Nora Murphy

THE FAVOR is an unsettling domestic suspense novel involving two affluent, professional women who are victims of spousal abuse. They don’t know each other, but when Leah observes McKenna from afar in her same perilous situation, she intervenes.

This book was so good — disturbing, but addictive. The author created two sympathetic characters in Leah and McKenna, and portrayed their struggle realistically. It could happen to anyone, and “just leaving” isn’t a safe or easy solution. Enter: the favor.

This well-plotted, slow burn tale had the right amount of suspense and dread woven in, with some wonderfully cathartic moments as well. Fantastic debut from Nora Murphy!… (more)

Being a new mother is tough. Especially for Nat, who feels alone in her struggles to meet her own ideas of being the perfect mother mixed with a recent new house/move and her struggles for sleep and sanity. You also get the POV, right from the get-go, of a neighbor couple. It's hard to read because their family is pretty dysfunctional and they are awful to each other.

The twist in this one was great. It really blew me away because I didn't see it coming. But the wrap up felt a bit rushed and I wish we'd had just a little more in the end. It is an entertaining and very quick read and I did like it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.… (more)

When a pediatrician, McKenna, married psychiatrist Zackary Hawkins, she was delighted with her handsome, attentive, and intelligent husband. Leah, an attorney, fell in love with an ambitious divorce and custody lawyer, Liam Dawson, and at first everything seemed to be going well. In Nora Murphy’s “The Favor,” McKenna and Leah meet by chance. Little did they know how much they had in common.

Although Murphy’s plot is not particularly original, she writes with such passion and empathy that we are swept up in the narrative and eager to discover if McKenna and Leah will extricate themselves from their respective prisons. Both Zack and Liam closely monitor and orchestrate their wives’ activities. At Zach’s insistence, McKenna quits her job; thanks to Liam, Leah is let go from hers. In addition, the two women drift away from their friends and extended families. Leah, in particular, becomes increasingly self-destructive as her home life deteriorates.

A shocking event changes everything and puts the heroines in the crosshairs of a detective who suspects that they may have colluded in the commission of a crime. The author imbues McKenna and Leah with enough intelligence and backbone to finally stand up for themselves. This taut, fast-paced, and intense novel explores provocative issues, such as: Why would a highly educated woman lose her self-esteem to such an extent that she allows her husband to torment her? This is an engrossing and riveting page-turner that has real-life implications.
… (more)