BOOK REVIEW: How to Kill Your Best Friend by Lexie Elliott #howtokillyourbestfriend #bookreview

I’m hoping that no one reading this has ever thought about killing their best friend, but if you have… well this is the book to give you some ideas! Cleverly starting each chapter with a method you could kill someone (only if you really needed to), Lexie Elliott’s How to Kill Your Best Friend is a slowly escalating suspense novel that will definitely have you questioning those you think you know best!

About the Book

If you suspected your best friend, the person you were closest to in the whole world, was a murderer, what would you do? Would you confront her? Would you help keep her secret? Or would you begin to feel afraid? Most importantly, why don’t you feel safe now that she’s dead? From the author of The French Girl comes a novel full of secrets, suspense, and deadly twists.

Georgie, Lissa, and Bronwyn have been inseparable since dominating their college swim team; swimming has always been an escape from their own problems, but now their shared passion has turned deadly. How can it be true that Lissa, the strongest swimmer they know, drowned? Granted, there is something strange about Kanu Cove, where Lissa was last seen, swimming off the coast of the fabulous island resort she owned with her husband.

Lissa’s closest friends gather at the resort to honor her life, but Georgie and Bron can’t seem to stop looking over their shoulders. Danger lurks beneath the surface of the crystal-clear water, and even their luxurious private villas can’t help them feel safe. As the weather turns ominous, trapping the funeral guests together on the island, nobody knows who they can trust. Lissa’s death was only the beginning…

Reflection

Told in both the present and flashing back to college and the years after, How to Kill Your Best Friend follows a group of friends from university as they come together for the memorial for one of their own, Lissa. Lissa, Georgie, and Bron were college swimmers and best friends, though Georgie and Lissa shared a special bond that no one else in their friend group could crack. It seems strange, then, that Lissa seems to have drowned while swimming in Kanu Cove, just off the resort she and her husband own and operate.

The story alternates between Georgie and Bron’s perspective, and I have to say they couldn’t be more different as characters. Georgie is secretive, closed off, and beautiful in a reserved way. Bron is shorter, curvy, transparent, and desperate to be included. I liked both in a way, and I also disliked both women in other ways. Lissa was a mysterious and somewhat toxic figure in the past. Georgie and Lissa have a special bond, almost like sisters. At the same time, it seems clear that they haven’t spoken or seen each other for awhile. In fact, Georgie has taken a job in the US and hasn’t really been in touch with any of their friends until now.

Did Lissa actually drown? Or did something more sinister happen? Everyone in this book has secrets and there are plenty of suspects to go around as secrets reveal themselves.

This book has a slow, steady pace. Much of what happens through the first 75% is slow reveals about the characters, their backstories, and small clues about what may be going on. The pace picks up towards the end. I find this pace is common for British thrillers—many Americans refer to them as “slow-burns” because compared to American thrillers, they do have a different rhythm to them.

I enjoyed it overall and thought the structure was clever. I don’t mind a slow pace but this one felt a bit too slow through the first half. The ending made it worth it.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy. Opinions are my own.