Bye, Baby

The mercurial dynamics of female friendship take center stage in this disappointing standalone from Lovering (Can’t Look Away). Thirty-five-year-old travel consultant Billie West is devastated by her fraying bond with her childhood best friend, Cassie Adler. Though Billie makes regular attempts to mend their relationship, Cassie often ignores her, and blames her new roles as a social media influencer and mother to three-month-old Ella for the distance. When Cassie’s husband, Grant, throws her a birthday party at their New York City penthouse, they have no idea an uninvited Billie is pet-sitting for her boss in the apartment downstairs. After hearing a baby scream upstairs, Billie climbs the fire escape to find Ella alone on the Adlers’ terrace, and brings the baby into her boss’s apartment. Soon enough, she hears sounds of panic from the floor above—and is pleasantly surprised to be the first person Cassie calls for help, leading her to consider whether Ella might be the bargaining chip she’s needed all along. Toggling between Billie and Cassie’s perspectives, Lovering doles out details that reveal the disturbing truth behind the women’s estrangement. Though Lovering’s stylish prose keeps things moving, she never generates convincing stakes for Cassie and Billie’s fallout or reconciliation. Given the author’s past successes, this is surprisingly limp. Agent: Allison Hunter, Trellis Literary. (Mar.)