cover image Old Friends

Old Friends

Constance O'Day-Flannery, . . Tor, $6.99 (294pp) ISBN 978-0-7653-5405-1

When one of her best friends announces her engagement, Claire Hutchinson feels less than ecstatic. Though she puts on a brave face in front of her girlfriends, the close-knit Yellow Brick Road Gang, Claire can’t help wondering when it will be her turn to find love, or more importantly, “did she even want a turn?” At 43, she’s content to be independent, keeping her friends close and her secrets closer. A seemingly random meeting in a video store, however, introduces her to Michael, a sexy geek who seems to know a lot about her. When a death in her estranged family forces her to confront the pain of her past, she discovers there’s more to Michael than he lets on and there’s much more hidden inside herself than pain. Unfortunately, the interesting premise doesn’t save the story from sluggish pacing and predictability; plot twists are easily spotted from a distance, defusing any attempts at suspense. Readers of the first two books will want to find out what happens to the Gang, but others should give this a pass. (Dec.)