Watching Edie

Starred review from June 13, 2016
British author Way (The Dead of Summer) expertly explores the dark side of friendship in her psychological suspense debut. As teenagers in a small West Midlands town, popular Edie McRae—beautiful and stylish—and outcast Heather Wilcox—overweight and socially awkward—are unlikely friends. When Edie’s relationship with a controlling boyfriend leads to a tragic event, she runs away to London. Now 17 years later, 33-year-old Edie is a single mom, depressed, lonely, and living in a sad little flat in a southeast London neighborhood. Then Heather shows up unannounced, inserting herself into Edie’s life, taking charge of baby Maya, and refusing to allow visits from Edie’s uncle, the only relative Edie’s in touch with. At first, Edie is too morose to object, but as she slowly gains her strength, she wonders about Heather’s motives and who is making all those hang-up calls. The shocking revelation about what happened to change these two women’s lives casts a surprising light on each character’s motives. Agent: Emma Parry, Janklow & Nesbit.

If unreliable narrators are your thing, Camilla Way's chilling debut novel will absolutely satisfy. Skilled performances by Heather Wilds and Fiona Hardingham give psychological insights into the two main characters, Edie and Heather. In sections of "before" and "after," each woman tells her perception of the events that began their unlikely friendship and the tragedy that eventually tore them apart. In the "after" sections, Hardingham's Edie is, first, the popular girl in high school who expects adulation, and, later, the desperate, fierce mother of a baby daughter. In the "before" sections, Wilds creates a colorless yet appealing Heather, the high school outcast whose slavish adoration of Edie borders on stalking. Both Hardingham and Wilds are so good that there's no turning this off. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine