'A Simple Favor' Book Review

Well, I already warned you about spoilers, so let’s just jump right in. If you like neat and tidy endings where the bad guy gets punished and everyone lives happily ever after...this isn’t the story for you. She gets away with it!

You’ll be reading the whole story thinking “No way. It’s too convoluted, too crazy. They’ll see through her and everything will work out.” But they don’t. Emily is truly a criminal mastermind. She gets away with everything; murder, mayhem, lying, stealing, all of it! Which overall, I found completely thrilling when I didn't know what was going to happen in the end, and now that I know, I would still have taken the time to read the book. It's just that good!

The book is split into multiple parts, with Stephanie, Emily, and Sean each getting to tell their side of the story before the climactic (or now for you anticlimactic) ending.

Part 1: Stephanie

Stephanie is a mommy blogger who spends her whole life doting on her son, Miles, until she meets fellow mom, Emily. Stephanie believes the two to be best friends simply because their sons are best friends.

Because of her profession, much of Stephanie's part one of the novel is written in simple, one- to two-page blog-style writing, while there are a few normally written chapters of background information to help move the story along.

When Emily asks Stephanie for a simple favor (I love when the title is in the book), Stephanie willingly does by picking Nicky (Emily's son) up from school one afternoon. When Emily never returns, it leads Stephanie on a wild chase to find out what happened to her best friend...who isn't really dead, so don't fall for it!

A bunch of other stuff happens in between that will make you realize that no one is what they seem and that everyone is a bit messed up, but the main thing to remember when reading is that no matter how much it may seem like it, Emily isn't dead!

Part 2: Emily

When Emily realizes that Stephanie has found out her secrets, she begins tormenting Stephanie through a game of cat-and-mouse. She eventually convinces Stephanie that Sean (Emily's husband) had been abusing her and that's why she ran away.

With Stephanie now on her side, Emily is able to convince Stephanie to help her dispose of a murdered man's body and to set up Sean for the crimes (spousal abuse, murdering Emily's twin, and murdering the insurance detective).

While most of part two is told from Emily's perspective, there are still some of Stephanie's blog posts (that Emily is reading from her hotel room where she's hidden out) and a few short chapters from Stephanie (again as background information like in part one).

Part 3: Sean

In part three, readers find out how Sean truly feels about all his wife's deceits. He was previously aware of the insurance fraud scheme and implicating Stephanie, but unaware of her plan to murder her sister, the insurance detective, and many other parts of Emily's ultimate plan.

When Emily realizes that Sean has been sleeping with and living with Stephanie since her disappearance, she realizes that all she really wants is Miles and begins plotting for Sean to go down for her crimes. Once she has Stephanie involved in part two, Sean has no chance of surviving part three.

Ultimately, part three wraps up all three characters' lives but is mostly focused on Sean. He ends up having to flee the country when the police begin looking into him for what are really Emily's crimes. Stephanie and Emily live with their children (separately) but freely.

However, the very last chapter is from Emily's point of view and she yet again throws suspicion onto someone else (this time Stephanie) before grabbing hers and Miles' passports to flee from the police.

"I got Nicky's passport and both of mine—the fake passport and the real one—just in case we needed them. Maybe we could visit Sean for a few days. Maybe I'd toy with him. Torment him. Maybe I could be the cat again—with yet another mouse. I'd been expecting this. Planning this. Preparing for something like this, for a very long time. For my whole life, you could say. I'd never been less scared. I felt young and excited and brave. I felt happy to be alive." (A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell)

If you're interested in the book after reading this article, here's a link to the Amazon page for the book. There are multiple editions, including the movie tie-in version available at varying prices.