THICKER THAN WATER

4 stars out of 5

This is an entertaining story that held my attention throughout despite thinking to myself every page of the way how much I would not want to be friends with either of the two main characters, sisters-in-law Julia and Sienna Larkin. Nor, for that matter, did I have much rapport with Julia's husband Jason, Sienna's brother; he spends most of the book in a coma, but since much of the story centers on him, I learned enough to know he's not my kind of guy. 

Julia and Sienna are close friends and business partners; Julia and Jason have a mostly grown son Aiden. Jason has been working long hours in the hopes of earning a promotion; getting it becomes problematic with the brutal murder of his boss (among other things, his lips were sewn shut). All possibility of a promotion becomes totally out of the question when, a few days later, Jason has a devastating car accident that results in a medically induced coma and the possibility that he won't recover. Things really take a turn for the worse when the police determine that Jason is the primary murder suspect - but of course, he has no way to defend himself.

So, that task falls to his two ardent supporters, Julia and Sienna. Both are loyal to the core; Jason, they agree, couldn't possibly be the killer no matter what the evidence shows. Well, maybe not no matter what; as the investigation heats up - and some of what Julia recalls about Jason's actions of late (ones she's never shared with her bestie even though they share everything) - Julia begins to suspect the cops may be onto something.

And that, of course, begins to fracture the tight bond between the two women; Sienna refuses to consider the possibility that Jason played any part in the murder. As the story progresses, readers get alternating perspectives from both, complete with additional backstory clues that suggest their friendship may not have been as tight as even the two of them once believed. And speaking of belief, the ending left me shaking my head a bit; humans filled with as much angst, self-doubt and troubled pasts as Julia, Sienna and Jason don't suddenly turn into trusting, accepting people without help from a skilled therapist and/or heavy duty medication. With these three characters, I'm not even sure a shrink or drugs could turn the tide.

But suffice it to say everything is resolved in one way or another, and the whole story is well-thought-out and good enough that I took it to bed to finish because I was too engrossed to wait till morning. For the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy, I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley (and the author, of course, whose previous books I have enjoyed).

Thicker Than Water by Megan Collins (Atria Books, July 2023); 316 pp.