There are three main characters in Framed; husband and wife Jay and Beth, a wannabe film producer and his piano-teaching wife, and Cassie, an old college roommate of Beth’s who turns up unexpectedly at their Hollywood home. Cassie’s not just there to catch up, though, she’s in hiding, and cracks in Jay and Beth’s fragile marriage are soon exposed by Cassie’s presence.
There are twists and turns here I genuinely didn’t see coming, especially one right at the end of the book which had me shaking my head and full of admiration for the author’s cleverness. Even knowing I was dealing with at least one unreliable narrator by that point, I still made an incorrect assumption based on incomplete information because the author had led me in that direction.
I would say that the book starts off a little slow. Beth and Jay lead pretty boring lives, and things don’t really get going until Cassie crashes the party, a catalyst shaking everything up and setting an inevitable chain of events in motion. Stick with it through the slow start and your patience will be well rewarded. Five stars for an intriguing psychological thriller.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.