Keep Your Friends Close

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. The novel concludes with a series of twists, ending not with the killer’s capture but with Whitney learning of Kiersten’s ultimate betrayal, avoiding a tidy, simple resolution. How did you feel about this morally ambiguous conclusion, and what do you think it says about justice and victimhood in the world of the novel?

2. Lucinda Berry’s background as a clinical psychologist often informs the characterization in her novels. How does this novel’s exploration of trauma and maternal anxiety compare to her other works, such as The Perfect Child? If you haven’t read her other books, how did her psychological expertise seem to shape the characters and their motivations in this story?

3. Did you find the novel’s twists and reveals genuinely surprising, or were you able to predict some of the major turns in the investigation?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. The novel explores how well we can ever truly know the people we let into our lives. Think about a time when you realized you didn’t know someone as well as you thought you did. How did that realization affect your sense of trust or safety within that relationship?

2. Friendships in the book shift quickly between comfort and danger. Have you ever been in a friendship that felt supportive at first but slowly changed in ways you didn’t expect? What signs do you notice now that you might have overlooked in the moment?

3. The story raises questions about vulnerability and who we allow into our inner circle. What makes someone feel “safe” to you, and how do you decide when to let someone get close, emotionally or physically? How does this compare to the characters’ choices in the novel?

4. Brooke’s isolation is a key part of her story. Have you ever felt like an outsider in a group, and how did that experience affect your reading of Brooke’s increasingly desperate actions?

5. The novel’s characters feel constant pressure to maintain the façade of a “perfect” life, especially online. How does the story’s portrayal of social media, from Brooke’s frantic Instagram videos to the group’s curated images, reflect the pressures you see or experience in your own life?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. How does the novel critique modern pressures on mothers, and what consequences does it suggest this has for women’s relationships with each other and with themselves?

2. How does the novel use the setting of affluent West Hollywood to explore the relationship between wealth, privilege, and morality? Do you think the characters’ extreme actions are a product of their environment, or would this story have unfolded similarly in a different social setting?

3. What does the novel say about how society judges public displays of female emotion, particularly when it comes to mental health and motherhood? Does it suggest a double standard exists?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. The novel is bookended by murders. How did your responses to Abby and Kiersten’s deaths differ, and what point might Berry have been trying to make with the two scenes (both independently and together)?

2. How would you describe Detective Perez’s role in the novel? Why do you think Berry chose to make the primary investigator a woman?

3. When in the novel did you find yourself questioning your prior beliefs about characters and relationships? What literary or stylistic techniques (for example, tone, flashback, foreshadowing, etc.) helped achieve that effect?

4. How does the West Hollywood Moms’ Club compare to groups in other works you may have read or seen, such as those in Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies?

5. What is the effect of ending the story with the revelation about Kiersten’s daughter, Rinley? How does it pick up on or conflict with the novel’s prior portrayals of motherhood and friendship?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If you could add a chapter from another character’s point of view, whom would you choose, and why? What secrets or motivations might you reveal?

2. Imagine you are adapting this novel into a film. Which scenes do you think would be the most critical to establishing the atmosphere of paranoia and duplicity, and how would you visually represent the contrast between the characters’ polished exteriors and their dark secrets?

3. Write a short journal entry from Whitney’s perspective one month after the events of the final chapter. How is she coping, and what has she decided to do with her life?