Best Friends Forever

June 15, 2009
Chick lit doyenne Weiner offers airtight proof that the genre thrives with this clever, sad and sweet turn on Thelma and Louise
–style rage. Juggling the politics of broken families, heartbreaking betrayal and shaky self-esteem, two girlhood pals—ugly duckling Addie and wounded beauty Valerie—reconnect after their high school reunion, where Valerie exacts a long-in-coming revenge on smug former beau Dan Swansea. But the payback gets more complicated when police chief Jordan Novick, nursing a broken heart and a crush-at-first-sight with Addie, is called in to investigate Dan's disappearance. Along the way, Val and Addie stage what may be the funniest not-quite-heist ever pulled off as they evade the heat over the missing Dan. The big payoff, of course, is that Addie and Valerie mend the mean-girls misunderstanding that drove them apart as teens and discover the shared pain and loss that bound them as kids and, once again, as adults. This beach read will win readers over with its wit and wisdom.

Rick Holmes and Kate Baldwin deliver excellent performances in this touching audio. Police chief James Novick is called in to investigate the disappearance of bad-boy Dan Swansea from his high school reunion. At the same time, Val Adaler arrives on her old friend Addie's doorstep. There's a longstanding rift between the two of them, but now Val needs help. SHE knows what happened to Swansea, a former boyfriend who done her wrong--she ran him over. As voiced by Holmes, Novick comes across as sweet, funny, and a little sad. Baldwin is endearing as the mousy, overweight Addie and dramatic as her friend Val, who once betrayed her. The mending of their relationship, as well as the romance between Addie and Novick, is tenderly recounted by the two narrators. D.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine