The Favor

February 28, 2022
Lawyer Leah Dawson and pediatrician McKenna Hawkins, the protagonists of Murphy’s claustrophobic debut, appear to have idyllic lives, but both are trapped in abusive marriages. Nine months earlier, Leah’s husband, Liam, got her fired so she could concentrate on being a perfect wife. McKenna’s husband, Zack, made her quit working after she miscarried so she could focus on starting the family she no longer wants. Leah and McKenna are strangers, but when Leah sees McKenna in the liquor store one afternoon, she senses a kinship and tails McKenna home to an upscale neighborhood near her own. Liam is away, so Leah spends several evenings watching through windows as Zack menaces McKenna. Leah’s anonymous 911 call accomplishes nothing, so when Zack’s threats turn to violence, Leah intervenes, altering both women’s fates. Though the men in Murphy’s story lack dimension, Leah and McKenna are fully realized characters whose anger, fear, and despair are palpable. A kaleidoscopic narrative amplifies tension and imparts nuance by examining the two households from inside and out. Murphy paints a powerful portrait of domestic abuse. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency (Canada).

October 1, 2022

Debut author Murphy creates a tense thriller about two women who, although strangers, live remarkably similar lives. McKenna Hawkins and Leah Dawson look alike and are both attractive, successful professionals who seem to have married well. Both women are also involved in abusive marriages with partners who control every aspect of their lives, to the point where their husbands have even forced them to leave their jobs. Leah is walking in their shared neighborhood and sees McKenna's husband physically abusing her through the front window. Struck by the similarity in their situations, Leah continues spying on McKenna until, unable to watch any more, she takes action, with fateful consequences for them both. In alternating chapters, three talented narrators--Dylan Moore, Leon Nixon, and Sarah Mollo-Christensen--portray the two women and Detective Jordan Harrison, who becomes entangled in the unsettling events that follow. Moore and Mollo-Christensen are clearly discernable as the different, but similar women, whose desperation and terror is clearly communicated. Nixon is equally effective as the detective who knows he's figured out the crimes but cannot prove it. An author's note gives valuable information about the realities of intimate partner violence. VERDICT This haunting thriller is recommended for most collections.--B. Allison Gray

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