By the last fifty pages you will not want to be interrupted for anything.