When Sam, Margaret, and Diana all found themselves at the end of their marriages, they decided that what they needed was a girls’ weekend out of New York City. Margaret has a friend with a house about four hours outside of the city, where they can relax and laugh and drink wine in the hot tub. They pick a weekend, rent a car, and start out.
Margaret is the mothering sort, always making sure that her girlfriends are safe. She has the extra coat for chilly nights, she insists they text her to make sure they got home okay, she tries to keep them from getting mired in unhappiness, pushing them to move towards healing. She rented the car, and despite Diana’s insistence that she can drive too, it’s Margaret who refuses because Diana is not on the rental agreement.
Margaret met her husband Lars back when they were both struggling actors. Eventually, Lars landed a role on a cable television show and she gave up on her acting dreams and went into advertising copywriting. That was where she met Sam, who worked at one of the ad agencies Margaret worked at. She thought she’d be with Lard forever, but when they lost their son while she was still pregnant, the marriage broke apart, with Lars drinking and Margaret searching for answers anywhere she could find, no matter the cost.
Sam met her husband Harry at the ad agency. He was the creative director who came in to save the day when the client rejected every idea Sam and her team had. They put in long nights together, coming up with a new campaign that the client finally liked and just kept working together. Their creative teamwork turned into friendship and then flirtation, and when Harry admitted that he and his wife were splitting up, Sam was willing to take their relationship to the next level.
It wasn’t long at all before they had a beautiful wedding ceremony, which brought a lot of joy to Sam’s dying father, but only a few months after the honeymoon, Harry announced he was leaving Sam to go back to her. That she needed him. Sam was devastated. It was at a local bar that she met Diana, and she was the one who introduced Diana to Margaret.
Diana is the life of the party. She brings an unstoppable energy to her projects and relationships. She is the first to suggest another bottle of wine or margaritas, and she listens with her full attention. As a social worker, she understands human behavior, and she’s slow to judge and quick to celebrate the good things. Diana’s ex, Brandon, is obsessive and controlling, so she’s not on social media and she ducks out when Sam tries to take a picture of them together. Diana was the one who suggested the girls’ weekend in the first place, so the three women can get away from their exes and their problems and just let their hair down for the weekend.
It’s Diana, the navigator, who insists that they stop a couple of hours outside of Manhattan, at a gas station in Catskill. They fill the car with gas and buy snacks and are ready to get back on the road when the key to their rental car disappears. They search all over for it, but it’s nowhere to be found. They decide to stay the night there and have a local garage make a copy of the key for them, and then they can head back out to their original destination. Diana finds a rental, and they get the car towed to the local garage and call a car service to take them to the rental house. And then they go out for dinner and drinks.
The local bar doesn’t have margaritas on the menu, but the friendly bartender is willing to make them anyway. The friends promise each other that it will be a glass of water between drinks, so they’ll be n good shape to get back on the road in the morning. But things don’t go as planned.
The next morning, all three women have to face what they did the night before. One hooked up with her ex. One hooked up with someone new. And the other one never came home. As the day goes on, and Sam and Margaret can’t get ahold of Diana at all, they start to worry. They call local hospitals and hotels, but they still can’t find her. They decide it’s time to call the police.
When the officer comes out to take her report, Sam and Margaret realize that they don’t actually know that much about Diana. They don’t have any photos of her. They can’t look her up on social media. They don’t even know exactly where she lives. And then the officer comes back to them later with the news that there is no one by their friends name in any database in New York, no driver’s license, no certifications for social work, no trace of her at all, Sam and Margaret start to wonder who they left town with, how they ended up in Catskill, and who they can trust.
The Perfect Escape is Leah Konen’s chilling story of a girls’ weekend gone horribly wrong. The secrets and reveals just keep coming, one after the other, until the very last page. These women she has created could be your friend, your coworker, your sister, they are so real.
I was completely taken by The Perfect Escape. I kept thinking that I knew what was happening, but there were some surprises that were completely out of left field. I would recommend this one to anyone who loves a good thriller, who looks to the novels of Shari Lapena, Megan Miranda, Gilly Macmillan, or Ruth Ware. This one may start out a little slow, but once it gets moving, it just does not stop! Loved it!
Egalleys for The Perfect Escape were provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley, with many thanks.
