With Friends Like These

By Alissa Lee 
** Publication Date 4 November 2025 **
​4 stars




College is a great time in a young person’s life. First time for moving away from home. Making new friends, sometimes lifelong friends. Freedom away from parents. So many changes and choices that affect the rest of your life moving forward 


Sara attended Harvard, along with her former roommates Dina, Allie, Wesley, and Bee. While they are now in their forties, they have continued the tradition of playing Circus. Circus was their residence hall’s annual game of assassin, where you drew a name randomly, and it was your job to hunt that person down and ‘assassinate’ them with a water gun. Pretty much a last man standing game.


The women’s former roommate Claudine was a master of the game, and they continue to play the game in her memory. Only this year, Sara does not want to participate. Allie and Bee are also hesitant. But when the rest of the group urges them on, all agree to one last round. And this time there are monetary rewards to the game.


What a crazy fun novel about grown women trying to hunt down and assassinate one another in their adult lives. Each one of them has a solid reason to want to win, mostly monetary. But what these women will do turns into quite the battle. 


As with most mystery/suspense novels, this one kept me guessing. At times the finger pointed to several of the combatants. Sara is the one telling the story, so it’s pretty clear that she’s not responsible for the things that go wrong along the way. Someone is trying to sabotage the game, and that person has inside info that only the players would know. Who could it be?


Super fast read. So well plotted to keep you guessing. These women are diverse in their characteristics and mannerisms. Really well written and planned. Definitely recommend for a fun read.