A SIMPLE FAVOUR Paperback – January 1, 2017

“My mother used to say: Everyone has secrets. That’s why you can never really know anyone else” (Bell 1). The first few words of the seemingly “perfect” mom, Stephanie Ward, are a consistent and dangerously-true theme throughout the mysterious and on-the-edge-of-your-seat novel, A Simple Favor, by Darcey Bell. The book begins with an ordinary act of kindness from mother to mother, or in other words, a simple favor. Stephanie was the safe-natured mom who would go to any measure for her adorable kid, but, unfortunately, she was an extremely lonely widow who desperately wanted to find a friend in anyone. Emily, on the other hand, was the type of laissez-faire mom who was thrilled to hand over the difficult responsibility of motherhood to anyone else to have a drink, and she was the devious character who would easily find a way to pry your deepest, darkest secrets out of you. Her husband, Sean, was an easily-influenced and naive businessman who undoubtedly was under Emily’s complete control. The questionably unhealthy relationship between the two contrasting mothers seemed to grow rapidly and intensely within a matter of short time. With Stephanie’s secrets, and conveniently not Emily’s, exploited, their relationship took a sharp turn for the worst after Emily’s shocking disappearance and Stephanie’s dedicated search.Further along in the book, the debilitating investigation into Emily’s disappearance is allegedly solved when they find her deceased body in the dreary lake. However, the story takes a dramatic twist when Stephanie dives deeper into what truthfully happened to her perplexing and secretive friend. Soon, she will not only see that friendship, people, and love are not as simple as they seem, but she will encounter sinister and ominous hidden truths about her missing friend and herself. Will Stephanie ultimately regret searching when she discovers Emily’s most enigmatic secrets?Darcey Bell’s thrilling novel is written in thoughtful and intense diction by including deep truths about diving into the true secrets hidden inside us all. A Simple Favor is uniquely written in three different perspectives, Emily, Stephanie, and Sean, that give the reader insight into each character’s feelings, knowledge, and motives. The mystifying novel includes vivid imagery and intimate detail that subtly hints to forecoming situations. Bell’s riveting style of writing consequently entices the reader to read the book a second time. Her ongoing motifs of motherhood and buried secrets are crucial to the development of her recurring theme that secrets are never truly hidden. I found the story to be a stimulating thriller that all readers can subconsciously relate to by having our own hidden secrets. I strongly recommend that teenagers and young adults read this captivating and spectacularly-written novel focusing on an important life lesson. The psychological and mind-blowing mystery filled with love, revenge, betrayal, loyalty, and death keeps you hooked until the very end.Darcey Bell used modern and compelling diction and syntax to intrigue the reader and develop new interest throughout the novel. The one-of-a-kind friendship between the conflicting main characters draws on the readers’ deepest emotions and enlightens the reader about how secrets are never safely concealed. The enticing story is perfect for all mystery-lovers or anyone who desires an engaging journey through unleashed secrets, exhausting yet rewarding motherhood, and disloyal friendships.

This novel is an intriguing study of ridiculous and compelling characters. Part one of the novel is everything a mystery should be - gripping, unforgettable, and hard to put down. When part two began, I realized Darcey Bell was taking the novel in a different direction. I can't say I ever lost my interest in the novel but the plot became increasingly more ridiculous as it tried to resolve itself. Once again, I enjoyed the book immensely and these flaws don't change that. However, if I were to re-read the novel, I'm not sure I would continue far into part two or three.Either way, I think the introduction and Bell's execution of extravagant character development in the last two-thirds of the novel is worth at least one read.

Stephanie is a forty-something widow raising a six-year-old in suburbian Southern Connecticut. She also writes a Mommy Blog where she shares her day-to-day musings with fellow moms everywhere. Her life seems unremarkable — until she meets Emily. Emily is beautiful, stylish and sophisticated. She, too, has a six-year-old, but her life couldn’t be more different than Stephanie’s. She does PR for an elite fashion designer, is married to a handsome and successful Wall Street businessman, and her house is gorgeous and chic. Emily intrigues Stephanie. It’s more than just intrigue though — Stephanie wants to be Emily. Emily has it all: the adorable child, the career, the house, and Sean. She’s all the things Stephanie wishes she were but knows she’d never be. When Emily disappears one day, after asking for a simple favor from Stephanie (to look after her kid), Stephanie appears concerned, and when Emily turns out dead, Stephanie does the “caring best friend” thing: she sleeps with Sean and moves into his and Emily’s house. While she does this, she continues to play the exemplary mom role in her blog. But things don’t end there. Stephanie is full of awful secrets — secrets she shared with Emily. Emily had her fair share of secrets too, things that Stephanie uncovers once it’s clear that Emily may not be dead after all. I watched the movie first, so I’ll start with that. This is a major no-no for book lovers, but I break this rule from time to time. The movie is suspenseful and entertaining, but it is also confusing. It tries to be both serious and funny and it feels disjointed. It’s a dark comedy, but it’s not marketed as such. Still, I like it, and I enjoy it during a binge-watch or two. The movie derails from the book a lot. They make so many changes, but I won’t go into them here. I will mention the characters’ ages though. While everyone is in their early forties in the book, they are all in their early to mid thirties in the movie. This was actually refreshing. I LOVE Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively and Henry Golding, and seeing them in darker roles was refreshing. Also, as much as I love Reese Witherspoon, Amy Adams, Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman, I’m tired of seeing them in these types of roles. They’re the go-to actresses for these kinds of thrillers, I’ll tell you that. Now on to the book. The characters are unlikable and unreliable. It’s clear that Emily is a sociopath, but Stephanie is not so far behind. She’s an envious, grass-is-always-greener-on-the-other-side type of person. I’d loathe to encounter someone like this in real life and, believe me, I’ve come across this kind of individual more times than I care to admit. Her secret is pretty disturbing, but I knew this already, from the movie. While these ladies are difficult to stomach, it is Sean that takes the cake. How could someone be so foolish? How could someone be this wishy-washy AND traitorous at the same time? Ugh. And that’s the main problem I had with this book. I like the whole sociopaths-get-beaten-at-their-own-mind-game theme, but the characters are super inconsistent. The narrative is all over the place. That’s one of the things the movie fixed. They made Emily a super badass, Stephanie more superficial and clueless, and Sean just the tiniest bit more likable and relatable. A SIMPLE FAVOR is still a great thriller to enjoy during this pandemic lockdown, and I give it three out of five multi-berry and caramel smoothies.

Loved the book. It was a page-turner, for sure. It had lots of twists that were unexpected.