Alafair Burke is an author that I had heard of before but this was the first time I had read anything by her. And OUTLIER ALERT! I'm afraid to say that I really didn't like this book.
In fact, I disliked it right from the start and unfortunately that didn't improve the more I read.
To me this felt like it was the second book in a series, it did what felt like to me a cliff notes recap of what had happened to the characters before this story began, which felt really jarring and like I was missing out a big part of the backstory.
Now, onto the characters. None of them were likeable and they all blurred into one.
I also didn't like the writing. It felt very basic and surface level and I just couldn't get on with it.
Therefore this made it really hard for me to get into the plot and after about 10% I wanted to DNF but as I had an ARC copy I wanted to continue, but the only way I could was by skim reading the rest of the book.
The whole book lacked any tension, suspense or mystery and I found it boring and flat and I never once was interested in the story or characters.
This does have a lot of good reviews but it was a complete and total miss for me.

This was such an intense thriller, I loved its fast pace and it definitely had me gripped and not knowing who to trust.

Started off with a prank note, this story shows how quickly things can unravel and fester. It jumps between the current day and an earlier time with three friends and their lives. All with different backgrounds, the book highlights their tenuous friendship at times and how they pull together when necessary. Plenty of twists and turns and a great ending too.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review

Three friends, who haven’t seen much of one another lately, decide to have a “girls’ holiday”. They all have had unpleasant incidents in their past and are hoping to get away from it all. When someone takes their parking place they make up a note accusing the male of infidelity to relieve their feelings but one of them puts it under the windscreen of the car. Then the male involved gives missing, which gives them the dilemma of whether or not to own up

An interesting and quite unusual storyline, plus I liked the differing characteristics of the three main characters

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 fall. 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 wrong.

May, Lauren and Kelsey have been friends since childhood. They decide to go to Hamptons for a few days. But a harmless prank reveals secrets and lies, and the friends realise they don't know each other as well as they thought they did. What was supposed to be a fun break, ends with them being investigated by the police.

I neither liked nor disliked the characters in this book, but they were all well-developed. There were reveals and twists to hold our attention. The pace was steady in this well-written book.

Published 24th April 2025

I would like to thank #NetGalley #FaberandFaber and the author #AlafairBurke for my ARC of #TheNote in exchange for an honest review.

A fairly classic premise for a story, three women who have been friends since childhood go away for a weekend and their drunken antics and past secrets come back to haunt them. All three of them have fairly complicated backstories which interlink and cross over so there is a level of interest and intrigue when a man goes missing then found dead and it turns out he also interlinks into their pasts. I think the main reason I’m only lukewarm on this book is because I really didn’t warm to the main characters, they’re all quite entitled, woe is me, selfish and not actually that likeable, I didn’t really relate to the shallow American themes of weekends away in the Hamptons or summer camp so it went over my head quite a bit and didn’t really interest or engage me in that respect. That aside it was a reasonable enough plot and I didn’t entirely guess the ending, so points there.

Friends May, Kelsey and Lauren have known each other for years, first meeting at a summer camp for musical prodigies – but they’ve found a new level of closeness as adults because all three have had their names dragged through the press in separate incidents of public shaming. The “Cancelled Crew” haven’t spent time together in real life since their childhood – so a post-pandemic trip to the Hamptons and a stay in a luxury AirBnb is a real chance to reconnect in person. Despite May’s anxiousness about the trip, upon arrival it just seems like a regular girls’ weekend away: the trio drink, laugh and talk about old times, sharing stories, relaxing into each other’s company – until a boozy lunch leads to the note making an appearance, and their entire world begins to shift on its axis. May, Kelsey and Lauren might say they share everything, but it transpires that they’ve all been keeping their own secrets, and the myriad threads holding the trio together begin to unravel fast: how well do they really know their supposed BFFs? The Note is a thought-provoking slow-burn suspense novel that gradually pieces its puzzle together almost in plain sight, yet it’s still an extremely satisfying read. Burke’s rich characterisation and the trio’s detail-laden backstories means the novel feels as though you’re hearing a story about friends one-step-removed, with all the complexities and messy nuance involved in real people: a good reminder that everyone contains multitudes.

i dont understand these friendships. they seem toxic as. but this book centers around 3 friends who all come together at a time of need. or get together at a time of scandal in their own lives. they dont trust each other. they dont seem to like each other much. but they all find themselves needing anyone to salve their heads or ease some of their current life choices. but they dont seem to want to tell or talk to each other about any of these things!
anyway on this get together a prank goes wrong. which leads to a missing persons case in which they all become involved.
but did they do something,one or all?
i was kept guessing throughout all of this. i couldnt quite figure out the woman nor the plot. it seemed really toxic and a little like current themes wanted to be included just because they were a tick list not because they were the telling of a good plot. but maybe thats me. because with this type of plot maybe all those themes were actually relevant.
it wasnt my best read this month. but it wasnt without its good thriller vibes so i can definitely see this being enjoyed by many.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for sending me an ARC of The Note.

This was a decent read. Easy enough to follow, with secrets abound from the past resurfacing at the worst possible times for 3 long standing friends who get drunk and leave a note on a car windscreen, ultimately for a joke revenge prank. Sometimes these things don’t turn out well….

