Plays Well with Others

Plays Well with Others by Lauren Myracle
6/10/25; 288 pages
Blackstone Publishing

Plays Well with Others by Lauren Myracle is a very highly recommended character based domestic thriller/suburban noir. The whole is much more than the parts when everything comes together for an engaging, compelling thriller. This debut adult fiction novel is a success.

Jake (Jacquelyn) Nolan lost her husband, baby, and best friend in one fell swoop. She was pregnant, gave birth early, lost her son, and then discovered her husband, Adam, was having an affair with her best friend, Shelby, and he was leaving her. She wrote an angry comment on social media and then wrote an angry private response to Shelby, who immediately edited Jake's comments to make her look bad and posted their private correspondence on social media. It exploded online and made Jake a social pariah.

Now Jake has moved to a bungalow on Sweetwater Lane in Fort Collins, Colorado. She keeps to herself as she is still recognized after the social media scandal, but her neighbor Mabel welcomes her to the neighborhood and the two become best friends. Mabel has her own issues, past and present, bothering her. There are also some children in the neighborhood who have their stories told. including Bethany, Mabel's 10-year old stepdaughter, Billy, with an abusive mother, and siblings Delilah and Wendell, who are living with their aunt.

This is well-written, fast-paced novel is really a character study with a plot that explores betrayal, deceit, friendship, toxic social media, and revenge. The narrative is an engrossing page-turner that is full of twists and secrets along with some humor. It is a novel that will hold your complete attention and just becomes more compelling with each chapter. It was surprising how much I enjoyed this novel.

The chapters all are from either Jake, Mabel, Billy, and Wendell's point-of-view, with Jake's story the initial main focus. At first readers may wonder why the children's viewpoints, but it all comes together at the end. The characters, including the children, are all fully realized individuals and realistically developed with strengths and weaknesses.

Plays Well with Others is a great choice for those who like a character based thriller set in the age of social media. Thanks to Blackstone Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.