The problem with building a book around a big reveal in the latter third of a novel is that inevitably readers are going to be disappointed. When a character refuses to discuss what is bugging them the most you begin to think it’s something heinous, when it turns out to be not so heinous it’s a let down.

This is the only problem with Lauren Grodstein’s A Friend of the Family, the big reveal is a big dud. Thankfully, the journey to the reveal is entertaining enough that the disappointment is more of an “eh, who cares?” rather than an “are you fucking kidding me?”

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