I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Liane Moriarty, and the publisher, Putnam Adult, for this opportunity. 
 This book was every bit as good as expectations led me to believe! After the hype this has been getting, due to the TV adaptation starring Nicole Kidman, I was intrigued and yet hesitant to start this. Upon reading it I could see how this would translate well to screen, due to the thrilling nature of the plot and the innovative physical lay-out of the narrative. 
 Single mother Jane, and son Ziggy, are escaping a troubled past. They find themselves in a new state, with a new home, and each with their own new group of friends. Whilst Ziggy has his own school-yard disturbances, it also remains to be seen if the ferocious band of mothers that Jane has aligned herself with will be her saviours or if their behaviour will draw her back to the past she struggles to separate herself from. 
 On the surface, this reads like an episode of Desperate Housewives. There is a focus on the societal pecking order of the kindergarten mothers and the angsty feuds and bitchy clique wars that ensue in the playground. There is, however, an emerging darker side to the narrative that is both fuelled by and often hidden by the more obvious surrounding drama. 
 This is not a short book, and yet it reads like one due to both the compelling nature of the story and the clever composition of the novel. Multiple POV chapters are interspersed with, what appear to be, press statements from other side-characters, made after some climatic event has occurred. These both flavour the story, as well as adding additional insights into perspectives not otherwise known to the reader. Much of these involved reading between the lines to garner the true meaning, and the often ridiculous and petty focus added much needed hilarity to an otherwise tense tale. 
 As the drama is heightened and the characters' secrets are slowly revealed, the final scene sees every layer of intrigue brought to a climatic closure, with an unguessable and tragic result that had me open-mouthed long after turning the final page.