Name: Celine's review of A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell
Item: A Simple Favor
Rating: 3.5
Author: Celine

Darcey Bell

Soon to be a major motion picture from Lionsgate starring Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively and Henry Golding, and directed by Paul Feig "Riveting and brilliantly structured, A Simple Favor is an edge-of-your seat domestic thriller about a missing wife and mother that relies on a rotating cast of unreliable narrators to ingeniously examine the cost of competitive mom-friends, the toll of ordinary marital discontent and the fallacy of the picture-perfect, suburban family."—Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author She’s your best friend. She knows all your secrets. That’s why she’s so dangerous. A single mother's life is turned upside down when her best friend vanishes in this chilling debut thriller in the vein of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. It starts with a simple favor—an ordinary kindness mothers do for one another. When her best friend, Emily, asks Stephanie to pick up her son Nicky after school, she happily says yes. Nicky and her son, Miles, are classmates and best friends, and the five-year-olds love being together—just like she and Emily. A widow and stay-at-home mommy blogger living in woodsy suburban Connecticut, Stephanie was lonely until she met Emily, a sophisticated PR executive whose job in Manhattan demands so much of her time. But Emily doesn’t come back. She doesn’t answer calls or return texts. Stephanie knows something is terribly wrong—Emily would never leave Nicky, no matter what the police say. Terrified, she reaches out to her blog readers for help. She also reaches out to Emily’s husband, the handsome, reticent Sean, offering emotional support. It’s the least she can do for her best friend. Then, she and Sean receive shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over. Or is it? Because soon, Stephanie will begin to see that nothing—not friendship, love, or even an ordinary favor—is as simple as it seems. A Simple Favor is a remarkable tale of psychological suspense—a clever and twisting free-fall of a ride filled with betrayals and reversals, twists and turns, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty, murder and revenge. Darcey Bell masterfully ratchets up the tension in a taut, unsettling, and completely absorbing story that holds you in its grip until the final page.

A Novel

A Simple Favor

Celine

There is always one person in a high-stakes game whom the others call "the fish." And by the end of the game, the fish will have lost all his money. George Clooney said, "If you don't know who the fish is, chances are good that you are the fish." 

she's always saying to be honest, maybe because she so rarely is

I calculated where Emily must have stood to see me in the window. I stood there and looked at the house. Nothing moved. It was spooky. I heard branches crack deep in the woods. I could hardly breathe. Then I saw myself in the window. In the house. And that was the scariest thing. It was me. And it wasn't me. I was someone else. I was all alone. I was out in the woods. Spying on myself.

But the guilty always think that someone knows their secret.

We were each other's drug and each other's dealer.

That same liquid desire runs through me. My eyelids get heavy, sleepy with longing. I close my eyes against the heat, and I feel myself melting into a puddle of pure wanting.

'Ive never worn perfume. I always think it's a little off-putting when women smell like flowers or spices. What are they hiding? What's the message they're sending? 

Jessica Guht

I believed the story was well thought through and written. I very much disliked Stephanie and couldn’t understand nor explain her naivety. Altogether I thought it was „just good“ until it came to the end. Horrible ending, unless there’s a part two with a lot of plot twists.

I read this because I saw the trailer for the movie and it had Henry Golding, Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively plus it looked really good so I was like "Okay, wig!" it interested me and so I read the book and um....? What? I love psychological thrillers, I really do. All the Gone Girl type books, I'm a sucker for that but I'm incredibly baffled right now that I'm not even sure what to say other than "Huh?"

Whilst the story was okay enough for me to read through it in a day, when I read these types of novels I expect to be surprised and blown away by incredible foreshadowing, ultimately getting that moment where I go like "Ohhhh! Oh my god, it all makes sense now! I didn't expect that!" - THAT moment. In this book, however, it was so cliched that every single twist was just so predictable and annoying. I just go like, "Um... kay lol." It didn't keep me guessing, I guess, since anyone with half a brain cell could tell what was going to happen. I'm shocked that I actually finished this, I'm just hoping the movie does a better job. It has to, the cast is way too good for this mess. 

