A group of five women met at Harvard as college roommates. For the past twenty years, they have been playing essentially a game of tag once a year. Each player draws a name and must retrieve that person’s medallion by shooting each other with water pistols. The winner got bragging rights but little else. In this year’s game, their last, the winner receives a million dollars. With such high stakes, their last game gets hostile quick. With Friends Like These who needs enemies.
For such a short book, With Friends Like These seemed to go on forever. There was a multitude of subplots, including a dead roommate’s ghost, that added little to the story. The women themselves were unlikeable and no one you would want to spend your time with. The reveal of who was the ghost was anticlimactic at best. Overall, this book just seemed to be spinning its wheels with no clear destination in mind. 3 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing me with an advanced review copy.