A decent read, my first by this author, and won’t be my last.

May, Kelsey and Lauren get together for a reunion in the Hamptons with lots of drunken fun. A parking row turns serious when the man goes missing, and is hound murdered. The women all have secrets and they are getting revealed as the investigation is carried out and they are potential suspects. The.three friends don't trust each other and are constantly testing each other to see if their friendship is strong enough. The ending came as a surprise, a good plot twist.
A fast paced and good read.

I requested this modern novel by Alafair Burke as an ARC because of its iconic setting of the Hamptons. It is here, in this enclave of the wealthy and the rich, that three friends meet to revive their former friendship, should this be possible, and to lie low for a while. May Hanover is a Chinese-American district attorney whose subway altercation with a stranger has gone public, Lauren Berry is an acclaimed classical musician who has been ostracised after she engaged in adultery, and Kelsey Ellis is the surviving wife of a rising chef whose murder remains unsolved. None of the women appeared particularly likeable to me, but the mystery that developed after the women play a drunken trick on an unsuspecting tourist couple that involves the 'note' referred to in the novel's title, had me reading on till the end. Definitely a novel for fans of contemporary, dark domestic noir – and my thanks go to NetGalley and to the publishers for letting me read it, resulting in this unbiased and honest book review.

Lauren, Kelly and Kelsey meet up at a summer camp for the musically gifted who soon become fast friends. Despite vowing to remain fast friends, life intervenes and over the years they grow apart.
Each has their own struggles to contend with. Lauren has an affair with a prominent married man leading to issues with her career. Kelsey's husband is murdered and May is captured on camera having a meltdown in a subway over mask wearing regulations with the footage subsequently going viral

After each trying to face up to their life -changing experiences, they decide to meet up for a grand reunion in The Hamptons.

Early on in their trip, a chance encounter with a stranger leads to a row breaking out over their parking space being taken. A note left on the strangers car windscreen soon turns into something darker, turning their lives upside down yet again.

Just what is in the note, who left it and what are the toxic repercussions? Juicy story with lots of twists to keep you guessing

Kelsey, May and Lauren are three friends who first met when they were young at a camp for the musically gifted. Each of them has been involved in a scandal that led to them being cancelled on social media so they call themselves the Cancelled Crew. They are on a trip together to the Hamptons, when a thoughtless note written as a drunk prank leads them into big trouble.

While these three women might think of each other as friends, they are all hiding secrets from each other and it’s the untangling of these secrets and relationships which is really the focus of the book. And it’s a very toxic and tangled web indeed. There’s plenty of suspense and surprise twists as it all unfurls. Although I am a fan of Alafair Burke, and this is an entertaining, fast paced read, it didn’t quite hit the mark for me, perhaps because it was hard to empathise with any of the women and the situation they had got themselves into.

Lauren, May and Kelsey - friends who catch up in the Hamptons waiting for a parking space when someone steals it.

After quite a few drinks leave a note behind the windscreen

This book just didn't do it for me the characters got lost with each other and just took to long to get going

The premise of this book is a pretty universal occurrence when someone steals your parking slot after you’ve patiently waited for the previous occupant to drive off, so a note is left on the offender’s windscreen. But what unfolds from that seemingly innocuous moment is the crux of this story. I’m not going to give spoilers, but suffice to say the characters are three dimensional, some more likeable than others, the story unfolds at a satisfactory pace and the denouement is good (however I had surmised what had happened earlier than the big reveal).

This book is very cleverly done, with so many opportunities to suspect one or more of the main characters. None of them are terribly likeable and they have all experienced their share of public criticism, which only makes it more interesting to ponder their various roles in the events. Alafair Burke always writes well and her descriptions and dialogue are spot on, with plenty of relevant modern scenarios to really settle the reader in the heart of the story,

This was a very enjoyable twisty thriller. This book focuses on three friends Kelsey , May and Lauren who meet up to holiday in the Hampton. . What starts as a drunken prank , ends up in a nightmare for them . Lots of tension and friction between the women resulting in lies and buried secrets. I enjoyed the twists and turns and the fast paced drama. Everyone has doubts about each other , and we see cracks in their relationships. A satisfactory read

Fans of Alafair Burke will enjoy this one.

Taking you to the playground of the rich ad famous, the main part of this story takes place in The Hamptons.

Lauren, May and Kelsey - friends since childhood - are taking a short break in the Hamptons when someone steals the parking space they have been patiently waiting for. Leaving a note on the windscreen, they don't expect it to land them in the middle of a missing persons investigations.

All the girls have fallen from grace in some way, and this opens back up these secrets.

Who can they trust and is there a killer in their midst?

Thank you, Publisher, for a copy of ‘The Note’ by Alafair Burke.
I really wanted to like this story about three girlfriends going away for the weekend in the Hamptons. I did enjoy the first half of the story but then there was so much going on that I failed to engage to the rest of the story. 2.5 stars from me

I thought this was an okay read. I would have preferred it more if I had liked the characters, but maybe we were not meant to like them. It was an enjoyable book, but I can't rave about it.