The Spires by Kate Moretti

​    If you read popular thrillers (and of course you do, that’s how they got so popular in the first place), sooner or later you’ll stumble upon Moretti. Because everyone’s got their version of women in peril and it seems some excel at it more than others. Mind you, most of the plots are just variations on preset themes…it’s difficult to hit originality when seemingly everyone and their monkey are out writing similar things, so tell me if you heard this one before…
   A woman takes in a college friend she hasn’t seen in 20 years who then slowly but surely begins to take over her life. Single White Female and all that. Enough gaslighting to send you back to Victorian times. Is she going mad or it someone out to get her? Is a former friend in need a friend indeed? Is it worth it to trade in some sanity for free mad/cook/driver services? And just what did take place 20 years ago with her old college friends that has scarred them all so? 
    So yes, that sounds very much like great many other plots out there. The question was just of doing it right and, to her credit, Moretti does. She makes up for the dearth of originality with oodles of deliciously stretched out suspense, really good writing and some really fun plot twists. She may not be inventing the wheel here, but she tunes it very nicely.
   Don’t overanalyze this if you can help it, because obviously taking in someone you haven’t known or been around in two decades without any prior research (or even a brief google search) and then relying on them to help your struggling marriage along is a terrible idea. Just like saying nothing while your spouse gets laid off and decides to waste obscene amounts of money on new age style self improvement is a terrible idea. I mean that leaves Penelope (occasionally known as Pip) and her family with only (gasp) a quarter of a million dollars in income instead of the customary 500K a year. Yes, the struggle is real in white privilege land.
   The struggle wasn’t real in college either, when five privileged youths graduated and decided to take a fun year off and live in a renovated church as a sort of lovelorn commune/makeshift family, all of them but one completely obsessed with the vaguely charming aspiring writer named Jack. The pretentious five named themselves The Spires, because it was meant to be the highest peak of their lives and, you know, church, and wouldn’t you know it the youth, the drinking, the toxic obsessions, etc. turned out to be a recipe for a proper sh*tshow. Enough to send them all in separate directions for all this time…until now.
    Anyway, I know I’m making fun of it, it’s easy enough to, but really the book was surprisingly decent despite itself. The dynamics were just right. And the writing was well above average. he author did an excellent job of conveying Penelope's frazzled, disoriented and increasingly frightened state of mind, which is crucial for a psychological thriller.Made for a really decent introduction to a new author, one I wouldn’t be opposed to reading in the future. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.