My review: 4.5⭐

TW ~ domestic abuse/violence, excessive alcohol assumption as a coping mechanism, miscarriage

Two strangers living similar lives with prominent, manipulating, controlling and abusive husbands. The similarities don’t end there ~ they look similar, they both drive a Lexus and they both live in mcmansions. This leads to some repetitiveness, but still gives the story some uniqueness.
Both couples are successful ~ 2 lawyers and 2 doctors, which just goes to show that domestic violence can happen to, and be done by, anyone.

As one woman watches the other she just knows she needs to help this woman, a woman she doesn’t even know and only glimpsed once in a store. She just had a feeling about what was going on in her life, since it seems similar to her own.
It was a great way to first read through Leah’s eyes as she watched the abuse happen and then through McKenna’s eyes as she lived through it…and then visa versa.

Told in mostly in dual pov’s of Leah and McKenna with some flashbacks to the past. There are some chapters told by the detective, Jordan Harrison, that kept me glued to my kindle to see how the investigative side went. I liked that each chapter gave us the date, so we could easily follow along with the timeline.

There wasn’t really a mystery because the big shebang happened earlier in the book than I thought it would. The detective was a great character and I liked how his partners story weaved itself into the murder investigations.

I’m impressed with this domestic suspense debut. It was fast paced, intense and well written. I had a feeling it would all play out exactly as it did and I was pleased with the conclusion. I can’t wait to get my hands on what Nora writes next!

I liked the added author’s note at the end that gave facts and resources on DV.

*Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Nora Murphy and NetGalley for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

⬇Purchase links⬇

Book blurb: Release date ~ May 31, 2022

A gripping debut domestic suspense novel, The Favor explores with compassion and depth what can happen when women pushed to the limit take matters into their own hands.

Staying is dangerous. Leaving could be worse.

Leah and McKenna have never met, though they have parallel lives.

They don’t—ever—find themselves in the same train carriage or meet accidentally at the gym or the coffee shop. They don’t—ever—discuss their problems and find common ground. They don’t—ever—acknowledge to each other that although their lives have all the trappings of success, wealth and happiness, they are, in fact, trapped.

Because Leah understands that what’s inside a home can be more dangerous than what’s outside. Driving past McKenna’s house one night, she sees what she knows only too well herself from her own marriage: McKenna’s “perfect” husband is not what he seems. She decides to keep an eye out for McKenna, until one night, she intervenes.

Leah and McKenna have never met. But they will.