Three

Friendship is complicated in Perrin’s (Fresh Water for Flowers) enticing exploration of a trio who meet on the first day of fifth grade and remain inseparable. Adrien Bobin, Etienne Beaulieu, and Nina Beau grow up in 1980s Le Comelle, France, where they become obsessed with movies and music, fantasize about leaving home, and are bound by two tragic events. As teens, they’re certain their new wave band will give them artistic, intellectual, and personal freedom, but heartbreak strikes when Nina’s mail carrier grandfather, beloved by the friends, is struck and killed by a van. In 2017, a body discovered submerged in a car in a nearby sand quarry may be that of a schoolmate, Clothilde Marais, who went missing at 18. Perrin wily withholds facts about the deaths through much of the novel, along with the secret identity of a freelance journalist narrator, a supposed outsider with an ill-defined suspicious past who seems to know more than is likely about the group. The numerous twists and eye-opening revelations will keep readers riveted. This offers a bounty of rewards. (June)