Before I Let You In

February 5, 2018
British author Blackhurst’s engrossing second novel (after 2017’s How I Lost You) focuses on 30-somethings Karen Browning, Bea Barker, and Eleanor Whitney, who have been close friends since childhood and all live in the same unnamed English town. Eleanor, who’s married, juggles the responsibilities of caring for two children. Bea, who’s single, likes to talk about her various dates. Karen, a psychiatrist who lives with her boyfriend, is the group’s anchor and fiercely protective of her friends. But each woman harbors secrets they can’t share for fear these private matters would ruin the friendships. Their bonds are tested when Jessica Hamilton, a new patient of Karen’s, seems to know intimate details about each woman and hints that she’s having an affair with Eleanor’s husband. Soon, odd things start to happen to the three: objects are moved from their houses and they receive damning emails, but the supposed sender denies writing them. Blackhurst enhances this briskly moving tale about the depths and limits of friendship with expert twists and subtle misdirections.