The characters... they were all insufferable. Stephanie was annoying, Emily had 0 redeeming qualities and Sean was just boring. I can't even comprehend how ANNOYING Stephanie was oh my god I was sighing the whole time and she's so stupid I don't understand how someone could be THAT stupid. Even Sana saying, "Harley Quinn is a zombie," had more intelligence than Stephanie in this entire book. Emily... (view spoiler)[ I expected to like her but she was so shitty and somehow so illogical for someone so "cunning" like omg SIS, you might be smart but like WHY? She did so much unnecessary shitty things that it literally just feels like she's trying to be edgy. Just... stop.  (hide spoiler)]

Also that ending? Ms. Bell? Are you okay? It literally feels as if she realized that it's going nowhere and got demotivated. It had zero closure, zero substance, it was so...... what......? I think that was the most shocking thing honestly, Ms. Bell's lack of ability to properly end a story. A middle schooler could probably write a better ending. It wasn't that I hated how it all ended, it was underwhelming but whatever y'know? But the way it was written, so abruptly and incompletely that it was just like listening to a song and have it cut RIGHT before the chorus.

Gisela Ayala 

I kind of want to give this two stars, but the actually plot is interesting. I think that half of the inner dialogue of the characters could have been cut out and the book would have been fine. It got a little boring listening to them after awhile. 

Maybe it's because I watched the movie ahead of time and then read the book (which I usually never do) and it affected the way I read the book. I don't know if I would recommend the book, but I would definitely recommend the movie.

bonch cronch

i found it underwhelming. not bad i just expected more murder i guess. i think if i hadn't just read through 8 Pretty Little Liar books i would have liked this bettter.

I did like the POV switch between MC and MC blog posts. i liked seeing the split between persona and the face they put on for their blog. Later on it was neat to see how the MC given information and how it influenced the blog.

ultimately not for me.

Latitude Tamarind

if you are real bad at solving mysteries before characters do/information is revealed, i recommend this book

it gets 3 stars because it got really gay within the last 60 pages

Shan

Very slow in the beginning and middle & felt fairly predictible until the end. The ending was exciting and a bit crazy (what you want in a thriller), but was frustrating to read throughout the middle.

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

Había visto la película, por lo que tenia altas expectativas. Es interesante la forma de ir relatando la historia, y el uso de los puntos de vista. Hay diferencias en la historia, por lo que vale la pena leerlo. Me divirtió la historia.

Melissa Moore

This was a decent book. Unexpected twists but at the same time the writing made them not completely come out of nowhere. Looking forward to the movie now.

Archita Birla

i liked this book okay. i saw the movie when it came out, i think, and i really liked it!

reading it was a bit strange, as there are plot details that have beenc hanged. 

i wouldn't reread this one, but it was exciting to read the first time around.

Ididn't think that this book would hold my interest. It started slow but then....I really enjoyed it enough to finish it.
I wish there was more character development. It just felt like there was something missing.
Not bad!

Lauren Attaway

What a frustrating, crazy book! Everything I say about this book feels like it's a clue or a spoiler, it's that kind of neighbor-next-door mystery. I'm so fascinated by the surplus of this type of books in this post Gone Girl world. The suburbs have never been more dangerous than they are in recent fiction. A widowed mommy  blogger becomes embroiled in the missing persons case involving her best friend.  This book might not have broken the mold, but I still enjoyed and raced through ever chapter. A quick, intelligent read from a new author I suspect I'll be adding to my watch list. I saw somewhere this is being adapted into a movie with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively and I am. Here.For.It.

Chrissy

Paulina 

Rzadko to piszę, ale film był lepszy. Bo rozumiał autoironiczny potencjał tej historii i umiał śmiać się z tego, jak bardzo pełna klisz jest ta historia. Tutaj wszystko jest na poważnie.

This is a big 'meh.' I thought it might take a Gone Girl turn, because of the twist, but then it fizzled. And then it went from fizzle to flat to that forgotten about soda you won't drink.

I did not appreciate how the author tried to be edgy with sexual scenes just thrown into the fray. This is entirely personal, because it means I can't listen to them at work.

I think the threats and the twists didn't make sense. I wanted it to be darker, edgier, and just altogether better. Im curious to see if the movie is better, but I doubt it.

Huh?
What happened here?
I really did not like Stephanie.
Nothing else to say.

Witch

2.5 stars
What a mess. 

This book was like watching a trainwreck. I hated where it all ended up, but it was a fun, messy ride while it lasted. The characters were so over-the-top and cartoonish- but it definitely made me excited to watch the adaptation.

Gaby Flores

I definitely prefer the movies ending to the books but like always, the book goes more into depth with each of the characters and their side of the story than the movie

Chelsea White

A good read with tons of twists and turns. I enjoyed it as much as the movie (which I saw before reading the book), for different reasons. There was enough of a difference between the two that I wasn’t constantly comparing both of them. The ending was particularly satisfying, even leaving it at such an open end!

Jessica Guht &
A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell

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Jessica Guht &A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell

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Jessica Guht &
A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell