A Likeable Woman
May Cobb
384 pages
Berkley
July 11, 2023
This is exactly the type of domestic suspense I love to read. It’s easy to read. My thoughts on the characters change as I learn more about them. I know there is a twist coming that I can try and predict. It makes my heart happy to come up with both possible and wacky ideas of what is coming. And I was never quite sure if Kira, the narrator, was reliable or paranoid. I did guess the twist pretty early on, but I am not sure if that was normal, or I mixed up a few facts that put me on that path so maybe it was just dumb luck.
I liked the dual timeline where I got to hear directly from the murdered victim and see her perspective on how the events unfolded leading up to her death. The only downside of the book for me was a slew of characters (which allowed my mix up to guess the twist) to keep track of. But on the flip side, it seemed at one moment or another, pretty much every one of the many characters had a reason to strongly dislike her.
This one grabbed me from the start and I wanted to know more about the characters, if Kira’s mother was murdered and if so, who did it. The book also brought up some nostalgia remembering the one that got away and how well you did or didn’t fit in with that old crowd of friends and acquaintances.
I think this is a great summer read, no matter where that is for you. Interesting characters, a potentially unreliable narrator and a mystery to unravel will keep your interest. You’ll definitely want to be in the know as you see this one on summer mysteries to read list.
About the book
Kira’s back in her affluent hometown for the first time in years and determined to unravel the secrets of her mother’s death–hidden in the unpublished memoir she left behind– even if it kills her. . . .
After her troublemaker mother’s mysterious death, Kira fled her wealthy Texas town and never looked back. Now, decades later, Kira is invited to an old frenemy’s vow renewal celebration Though she is reluctant to go, there are things pulling her home. . . like chilled wine and days spent by the pool . . . like sexy Jack, her childhood crush. But more important are the urgent texts from her grandmother, who says she has something for Kira. Something related to her mother’s death, something that makes it look an awful lot like murder.
When her grandmother gives Kira a memoir that her mother had been working on before she died, Kira is drawn into the past and all the sizzling secrets that come along with it. With few allies left in her gossipy country-club town, Kira turns to Jack for help. As she gets closer to discovering what—and who—might have brought about her mother’s end, it becomes clear that someone wants the past to stay buried.
And they might come after Kira next.
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