A mysterious death is only the beginning in How to Kill Your Best Friend by Lexie Elliott (The French Girl), a gripping work of suspense.
Georgie and Lissa were always the closest of their tight-knit group of friends from the college swim team, but Georgie wasn't on the last trip when they all got together, and then Lissa drowned. Her drowning was incongruous, considering that Lissa was the strongest swimmer among them, but there are local legends about the dangers of Kanu Cove on the island where Lissa and her husband owned a resort. Now her friends have gathered at the resort for her memorial. Georgie and Bron, another member of the group, who secretly had an affair with Lissa's late first husband, begin receiving strange notes and other threats. The vacationers who are not part of their group begin to leave the island, the weather turns threatening and the friends come to understand that the secrets they are uncovering might mean that Lissa's drowning was not an accident.
Elliott's book is an intricate, twisting story. Georgie kept Bron's secret about the affair, but she had suspicions about Lissa dating back to her first husband's death. The intensity of Georgie and Lissa's bond has a dark streak; no matter what Georgie thought Lissa may have been hiding, the only thing she would not consider is betraying Lissa. The heightened emotion of their relationship ramps up the suspense in this gothic-tinged, breathtaking thriller. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library