First published 2013
Dr. Jennifer White discovers her neighbor Amanda O'Toole dead at seventy-five, four fingers severed from her right hand. Police suspect Jennifer, a retired orthopedic surgeon, committed the murder. Jennifer suffers from Alzheimer's disease and cannot determine her own guilt or innocence. She shared an intensely complicated friendship with Amanda, two strong-willed women who alternated between intimacy and rivalry. Amanda often tried to control Jennifer's life and revealed buried secrets about Jennifer's recently deceased husband James, a cunning lawyer. Childless Amanda served as godmother to Jennifer's daughter Fiona, creating constant competition with her more accomplished friend. Jennifer narrates her fragmented memories through journal entries meant to combat her deteriorating mind. Her children and friends occasionally contribute their own testimonies. Through the fog of her confused yet sometimes lucid consciousness emerge Amanda, Fiona, Jennifer's ambiguous son Mark, and Magdalena, her devoted but secretive caregiver. Jennifer struggles to recover memories that might reveal whether she killed Amanda and mutilated her hand, and if so, why.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, psychological-thriller
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
409 pages · Paperback · Robert Laffont
Content warnings: mental-illness