Keep Your Friends Close

A woman’s contentious divorce takes on murderous new stakes in Konen’s surprise-packed latest (after You Should Have Told Me). After Mary Haywood files for divorce from her wealthy, controlling husband, she moves with her two-year-old son from Brooklyn to Woodstock, N.Y., to be closer to her family. On her first day Upstate, she’s shocked to run into Willa, a friend from Brooklyn she hasn’t heard from in months—especially when Willa insists her name is Annie, and that she and Mary have never met. Meanwhile, Mary’s husband, George, arrives in Woodstock with his sights set on winning her back. Soon thereafter, Mary finds George murdered in his brother’s house, with “Die Rich Pig” painted on the wall above him. After notifying the police, Mary becomes the primary suspect in his murder. Soon thereafter, Willa drops the “Annie” facade and explains to Mary that she, too, has come to Woodstock to start over—in her case, after an affair gone wrong. The women reconcile, but the more Mary looks into the stories Willa tells her, the less trustworthy she seems. From there, Konen provides a tantalizing IV drip of revelations about the women’s pasts until they come face-to-face with George’s killer. Even seasoned genre veterans won’t be able to predict where this supercharged spine-tingler ends up. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Book Group. (Feb.)