This one wasn’t for me. It’s a mystery/thriller about bad rich people and all of their secrets, set at a gorgeous villa in Italy. The story has two timelines : five years in the past and then the present and it centers on five college friends. Clare, the victim of this story and also the one with familial wealth, is the narrator for the “past” sections of the book, while her four best college friends narrate the “present” chapters. Clare dies via suspicious circumstances in the past and then the friends are reunited at the same Italian villa she died at, for a memorial for her in the present. I am really, really tired of thrillers using physical and sexual abuse as a character and/or story beat. I realize it makes for good motivation for violence, but I am just burned out on reading it. There are enough bad men in the real world. The secrets in this also felt incredibly obvious, the characters were flat, and the ending was both completely unbelievable and also very telegraphed. It all just felt formulaic and depressing.

I love Frick's books so knew this would be a winner! Clare Monroe drowns on New Year's Eve in Italy. Years later there is a memorial for her at Lake Como where her family has a palatial estate. As the novel vacillates in time between 2019 and 2025 we discover what these college friends have been up to, what has transpired with each in the years they haven't seen each other, and just how little we really know about our own friends--and even our families! So intriguing!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Five years after the mysterious drowning of golden girl Clare Monroe at her family's Italian palazzo, her friends are summoned back for a lavish memorial that seems to be one part celebration, one part reckoning. The villa is all opulence, but grey with grief.

Kit Frick masterfully blends gothic atmosphere, unreliable narrators, and the slow-burn tension of secrets among the ultra-wealthy in Friends and Liars — a stunning thriller that asks: How well do you really know your oldest friends? And what are they willing to do to stay in the inner circle? A twisty tale that brings together all of my favorite elements! Let's go to Lake Como!

📚 College secrets meets Italian glamour.
🍷 Guilt, grief, and secrets
☠️ Someone’s not getting out alive.

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