Growing up, May Hanover was a good girl, always. Well-behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule-follower. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn’t have room to slip up, let alone fail. Her friends didn’t call her the Little Sheriff for nothing.

But even good girls have secrets. And regrets. When it comes to her friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she's had her fair share of both. Their bond—forged when May was just twelve years old—has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. Now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun in the Hamptons. But a chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank that goes horribly awry.

When she finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation, May begins to wonder whether Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends.

An enjoyable tale with engaging characters... nothing life-altering but definitely worth the read. Will watch for more from this author! Thanks to Netgally for this ARC.

I finished this book in one sitting - it was really fast-paced, but not super memorable or exciting. I had it figured out pretty quickly. And I mostly didn't like any of the characters. This was just OK for me. 3 stars.

My first book by this author. A psychological thriller about 3 lifelong friends. Full of deception, secrets and intrigue. It held my interest until the last page.

This one didn’t hit the mark for me. I was hoping it would. I have read this author before and loved her. Maybe I didn’t connect to the book. I really wanted to love this one.

THE NOTE by Alafair Burke
This is my first book by Alafair Burke but certainly will not be the last! This is a psychological thriller that has plenty of twists and turns. This is the story of three lifelong friends that get together to have girl’s weekend. It is full of betrayal, lies, and plenty of secrets. This is 4 stars.

This was a good, fast paced thriller. I genuinely enjoyed it! I love people on vacation in books when someone is blackmailing them etc, and this was right up my alley for that.

The Note wants to be a sharp thriller about cancel culture, but it mostly feels like doomscrolling with extra drama.

Until the last 10%, this book was 5 stars. The conclusion fell very flat for me, which was disappointing and knocked it down a star.

I love a good twist, but this one was just handed to us with no work or suspense. That’s not a good twist even if it could have been.

The set up and story was so good!!! I loved the setting (hello Hamptons in the summer), and absolutely loved the initial conflict at the restaurant. The procedural jazz was well-written, as was the legal side (it’s clear the author knows her stuff). But there’s no way a case wraps up so quickly and neatly like it did here. Am I salty? Yes. Would this prevent me from picking up another book by this author? No way.

I was drawn in to the premise of the book and usually enjoy a mystery where everyone has something to hide. The set-up was done well, and the plot had a lot of potential. By the end, I found a lot of the book to be "telling" rather than "showing", so a lot of the twists and turns weren't really surprising by the time they were revealed. I found it difficult to connect with the characters. They just seemed very immature for their ages, and their friendship seemed so superficial. I also found the social issues and their being "cancelled" were brought up repeatedly, but didn't really add anything to the storyline. The ending was a bit rushed, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it...

Overall, this was a fun read, but I just had higher hopes.

Thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

The plot sounded interesting enough, so I thought I would give it a shot. However, it fell short for me. A group of three friends, who each have their own difficult pasts, get together for a weekend. On their trip, they get upset with a couple who stole their parking place. In retaliation, they leave a note on the car that says, “He’s cheating. He always does.” Then the guy goes missing…

This book jumped around in timelines and point of views a lot, but it wasn’t expressed well by the author when this happened. In turn, I was left frequently confused and spending too much time trying to figure out what was going on. The characters were also dumb, annoying and unlikeable. I will say after a bit of a slow start, things picked up in the middle. However, this wasn’t enough to make up for the rest of the book for me. Can’t say I’d recommend this one unfortunately.

Imagine a bunch of catty women trading secrets, a main character you kind of want to shake, and a plot that thinks it's sneaky—but isn’t. The Note tries to thrill, but it’s more of a slow eye-roll. Predictable, with zero likable characters, yet somehow... not awful. Just meh.

I have never read a book by Burke before, and I find it interesting that one of the main characters is similar to the author. By that, I mean a lawyer turned law professor. I don't know if there are any other similarities. So anyway, this story follows three friends who met as kids at a music camp. When they are adults and camp counselors, they go party and one of their friends winds up dead. Trauma-bonded bonded these friends moved on with life and have gone through scandals that got them "canceled" for various reasons. They decide to get together for the first time in forever in the Hamptons, and some random guy winds up dead. One that they all saw in passing, and one that they all had an unknown connection to. Now, as the police investigate the group of friends put their friendship to the test as they set out on their own to figure out what really happened to this man. The more they dig, the more secrets are unearthed.

This book is a "thriller" with a lot of drama and is full of unlikable characters. All of them are kind of terrible, even the love interests. Just selfish people with a lot of issues. COVID plays a part in bringing one of the characters' mental health issues to the surface. The isolation that affected a lot of people affected one more than a lot of real-life people. There was also a lot of repetition and circling back to the same thing over and over. I have a hard time believing a police detective would turn sides as often and quickly as the one in the story did. Also, these girls are supposed to be buddies, but don't see each other for years when everyone in the group has gone through some kind of public shaming. The whole concept of everything is over the top, but at the end of the day, it's a pretty quick read and fairly fast-paced. I would say it falls well in the mediocre category of thrillers, and though I was entertained, I won't remember much about this in a few days.

Ms. Burke has clearly done it yet again with her newest novel. At just over 300 pages, it was not only a quick, easy read, but I also had a blast putting on my armchair sleuthing hat as I tried to work it all out. And while it was a rather straightforward albeit mostly unguessable murder mystery premise, it was one—I have to point out—with a conclusion that totally evaded any and all of my well-honed suspicions. So while the reviews might be mixed, I recommend giving this one a try as I had a thoroughly good time. Rating of 4.5 stars.

Unlikeable characters slowed my journey through the book in print, easy to put down. As the characters were fleshed out and the focus of the plot became clearer, I found my interest in the outcome grew, even as relating to the characters remained challenging. Finishing on audio, the end of the story was enjoyable. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy.

Another great Alafair thriller. The note is a classic who done it but also focuses on the core female friendship at the center. I love that all three female main characters are very well developed, you get a true picture of who they are.

Genuinely enjoyed reading this book all the way through. I admire alafairs work and like most of her books this one has cinema potential!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately I had a very hard time getting into this one. I was not finding the characters to be likable and I was not invested in the story line. I felt that the book was very rushed and felt choppy. I did however like that it was an easy read and would recommend it for someone who was looking for a quick read between two heavier books perhaps. I was really hoping for a good twist that didn’t come.

This book was amazing! I loved every minute of the storyline. I do apologize that my review is so late. I thought I sent it back when I read the book

May and Kelsey were childhood best friends and attended the same music camp together where Lauren was the music director. All these years later, May and Kelsey have had a falling out and Lauren is the glue that holds them together when they’re each infamous online. But they reconnect during lockdown and agree to get together in person for the first time in years. They’re reunited for a girls trip in the Hamptons. Kelsey foots the bill for the expensive rental and the three set out to have a great time, but a man turns up missing and they’re shocked to learn they have ties to him from the music camp. So many secrets in this story, but they weave together so effectively.

Such a great beach thriller!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my feedback.