Never Keeping Secrets

Mean Girls gets an urban makeover in this bleak rags-to-riches tale from Bryant (Mistress, Inc.). Four high-school friends from hardscrabble Newark, N.J., drift apart as they elbow their way to success. Monica goes from ruthless mistress to savvy CEO of an investment firm with celebrity clients; hard-hearted Keesha sheds a drug habit, bad men, and an abusive mom to raise a caring daughter and become a promising author; Latoya survives her domineering religious family and promiscuous past only to get hooked on pills and endure a loveless marriage to an ambitious minister; and Danielle defies her foster-care upbringing to become a successful TV career woman, but loses her true love. Each woman guards an ugly secret that threatens her carefully calculated life. Then a mysterious stalker arranges a reunion as revenge for a cruel prank that the former friends have long-since forgotten. Each of Bryant’s heroines loses her tenuous grip on fame and slips into rage and death—a bitter commentary on the group’s single-minded climb from slum to success. But Bryant also gives these sexy, fearless women a razor-sharp edge that reveals admirable grit and honesty. (June)