June and Delia used to be friends. Best friends. Even when it felt like their home lives were falling apart, June knew she could count on Delia. She knew their secrets tied them together.
That was a while ago. Over a year. Before June started dating Ryan. Before Delia met Ryan and things got . . . weird.
June hasn’t spoken to Delia since.
Now Delia is dead. Burned to death in her step-father’s shed, they say. Suicide, they say.
June doesn’t believe it.
Certain that Delia was murdered, June sets out to uncover the truth. Instead of easy answers, she finds a complicated tangle of secrets and lies that will change everything she thought she knew about her best friend in Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls (2015) by Lynn Weingarten.
Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls is Weingarten’s fourth novel. It is a stand-alone title.
Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls is a complicated novel. Weingarten employs varied narrative techniques and format choices throughout to create prose with as many twists as the plot.
Like June herself, readers never know exactly what to expect in this book. The plot is uneasy and often difficult as June unearths raw moments from her past with Delia. This story is partly the postmortem of a friendship with flashbacks and June’s memories detailing how the girls’ friendship began and, later, how it unraveled.
The rest of the novel focuses more closely on June’s investigation of Delia’s death and her increasing questions about what really happened. June is never certain who to trust, lending a sense of uncertainty and unease to a novel where allegiances–and even facts–are constantly shifting.
Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls is a solid thriller with moments of genuine suspense, numerous shocks, and a powerful ending that demands to be discussed at length. A must-read for fans of thrillers in general and readers who like a novel that keeps them guessing.
Possible Pairings: The Leaving by Tara Altebrando, Shift by Jennifer Bradbury, With Malice by Eileen Cook, The Devil You Know by Trish Doller, The Graces by Laure Eve, Charlie, Presumed Dead by Anne Heltzel, Don’t You Trust Me? by Patrice Kindl, One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, Consent by Nancy Ohlin, I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest, Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield, Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan, Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes, Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma
*A copy this book was acquired from the publisher for review consideration at BEA 2015*
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