4 Stars from me
I loved Imperfect Women and felt like it was the perfect embodiment of the darker side of long term female friendships.
The author, fabulous and talented scene setter that she is, described the three lead characters and their families and lives in exquisite detail. This really helps the reader to understand the characters.
Oh, the characters, imperfect women they were indeed. But then aren’t we all? As for their deeply disappointing husbands…
Poor beautiful Nancy, my heart went out to her. Seemingly she had it all but was deeply insecure underneath her beautiful trappings.
Mary was an interesting one and no doubt an oh so painfully true example of how easy it is to become trapped in a life that you didn’t intend.
Eleanor, again was interesting, and the motivations for all three woman to have remained lifelong friends were questionable. Yet I suspect all groups of friends have similarly tenuous lasting connections; sometimes it is just that feeling of being truly ‘known’ that is intoxicating, and enough.
Overall, I thought this was a beautiful take on a crime thriller and I loved the continual release of information and unveiling layer by layer of what really happened to Nancy…
Blurb: From the author of Our Kind of Cruelty comes an enthralling, irresistible novel of psychological suspense about three women and the destructive power of buried secrets.
When Nancy Hennessy is murdered, she leaves behind two best friends, an adoring husband and daughter, and a secret lover whose identity she took to the grave. Nancy was gorgeous, wealthy, and cherished by those who knew her—from the outside, her life was perfect. But as the investigation into her death flounders and her friends Eleanor and Mary wrestle with their grief, dark details surface that reveal how little they knew their friend, each other, and maybe even themselves.
A gripping, immersive novel about impossible expectations and secrets that fester and become lethal, Imperfect Women unfolds through the perspectives of three fascinating women. Their enduring, complex friendship is the knot the reader must untangle to answer the question Who killed Nancy?
Imperfect Women explores guilt and retribution, love and betrayal, and the compromises we make that alter our lives irrevocably. With the wickedly sharp insights and finely tuned suspense that has drawn comparisons to Patricia Highsmith and Paula Hawkins, Araminta Hall returns with another page-turning, thought-provoking tour de force.
Read and Rated 