Woman of the Year

Lorelei Green, the reticent 40-year-old narrator of this enjoyable if initially slow psychological thriller from bestseller Bell (All I Want), is pleased to be associated with the American Feline Protection Society after a video went viral showing her cat sinking its claws into a man who attacked her, reducing him to “a whimpering wreck.” But Lorelei hasn’t always been so fortunate. Flashback 20 years to New England’s Woodward University, where students Lorelei and Holly Snopes become fast friends in an interpersonal relations class involving confessional group therapy. Both Lorelei and Holly fall under the charismatic spell of their charming professor, who it turns out is conducting a mind control experiment. The result is emotional trauma for Lorelei, who drops out of Woodward with reason to blame Holly. In the present, Holly, now a philanthropist, is being honored at a Woman of the Year benefit in New York, and Lorelei plans to ruin Holly’s moment by putting something in her food to cause an allergic reaction. But someone else is plotting a worse revenge on Holly. Assured storytelling keeps the reader turning the pages. This clever tale of friendship, trust, and betrayal should win Bell new fans. (Mar.)