From the Bookshelf of MCLS Reading Challenge…

A Simple Favor

Darcey Bell

Finish date: May 23, 2017

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Apr 06, 2017 Stephanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, review-book, suspense-thriller, missing-disappeared, social-media-or-online

A Simple Favor is a gripping psychological thriller full of crazy characters and twists and turns akin to one of my favorites, Gone Girl.

Stephanie is a single mother, widow, and mom blogger who befriends the cool and stylish Emily, mother of one of her son’s classmates. Often staying late at work with a husband out of town on business, Emily frequently calls on Stephanie to pick up her son after school and keep an eye on him until she gets home. Stephanie doesn’t mind these simple favors until o A Simple Favor is a gripping psychological thriller full of crazy characters and twists and turns akin to one of my favorites, Gone Girl.

Stephanie is a single mother, widow, and mom blogger who befriends the cool and stylish Emily, mother of one of her son’s classmates. Often staying late at work with a husband out of town on business, Emily frequently calls on Stephanie to pick up her son after school and keep an eye on him until she gets home. Stephanie doesn’t mind these simple favors until one day… Emily doesn’t come back. Soon enough, Stephanie is teaming up with the usually absent husband, Sean, to try and find the missing Emily. Much to their surprise, her body is found a short while later. Though the news is heartbreaking, they can finally rest knowing what really happened… or can they?

This is a suspenseful novel with a unique concept. I was immediately drawn to it because of the blogging aspect as well as the disappearance. I’m always drawn to missing persons cases both in real life and in fiction, and one of my favorite shows ever is Disappeared. Something about not knowing what happened to someone intrigues the hell out of me, and this book was no exception.

From the start, you are immediately suspect of nearly everyone, as each one of the main players here seem a bit off and with possible motive. No one can be trusted and every last one of them is unreliable. Each one — Stephanie, Emily, and Sean — have secrets that the others are not privy to and you have no idea who is telling the truth and when. In fact, none of them are particularly easy to like, either.

Comparisons were drawn between this book and Gone Girl, and I can certainly see why. If you like the twists and turns present in Gone Girl, I think you’ll appreciate this one too. Secret after secret is revealed and shocking revelations about each character eventually come to the surface. Now, I can’t say this is as shocking or quite as well done as Gone Girl, but it satisfied my appreciation for the dark and twisty.

I will say, I have a small bone to pick with the blogging aspect, as someone who has been blogging for nearly a decade. The blog entries seemed highly unrealistic and corny to me — really long, drawn out, and over the top. However, they did help to move the story along, no matter how annoying Stephanie was with her “hi moms!” over and over again.

All in all, I enjoyed the story and found it equally compelling and hard to put down. I was shocked quite a bit and loved hating these crazy characters. ...more

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Oct 05, 2018 Susan Carlson rated it it was ok

Shelves: psychological

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 18, 2019 Sarah rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, thriller, contemporary, fiction

This book was nothing short of awful. Some of the worst writing I’ve seen in a while. Here’s an example:

“I’ve been eating red meat for the first time since Chris and Davis died. I’m amazed (and a little disappointed in myself) by how much I still love that rich, salty, juicy, bloody taste. And I’ve started to associate that delicious taste with being around Sean. I feel almost as if we’re vampires on a sexy TV series where the undead with their fangs and perfect bodies zoom across the screen to ...more

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May 23, 2017 Cynthia Dana rated it it was amazing

Aug 09, 2018 Hannah rated it really liked it

Sep 15, 2018 Robin Benoit marked it as to-read

May 24, 2020 Emily Kleykamp marked it as to-read

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