1.09.2018

Review: Just Between Us by Rebecca Drake

Just Between Us by Rebecca Drake
Published: January 9, 2018
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Format: via publisher
Rating: 3/5

About JUST BETWEEN US
Four suburban mothers conspire to cover up a deadly crime in Just Between Us, a heart-stopping novel of suspense by Rebecca Drake.
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.
Just Between Us is a thrilling glimpse into the underbelly of suburbia, where not all neighbors can be trusted, and even the closest friends keep dangerous secrets. You never really know what goes on in another person’s mind, or in their marriage.

About the Author
Rebecca Drake is the author of the novels Don’t Be Afraid, The Next Killing, The Dead Place, which was an IMBA bestseller, and Only Ever You, as well as the short story “Loaded,” which was featured in Pittsburgh Noir. A graduate of Penn State University and former journalist, she is currently an instructor in Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction M.F.A. program. Rebecca lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with her husband and two children.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorRDrake

My Thoughts
I was really intrigued when I read the synopsis but I also felt like I’ve heard this tale before but I was really curious and decided to give this read a chance. Let me start off by saying I really did want to like this read and in a way I did but there were some points of this novel that I just couldn’t buy into.

This is the tale of four friends who thinks one of them is being abused by their husband and as friends are they are extremely concerned and are protective of their friend. Everything comes to a halt with one late night phone call and their friendship is truly tested. Now, this is where my problems with this read went wrong. First of all, the things they did to help out their friend is way beyond anything I could ever do. Call me crazy but I wouldn’t put my family and life on the line and do all the things they did to help her out…sorry, no way. I found some parts far-fetched and kind of campy, but maybe that was just me. Secondly, I had a hard time distinguishing all the women in the beginning. It’s not like there were a ton of women it's like four but for some reason, there was never enough established in the beginning for me to make me remember who was who.

Though I did have a few problems with this read, there were some good parts. I could appreciate the concept and felt the secrets were good. I was really in the middle with this one. I felt that the storyline had so much more potential and just fell a little short for me. All in all, it was an okay read.

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