Review: Just Between Us by Rebecca Drake

Title: Just Between Us 
Author: Rebecca Drake
Format: Paperback
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publish Date: January 9, 2018
Source: Publisher

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Alison, Julie, Sarah, Heather. Four friends living the suburban ideal. Their jobs are steady, their kids are healthy. They’re as beautiful as their houses. But each of them has a dirty little secret, and hidden behind the veneer of their perfect lives is a crime and a mystery that will consume them all.

Everything starts to unravel when Alison spots a nasty bruise on Heather’s wrist. She shares her suspicions with Julie and Sarah, compelling all three to investigate what looks like an increasingly violent marriage. As mysterious injuries and erratic behavior mount, Heather can no longer deny the abuse, but she refuses to leave her husband. Desperate to save her, Alison and the others dread the phone call telling them that she’s been killed. But when that call finally comes, it’s not Heather who’s dead. In a moment they’ll come to regret, the women must decide what lengths they’ll go to in order to help a friend."

My Two Cents:

"Just Between Us" is the story of four friends: Alison, Julie, Sarah, and Heather who always seem to be together, either grabbing coffee, picking up the kids, or playing at the park with their kids. They live in a suburb of Pittsburgh where there doesn't seem to be much to worry about. When Alison notices a bruise on Heather, it will set off a chain of events that will upend their quiet lives.

To some degree, this book reminded me a little bit like Liane Moriarty's "Big Little Lies" where you have a perfect town but under the surface is a darkness that the women can't begin to realize until they are faced with the twists, turns, and difficult choices they will be forced to make. Unlike "Big Little Lies," I didn't feel like you got to know these characters quite as well. Most of them seem to define themselves in ways that felt somewhat flat to me. I wish that I had gotten to know the characters a little bit better, which would have helped me care for them more.

That being said, there are so many twists and turns in this book and I loved seeing what they went through in this book. The action definitely kept me on my toes and I really couldn't guess where things were going in this book. This book was full of surprises and made for an exciting read.